Topic for the week:
Just for today
Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appal me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
Just for today I will be happy. Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Just for today I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my ‘luck’ as it comes, and fit myself to it.
Just for today I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out; if anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do – just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.
Just for today I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticise not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.
Just for today I will have a programme. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.
Just for today I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.
These Just For Today statements are on the AA Just For Today card. I first saw this when I was given a “Newcomers Pack” at my very first AA meeting.
This is a link to the Just For Today card on the UK AA website;
Hi I’m Sophie and an alcoholic and leading our meeting this week.
Thank you everyone who is present this week and available to participate listening and sharing.
I can’t do this alone.
Thank you especially for those in Trusted Servant roles, past and present, we can’t continue to function effectively as an AA group without you. I know we are still seeking a co-Listkeeper to support the welcome function and helping those reaching out to join us. It’s a key role in how new ladies join us so please consider this. I was terrified of giving it a go but I grew so much from doing it and was supported every step of the way.
So, back to this week’s topic of Just for Today…
Reflecting on things that were new to me when I first got sober and began my AA life, the “little today card” as my first sponsor used to call it, is one of the tools that really helped me.
What a gift I found it, to discover I wasn’t expected to make a lifetime commitment or get perfect over night. Just to try something for one day.
I’ve used this little today card, or the Just For Today card as it’s more properly called in our AA literature stores, throughout my sobriety. It’s been just a bookmark at times but more often it’s when I’ve been hitting my head against the brick wall of self that one of the suggestions on it has been exactly the solution to my latest self imposed crisis or has stopped me falling into the pity pot.
For me the last one, about not being afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, that’s my favourite one. I can easily forget to smell the roses or enjoy the sunset, but that’s where I find the “pause” and find a deepening connection to something outside myself. My first sponsor used to ask me, where is your little today card? And she was asking me where was I practicing what’s on the card. What I know is I can’t do them all today but one will be a help and being open to the ideas on it is always a help too.
The amazing and beautiful thing is that when I look back I can see God put roses in my path all through my recovery, actual roses and metaphorical roses. My first home in sobriety, the one where I took my last drink and went to my first meeting, there were literally roses around the door and a white picket fence. And now today I do a gardening job one day in a week in the most beautiful English country garden with several stunning paths of roses.
And sunsets too. I’ve walked and walked this path of sobriety, trying my best with the program and sponsor and meetings to follow the next right step. And now my home has a huge picture window with a view of the sunset over the hills. The beauty is there, but some days I have to remember to look up long enough to notice. Just for Today, I’m grateful for my Higher Power, the God I found here in AA, and I pray to be willing to be connected and take time for the roses and the sunset.
Have you used the Just For Today card? Which one of the ideas in it is most helpful to you today?
Sending hugs to anyone who wants one today!
Sophie