Archive for gratitude

Endigar 1095

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 14, 2025 by endigar

From Courage to Change of Nov 14:

Step Six talks about becoming entirely ready to have God remove all my defects of character. This readiness rarely appears to me in a sudden, blinding flash of enlightenment. Instead, as I struggle to make progress in a positive direction, I become ready a little at a time.

An important part of my Sixth Step work is practicing gratitude. The more I give thanks for my life as it is, the more I can accept the healing that allows me to change and grow. By recognizing and cultivating my abilities, I am increasingly willing to let go of my defects.

This Step is a lesson in patience, but as I see my life opening up before me in new directions, I do finally become ready to have God remove all my defects of character.

Today’s Reminder

“Progress, not perfection” applies to my readiness to let go of my defects, as well as to other parts of my Al-Anon program. One day at a time, I make progress in readiness.

“Step Six is my chance to cooperate with God. My goal is to make myself ready to let go of my faults and let God take care of the rest.”
~ Alateen—a day at a time

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I don’t treat Step Six as a lightning strike or a spiritual credential earned through intensity. Instead, readiness is something accrued—earned slowly through lived effort, missteps, and the humility of repetition. This is spiritual honesty at work. I am not going to wait to feel holy enough to change; I commit to changing until readiness quietly catches up.

Gratitude is not a polite accessory to recovery. It is an active solvent. By giving thanks for life as it actually is—not as I wish it were—I create the internal conditions where change can occur without violence. Gratitude softens the grip of self-attack. It allows defects to loosen naturally, not because they are condemned, but because they are no longer needed for survival.

There is an important reversal here: I do not become grateful after defects are removed; gratitude itself becomes the mechanism of readiness. As I recognize and cultivate my abilities, defects lose their authority. They are revealed not as moral failures, but as outdated strategies—once useful, now burdensome.

Patience emerges as the quiet discipline of this Step. Not passive waiting, but a willingness to remain in process without demanding immediate transformation. I notice my life opening “in new directions,” which suggests that readiness is not merely subtraction (removal of defects), but expansion—more room to move, choose, and respond.

When I invoke “progress, not perfection,” it does not land as slogan or self-soothing. It reads as a lived measurement tool. Readiness itself becomes something you practice one day at a time. Some days I am more willing, some days less—but the commitment is to return, not to arrive.

What this reflection ultimately reveals is a mature relationship with God: not a God who fixes me once I qualify, but a Higher Power who works with my consent, at my pace, through gratitude, patience, and incremental courage.

This is Step Six as craftsmanship—quiet, honest, and enduring.

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Endigar 1057

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2025 by endigar

From Courage to Change of Oct 8:

My life is a miracle! When I felt alone and far from hope, I was guided to Al-Anon, where I learned that no situation is really. hopeless. Others had been through the pain of coping with a loved one’s alcoholism. They too had known frustration, anger, disappointment, and anxiety, yet had learned to live serene and even happy lives. Through the program, the tools that lead to serenity and the gift of recovery are mine for the taking, along with the support I need. Just as I was guided to Al-Anon, I am guided through recovery., and I continue to be transformed.

I see that miracles frequently touch my life. Maybe they always have, but I didn’t see them. Today I am aware of many gifts and wonders because I am actively practicing gratitude. So I thank my Higher Power for little things as well as big ones. I am grateful for the snooze button on my alarm clock that gives me a few extra minutes of sleep, as well as for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back and the ability to give and receive love

Today’s Reminder

When I take time for gratitude, I perceive a better world. Today I will appreciate the miracles all around me.

“Even the darkest of moments can be faced with a grateful heart, if not for the crisis itself, at least for the growth it can evoke with the help of our Higher Power.” ~ In All Our Affairs

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There was a time when “miracle” felt like a word for frivolous folk—those who seemed to have some secret disconnection from intelligence that transformed to grace. I lacked that quiet and powerful space. Miracles are not rare interventions from above; they are awakenings from within. When I first came to the Steps, it was because life had become unmanageable. Yet something—someone—guided me there. That was my first miracle: direction in the midst of despair.

Recovery re-teaches me to see what was always there. The same dawn that once felt empty now holds subtle color; the same face in the mirror that once looked defeated now carries quiet strength. The shift is not in the world but in my eyes, trained now by gratitude. Gratitude becomes a lens that re-enchants the ordinary. It converts “barely coping” into “blessed to have another chance.”

When I take inventory of what I once called coincidence, I recognize choreography. I see that I was never really abandoned; I was being prepared. The pain that pushed me to seek help, the people who spoke truth when I wanted silence, the Steps that broke my pride and then rebuilt me—all were instruments of something larger.

The miracle is not that suffering vanished; it’s that I can live serenely within life as it is. My Higher Power keeps sculpting me with gentle precision, turning what once felt like punishment into polish. Gratitude is how I say yes to that process.

