Today's Thought - March

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March 1

Positive Energy

It's so easy to look around and notice what's wrong. It takes practice to see what's right.

Many of us have lived around negativity for years. We’ve become skilled at labeling what's wrong with other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our recovery.

We want to be realistic, and our goal is to identify and accept reality. However, this is often not our intent when we practice negativity. The purpose of negativity is usually annihilation.

Negative thinking empowers the problem. It takes us out of harmony. Negative energy sabotages and destroys. It has a powerful life of its own.

So does positive energy. Each day, we can ask what’s right, what’s good - about other people, our life, our work, our day, our relationships, ourselves, our conduct, our recovery.

Positive energy heals, conducts love, and transforms. Choose positive energy.

Today, God help me let go of negativity. Transform my beliefs and thinking, at the core, from negative to positive. Put me in harmony with the good.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency*

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March 2

All things work together for good to them that love God.

~From Romans 8:28

Sometimes it's very hard to believe that God knows what He's doing. We are told to stop trying to control everything, so we do. We "let go." We "turn it over." We pry our grip off people, places, and things. As much as we want to hang on, we force ourselves to let God run the show. Then we wait and watch for the good things to start happening.

Most of the time, events continue to unfold as unevenly as they always did. Accidents happen while setbacks, injustices, and evil get rewarded, and good goes begging. We feel that our letting go is mocked, that God isn't doing a better job than we did. Why isn't He performing?

But God can write straight with crooked lines. God's timetable may well not be the same as ours. What is asked is that we learn to believe without seeing and to trust when it seems we could do so much better.

Today, I pray for the faith to go the distance. Like a child leaping into a parent's arms, I know that I am too precious to drop.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children*

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March 3

He who helps a friend in woe is like a fur coat in the snow.

~Russian Proverb

We came in from a very hard life when we came into recovery, kind of like coming in from a blizzard in Siberia! The old life was dangerous, cold, and lonely, and it forced us to use all our energy just to survive. Sooner or later it would have killed us. We were definitely in woe.

Someone - a family member, a friend, a boss, a probation officer - offered us a chance to get sober. That person saved our life, as surely as if he or she walked out into a blizzard and wrapped around us like a warm coat. Thanks to our Higher Power, we accepted the help this time.

In the future we will have the chance to help others who are still out there freezing in the blizzard of addiction. We can offer them the kind of help that saved our life. We can't make them accept our help though. We just keep it handy, like a fur coat, in case they reach out to accept it.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, I am willing to help another addict. I will be ready when you put someone in front of me.

Today's Action

Is there an alcoholic or an addict in my life I wish I could help? I realize that my example is the best way to show them recovery. I will talk with my sponsor about this person and how I am best able to help him or her today.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me: More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple*

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March 4

Humankind owes to the child the best it has to give.

~United Nations Declaration

We need to be committed to recovery for ourselves, but there may be others in our lives for whom our recovery is also vital: our children, for example. The Twelve Step program's wisdom says that our children start recovering the same day we do. No matter what our family's past has been, when we recover, we know we have broken the cycle of addiction not only for ourselves, but for the children we cherish.

Our children can grow up healthy with the Twelve Step program to guide and educate them in the realities of addiction. They'll have a greater opportunity to flourish in the love and new way of life we are learning. To see them serene and reaching their potential can be one of the happiest gifts of our recovery.

God, with your help, my children will shine like the sun. Please hold them today in the palm of your hand.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart

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March 5

Sponsors: Have one, use one, be one.

~Anonymous

Before we were in the program very long, it was suggested we find a sponsor. We found an individual who had the kind of recovery we wanted. The purpose of finding a sponsor was to have someone who would guide us through the Twelve Steps and help us apply the Steps to problems we encountered.

Sponsorship is one of the important ways of carrying the message. Sponsors share their experience of working the program freely. They do not nag or manage our lives. At times, sponsors may appear to be very strict, but they're only trying to pass on their knowledge. They have a deep concern about our recovery.

The first thing my sponsor said to me was "Get a check-up from the neck up." I followed the advice. I am grateful for all the help my sponsor has given me.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*

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March 6

You must be holy in the way God asks you to be holy. God does not ask you to be a Trappist monk or a hermit. He wills that you sanctify the world and your everyday life.

