Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - December

[bluidkiti]

December 1

Step by Step

“Pity me the heart that is slow to learn
What the quick mind sees at every turn.“ – Edna St. Vincent Millay

“For a while …we can endure the intellect’s being ahead of the emotions, which is the import of Millay’s couplet. But as the years go by, the stretch becomes unbearable; and the man with the grown-up brain and the childish emotions – vanity, self-interest, false pride, jealousy, longing for social approval – becomes a prime candidate for alcohol. …(T)hat is a definition of alcoholism: a state of being in which the emotions have failed to grow to the stature of the intellect.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 11 (“He Who Loses His Life”), pp 534-35.

Today, alcoholism cannot be arrested by intellectual strategies and I must measure – honestly – my emotional state. Without healthy emotions, the quality of my sobriety will likely be little more than my being a dry drunk. Accepting that alcohol is “but a symptom” of our underlying condition, we are compelled to seek sobriety by doing more than abstaining. If today the number of 24 Hours since my last drink is days, months or years, a measure of the quality of my sobriety may be in asking if I still harbor the emotions that I felt when I was drinking. If so, I probably need to review and refine my program. Sobriety is more than not drinking and comes with physical, spiritual and emotional renewal. The 12 steps give us a road map to recovery. Today, I need to look honestly at my emotional affairs. I’ve already tried the intellectual route. It got me nowhere. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

SANITY

Insanity is repeating the same mistake and expecting different results.

~ Anonymous ~

Our old world of an out-of-control self- will was strange and crazy. Everything was turned around: right was left, up was down, good was bad, white was black, night was day. We could trust in nothing, because nothing trusted us. We believed in nothing because nothing believed in us. We loved nothing because nothing loved us. We became cruel and mean spirited. We lived life always on the defensive.

The more we acted on the strength of our own ego, the smaller our world became. Finally, in desperation, we shut everyone and everything out. Then we were truly isolated, living m a make-believe world filled with dragons, monsters, and ghosts. Our ego had painted us into a corner and our lives had become unmanageable.

I learned the way to stop my craziness in my Second Step. My sanity has been restored.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

~ Will Rogers ~

No matter when we started walking this recovery path, we always need to return to the questions: What Step am I focusing on today? What lessons do I need to learn from these events in my life? There is a natural ebb and flow in the focus of our spiritual lives. Sometimes we awaken and become highly alert to our life development; other times we are sleepier about it. We cannot afford to go to sleep in our spiritual and character development.

It has been asked of people after they relapsed, what Step were you working just before you relapsed? Usually the true answer is no Step at all. They have fallen asleep on the path. There is no cure for addiction or codependency. It is a permanent condition. So we need to keep walking the Steps.

Today I will stay on track by renewing my focus on my growth.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

What you praise you increase.

~ Catherine Ponder ~

Getting trapped in negativity is far too easy. When we get stuck, we soon are overwhelmed with shame. When we’re feeling miserable, we can be certain no one else is enjoying our company either.

It may feel impossible to break out of this painful cycle. Some of us may become complacent in it, yet we recognize that some women seem to experience much more peace and joy than ourselves. What do they do that’s different? Careful observation reveals how accepting they are of others. They can be serene because they aren’t invested in how someone else lives. This is the Serenity Prayer in action.

The easiest step in becoming like these women we admire is to begin praising what we do like in others. The more we praise their positive qualities, the less we’ll focus on those parts we’d like to change. The miracle is that our inattention to the negative qualities dissipates them.

I will praise, not criticize, everyone today. It’s a decision, nothing more. My friends will benefit, but I’ll benefit even more.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I am finding my strength

I am having a setback with my psychiatric illness. There is a storm in my brain. I am afraid. I am frustrated, furious, and exhausted. I go to group, do therapy, take my meds and still I feel hopeless and helpless.

Yet in my heart, I know I have a higher power who cares about me—my sponsor checked in with me twice yesterday and today I have an emergency appointment with my therapist. I know, too, how much progress I've made in recovery and I believe this setback is not my fault. My job now is to weather the storm.

I will ask my higher power for strength to stay with my daily recovery plan the best I can.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed.

~ Sebastien R. N. Chamfort ~

When we first started going to Twelve Step meetings we were often stunned to hear so much laughter. But we soon learned that a good hearty laugh or a joyful smile are as important to our recovery as all the serious issues we explore.

Learning to laugh is part of our growth. It recognizes our shared experiences and helps us feel closer to one another. It also reminds us we are able to smile again, and that a better perspective on life is returning.

We only have today to live, and we are getting better today, so why not smile and enjoy it? Why not open ourselves up to a good laugh and let it push our pain or sorrow out? Now that we are once again choosing how we feel, we have the power to opt for joy.

Today I am grateful for my ability to laugh and share laughter and fun.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

~ Step Twelve ~

A prayer is a humble and heartfelt communication with a power greater than yourself. A prayer can admit a weakness, communicate a need, or convey praise and gratitude. Prayers can unburden your heart, give you strength and courage, and deepen your faith and trust in a Higher Power. Use the following prayer as you work on your understanding and acceptance of Step Twelve.

Step Twelve Prayer

Higher Power, you are always there for me. Your guidance has helped me undergo a profound spiritual awakening. Because of you, I am more confident in my recovery. The comfort and understanding you have given me is something I will pass on to others. I will extend my heart and my hand to those in need. I will be kind and respectful to those in the program and to others in my life.

Higher Power, I will pray to you each day so you can continue to guide me on the road to spiritual progress. I pray you will grant me the strength and wisdom to practice the principles of recovery in all that I do and say. Higher Power, thank you for listening to my prayer.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

~ Robert Frost ~

We made a promise to ourselves when we joined the program—to use the tools of the program, One Day at a Time, to stay on the road to recovery.

We need to remember that promise every day. Our program needs come first. After a long day at work or school, it is tempting to turn on the television or take a nap. Instead of calling someone we sponsor or our own sponsor, we may not feel like talking. We may come up with many excuses not to go to a meeting, like doing laundry or balancing the checkbook.

But all these things can wait while we take care of First Things First. It may take a lot of energy to stay alert in a meeting, but we'll be doing the best thing we can for ourselves: keeping our promise. Let's keep that promise, beginning tonight with prayer and meditation.

Have I spent time using my program today? What can I do to keep my promise to myself?

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

A rewarding way of life

Let us pause today and ask ourselves, Why have I chosen this new way of life? To the sick and weary, recovery seems a long, hard road to travel. We’d like an easier path, yet we know it wouldn’t satisfy us. Using mind- altering chemicals—taking the easy path- ceased to satisfy us. We had no recourse but to join the fellowship.

We come to realize that the only path to cleanness and sobriety is to reach an understanding of and to become one with our Higher Power. Yes, the way is sometimes hard, but the rewards are many and great.

Do I relish my new way of life?

Higher Power, may I not falter because the way is hard but rejoice because the rewards are great.

Today I will enjoy my new way of life by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

What is a great spiritual practitioner? A person who lives always in the presence of his or her own true self, someone who has found and who uses continually the springs and sources of profound inspiration.

~ SOGYAL RINPOCHE ~

Newcomer

In meetings I hear the phrase "To thine own self be true." Does it mean that my true self isn't the part that's addicted?

Sponsor

Being true to myself means many things to me in recovery. The first layer of meaning includes restoring my sense of right and wrong, taking responsibility for my past actions, acting in the present in a way that allows me to hold up my head as a member of the community. The next layer has to do with discovering my preferences: what do I want my work to be, and with whom do I want close associations? A still deeper layer of being true to myself means coming to know my spirit through prayer and meditation, unclogging the channels, greeting my soul.

Recovery gives us the opportunity to begin to know ourselves, in all our aspects. I've come to know the self that craves addictive substances and behaviors and the self that craves recovery; both are aspects of me. Once you acknowledge your addictive self, you can begin to heal and to know all the rest of who you are.

Today, I know who I am and what I am here for. I am true to myself.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

There will always be a difference of opinion as long as people have different interests, different prejudices and different mental capacities.

To expect people to disagree with you is only sensible and reasonable. If everybody agreed with you, everybody would be as smart as you and you wouldn't like that for a minute. The chances are you are both wrong anyhow, or you would not be required to defend your opinions. The right can defend itself without your help.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Happy Days

My Creator, take me back to my childhood,
When I was carefree and innocent,
When my heart was filled with laughter and love,
When joy surrounded me,
When I had no responsibilities, no concerns.
I give thanks for those memories;
I cling to them.

For when my life is spinning out of control,
It may seem that way for only a moment,
Sometimes for a day, perhaps an entire week.

Thank You, God, for the memories of childhood.
I remember them; feel relaxed and relieved.
I remember I've known peace and joy before.
When all is spinning out of control,
I will know peace and joy again.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

THE MAGIC OF TITHING

The practice of tithing has been a lifelong habit with many. They think of their own money as amounting to 90 percent of whatever their net income happens to be and they set aside the 10 percent that belongs to God. The unfailing result is that such people are always free from financial difficulties. Though they may have other problems, they ever remain in want.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in thine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10).

And all the tithe of the land, whether the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord (Leviticus 27:30).

Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Proverbs 3:9,10).

Jacob, after he had received the vision which told him that there is a mystical ladder reaching from earth to heaven—the ladder of scientific prayer and righteous activity—decided there and then to adopt the practice of tithing, realizing that God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace... (Genesis 28:20-21).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Don’t Take It Personally

I am not a victim of the world I see.

~ A Course in Miracles ~

When I walked into my aviary to feed the parrots one morning, Yogi made mean faces at me and tried to bite me. My heart sank; my first reaction was, “I must have done something wrong to make him dislike me.” Yogi kept up this behavior over a period of weeks until I discovered that he had taken up courtship with one of the other birds, and he had gone into a protective mode stemming from his mating instincts. When I realized this, I felt relieved; it was just a genetically dictated “bird thing” and had nothing to do with me.

When someone is unkind or abusive toward you, don’t take it personally. Anger is more about the giver than the recipient. If you accept their attack as a statement about you, you will not see clearly, and the situation will be even more muddied. Do not accept their “gift,” and you will help them face their own issues.

Cultures, genders, and belief systems have unique properties that are statements about the giver, not the receiver. Just as my bird’s aggressive behavior was a bird thing, there are ethnic things, man things, woman things, and religion things. Do not confuse a programmed behavior with a statement about your own value or the person who is speaking.

My friend who had emigrated from Russia was very aggressive, and I often felt intimidated by her. Then I went to Russia and stood in a crowd at a department store. The only way I was able to catch the attention of the clerk was to literally push my way to the front of the mob. That experience gave me an important insight into my friend’s programming, and I was able to understand her behavior. No one is mean on purpose. Since love is our nature, anything unlike love is a statement of an individual’s history of pain. Unkindness is not an attack, but a call for love.

