Food For Thought- Daily Meditations for Over-Eaters

<font color=blue>Food For Thought- Daily Meditations for Over-Eaters</font color=blue>

<font color=green>The Power of Love</font color=green>

Love is the best motivation. When we are plugged in to our Higher Power, we are plugged in to love. It flows through us like a current, energizing our sluggish hearts & minds.
As we work the Steps of this program, we are given increased ability to love. By turning over our lives & our wills, we become receptive to the love which surrounds & sustains us. By taking inventory & being ready to have our character defects removed, we are able to get rid of old ways of thinking & acting which have been blocking out love.

We cannot produce love for others by ourselves, but we can receive it from our Higher Power. We can even receive love for people we don’t particularly like.

Love gives energy for action & directs its course.

May I grow in Love.

<font color=green>Easy does it</font color=green>

Strain & struggle abound when we try to do everything ourselves, our way. We want positive change to occur immediately & expect miracles to happen according to our personal timetable. We sometimes feel that if our Higher Power is guiding us, we should be able to accomplish great & marvelous things constantly.
To remember “easy does it” is to humbly realize that we are not all-powerful & that God does not expect us to be all things to all people. Growth is slow, time belongs to God & change will occur according to His plan. If we do the jobs we have been given for this 24-hour period, our Higher Power will take care of tomorrow.

How much more agreeable life is when we do not overextend ourselves but admit our weakness & trust God to take care of us. We do not shirk our share, but we do not try to carry the whole load. Only our Higher Power is strong enough to do that.

Take from our lives the strain & stress.

<font color=green>Slow down & Live</font color=green>

Many of us rush through our days as well as rush through our meals. Often we let ourselves get so busy that we do not enjoy what we are doing or what we are eating. We swallow life in great gulps instead of savouring it moment by moment.
Hurry & busyness are forms of self-will. Deluded by an exaggerated sense of our own importance, we deem it crucial to perform all tasks & activities according to our personal schedule. Impatient with traffic tie-ups, other people’s slowness, or unavoidable delays, we make ourselves tense & miserable by our refusal to accept life as it comes.

Time spent each day in quiet meditation can give us glimpses of God’s timelessness. We see that our schedule is not that important after all, when measured against eternity. As the presence of God seeps into our consciousness, we relax into the fullness & peace of each moment. Trusting our Higher Power to order our lives, we can slow down & enjoy His gifts.

May I exchange hurry & busyness for Your peace.

<font color=green>Satisfaction Comes from Inside </font color=green>

Why do we continually expect to be satisfied by taking in & possessing things from the outside? Amassing material goods & possessions more often than not stimulates rather than satisfies our appetite. What we do & contribute satisfies us more than what we have & consume.
When we are at peace within ourselves & in contact with our Higher Power, we make fewer demands on the outside world. When we are able to use our abilities in productive work & can give of our emotional & spiritual strength to other people, we feel replete.

Nothing from the outside can bring us happiness if we are at war with ourselves. Chronic dissatisfaction indicates that we have not turned our will & our lives over to God’s care, but are still trying to run the show egotistically. Complete surrender opens the way to satisfaction.

I want to surrender to the inner needs of my spirit.

<font color=green>Admitting Wrongs</font color=green>

Step Ten reminds us to continue to take daily inventory & to promptly admit when we are wrong. By admitting our mistake out loud to the person we have harmed, we clear away bad feelings & guilt. The relationship is healed & we are able to put the error behind us. Admitting that we are wrong helps us even more than the person we have injured.
Since it usually takes two people to disrupt a relationship, the entire blame may not be ours. Admitting our share of wrong, however, relieves us of guilt & opens the way to reconciliation.

Being able to apologize simply & sincerely means that we are not bound by pride & egotism. We do not always have to be right. By accepting our human fallibility, we are free to be ourselves, to make mistakes, to correct them & to make amends.

Admitting wrongs keeps us honest with ourselves, with others & with our Higher Power. We stay anchored in the real world & we practice healthy humility.

May I not be too proud to admit I am wrong.

<font color=green>Expectation</font color=green>

Understanding that we do not have the power to control the results of our plans is an important step toward accepting reality. We do make plans, based on the information, experience & insight which we have available to us. The outcome of our plans, however, is dependent on circumstances which are frequently beyond our control.
When we accept the fact that the results of our plans are always in the hands of our Higher Power, we can relax & leave the outcome to Him. When we do not insist compulsively that life go according to our design, we are able to avoid the inevitable frustration produced by such an unrealistic attitude. However good our intentions, our designs are always finite & based on limited knowledge. We need to trust a Power greater than ourselves.

Our idea of what is best for ourselves & those we love may not always be right, according to God’s will. The faith may not always be right, according to God’s will. The faith that He will carry out His design for us, even when we do not understand it, relieves us of much anxiety & frustration.

I leave results to You.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://open-mind.org/Daily/Reading/47.htm>http://open-mind.org/Daily/Reading/47.htm</A>









<font color=red>~Sundance~</font color=red>

<font color=blue>"Never react emotionally to criticism. Analyze yourself to determine whether it is justified. If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."</font color=blue>

<font color=black>Norman Vincent Peale</font color=black>