One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
No wonder that both AA and Al-Anon stress the importance of living just one day at a time. How much precious thinking-time we waste, fretting over past mistakes and missed opportunities! How often our depressed imaginings betray us into speculating about “what’s going to happen.
Yesterdays have no value except as experience, to be used in making today and the future more fruitful.
It may be difficult at first to discard these negative thinking habits. Yet it’s a relief to find we can unload the burdens of the past, and anticipate, rather than dread, our tomorrows.
Today’s Reminder:
A valid “regret for the past” could be awareness that we have hurt someone. Such regrets for offenses to others may often be healed by doing them kindnesses whenever we are able. Regrets for missed opportunities, however, can be erased from our minds by trying to make wiser decisions from now on.
“I pray to be relieved of the compulsion to worry about the past, and that I may not let my pessimism paint black pictures of what may happen tomorrow.
“Keep in mind that we can live only in the present and that all the rest of life is either past or uncertain.”