Meditative Question:
Where in my daily routine might I pause—not to demand change, but to notice the quiet evidence that change has already begun?

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Endigar 1038

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2025 by endigar

From Courage to Change of Sep 20:

Trying to follow a suggestion I heard in Al-Anon meetings, I dutifully wrote lists of things for which I was grateful. I listed such things as my health, my job, and food on my table. When I was finished, I didn’t feel very grateful; my mind was still weighted down with the negative thinking that had resulted from living with alcoholism. But I had made a gesture, and the seed of gratitude was planted.

I gradually learned to appreciate the small accomplishments of my daily life. Perhaps I was able to avoid a pointless argument by reciting the Serenity Prayer, or my sharing helped a newcomer, or I finished something I had been neglecting. I was beginning to change. I made a point of recognizing small changes, and my self- esteem grew. The daily application of Al-Anon principles helped me to deepen my sense of gratitude and replace those nagging, negative thoughts. Eventually I was able to go back to my original list and be truly grateful for those things I had taken for granted.

Today’s Reminder

I need to nurture myself with gratitude. Today I can practice appreciating myself, my world, and my Higher Power.

“I would lie in bed at night and say the alphabet, counting all the things I had to be grateful for, starting with the letter A… This made a great change in my life.” – As We Understood

END OF QUOTE—————————————

I admit that gratitude once felt like frivolity and sometimes it even felt delusional, but I kept practicing. Even when I didn’t “feel it,” I trusted the process. I began to look for gratitude in the unexpected places—inside the mundane. I share my gratitude with others, offering hope to those still in the fog.

I wish I could say that I honor the practice daily.  Not like a mindless obligation, but because I suspect it keeps me well. When I have used it, well, gratitude would soften my defenses and invite me into connection. Gratitude is not just a list—it’s a way of listening to life.

What began as rote lists transformed into a deeper awareness: gratitude is not a trick of the mind, but a lens that reshapes the heart. Even the things I once took for granted became luminous—health, work, food, relationships—no longer just words on a page but living realities. Gratitude allowed me to see not only what I had, but Who was walking with me, guiding me toward peace.

Gratitude became not a demand but a nourishment. It shifted from a list to a daily practice of noticing, of receiving, of resting in the presence of what is. Today, I nurture myself with gratitude because it keeps me connected—

  • To my Higher Power, who is present in both small victories and quiet grace.
  • To my world, which offers daily gifts if I pause to notice them.
  • To myself, who is no longer defined by what’s broken but by what’s being mended.

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Endigar 1013

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on July 23, 2025 by endigar

From Courage to Change of Aug 30:

Normally my Sponsor would recommend a gratitude list when I felt low, but one day, when I complained about a family situation, he suggested that I list all the things I was unhappy about. Several days later my depression had passed, and when I told my Sponsor about the terrific day I was having, he suggested a gratitude list. He thought it might help me to refer to it the next time I felt blue. That made sense to me, so I complied.

When I went to put this new list in the drawer where I keep my papers, I noticed the earlier list and read it once more. To my surprise, my list of grievances was almost identical to my gratitude list — the same people, same house, same life. Nothing about my circumstances had changed except the way I felt about them. For the first time I truly understood how much my attitude dictates the way I experience the world.

Today’s Reminder

Today I recognize how powerful my mind can be. I can’t always feel good, and I have no interest in whitewashing my difficulties by pasting a smile on my face. But I can recognize that I am constantly making choices about how I perceive my world. With the help of Al- Anon and my friends in the fellowship, I can make those choices more consciously and more actively than ever before.

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale

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Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) was a Christian minister, author, and influential figure in American religious life, best known for popularizing the concept of “positive thinking” through his landmark 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking. A Methodist-turned-Reformed pastor, Peale served for more than half a century at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City.

There was a time in my life when the storm inside me felt louder than any peace I could muster. I’d sit with my Sponsor and bring him the scraps of my spirit—my grief, my discontent, my twisted thoughts—and he’d thoughtfully hand me back a tool. Sometimes it was a gratitude list, sometimes a question, and once—he told me that in my observations, my journaling, look for the patterns in my pain and resentment.

I have indeed found that my gratitude lists and my painful patterns dance in the same neighborhoods. It is true that sometimes, it is a matter of perspective.

This is where the real work of the program lives for me: not just in inventorying my defects, but in inventorying my perceptions. My attitude isn’t just the lens through which I see the world—it’s often the author of my experience. The same facts can tell wildly different stories depending on whether I’m rooted in fear or in faith.

I no longer see gratitude as a forced smile or a way to gaslight myself into feeling better. I see it as a recalibration of my spiritual compass. It reminds me that the story isn’t over, and I get to choose the tone of the next chapter. I still allow space for grief, anger, confusion—but I don’t build my home there. I let those feelings pass through like weather. And when I forget, my lists are there. Both of them. To remind me how much power I truly hold—not over people or outcomes, but over my own way of seeing.

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