I pray to see myself as innocent, along with my brothers and sisters.

Through the eyes of love I behold only love.

[bluidkiti]

December 2

Step by Step

” …Step Ten …suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear …We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6 (“Into Action”), p 84.

Today, if a slip or relapse are preceded by thoughts that are mostly subconscious, a more diligent practice of Step 10 might be a refuge from a return to drinking. The 10th Step, the maintenance of the Fourth, could alert us to problems in our physical, emotional and spiritual conditions, and those conditions may well have led us to drinking in the first place. The importance of the 10th cannot be underestimated. It compels us to continue the Fourth Step on a daily basis, and do it honestly and diligently. With that honesty and diligence, we may find in the 10th some of the defects we acknowledged in our Fourth Step. By recognizing them before they reach the surface, we might be able to fight off the potential slip or relapse. At the same time, if we make conscious those thoughts that are otherwise subconscious and cave in to temptation or craving anyway, we most likely have not fully embraced the First Step – “Admitted we were powerless …” Today, I choose not to neglect my 10th Step. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

PRAYER

Prayer is the voice of faith.

~ Horne ~

Prayer is what we do before we act, not after. Prayer is our choice of whose team we are on. Since we no longer take on the job of coach, we listen when we pray. We want to hear the call of each new play. We want to hear our assignment. When it comes time to act, we act according to the plan for us. This kind of prayer helps to bring us results.

When we ask only to do God's will, we cannot fail. Sometimes when we pray, we discover great things are being asked of us. We wonder where we will get the strength and the determination to succeed. Remember, we are never asked for more than we can do. Our Higher Power understands our potential better than we do. Sometimes when we pray we discover our role is different from the one we thought it was.

I have not been the best judge of what is good for me. I trust the answers to my prayers because my Higher Power wants only what is best for me.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.

~ Michael Jordan ~

Sometimes failure can be a trap that, if we let it, stops us in our development. We get discouraged and absorb failure as if it defined us. We may indulge in self-pity and wrap ourselves in the “loser” label. It’s a painful identity, but there’s a payoff: we rationalize that there’s no point in risking again, so we won’t need to put forth any more effort. That kind of choice is like a hiding place for our true self. We cannot afford to indulge in such hiding places.

On this path, hiding and self-pity only freeze our growth. We must learn to deal with failure as a part of life. We are human and that means we are incomplete as long as we live. We must accept that we will fail at many things on the way to finding achievement. If we block failure, we block success. So our true identity is that of learner, seeker, and adventurer—a man who rebounds from failure and comes back with his best shot.

Today I will fulfill my true self and learn from whatever happens.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

First I had to learn to stand up for myself. Now I’m learning to avoid offending others while doing so. Courtesy is a virtue.

~ Rose Casey ~

As human beings we have a tendency to let our own feelings get mixed up with the feelings of other people. Thus one of the most important discoveries we make in this program is where “we end and someone else begins.”

The boundary lesson is one we probably never learned in our family of origin, and we have had many pain-filled experiences as a result. But we are learning it now. Although we occasionally step on others’ toes, if we can do it with respect and grace, it is not too costly a price for learning this most elementary lesson. The key word here is respect. Courteously owning our behavior empowers us and sets a clear and positive example for others.

Sincere efforts to grow, if not at the expense of others, will ultimately bless us many times over. Our growth will benefit the significant people in our lives too. Sincere effort, only, is required.

I am assured that courtesy can prevail in every situation. I can be kind to other people today.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I want to be known

These days I want to tell my recovery story. It's not that I'm proud of my mental health and addiction problems. It's not that I want people to pity me. In fact, I tend to feel shy in front of a group (even when some are my friends).

But these days I need to tell my recovery story. I want people to know me, to understand me better (I want to understand myself better). Now, more than ever, I need a safe place; I need to belong.

At my next meeting I can offer to tell my story. I'll be honest, authentic, and brief

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

That the birds of worry and care fly about your head.
This you cannot change
But that they build nests in your hair
This you can prevent.

~ Chinese Proverb ~

Worry can light on our shoulders or sink its teeth into our flesh. Worry can become such a habit that it may actually take over most of our waking and dreaming hours. Worry can break down our immune system and weaken our natural ability to fight illness.

For some people worry is a full-time job and life companion. How much do each of us worry each day? This is a good question to ask when we are ready to get serious about changing our worry habits.

Once we have identified how and when we worry we are ready to reverse the pattern. Progress, not perfection, is the key in changing our worry habits. With an open mind and willing heart we have the power to change our habit of worry into one of trust. We know as we make this change that our Higher Power is truly at work in our lives.

Today let me begin to replace my worry with trust and faith in my ability to use my resources to face whatever life brings me.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

~ Stephen Levine ~

Making amends is a crucial part of your recovery. But it also requires you to think before taking any action to repair damaged relationships. This thinking process enables you to distinguish between those relationships you wish to have in your life and those with whom you no longer want interaction.

Even if you do not want to maintain relationships with some—an ex-partner in business or love or former drinking buddies—you need to resolve the harm you have done, whether it is by squaring up financial debts or saying, “I’m sorry for what I have done to you.”

For those people you wish to have in your life—a partner with whom you share child care, friends, family members, and others—you need to dedicate time and patience to show your apology is meaningful. You need to back up your promised actions with trustworthy behaviors and show you are committed to making things right and better. Remember that it is not what you want or need from others that is most critical, but being able to compromise so you can honor the wants and needs of others.

I will he patient as I make amends and rebuild relationships.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast withers as rapidly; that which grows slowly endures.

~ Josiah Gilbert Holland ~

During winter we can walk through a grocery store and see an array of fresh vegetables and fruits as if it were summer. Chemicals and greenhouses allow farmers to grow food year-round and produce ripe tomatoes even while a snowstorm howls outside.

Yet the tomato that took a few weeks to grow in a climate-controlled, enriched environment doesn't compare to the one that grew to fruition over months in the natural sun and soil. So it is with us. Instant recovery is like instant breakfast—it's satisfying but doesn't last long.

Many times our recovery will seem like it's proceeding at a snail's pace. But emotional growth can't be regulated like temperatures and soil conditions. Our potential for growth is a result of the effort we put into it and the time we give it.
The steady regulation of time forces growth to be gradual and balanced. For growth to be good, it must stand the test of time.

I can slow down my desires and not try to push time to move more quickly. I need to accept the pace and grow steadily and surely.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

The blessing of burdens

Those with the greatest burdens may be the most blessed, if they choose to take on the challenges before them. Somehow, the rich-ness of joy is measured in direct proportion to the degree of suffering. Each of us has felt the joy of achievement. The intensity of what we’ve overcome influences the depth of that joy.

Before the blooms appear so hopefully in spring, the barren winter must come and go. To bring out the best in us, we have to overcome the obstacles of life. We ask our Higher Power for the strength to deal with and to accept them daily.

Have I grown as a result of my difficulties?

Higher Power, help me accept my problems as blessings in disguise.

Today I will shoulder my heaviest burden and

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

I myself must mix with action, lest I wither by despair.

~ ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON ~

Newcomer

How is it possible to apply Step Twelve, "to practice these principles in all our affairs"? Does that mean taking all Twelve Steps again?

Sponsor

The Steps can help us live more consciously. Take our relationships with other human beings, for example. How do we handle duties, disappointments, disagreements? Steps One through Three remind me that there are people and things over which I have no control, and that surrender is more effective than forcing my will. Steps Four and Ten remind me to examine and commit to writing any ways in which I may be contributing to what troubles me. Step Five reminds me of the powerful process of speaking with others. Steps Six and Seven remind me that it's my Higher Power, not me, who's in charge of my healing; Steps Eight and Nine, that I have an effect on others. The Eleventh Step reminds me to tend my relationship with the Spirit with daily practice; and the Twelfth Step, that I'm not in recovery just for myself.

Taking actions in the light of the Steps, whether or not we repeat them formally, is the next phase of recovery. Continuing to attend Step meetings where we hear other people's experience of the Steps in their recovery offers us information and wisdom. We realize that we've learned a great deal about how to live. As recovery progresses, we discover that the simple principles underlying these Steps have become deep-seated commitments.

Today, I have reliable principles for how to live.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Fires, floods, and epidemics are no-body's business — they are everybody's business. Alcoholism is equally devastating and just as much a community catastrophe.

We in AA are unique in that we are trained veterans in the art of combating this disease. Its prevalence demands the complete co-operation of every qualified man or woman, and we are guilty of dereliction of duty and lacking in gratitude to the Grace of God that saved us, if we do anything less than our utmost.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

The Simple Things

Lord, I pray to stay uncomplicated and do well
these simple tasks:
If I open it, I will close it.
If I turn it on, I will turn it off.
If I unlock it, I will lock it up.
If I break it, I will admit it.
If I borrow it, I will return it.
If I make a mess, I will clean it up.
If I value it, I will take care of it.
If it will brighten someone's day, I will say it!

~ Author unknown ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

CONSIDERING THE SOURCE OF SUPPLY

There is not the least obligation upon anyone to tithe until he reaches the state of consciousness when he will prefer to do so. To give grudgingly or from a supposed sense of duty, is really to give from a sense of fear. Some think that because they are in pressing difficulties it is impossible for them to tithe at the present time but they propose to do so as soon as circumstances improve. This is to miss the whole point—the greater the present necessity, the greater the need for tithing.

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measure to you again (Luke 6:38).

The secret of demonstrating prosperity in the spiritual way—and on no other basis can your prosperity ever be secure—is to know the point of realization, that the one and only source of your supply is God, and that your business or employment, your investments, your clients or customers are but the particular channel through which that supply is at the moment coming to you from God. The practice of tithing is really the concrete proof that you have accepted this position.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Terminal Improvements

Stop improving yourself and start living.

~ Roberta Jean Bryant ~

As I approached the departure area of an airport undergoing re-modeling, I saw a sign that grabbed my attention: Terminal Improvements. Although the sign referred to the construction, I was tickled by its double meaning.

Endless self-fixing is a detour from the spiritual path. We can become so obsessed with personal growth that we lose sight of the truth that everything we need is within us and we are good enough just as we are. The path to enlightenment is not one of self-improvement, but self-discovery. When we recognize that we are whole, the game shifts from getting some–thing from outside of us, to releasing the splendor within us.

Seminars, books, psychic and astrological readings, trainings, techniques, and practices can be extremely helpful, but they can also be a means to hide from living life where you are. At some point, we must admit that we have amassed all the data we need, and get on with applying what we have learned.

