TLC Assignment, February 22-28, 2012
This week “choose between character and comfort.”
Take an action to build character and feel humility, rather than feel comfort. Humility is a desire “to seek and do God’s will” (12×12 p72). Align with your new consciousness and New Character. A truly humble person knows that nothing is out of reach. Character building with humility can include: Getting up in the morning and 1st thought is “Good morning God”. When someone asks “How are you?”; connect to God, the good life, and respond “Great.”
The good news: You never lose the New Character and principles you’ve built with God-centered Self. It’s an act of my will to see the good, be excited, exert myself toward the good life, and stay in it (12×12 p40).
The bad news: You never lose the Old Character and lack of principles you’ve built with self-centered Self. It’s an act of my will to look for, and create darkness. Don’t take over or try to control the familiar, comfortable, old darkness. Choose humility and to build the new character.
Make a Thought-Life Connection. Know the difference between thoughts and feelings. Find the feeling and the preceding thoughts. Ask God to show you warped feelings this week. We can’t get out of the dark until we become aware of the thought and the feeling; then show it to our spiritual advisor, to God, and apply spiritual principles (12×12 p75).
Taking your comfort…
Look for when you seek to act in defect believing that there is comfort in it or pleasure in it. “What we must recognize is that we exult in some of our defects. We really love them.” * That’s the riddle of our existence: We really don’t love them, we’ve convinced ourselves we love them. What we must recognize is the discomfort in acting in them… The reverse side of what we believe is comfort.
See your comfort through…. In other words, if you act in way you should not act thinking that there’s pleasure or comfort, ask God to show you the reverse side of the coin: the discomfort. For instance, thinking that if you eat the whole chocolate cake then you will feel better. But how can a cake create or effect your feelings? It is only what the cake represents that creates feelings. Eating the whole cake, in fact, creates another kind of hole: the hole of self-loathing where we are disgusted with ourselves for the action we just took.
This is the discomfort that comes with false comforts driven by our flaws, which represent our fears. So see the defect all the way through to the discomfort and then make a choice about the next action. This is the difference between the adult and the child… The adult asks God to show them the discomfort before they take an action… The child only sees the pleasure and blinds itself to the liabilities.
Exult in the fun of getting to know yourself!
Much love,
K.C.
* – The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, Alcoholics Anonymous
Today is a day to do the right thing not matter what…
As you go through the day do whatever is asked of you…
Be of service all day with out telling anybody what you are doing…
Go out of your way to help others today if the moment arises… Give up the parking space… Slow down for cars… Hold the door open for the person behind you… be kind even if it hurts…
This is the kind of humility we are to learn and practice… “ Doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do”
Have fun…
K.C.
