'Each of us in his own way works for the good of the others' (ODAT, July 21)
To fast from what is bad for me and feast on what is good for me, I need to recall the idea that hell is a banquet with starving people fighting over food but with straight arms so they can't bring the food to their mouths, whereas heaven looks exactly same, but the people are feeding each other. When I'm in meetings, I share not for me but for the good of others. I surrender up the opportunity afforded by the three to five minutes of sharing time for the Higher Power to use as the Higher Power wishes: not to vent, dump, justify, blame, or complain but to share what I have been like, what I did about it, and what results I got. In allowing the Higher Power to avail itself of the opportunity to work through me, I hear myself saying whatever I need to hear myself. My eye is kept entirely off exactly how others might be helped, and who those others might be. My eye is kept entirely on the elements of my experience the Higher Power wishes me to direct outwards into the world. Then I discover that I have received everything I need by giving everything I have.