Gandhi affirmed, “My life is my message,” and we must aspire to this ideal. First, we talk the talk; then we talk the walk; then we walk the talk; then we walk the walk. Reflect the highest truth simply by living what you know and being what you are.

I am ready to get on with living my destiny. Help me go beyond words and teach love through action.

I live the truth I know.

[bluidkiti]

December 3

Step by Step

“The explanation that alcoholism was a disease of a two-fold nature, an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind, cleared up a number of puzzling questions for me. …
“The obsession of the mind was a little harder to understand, and yet everyone has obsessions of various kinds. The alcoholic has them to an exaggerated degree. Over a period of time, he has built up self-pity, resentments toward anyone and everyone who dares to cross him, vanity and a critical attitude are character defects that gradually creep in and become a part of his life. Living with fear and tension inevitably results in wanting to ease that tension, which alcohol seems to do temporarily.”– Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Stopped in Time,” Ch 10 (“It Might Have Been Worse”), p 380.

Today: “The alcoholic has (obsessions) to an exaggerated degree.” If today I catch myself critical or resentful of something or someone, myself included, let me remember that I might be feeling an exaggerated emotion that is one of my spiritual defects that began long before my drinking. If resentment comes easily to me even in sobriety or if my expectations of myself are unrealistic, let me see that I may also expect too much of others and that I may resent them if they do not meet my standards. Today, grant me honesty and knowledge to determine if the disproportionate feelings I harbored in my drinking days have carried into my sobriety and, if so, to find my answers in my moral inventory. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

FELLOWSHIP

Our Program is not something you join; it is a way of life.

~ Anonymous ~

There is a rich, deep fellowship in our Program. We have discovered friendships beyond anything we ever experienced be-fore. The meetings we attend, the people we sponsor, the coffee we pour, the service we perform, all make up the experience. But the Fellowship is not an organization; the Fellowship is the coming together of a group of men and women who share a way of life. This way of life is based on certain Steps and Traditions.

We participate in the Fellowship to better work our Steps and live the Traditions. We recover as we live this new way of life. We add to the Fellowship when we bring this life to the meetings. We cannot expect anyone to live our lives for us. If we do not do our work, we will have nothing to share.

In sharing, I give back what I have so freely taken. The Fellowship teaches me that my recovery is found in the Steps and Traditions. When I put them all together, I have a new way of life.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do than what one can do.

~ Lin Yutang ~

There was a time for each of us when we had not yet discovered important truths about what we could not do. Until we had uncovered this knowledge, we could not take the first Step. We were doomed to stay locked in a cycle that led nowhere but down. No matter how much we tried to improve our self-esteem, no matter how many awards or salary raises we got, we were going nowhere with our personal life. We first needed to learn that we could not control some things.

Once we read the unhappy news that we could not control our addictive behaviors, and we could not control others, we were ready to take the first Step. Then a whole world opened up to us. Only then were we ready to learn what we could do. Even now we use that experience as a model for our lives. When we accept what we cannot control, our understanding of the problem changes, we become calmer, and new possibilities come into view.

Today I am prepared to learn from discovering what I cannot control

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

If at first you don’t succeed, try again a different way.

~ Kay Lovatt ~

It’s been said that Edison had more than five thousand failures on his way to inventing the electric light bulb. Why then do we need to be right, the first time, every time?

Those of us in Twelve Step programs don’t have a monopoly on low self-esteem, but we have our share of it. Maybe our parents or teachers were too critical, or perhaps our siblings were smarter than us in school. But each of us, no matter who we are, had—and still has—equal worth in our Higher Power’s eyes.

When we know we matter in God’s plan, we accept our failings as part of the learning curve. Few of us will ever meet someone who hasn’t failed many times. And we admire the candor and the vulnerability of people who share their falls. Perfection isn’t required. Continuing the journey is.

My definition of success determines how I feel about myself. Today I can believe that trying is succeeding.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I am slowly accepting the process

When I first heard of using the Twelve Steps for my addiction, I presumed that after twelve meetings I'd be cured. And I thought that with medication (the first one prescribed), my psychiatric symptoms would vanish. I am finding out, however, that recovery doesn't work this way—and that I am impatient. I want to get better—and I want it now.

What I'm learning instead is that time is a healer and recovery a process. To stay in recovery and avoid relapse to addiction or emotional illness, I need regular counseling, carefully prescribed medication, and continuing attendance at Twelve Step meetings.

I will write out this affirmation (and carry it with me): "I am recovering one day at a time."

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot he great.

~ Niccolo Machiavelli ~

Acceptance may be one of the most difficult things to learn, for it means we must give up the desire to control our life and its outcome. Once we have truly received this great gift we will learn that acceptance need not take away our strength — on the contrary, we will have an inner strength we never thought possible.

When we decided to meet the challenge of a sober life we took the first step toward acceptance — we accepted the fact that we have a disease, a chronic disease that will always be with us. By accepting this fact we will be able to cope with our lifelong struggle. This way we willingly accept the friendship of our group members and the wisdom they offer us. They have been where we are coming from, they have suffered as we suffer, and they have felt the hope we now feel.

We are being offered a way of life that, if we follow it, will bring us a peace of mind we may never have felt. By our surrender we are now willing to receive something that is being offered to us — the beginning of a new way of life.

Today let me accept my powerlessness and any help that’s offered to me.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.

~ J.M. Barrie ~

A popular event in the winter is a flower show. When snow has covered the ground and howling winds are raging outside, it is sheer pleasure to see the beauty of colorful flowers in bloom and smell their fragrant scents. Attending such an event awakens your senses and gives you hope that spring will arrive.

Similarly, recovery is like an investment you make for your future—one that gives you hope and promise of good things to come. Even during times of darkness and despair, recovery offers many positives to overcome the negatives. When you are in recovery, you can feel:

• Forgiveness instead of resentment
• Healing instead of hurt
• Courage and love instead of fear
• Optimism instead of negativity
• Respect instead of contempt
• Acceptance instead of rejection
• Balance instead of obsession
• Serenity instead of tension
• Clarity instead of confusion

Recovery is an investment I make for a better future.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

The [person] who is always having . . . feelings hurt is about as pleasant a companion as a pebble in a shoe.

~ Elbert Hubbard ~

Are we overly sensitive or afraid of personal criticism for fear our feelings will be hurt? Sometimes it may seem like no one can say anything to us without us feeling hurt, shameful, guilt-ridden, or rejected. We may find ourselves saying we're sorry so many times in one day that we end up believing we are, indeed, very sorry people.

Our friends and relatives care about us and want to see us healthier, happier people. Because of this, they may give us criticism. This criticism is meant to be helpful, not hurtful.

If we feel attacked by the criticisms of others or al-ways seem to have our feelings hurt, it's because we allow it. No one can make us feel any way unless we let it happen. Although we may have been brought up with criticism and been told we were no good, the only person today who can make us feel worthless is ourselves. We are as good as we'll allow ourselves to be.

I can accept personal criticism and not fear my feelings will be hurt. Tonight and every night, lama good person, no matter what another says or feels.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Finding the way

We are all meant to travel by the directions our Higher Power gives us. Many paths and modes of transportation lie before us. Many teachers are conveniently situated to help guide the way.

We need to remember that only our Higher Power can show us the whole way. If we open our hearts and minds to our Higher Power, it may work through us and our des-tined path will become obvious.

Am I on the way?

Higher Power, may I begin to know the way, and as I go along, may more be revealed to me.

I will seek to find the way today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.

~ OPRAH WINFREY ~

Newcomer

I saw a newcomer, someone who's only been around for a few weeks, putting promotional fliers on the seats before a meeting to advertise a concert she was performing in. I told her that we don't advertise anything here. I was kind of shocked to realize how much I've come to depend on the fact that no one tries to sell me anything at meetings.

Sponsor

One of our most important traditions is that each of our groups is essentially spiritual in nature. We're here for only one purpose, to carry the message to people who are still suffering from our addictions. We're not here to advertise, affiliate with, or endorse anything.

It may seem harmless, at first, for a person in recovery to use a meeting as a place to advertise something he or she is trying to achieve. But think of what would happen if our traditions permitted advertising. Where would we draw the line? Would sober car salesmen, plumbers, insurance agents, and computer consultants all begin hawking their wares and services? Would we begin to treat the principles of the program as one more thing to buy or pass up?

We are certainly free to share the news of our lives with friends in recovery, but we don't use meeting rooms as a place to promote our careers, religions, or worthy causes.

Today, I'm grateful that meetings give me the opportunity to focus my attention on recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

I feel good today and I ought to. I slept like a baby last night, had a fine breakfast that I relished, the wife and kids kissed me as I left the house, I arrived at the office whistling and didn't give a **** whether the boss was in a good humor or not. The work, too, seemed so much easier to do and the gang in the office seemed so much friendlier. It's payday, too, and I drew a whole week's pay and I haven't borrowed a cent from a soul in the office. The whole envelope can go home unopened.
AA gave me all this. To me, an alcoholic, this IS Heaven.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Direct and Guide My Journey

O Lord, direct and guide my steps on my journey,
and let me travel in health, joy, and peace.
Keep me from traps and dangers,
and protect me from any enemies who
I might meet along the way.
Bless and protect my journey!
Let me win favor in Your eyes and in the
sight of those around me.
Blessed are You, O Lord,
Who hears and grants our prayers.

~ Adapted from a Jewish prayer, author unknown ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

LIGHT AND SALVATION

Read Psalm 27

The Twenty-seventh Psalm is one of the great meditations in the Bible. When trouble of any kind comes into our life it is because we have allowed our consciousness to fall to the level where fear and limitation can reach us. Any mental activity that enables us to raise the spiritual standard of the soul is a form of prayer, and the Bible abounds in such forms.

The history of solving a problem is often this: An individual is worried about something, or he feels ill. As soon as he realizes his state, he declines to accept the condition and proceeds to bring about the necessary raising of the thought. He reads this psalm carefully, interprets it spiritually, allows his mind to dwell upon the principles enunciated, appropriates them to himself, thus regaining his peace of mind.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

This one verse is one of the most complete texts in the whole Bible. It might well be written over the portals of every church and school in the land, for within it is contained in embryo the complete Jesus Christ message. It postulates not merely the existence of God but the living Presence of God in man. The Inner Light is no mere passive or static presence, but a dynamic power—light, salvation, and strength.

"The Lord is the strength of my life." Having promised us light, the psalm now goes on to promise strength or power. We are, in fact, to be "endued with power from on high" and need no longer trust to our own inadequate efforts.