~St. Vincent Pallotti

When we get interested in spirituality, few of us have any intention of getting carried away with it. We don't consider ourselves holy. We want simply to make use of the power we have learned is available to us for the asking.

But once embarked on this spiritual journey, we find that something is required of us. The love, the peace, and the joy that come to us - we have to pass on. This, however, does not mean we have to completely change our way of living. In fact, those of us new to living a spiritual life are advised to make no major moves at all. Maybe sometime in the future we will be called upon to turn in a different direction, but for now it is enough that we "brighten the corner where we are." If we submit ourselves to God’s guidance in our everyday life and see where it takes us, we will be doing all we need to.

I can live spiritually in the simple acts of daily living.

Today's reading is from the book In God's Care: Daily Meditations on Spirituality in Recovery*

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March 7

As I recover, I am learning to detach with love and mind my own business with dignity.

~Kathy Kendall

Very few situations actually need our input. On most occasions we can contribute most by observing or listening. Although controlling how others live and think may still appeal to us, we are learning from our friends and sponsors the wisdom of detachment and the necessity for boundaries between ourselves and others.

Our desire to "help" friends make decisions may be rooted in love: we don't want to see our friends get hurt by making wrong choices. But the wisdom of the program tells us that we hurt our friends more by doing for them what they need to do for themselves. While this may be hard to believe at first, we can learn to trust that it is true. It is enough to live our own lives thoughtfully. We have been given a second chance through getting clean and sober. Now it's time to give our lives all of our attention.

Let's free other people to do the same.

I have enough to do just to live my life today. I can show my love for others best if I let them live their lives too.

Today's reading is from the book A Woman's Spirit: More meditations for Women*

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March 8

The problem is this: skills learned in danger require the presence of danger to be effective.

~Wayne Muller

Many of us had stressful childhoods. Some of us lived in chaotic households. Some of us were badly treated by the people we relied on to take care of us. Life often felt dangerous, but we developed skills to deal with the chaos. Some of us learned to keep things to ourselves, some of us learned to please those around us, and some of us learned to avoid all confrontation or disagreement.

These childhood skills, learned through hard lessons in the presence of danger, may have become fixed in our immature minds. But in our adult lives, those dangers may no longer be present. No one is beating us up anymore, but we are still flinching. The door is open for us to walk out, but we now must learn the skills of living in a safer world. We can take small steps by saying how we feel, by opening our hearts to trusted friends, and by asking for what we would like and being generous with others. These skills can be learned. As we gain this knowledge, we have more and more rewarding lives.

Today, I will take some risks that are my privilege as an adult, even if they seem risky.

Today's reading is from the book Stepping Stones: More Daily Meditations for Men*

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March 9

AA Thought for the Day

Since I’ve been in AA, have I made a start toward becoming more loving to my family and friends? Do I visit my parents? Am I more appreciative of my spouse than I was before? Am I grateful to my family for having put up with me? Have I found real understanding with my children? Do I feel that the friends I've found in AA are real friends? Do I believe that they are always ready to help me, and do I want to help them if I can? Do I really care now about other people?
Meditation for the Day

Not what you do so much as what you are, that is the miracle-working power. You can be a force for good, with the help of God. God is here to help you and to bless you, here to keep company with you. You can be a worker with God. Changed by God's grace, you shed one garment of the spirit for a better one. In time, you throw that one aside for a yet finer one. And so from character to character, you are gradually transformed.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may accept every challenge. I pray that each acceptance of a challenge may make me grow into a better person.

Today's reading is from the book Twenty-Four Hours a Day: A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life*

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March 10

I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the ugly duckling.

~Hans Christian Andersen

The ugly duckling was not really ugly at all; he was just different. The other ducks teased and pecked and even bit him until the ugly duckling flew away. He wandered around for a year, and was treated as an outcast everywhere. In the spring, he saw a group of swans on a lake, and wanted very much to join them. As he swam out toward them, he was astounded to notice his reflection in the water - he was a swan! The other swans welcomed him warmly, and found him to be beautiful.