This wonderful verse then sums up its great message in the word "salvation," and with the penetrating psychological skill, it obliges us to ask ourselves, point blank, what there is now to be afraid of.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

The Man Who Wrote the Book

He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world.

~ Jesus Christ ~

As I was about to present a full-day seminar, I felt quite weary. I had been on a long lecture tour and did not know where I would get the energy to deliver this intensive program. As I entered the seminar room, a man approached me, took my hand, and tearfully told me, “Your book has touched and changed my life. I drove several hundred miles today to meet the man who wrote the book. ” I was deeply moved by the fellow’s sincere appreciation; immediately I felt a wave of energy surge through me, and my fatigue dissolved. Suddenly, the puny, tired person with whom I had identified myself seemed unreal, and the strong and illumined person the fellow referred to came forth. In that moment, I had a choice: I could either be the tired guy or the healer. Fueled by his vision, I chose to identify with my magnificence, and I went on to present a powerful program.

Every moment we are choosing who we will be. No matter how discouraged or lost you feel, within you is the man or woman who wrote the book, or sang the song, or cared for the child, or who embodied your highest potential. Choose in favor of your genius, and you will discover that it is your reality.

Let me remember who I really am, that I may be at peace with myself and my purpose.

Today I choose to be my highest self and live my magnificence.

[bluidkiti]

December 4

Step by Step

“If we have been thorough about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people. We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), p 70.

Today, the promise to move past our resentments and other feelings that hurt ourselves and others is equivalent to a spiritual awakening. An intimidating or daunting achievement on the surface, such an overhaul is actually pretty simple. But the first rule is to want it, and the desire becomes a hunger if we accept completely and honestly the First Step – ” …admitted we were powerless.” Without that surrender, the task of rebuilding is likely built on an unsteady foundation, and the foundation may cave into a relapse. But if we understand that there is no reason to fight anymore and immerse ourselves in the First Step, the Second Step of coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves may come easier. With that, we have made stronger the foundation on which we can rebuild our lives. And if we see someday that the person we become in sobriety nowhere resembles who and what we were in our drinking days, we might understand that the rebirth of ourselves is a natural benefit of honestly working the program. So is the miracle of AA. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

YEAH, BUT…

Nothing is easy to the unwilling.

~ Thomas Fuller ~

Just as a person does not "sort of' get pregnant, or “sort of” get married, we don't “sort of” do the will of our Higher Power. The Program is one of honesty. Where there were once half-steps, now there are full Steps. We had allowed our disease to dictate the terms of all our relationships. This meant everything had to come second to our addiction. Every action was conditioned on our ability to feed our problem.

Now that we are in recovery, we are asked, "are we willing to go to any lengths?" If we do not answer with a loud "yes," we set ourselves up for failure. There is no "yeah, but..." when we follow the Steps and the instructions of our sponsor. There is no reading in between the lines when we practice the principles of our Program.

“Yeah, but...” responses are dangerous for me because they mean I'm not listening or moving forward. When I hear myself say it, I should ask for help in removing the “but.”

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

When we are oversensitive, when we take offense at a negative comment someone makes to us, we put our self-esteem under that person’s control. Whatever a person says is, first of all, a reflection on him. If someone says you look like a pig, that doesn’t make it so. Children don’t have the inner resources or the emotional independence to hold a separate identity apart from what others say, and they can be crushed by it. Adolescents take great personal offense if someone looks at them wrong. As adults, we have the ability to control our sense of self, even if we haven’t yet learned how to use it.

If our partner speaks in a tone that sounds judgmental, our knee-jerk response is to take it into our core. If a co-worker hurls an insult, we might feel injured. If a friend is thoughtless about our feelings, we might take offense. But we can remember that these actions are first of all a reflection on the speaker. We can adopt a detached attitude about others’ comments and give them the freedom to say what they like. We are in charge of our self-esteem.

My honesty about my own self-worth stands on its own. No one else controls that.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

My life is a little bit like the jazz music I play. I stretch and explore and make some mistakes.

~ Betty MacDonald ~

Why are we so ashamed when we make mistakes? On occasion, we may negatively judge other people for their failures, but most of the time we hardly notice them. Surely the same must be true for our failings. While we see our mistakes as glaringly evident, others give them barely a thought. We are far too absorbed in needing to be perfect.

This recovery program gives us the opportunity to change how we think and act. Maybe our family of origin heaped shame on us when we weren’t perfect, but we don’t have to continue this pattern.

Working on one behavior we’d like to change, one day at a time, gives us hope that we can make progress. Listening to the women we have come to admire in this program leaves little doubt that we can be successful in this pursuit. They have done it. We can too.

I am not perfect. I am willing to work on my short-comings today. That’s enough to satisfy my Higher Power. And me.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

My meds are not street drugs

I have a dual disorder. I've been sober for a couple of months, but my psychiatrist now suggests that I take a psychotropic medication to help me with my rage and shifting moods. I can see I need this help and I want to feel more like myself again. But as a recovering alcoholic, I'm terrified about taking drugs.

So I talked to my dual recovery sponsor. She explained the critical difference between medication and street drugs: medication is prescribed by a doctor, for a specific problem, at a specific dosage, for a specific length of time— and carefully monitored all the while. She also pointed out AAs supportive pamphlet, "The AA Member—Medication and other drugs: A report from a group of physicians in AA." I'm glad I talked with my sponsor. It helped. #

I will get a copy of the AA pamphlet and read it carefully.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Life is difficult

~ M. Scott Peck ~

Life can be hard, but when we start to feel sorry for ourselves it helps to remember that it’s hard for everyone. Obstacles and challenges are a given in life. What makes us think we won’t have some problems, too?

Once we accept the simple fact that we’re not alone in our hardships we discover the secret within that thought: we’re not alone. We can feel sad about what’s befallen us. We have a chronic disease that affects every aspect of our being. But having the blues is a lonely thing; when we sing the blues, we share life itself with others. We transform our hardships into valuable lessons, and we gratefully affirm that we are alive and still kicking. Singing the blues can be a celebration that turns sadness and setback into something we can dance to.

We can even be grateful life is hard, for it might be without meaning if it were too easy, without challenge and opportunity for growth, without the risk that offers reward, without the mystery that sends us exploring. God sends us no more hardship than we can handle. In that way, problems become a measure of our strength. By handling them we call our assets into play in a way we couldn’t otherwise, and each challenge brings us new confidence and faith to go on.

Today let me gratefully accept my growth opportunities, even when they come in the form of problems.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald ~

Even the most positive people may be prone to sadness during winter. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a clinical mood disorder that affects many people when there is less exposure to sunlight. This can disrupt the normal rhythms of life as well as decrease levels of melatonin and serotonin in the body, which are natural mood enhancers.

Symptoms of SAD include difficulty awakening in the morning, an overall fatigue or lack of energy, a lack of desire for social interaction, disinterest in things that typically bring pleasure, and a sense of hopelessness. If you suffer from SAD, you typically have good mental health throughout most of the year and only experience periods of depression in the winter.

You can use preventative measures to alleviate some of these symptoms. Alter your home environment to allow more sunlight by opening blinds and curtains or trimming trees and bushes around your home. Spend time outdoors, particularly when the sun is shining. Or plan a vacation to a sunny climate. If your finances preclude travel, post a tropical island screen saver on your computer and imagine yourself in this warm, sunny location.

I can take a tropical vacation in my mind and imagine how good the sunshine and warmth will feel.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

They got scared when they started feeling good, just because it was so unfamiliar. Like chronic prisoners facing release from their cells.

~ Lisa Alther ~

The evening news usually begins with doom-and- gloom stories and perhaps ends with one positive, uplifting item. If we were to give the evening news of today, what would it consist of? Stories of disappointment, anger, resentment, and misunderstandings; or recollections of giving, laughter, closeness, success, and achievement?

It's scary to focus only on the good things that hap-pen. Many times we're afraid to feel good because we don't trust the feeling to last long. Perhaps we're very uncomfortable with good feelings because they're so unfamiliar. Yet that unfamiliarity can change, over time, until we grow accustomed to the good.

Accepting good feelings is like meeting someone we really want to know better. At first we may feel scared or shy. But in time, we feel more at ease and relaxed as we spend more time together and share different things. Feeling good can be a friend that will grow more important to us every day.

Tonight I will focus on the good in my evening news.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Being under a new influence

Under the influence of drugs, nothing was real. This is one of the hallmarks of an addict. A good day wasn’t really much more satisfying than a terrible one because we al-ways had the feeling of being on the periphery, of being on the outside looking in.

The good days provided no joy; they were unfulfilling. With a sickening awareness, we often played a sadistic game—we knew our actions were hurting ourselves as well as others. At the same time we felt very misunderstood, thinking, Don’t they know we don’t want to be this way?

Am I under a new influence now?

Higher Power, help me slow down today and have courage to live in the now.

I willfully experience today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

People who fight with fire usually end up with ashes.

~ ABIGAIL VAN BUREN ~

Newcomer

I feel sad about a relative who has the same addiction problem I do but isn't in recovery. I don't know what to do about it.

Sponsor

We can remember that others, like us, have a Higher Power. We can pray for them. And there's nothing wrong with letting a- relative know that we've found a Twelve Step program and have stopped using our addictive drug or behavior.

There's a fine line, though, that's dangerous to cross. We can get into trouble if our ego thinks it's our job, or that it's even possible, to bring another person into recovery. If we share information about our recovery with a family member, we have to be prepared for lack of interest, refusal to hear, or downright hostility. We may have to deal with the impact of the person's denial about our own need for recovery. It helps to remember that we're as powerless over another person's addiction as we are over the addictive substance itself.

Today, my own recovery is my highest priority; I surrender family members to my Higher Power's care.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Sometimes people say, "I tried AA but somehow, it just didn't seem to work for me." They had lost faith in the Program but a careful analysis of the situation would show that they had not been faithful TO it. No medicine will cure a sick man unless he takes it regularly and according to the doctor's orders.

You will, have no occasion to lose faith in the Program if you live faithfully to its precepts.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

The Strength of Humility

Higher Power, I have learned in recovery that there is no greater defense against the cunning, baffling, and powerful disease than a humble attitude. I pray for understanding that there is strength and wisdom which come from true humility. Humility has nothing to do with shyness, weakness, or putting myself down. Humility is living in a proper relationship with You. When I walk with You, I don't have to try to be humble. I am humble.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

ABIDING IN HIS PRESENCE

Read Psalm 27.

"When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell."

"The wicked" and "mine enemies" stand for our own thoughts for our fears and doubts of every kind; and truly indeed do they sometimes come upon us as though "to eat up our flesh."

"Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

The Psalmist reiterates his confidence and makes us, his readers, reiterate that our hearts, too, shall not fear. When you can say quietly and truthfully at any hour of the day or night "my heart shall not fear," the world has no more power over you. You are free. War of various kinds may rise up against you, but you will be confident, and therefore you will be victorious.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek afterl that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.:
"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."

These two verses constitute a remarkable expression of what is often called the second birth. When you have reached that stage you do not allow any external happening really to grieve you, or frighten you, or hurt you, because you know that external things are but passing shadows of no permanent importance. This steadfast determination to dwell in the house of the Lord, to behold His beauty and to learn His secrets, means that you are set upon a rock and there you house of life is secure.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Nature Bats Last

Let us permit nature to have its way; she understands her business better than we do.

~ Michel de Montaigne ~

I saw an abandoned tennis court that had been nearly entirely dislodged by grass that had grown through cracks in the surfacing. Of all the demonstrations of the power of nature, I find it most compelling to consider how a tiny blade of grass can undo an entire human made structure. Given the slightest opening, nature will work its way out from under oppression and reassert itself.

At every moment, nature is seeking to restore balance and harmony where it has been upset. This is the essence of healing. No matter how we may violate the given order, nature will restore the way it was intended to be. Even though humanity may defile and disrespect the planet, eventually the earth will grow green again. If we are wise, we will cooperate with this process.

It is important that we know what our true nature is, that we may align and be bolstered by it. On the deepest level, we are spiritual beings; that is why nothing material can satisfy us completely. We may have all manner of material comfort and beauty around us, but unless our spiritual self is fed, we remain hungry. Our true nature is wholeness; we cannot be broken into parts and treated as a commodity; we are more than we appear to be. Our true nature is kindness and love; we cannot act or identify with cruelty and feel at peace or have life work.

The Taoist religion is one of the simplest paths to God. It advises, “Just be what you are. You do not need to change yourself to be divine. You are created of spirit, and to be powerful and happy, simply let nature take its course.”

Help me remember that I am divine. Return my birthright of peace to me.

My nature is godly. I am healed as I express my true self.

[bluidkiti]

December 5

Step by Step

Today, religious vs. spiritual experience. “We are taught religion, but we are born of the spirit.” In recovery, considering a spiritual awakening, am I supposed to guide my program to a religion if I have have none? Not at all. A religious conversion means only that I have embraced a set of beliefs and canons that have been defined by the founders or administrators of an organized religion. This does not mean I live by that standard, however. A spiritual awakening, on the other hand, can be something as simple as seeing a truth about myself that I never saw before. I may not even realize I have had a spiritual awakening until I see, one day, that I have given up my character defects in favor of the program’s goals of selflessness and release from resentments, anger and fear. Today, I can understand that religion and spiritual maturity are parallel train tracks that never intersect, that one can have both religion and spirituality, or religion without spirituality, and spirituality without religion. Unlike my religious development, my spiritual awareness comes from within me, not outside. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

BELIEVING

When we surrendered to our Higher Power, the journey began.

~ Anonymous ~

Many of us had trouble believing that a God existed when we began our recovery program, because for years we thought we were the master of our own affairs. We paid attention to no desires or wishes but our own.

When we realized how much help we needed, we first looked to other members and our group for support. By rejecting at first the idea of a Power higher than our-selves, many of us did accept the idea of a Power other than ourselves. As we have made spiritual progress, most of us now have a clear and ongoing belief in a Higher Power that we call God.

It is important to our recovery to rely on God, as our own belief in a Higher Power is what can and does save us from our addiction. Only two of the Steps talk about addiction. The other ten talk about spiritual growth.

I have a firm foundation for spiritual health and spiritual progress when I continue to believe in my Higher Power.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Our minds go racing about like horses running wild in the fields, while our emotions remain unmanageable, like monkeys swinging in the trees.

~ Dogen Zenji ~

When we follow the guidance to pray and meditate every day, we see how busy our minds and emotions are. Often we react out of our emotions, not even knowing we are doing so and believing we are totally rational. The wildness of our inner world is universal and human. Our development as men means taming those horses and monkeys, making friends with them, and training them to work for us rather than running off in all directions.

We grow by getting to know our feelings and thoughts. Emotions are no longer a mystery to us. We can talk about them and express them to trusted friends. After we have come to know what we feel and think, we are less at their mercy and less likely to react on impulse. We know what we are dealing with and we can choose how we will respond.

Today I am getting to know those wild horses and monkeys in my mind.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

Every relationship is a teacher. If I don’t learn the lesson, the teacher will come back.

~ Brenda M. Schaeffer ~

We get as many chances as we need to master the lessons destined for us in this life. That’s good. It removes some of the anxiety about not getting everything right the first time. While it may not be easy to admit we are relearning an old lesson, the women who share our experiences in recovery understand. And there is no shame attached, except that which we haven’t yet learned to shed.

There is a positive way to meet the return of a familiar lesson. We must be willing to give it a try once again. Then we need to have faith that we’re ready to make progress.

Life is relationship. We can’t avoid it. We can learn to love and to accept love through relationships. We can know forgiveness through them too. Mastering these lessons is all our Higher Power hopes for us.

I am a willing student today. I will expect an important lesson from every relationship.

**************************************************

~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I am learning to admit a mistake

When I make a mistake, it's hard for me to admit it. I get mad at myself (or mad at everyone else). I get embarrassed and feel ashamed. Sometimes I fear rejection or punishment, even when the mistake is small.

But my Twelve Step program is helping me. At meetings, I regularly see people admitting their problems, acknowledging their flaws, and talking about mistakes they've made during the week. I see that it's OK to make a mistake, that it's OK to admit it, and most of all, I see that doing this helps. I am learning that this program is about forgiveness.

Today I will look at myself in the mirror and admit one of my mistakes to myself.

*************************************************

~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.

~ Aldous Huxley ~

We may have many bits of unfinished business in our lives. For a long time we ignored everything but our addiction. But that did not make the other things go away.

Sometimes it seems an overwhelming task to clear up old debts, old hurt, old sources of pain. It’s too much, we think. We don’t believe we can make a big enough difference in it today. But we can. All we need to do is make a beginning.

By paying attention to old business we also pay attention to the new. When we begin today to do what we can to clear the slate — by making a payment on a bill or making amends — we are taking a step on the road to clarity, to living in the present, to a life that’s less cluttered by old baggage. Each time we cross one item off our list of things to finish we lighten our load and make room for growth. Whether we are accepting a painful consequence of our addiction or returning a long-overdue library book, we are taking action, showing our willingness to get better.

Today let me begin to clear up old business.

**************************************************

~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desire can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.

~ Ayn Rand ~

Long ago, a king placed a large boulder on a narrow road, then he hid to watch what the people would do. Some people skirted the boulder by walking through brush on the sides of the road. Others saw the obstacle and simply turned around.

A peasant came along and leaned his shoulder into the rock, pushing it with all of his might. Several minutes passed as he slowly inched the boulder off to the side of the road. When he had cleared the road, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. Inside the purse were gold coins and a note from the king: “Whosoever moves the boulder has earned this reward.”

What this story illustrates is that every obstacle placed along the paths you travel in life presents you with an opportunity. The travelers who came upon the boulder before the peasant avoided the opportunity or ignored it. Great riches can come from your willingness to take action whenever you confront an obstacle. The effort you make can enrich your understanding of your capabilities.

My actions will show there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.

~ Faith Baldwin ~

Because we are fragile and sensitive, we may feel like our progress is more steps backward than for-ward. We can take pride in our gains, but losses have a way of throwing us into a tailspin.

We may be progressing nicely in recovery, when one person says, "I don't like what you're doing." Suddenly our self-image changes from that of hope and faith to depression and despair. We become uncertain and confused about where we're going and what we're doing. How much do we value that person's opinion?

Before we let one person break our fragile self- esteem, we need to remember that person's opinion is only one of many. We need to trust our own opinion. Then we need to trust the guidance and support of people familiar with the program and do the character building we wish to do. Then we will find ourselves taking more steps forward and fewer backward.

Tonight I need to remember some people who mean a lot to me but who will never understand or support my new life. I can still care for them, but I don't need to seek their approval.

**************************************************

~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Living a clean life

When we talk about being clean and sober, we’re not talking about any kind of trance, ecstasy, or high. We’re not talking about the aloof, alienated philosopher who withdraws from society nor the rigid, unbending fanatic who screams for temperance. The sobriety and cleanness we refer to is not an extreme. It’s living well one day at a time.

We enjoy our children and friends, live life to the fullest, and are engaged in many activities. Some of us are great lovers, husbands, wives, or leaders. We all, at times, suffer anguish and doubt. No, we are not drawn away from life but to it.

Am I living today well?

Higher Power, let your irresistible burning love shine through me.

Today my plan for living well is

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

**************************************************

~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

Ignorance and conceit go hand in hand.

~ THE TALMUD ~

Newcomer

Now that I'm in recovery, it's amazing how much active addiction I can see around me. It's all over the place. Friends, family members, co-workers—more people than I realized have the same problem I have. There's one person in particular I wish I could help. Before coming into recovery, I didn't realize that she was on such a self-destructive path.

Sponsor

Once we have an insight into our own addictions, we begin seeing it everywhere. It's not hard to find: addiction is a widespread problem in our culture. We're excited about the changes that we're experiencing in our own lives, and we want to help others.

Many of us, in our enthusiasm, start to diagnose every-one around us. We may be accurate in our perceptions, or we may be mistaken. There are people who can safely do things that aren't safe for us. Or perhaps they have issues similar to ours, but are far from hitting bottom. In our zeal, we may do more harm than good. Spreading the news where it isn't wanted may make others feel uncomfortable about the program, change their minds about giving it a try, or postpone coming to a meeting.

This is a self-diagnosed disease. Who gets sober, and when, is not for us to decide. When we find that we're be-coming preoccupied with other people's recovery, it's time to pay closer attention to our own.

Today, I keep the focus on my own recovery.

**************************************************

~ THE EYE OPENER ~

A man once ridiculed me in front of a large class in school and I have hated his guts ever since. That was thirty-five years ago and I do not know whether he is dead or alive. If he was aware of my intense dislike it certainly never bothered him but it certainly bothers me even now. His face springs up in my memory and I begin to hate him all over again. This situation is just pure dumbness; I'm not hurting him but I am distressing myself.

God teach me to forgive as I hope to be forgiven.

**************************************************

~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Strengthen Me

Lord, I am an empty vessel that needs to be filled.
My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in faith; strengthen me.
I am cold in love, warm me and make me
enthusiastic—
That my love may go out to my neighbor.
I do not have a strong and firm faith;
At times I doubt and am unable to trust you.
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in You.

~ Adapted from writings by Martin Luther ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

PRAISE AND AFFIRMATION

Read Psalm 27.

And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

This verse closes the first section with a burst of praise and thanksgiving and then moves into a form of supplication that is really affirmative. Praise and affirmation should be allied.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

The Psalmist now prays for spiritual understanding and for peace of mind. The enemies, as always, are his own fears, and these fears take their rise in the fact that "false witnesses" rise up and confront him. And no one who has been through this experience will doubt the appropriateness of that telling phrase that our fears are things "such as breath out cruelty." Verily, doubt and fear are the cruelest things that can come into the life of man.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Make a Stand

Life is a great big canvas—throw on it all the paint you can.

~ Danny Kaye ~

At a seminar, a man confessed, “I was afraid to tell my friends no, because I feared they would not like me if I did, but then I realized I didn’t have any friends because no one knew who I was.”

For a long time, I was afraid to tell the truth, for I feared I would be rejected if I did. Then I discovered that I had paid the dear price of intimacy. In my fear that I would be unlovable if people knew who I was, I found that I was unreachable because I was unknown.

No matter what you say or do, there will be people who agree and disagree, those who like you and don’t like you. It’s unrealistic to expect that everyone is always going to approve of you. The only person whose approval really counts is your own.

I once sent out a newsletter mailing with the tongue-in-cheek return address of “Immaculate Cohenceptions.” To my surprise, I received several angry letters, including one from a convent, complaining that I had insulted Catholicism. Since my intention was harmless, I felt unnerved by this reaction, and I voiced my concern at a retreat I was conducting.

A man named Scott offered this comment: “Alan, one of the things I love most about you is your sense of humor; I have found it to be very healing. If you shut down on your creativity because you’re afraid of a few reactions, then I must tell you that I will be disappointed in you, probably along with a bunch of other folks.”

Suddenly I realized that there is no way I’m going to please everyone. I might as well just be who and what I am, and trust that the universe will support me for my authenticity. As an old tombstone in Texas reads, “Be what you is, ‘cuz if you is what you ain’t, you ain’t what you is.”

I pray to know and trust that You created me in wisdom and goodness.

I live from my heart. Sincerity is my key to success.

[bluidkiti]

December 6

Step by Step

“Shakespeare said, ‘All the world’s a stage, all the men and women merely players.’ He forgot to mention that I was the chief critic. I was always able to see the flaw in every person, every situation. And I was always glad to point it out, because I knew you wanted perfection, just as I did. AA and acceptance have taught me that there is a bit of good in the worst of us and a bit of bad in the best of us; that we are all children of God and we each have a right to be here. When I complain about me or about you, I am complaining about God’s handiwork. I am saying that I know better than God.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Stopped in Time,” Ch 17 (“Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict”), p 449.

Today, no complaining if for no other reason than to experience not complaining. So much of my emotional energy was spent complaining in my drinking days and maybe even in sobriety. The end result is always the feeling of not getting my way with everything and everyone, and that kind of feeling opens the door to futile emotions like anger, resentment and smugness. Today, let me go without complaining about any situation and anyone, and let me remember that those against whom I complain probably have an arsenal of complaints they can unleash on me. And I can’t expect anyone to tolerate my complaints against them anymore than I want to hear theirs against me. Today, in not complaining, let me see that I might become a more serene person and working my program may be a little less difficult. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

~ HENRY DAVID THOREAU ~

The price of anything suggests a cost; the value of anything suggests the return on the investment. The value of recovery from my nicotine addiction is priceless. The actual price I paid was the commitment to attend every Nicotine Anonymous meeting in my area, no matter what. There were times it was inconvenient, but I would compare the inconvenience to the effort I would have been willing to make to get my drug.

I never had to go out in the middle of the night and drive on icy streets to get to a meeting. I never had to lie and sneak out of my work. I never had to use grocery money. I gave up bronchitis. I gave up standing out in the cold and rain. I gave up lectures from doctors, friends and family.

Anytime I thought a meeting was too inconvenient, I would think of another member. He lost his job and wound up having to temporarily live with his sister who lived sixty-five or more miles from the meeting. He still made meetings.

Today, I am grateful for the priceless gift of recovery.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

SPIRITUAL

Spirituality is at the heart of the Twelve Step program of recovery. There is not A spiritual part of the Program. It IS a spiritual Program.

~ Jerry Dollard ~

A person who has had a spiritual experience does not wear that experience on their sleeve. What the Fellowship has discovered about the spirit has nothing to do with a “holier than thou” attitude. A spiritual person is surrounded by peace and tranquillity. They are busy with life, living each moment fully. They have an active concern with the well-being of other people.

A spiritual person may be surrounded by turmoil and still have serenity. The spiritual experience causes us to act differently. We are less concerned about ourselves. We know that we are well provided for. We are told to remember, “When we got to the place where there was nothing left but God, we found that God was enough.”

My spiritual growth has helped me, through my attitudes and actions, to better live with myself, my Higher Power, and others.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Character is what you know you are, not what others think you are.

~ Marva Collins and CiviaTamarkin ~

True self-esteem is built by having values and living by them. Many men seek to repair their self-esteem by going after the praise of others. Praise is nice to get, but the most highly successful men can still live with an insatiable hunger, an empty hole in their own self-regard.

Our self-esteem is built by first asking ourselves what our values are. What do we admire most in a man? What do we believe is most important in the character of a good person? What is our highest calling as we live our lives? When we have the answers to these kinds of questions, we have a road map to achieving an inner feeling that we are worthwhile. We don’t have to be perfect in fulfilling those values, but if we use them as our guides, we will have self-esteem, regardless of whether others praise us.

Today I will choose my actions in accord with my highest values.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

Some days I wonder how light can survive in a world with so much darkness. But most days I wonder how darkness can survive in a world with so much light.

~ Jill Clark ~

Global events can be overwhelming. Nations of people are starving and at war. Earthquakes, hurricanes, rampant poverty know no bounds. We search for hope and wonder where it is. Those walking our path are learning that it resides within. Let’s be grateful.

Whether we see a situation as positive and for our good depends on our attitude. Life is as fulfilling and joyful as we decide to make it. Accepting whatever comes to us today in the spirit of gratitude will allow us to cultivate each experience for all it’s worth.

Just as surely as we can cultivate a bright outlook on a day’s events, we can work on a healthy perspective toward darkness. Why would we ever choose otherwise?

I don’t have to relish dark thoughts today. Remembering that God is in charge and all is well will let me see the light.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

My life is changing

I look around me and nothing looks the same—although nothing physical has changed. It’s the same city, family, home, and job. But it doesn’t feel the same. I don’t feel the same. Sometimes, I feel a little lost.

According to my counselor, there may be two major changes at work: (a) I am no longer drinking; and (b) I am now taking medication for my emotional illness. He also pointed out that I am attending a support group and a Twelve Step meeting, and I’m meeting new people. He admitted that with all these changes, he might feel a little lost too.

I will list three anchors—whether people, places, or things—that help me stay centered in my recovering life.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Being a man, ne’er ask the gods for life set free from grief, but ask for courage that endureth long.

~ Menander ~

If we feel God has not heard our prayers, perhaps we’re asking the wrong questions. How often have we sat alone wishing that God would end our suffering, wishing that “just this once God, if You do this for me, I’ll do that for You”?

Maybe what we need is not an end to our suffering but the courage and guidance from our Higher Power to see it through — and the trust that whatever befalls us is necessary for our continued growth and recovery. God knows the path we are to follow. God knows the struggles that will make us better human beings.

It takes humility to accept and understand that God’s will for us might include suffering, but humility is the doorway to compassion, and thus to the loving company of other people. In asking God for courage and guidance we free ourselves to accept it.

Today help me ask for the courage to endure whatever happens.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Do not wait for your ship to come in. Swim out to it.

~ Author unknown ~

Have you ever noticed that those people who are most optimistic seem to experience great fortune? It is as if they attract people and opportunities and seem to have things turn out for them in beneficial ways. At the opposite end of the spectrum are those people who are pessimists. They seem to live under a dark cloud that follows them everywhere. They rarely have anything good to say. They seem to never catch a break and always have something catastrophic or dramatic happening to them.

The law of attraction can be applied to the attitude you bring to life. If you are a negative person, you have a good chance of attracting negative energy and outcomes. But when you are a positive person, you have a good chance of attracting positive energy and having things turn out well.

Today think about the image you usually present to the world. Imagine this image is translated into the energy that courses through your body and your mind. It is the energy that emanates from you and surrounds you, and it is what you attract in kind. Consider how you can transform a negative image and outlook into one of confidence and a positive attitude.

I will greet the day with a smile on my face and lightness in my heart.

************************************************

~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.

~ Carlos Castaneda ~

“Woe is me!” is a familiar cry to many of us, for we have cried it ourselves long and hard. We’ve placed a lot of energy into feeling our misery, in discussing it, in analyzing it, in living and reliving it. Misery has been our favorite tape recording, to be played over and over.

But our awakening in the program has taught us that we do not have to live in misery. We are learning we have choices, and one of those choices is to hold on to our feelings. If we choose to hold on to pain and despair and misery with both hands, we have no way to grasp on to strength and hope and happiness.

We can let go of misery tonight. Perhaps we won’t want to release both hands right away, and that’s okay. But we can release the grip of one hand and have it grasp on to positive, strength-giving feelings. Little by little, we’ll learn to let go of our misery and use both hands to hold on to the hope of the program to make ourselves strong.

I do not need to fear letting go, for nothing bad will happen to me—only good.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Accepting joy

In our drug-free lives, we frequently experience great joy and happiness. But some-times, because of our past, we feel so guilty that we don’t accept this happiness. To avoid being happy, we’ll even go so far as to create new problems.

The familiarity of being troubled is somehow comforting. Acknowledging and releasing this false need clears the way for the journey along the spiritual path. Accepting our Higher Power’s gifts of joy enables us to spread joy and to receive it in turn—to heighten our spirituality.

Have I learned how to accept joy and happiness?

Higher Power, may I know in my heart that you love me and that I am worthy of being happy.

I will accept the joy that comes my way today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.
I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.

~ MOTHER TERESA ~

Newcomer

I’ve heard of “Twelve Step calls”—going to people’s homes and carrying the message. Is that what we’re supposed to do?