Most of us go through times when we feel different from those around us. These are painful and lonely times, but it doesn't mean there is anything wrong with us. Like the ugly duckling, we will come into a time when we will be loved. All the pain and loneliness we have felt will help us fully appreciate the acceptance when we find it.

How can I treasure the ways I am different from others today?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families*

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March 11

A person wrapped up in himself makes a small package.

~Harry Emerson Fosdick

This sums up how we used to live. We were all wrapped up in ourselves. We had to be on center stage. Our self-will ran riot.

Recovery pulls us out of that world. We learn to focus on others. We learn to reach out to them with love. This is the best way to love ourselves.

This doesn't mean that we live our lives through others. It means we invite others into our lives. It also means we ask to be invited into their lives. Recovery breaks down our self-will. It makes room for others in our lives.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, I give You my self-will. I know that by giving this piece of myself up, You will help me do better.
Action for the Day

I'll list three ways my self-will has messed up my life. How am I doing at turning over these things to my Higher Power?

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple: Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal*

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March 12

There seemed not to be another living thing in all the world. There was something of bliss in this stillness, and something ominous too. It was the kind of stillness that beckons us to turn inward, toward the beginnings of our existence.

~Paul Gruchow

We cannot create profound stillness. We can allow it. We can move into it. We can receive it. Many of us have been frightened by such a stillness because we are not familiar with the spiritual moment. We felt moved, awestruck, and we may have run to escape that inward moment. Some men are endlessly busy just keeping the stillness at a comfortable distance. Many recovering men have unwittingly thrown themselves into a workaholic life because they were frightened by their emerging spirits.

We can change this pattern by allowing ourselves a little quiet at a time. At first, it may be just a few minutes alone. We may be more able to meet the stillness outdoors, or we can learn to be still in the presence of someone else. The stillness is a moment of meditation. It is contact with God.

God, give me the courage to allow spiritual experiences to be part of my life.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men*

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March 13

Getting in touch with our feelings

When we were using alcohol and other drugs, we lost our moral path. It caused us anguish to feel one way but act another. Eventually we got so confused that we wondered how we really felt.

But now in the program, we want to get honest with ourselves. We want to know our feelings and be able to express them. After a while, those around us will begin to feel that they can trust us and depend on us.

Can I reveal my true feelings?

Higher Power, give me the courage to be honest with myself and others about how I am feeling, especially if it's not how I wish I felt.

The true feelings I will disclose today are…

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts*

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March 14

A Higher Purpose

One of my friends from the National Guard invited me to join her in Alaska for the summer. I left Oregon, sold everything, and went up there for the summer. Here I had this brand-new bachelor's degree, and I ended up being her babysitter. It wasn't what I expected or needed at that time in my life.

So I went back to Oregon, got employment. I found that my services were needed in the Job Corps. I wasn't the person who did the program, but I was the person who took the kids to meetings. This form of service work for youth contributed to my sobriety both personally and professionally.

Listening to others share their stories in sobriety is a form of service work - for them, for me, for all of us.

~Gayle C., U.S. Army National Guard, 1976–1980/1984

Today's reading is from the book Leave No One Behind: Daily meditations for Military Service Members and Veterans in Recovery*

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March 15

Reflection for the Day

All of us are faced with the troubles and problems of daily living, whether we've been in recovery for two days or twenty years. We'd sometimes like to believe we could take care of all our problems right now, but it rarely works that way. If we remember the slogan "Easy does it" when we are ready to panic, we may come to know that the very best way to handle all things is "easy." We put one foot in front of the other, doing the best we are capable of doing. We say, "Easy does it," and we do it. Are the program's slogans growing with me as I grow in recovery?
Today I Pray

May even the words "Easy does it" serve to slow me down in my headlong rush to accomplish too much too fast. May just that word easy, be enough to make me ease up on the accelerator that plunges me into new situations without enough forethought, ease off on the number of hours spent in material pursuits. May I hark to the adage that Rome wasn't built in a single day. Neither can I build solutions to my problems all at once.
Today I Will Remember

Easy does it.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People*