Sponsor

“Twelve Stepping” is not limited to situations in which two or more people in recovery go to the home of someone who’s ready to get sober, in order to share their experience, strength, and hope. There are many ways to carry the message. Answering telephones, providing meeting information and transportation to newcomers or out-of-town visitors, buying literature for the group, sponsoring—any service we perform that makes it possible for people to attend meetings and to hear the message of the program is a form of Twelfth Step work. The simple act of showing up at a meeting, sharing and thanking others for sharing, is Twelfth Step work. Our willingness and consistency and simply being ourselves send a powerful message.

All of us are qualified to share our own experience, strength, and hope. Our recovery itself is eloquent.

Today, I perform some form of service for others in recovery. I give it back in order to keep it.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

If you are satisfied with your progress in AA you are not only an exception, but you may be headed for trouble. Remember One Day at a Time, and Easy Does It. Before you measure your advancement, be sure you have an accurate yardstick. Nature is always slow in its development of good things.

Some weeds mature and bloom in a few days, but it takes Nature many centuries to perfect a diamond. Don’t worry about your rate of progress — you have a lifetime ahead of you — but just be sure that you progress.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Becoming Whole

Dear God, I pray my physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual selves become one, a whole person again. I thank You for showing me how to match my outside to my inside. To laugh when I feel like laughing. To cry when I feel sad. To recognize my own anger or fear or guilt. I pray for wholeness.

~ Adapted from A Day at a Time, May 18 ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

WAITING UPON THE LORD

Read Psalm 27.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Here, the Psalmist once more makes it clear to his own mind that his reliance is indeed entirely upon the divine Power, and not upon his own limited intellect, or will power.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:13-14).

The closing phrase is a powerful exhortation to be active and steadfast in prayer. To “wait upon the Lord” does not in the least mean neglecting a problem in the hope that God will come along and solve it for you. Waiting on the Lord means praying constantly and systematically about your problem. No particular form of prayer is essential, but prayer there must be; that is, the conscious dwelling upon the Being of God.

If your intuitive nature is well developed, you will seldom need to use formal statements. This is excellent—for who will trouble to climb a ladder when he is strong enough to leap over the wall? However, many people lose the ability to receive intuitional messages when worried or frightened. Then the ladder will probably be their salvation.

Nevertheless, it must not be overlooked that very many people do all their praying with formal statements of Truth, but not through repeating affirmations like a parrot. Those who work like a parrot inevitably make the parrot’s demonstration—they remain in the cage. Of a good prayer who used the same phrases many times it was said by a friend: “He constantly uses the old affirmations, but be stuffs them with fresh feeling every time.”

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Golden Words

The world is divided into two classes of people: the few who make good on their promises and the many who don’t; get in Column A and stay there. You’ll be valuable wherever you go.

~ Robert Townsend ~

In the film, Holy Matrimony, Patricia Arquette plays a huckster named Sonora who follows her husband in order to hide from the low in a Mennonite community. When her husband dies, Sonora is required by religious law to marry his 12-year-old brother, Jeb. Despite his tender age, Jeb has strong values, and he is a wiser man than his brother ever was. After Sonora sneaks off to have an affair with an older man, Jeb challenges her choice, asking her if this man has any integrity. He asks Sonora, “Is his word golden?”

The act of keeping our word is an immeasurable gift. To be in a marital or working relationship with someone whose words you can trust is a precious blessing. And to be such a person is to give your friends the greatest gift of all.

Because we have the power to co-create with God, the words we utter have enormous import. Our words make our life if we speak them with conviction, and they can break us if we let our tongue be guided by foolishness or fear. Take care to speak only what you want to see manifested.

Take care, too, to do what you say you are going to do. To make a promise to others, even to meet them at a particular time, is a sacred act. If you do not keep your promises, you become untrustworthy, and your loved ones will be confused about who you are and what you will do. Do not make promises that you are not sure you can keep. If you’ve made a promise that you’re unable to fulfill, go to the other person quickly and seek to find a new way that will work for both of you.

Be at peace with yourself by being at peace with the words you speak. A golden life begins with golden words.

Your word is perfect, comforting, and trustworthy. May my words be the same.

I empower myself and others by living the words I speak.

[bluidkiti]

December 7

Step by Step

When membership in a fledgling movement hit 2,000 members in March 1941, “(AA) then entered a fearsome and exciting adolescent period. The test that it faced was this: Could these large numbers of erstwhile erratic alcoholics successfully meet and work together? Would there be quarrels over membership, leadership and money? Would there be strivings for power and prestige? Would there be schisms which would split AA apart? Soon AA was beset by these very problems on every side and in every group. But out of this frightening and at first disrupting experiences the conviction grew that AA’s had to hang together or die separately. We had to unify our Fellowship or pass off the scene.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Foreward, pp xviii-xix.

Today, my sobriety and recovery are not entirely my own and reflect the effectiveness and success of all AA, to some extent. This is my obligation to AA – to represent it to the best of my ability, and the best is measured to some degree by my role in my home group. From this passage in the Big Book when AA’s membership hit 2,000 people, that number since has multiplied by literally more than a thousand times. But there are still arguments in groups about who is to be allowed to attend meetings, who is in charge, if the group’s treasurer can be trusted with members’ money, if members are out for power. We as individuals and collectively need only look to the 12 steps and principles that require only the desire to quit drinking for membership, that we have no leaders and instead only trusted servants” And our group politics are dictated only by a group conscience. I ask today if I am a contributor to any friction in my home group or if I am a mediator in divisive issues. Either way, I am representing not only myself but the effectiveness of AA. Today, if my choice is to die separately or hang together, I could have had the former by continuing to drink. Today, I choose the latter. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

HUMILITY

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.

~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

No single characteristic brings us greater joy than humility. There is no greater defense against the cunning, baffling, and powerful disease with which we live. We must learn to understand the strength and wisdom which comes from a truly humble person.

It is good to get rid of our misconceptions about humility. Humility has nothing to do with shyness, weakness, or putting ourselves down. When humility becomes an ego-booster, then it turns into a character defect. Humility is living in a proper relationship to God. When we walk with God, we don't have to try to be humble. We are humble.

The reason there is strength and power in humility is that God is strong and powerful. My own daily abstinence is but one result of this Power.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

All action ends in passion because the response to our action is out of our hands. That is the mystery of work, the mystery of love, the mystery of friendship, the mystery of community—they always involve waiting.

~ Henri Nouwen ~

In our desire for control, we want to not only say the right thing but control how it is heard. We want to take an action and have others respond just as we planned. But the spiritual path takes us into the mystery where we accept the truth of what we do not control. We would do well to think of ourselves as an archer. To shoot an arrow, we have to let it go.

We can do our best to say what we sincerely believe and then let others listen and respond. We can do what we believe is the right action and then wait for others to take it where they choose. That is the only authentic dialogue. Our faith comes into play when we engage in the dialogue, knowing that we can only say and do our half of the exchange. Out of the process something real will emerge.

Today I will live in the mystery of my life, let go of the responses to my actions, and simply wait.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

We can’t create transformational spiritual experiences by sheer will, but we can encourage them by being open to them.

~ Veronica Ray ~

How does one define a spiritual experience? Perhaps the most we can say is that we know, oftentimes very subtly, that something wonderful has happened. We suddenly sense that we are safe, in good hands, and the pain or turmoil of our lives is passing.

Our spiritual guide or our Higher Power is always with us, always trying to help us, always acting as a protector and teacher. Unfortunately, many of us can’t quiet our minds enough to capture the essence of God’s presence in all our experiences, the mundane as well as the obviously significant. Making the Second Step of this program the foundation for daily living opens us to the myriad possibilities for the spiritual experiences we seek. “Coming to believe” is right next to “believing.” Believing is next to knowing.

My life is on a spiritual plane. God’s presence, thus my safety, is as close as my next thought today.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I need to take my meds

I know I have a dual disorder, although I don't like to admit it. I know I need to take medication, although it has taken a while to accept it and its side effects. I know that the medication helps me relax, think clearer, and generally get on with my life. But lately, I keep forgetting to take it.

I am not sure what is going on with me, but I am scared and don't want it to get out of hand. To remain stable (and abstinent) in dual recovery, I need to talk about this with my therapist and my dual recovery group. I need their experience and support.
I will post reminders to take my medication and ask a friend in recovery to confirm it once a day.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

The easiest person to deceive is oneself.

~ Edward Bulwer-Lytton ~

Telling people how we feel is honesty. But when someone says, “I told my wife all her faults because the program says I should be honest,” this is not at all in accord with our program.

Sometimes we may twist the meaning and words of the Steps or the slogans in order to hurt or manipulate someone. We may not even realize we’re doing it. But this is working against the program, and it won’t help us stay sober. When we work our program in a spirit of fellowship and honesty, we don’t need to resort to taking someone else’s inventory.

It takes fearless honesty to keep us on the path of recovery, and we need the help of others and our Higher Power to recognize when we’re avoiding responsibility.

As we come to believe in ourselves more, it is easier and more natural to be genuinely honest. In time we can own our defects and focus on ourselves, rather than others. One day at a time with the help of our Higher Power, we will find a new, honest life.

Today let me focus on my own changes.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

It is not the situation.. .it is your reaction to the situation.

~ Bob Conklin ~

Sometimes the pain you feel can linger for too long, particularly when you are unable to let go of the past. This can cause great unhappiness, strain your relationships, and distract you from work and responsibilities.

Letting go of the past enables you to move forward so you can change your life. This does not mean you must erase your past from your memory. Nor does it mean you can undo what has been done or change how others have treated you.

But unless and until you let go of the influence the past has upon your present, you may continue to hold onto hurt, sadness, anger, and resentment. Once you commit to letting go, you can put your past to rest and move on to a better and more comfortable place. Remember to be patient. You are not going to be able to let go of your past in a few hours or even a few days. Remember also that every conflict, hurt, or misunderstanding has two sides. You may have been partially responsible for a past hurt, such as a bad ending to a relationship. Recognizing your part can help you let go.

I will identify something from my past that is weighing me down, and release it from my life.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

~ Harriet Beecher Stowe ~

After every downswing there is an upswing. It may not be immediate, like a roller coaster ride with its constant dips and climbs. Sometimes there will be a long stretch of level ground after a downswing, making us feel we are sinking lower and lower. But the leveling off period strives to bring us stability before the upswing.

Listen to those around us. They will talk of bad times and say, "I never thought it would come to an end." But they'll also tell us the end did come and things did get better. Each time that happened they had more faith and the next downswing wasn't as devastating or hopeless. By trusting in the natural up-and- down motion of life, we will be able to say, "Things won't get any worse. In fact, they will get better."

I need to listen to others with experience and trust their stories. Tonight I will believe and trust as they do.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Accepting responsibility

Our troubles are of our own making. At first it’s hard to comprehend that our trials and tribulations are the result of choices we’ve made. Sometimes we ask ourselves, Why does my Higher Power let these things happen to me? This may be our Higher Power’s way of saying, “You’re on the wrong path! This is the way—take this path!” From suffering comes growth. Maybe we have to suffer before we’ve “grown” enough to realize our path.

The longer we fail to accept responsibility for our actions, the longer it takes to have a fulfilling relationship with our Creator. We have to acknowledge that our failures and hardships are ours and our doing. Society, our parents, or our Higher Power are not to blame.

Do I accept responsibility for all my actions?

Higher Power, may I turn to you for guidance and stop blaming others for my misfortunes.

Today I will look at my personal responsibility in relation to problems such as

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

Love is wiser than ambition.

~ BRYAN WALLER PROCTER ~

Newcomer

I thought that nobody was supposed to make any money out of this program. What about the people who work at program intergroups and get paid regular salaries?

Sponsor

We figured out some time ago that certain kinds of work get done more efficiently by paid service workers, rather than by volunteers. Running offices, programming computers, publishing, filling book orders, answering volumes of correspondence from all over the world, preserving historical records—such work requires training, continuity, and consistency.
But our traditions do keep the direct Twelfth Step work of helping other people suffering from addictions forever nonprofessional. We share our experience, strength, and hope voluntarily and freely, to help bring recovery to others suffering from our addictions. Whether we're speaking, performing other services that keep meetings going, answering telephone hotlines, or sponsoring newcomers, we are never paid.
I don't have to question the motives of someone who is giving it away to keep it. The message goes straight from his or her heart to my own.
Today, I'm grateful for opportunities to carry the message.
I share my experience, strength, and hope freely and voluntarily, without thought of gain.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Every person at some time in life has a spiritual experience of some kind. It may have been no more than a soul- stimulating experience after hearing a beautiful hymn, beautifully sung. Perhaps it is only an undefined hunger within when viewing alone a star-studded sky, or an awe-inspiring view. Maybe it was experienced when looking upon the miracle of a baby.

The soul of even the most callous will light up when it glimpses the beauty and power of God.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Through These Doors

Dear God,
Please get me through these doors.
A meeting is what I need.
Remind me to leave my ego and intolerance outside.
Help me to hear the strength and hope in everyone's words.
We are the same but appear so different.
I will remember that others' experiences will help my
recovery just as my experience may help another.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

IS IT A LIE?

Thoughtless people sometimes say that our affirmations and meditations are foolish because we state what is not so. "To claim that my body is well or being healed when it is not, is only to tell a lie," said one distinguished man some years ago.

This is to misunderstand the whole principle. We affirm the harmony that we seek in order to provide the subconscious with a blueprint of the work to be done. When you decide to build a house your architect prepares drawings of a complete house. Actually, of course, there is no such house on the lot today, but you would not think of saying that the architect was drawing a lie. He is drawing what is to be, in order that it may be. So, we build in thought the conditions that will later come into manifestation on the physical plane.

What is your intelligence for if not to be used in building the kind of life that you want? Very primitive men in prehistoric times rejoiced when they found food growing anywhere, and then they waited, perhaps for years, until they happened to find another crop. Today we use our intelligence, and plant in good time the actual crops that we want; and the amount that we consider necessary. We do not sit about hoping that wheat or barley may fortunately come up somewhere. If we did that, civilization would collapse.

The time has come when intelligent men and women must understand the laws of Mind, and plant consciously the crops that they desire; and just as carefully pull up the weeds that they do not want.

Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; ... and they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work (Nehemiah 2:18).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Flesh and Spirit

What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of spirit is spirit.

~ Jesus Christ ~

Many on the spiritual path have a difficult time with their family of origin. Nearly all of us grew up with some (or a great deal of) dysfunction, and we advance on the spiritual path we may feel that our family relationships hold us back from being who we are and living the life we choose. I have seen many different reactions to stifling family-of-origin relationships—from total denial, to numbness, to fearful clinging, to hurt separation, to passive-aggressive hostility, to ongoing conflict. None of these responses wok, for they all create only more pain and separation. How, then, are we to deal with our blood families?

Love them, give them the respect they deserve, and live the life you choose. Our primary pain comes not from the life our family lives but from compromising our life to meet their expectations. If you are true to yourself and you live in integrity with your ideals, you will see your family clearly and know how to deal with them.

Our real family is our spiritual family—the people with whom we feel safe, supported, and free to be ourselves. Sometimes our blood family matches our spiritual family, and that is a great blessing. If your spiritual family is elsewhere, then you must be where your true nature is honored. Meanwhile, do you best to bring your family-of-origin relationships into harmony. Pray for your family members, tell them the truth, love and support them where they are without requiring they be otherwise, and do not compromise your well-being for the sake of dysfunction. Honor your family's path, but not at the expense of your own.

Family healings are the most rewarding for, as A Course in Miracles tells us, "the holiest place on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love." Remember that forgiveness is the greatest gift we can give, and continue on your path to the light.

Help me find peace with my family.

I live the life I choose, and I bless my family as they live theirs.

[bluidkiti]

December 8

Step by Step

Today, Step Nine suggests that I atone to people I hurt with my drinking after I determine if those people are in a place in their own lives to accept my amends. The wisest measure may be in the Ninth Step’s qualification that amends not be made – not immediately – if they compound the initial injury or hurt other people. If I determine honestly that some people who are owed amends cannot or should not yet receive them, I must also understand I am not off the hook. I can offer a gesture if none other than getting and staying sober and working the program’s steps to build a new character for others to see. As for people to whom I can offer direct amends, I must also be on guard not to grovel or beg for forgiveness if my apology is rejected. For we do not bow before anyone in shame or guilt. As such, I cannot allow myself to be made the proverbial doormat for the wrongs to people to whom I owe amends. Today, fully respecting the integrity and intent of the Ninth Step, I need first to determine that I can offer immediate amends and, if I can, to guard against becoming their kicking post. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

SURRENDER

In my end is my beginning.

~ T.S. Eliot ~

Don't just quit, surrender! We now know there is a big difference. Most of us quit a thousand times. We bet all we had on our ability to just say no. Each morning, with a swollen head, we made our pledge to quit. Then as the sun began to go down, the memory of the quitting faded away, and we were again deep into our addiction. The rock-solid purpose we had in the morning had utterly dissolved in the evening.

We couldn't quit because we were out of control and living in denial. Our only hope was in surrendering to our powerlessness and admitting that we could not will this monkey away. What came before surrender was the acknowledgment that there was someone to whom we were surrendering. We did not need to worry about naming the force or the Power that was in control.

I needed only to surrender and let go of the will that tormented me on a daily basis. The answer came in my act of surrender.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

The day you were born a ladder was set up to help you escape this world.

~ Rumi ~

In a spiritual life, as our soul develops, our consciousness reaches beyond the mundane world of things, events, and facts. We find meaning in the happenings of our lives: a chance meeting with a friend, a rainstorm that changes our plans, or even our simple daily chores. And we find our connection to the larger whole through friendships and community. We care, we love, and our actions fulfill our sense of who we want to be as men.

Many of us have outgrown or turned away from the religious training we received as boys. Others of us grew within the religions of our childhoods, developing adult spiritual lives. In either case, spiritual development is the process of discovering or uncovering what was there for us, perhaps what was meant for us, from the day we were born.

Today I am in touch with my soul.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

The opinion we have of ourselves isn’t just based on beliefs—it’s also based on actions.

~ Marie Lindquist ~

Seeing ourselves for who we really are is easier now that we are sober. When we work the Steps, we discover a process for living more peaceful lives. When we do an inventory, we discover who we are. Keeping track of our actions on a daily basis gives us the biggest payoff.

Trying to be our best is a challenge. Many of us are just beginning to practice taking control of our thoughts before reacting to circumstances. As a result, we have far fewer amends to make. Deciding what we want to do based on what we have consciously chosen to think is an adventure in creativity. The more we actively take charge of our own lives, the greater our rewards.

The opinion I have of myself is in my control. I can act well today, thus think well of myself, and vice versa.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I can smile again

My dual disorder has kept me down. Things were serious at times—I was desperate, despondent, and out of control. Nothing was fun, not even getting high (that just diminished the pain).

With treatment, however, I am feeling better. Since I was able to admit my problems and ask for help, I am no longer alone in my struggle. I am with people who understand, many who even share my dual disorder. I now feel hopeful. Change looks possible. These days I find myself smiling at people and looking forward to simple pleasures.

In my journal I will write about two events that made me happy today.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

This plant would like to grow... and yet escape.

~ Richard Wilbur ~

One irony of growing up and becoming mature is it’s not quite as easy as we thought it would be. Once we get to the point of making decisions for our lives, we often wish we were kids again when our parents took care of all the difficult decisions. Growing up means accepting responsibility for our behavior and attitudes, making decisions and living with the consequences, and solving day-to-day problems. It really would be nice to have a mom or a dad or someone else take care of all this for us.

Fortunately there is a middle ground between being completely on our own and having someone taking care of us all the time. The middle ground is to be interdependent — at times taking care of day-to-day problems on our own, but at other times, when the problem or decision is greater, asking other people and our Higher Power for help. Being adult does not have to mean being alone. Asking for help is often a very mature action, and will usually enrich our lives with friendship and camaraderie and contact with our Higher Power.

Today I pray that I may never be afraid to ask for help. And may I never view asking for help as a sign of weakness.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

You won’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.

~ Epicurus ~

You may feel there is so much that is unknown in your recovery, so much that needs to be done, and so many feelings you have suppressed that you do not know where to begin or how to start to make things better. Even if you have spent years in recovery and are confident in your ability and commitment to being clean and sober, there may be things you have put off doing that need to be done. Or you may be experiencing a dramatic life change that may challenge your courage to stay on the right path.

Mastering your fear of facing such things and learning to work through them takes courage. Everyone has the ability to be courageous, but you must work hard to develop and strengthen it.

Each time you take steps toward those things that frighten or overwhelm you, you develop greater confidence and strength. And each time you stand up for yourself in the face of disagreement or controversy, you are moving closer to building a foundation of courage deep within you. Build your courage, and it will be something you can depend upon for the days that lie ahead.

If there are demons to slay today, I will do so. I have courage.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

A strong life is like that of a ship of war which has its own place in the fleet and can share in its strength and discipline, but can also go forth alone to the solitude of the infinite sea.

~ P.G. Hamerton ~

We need to achieve a balance between socializing and solitude. If we are around others day in and day out, we will never learn what it feels like to be by our-selves. Likewise, if we are isolated a lot, we will never learn what it's like to be around others. Recovery depends on sound balance between the two.

As we reflect upon today, we can take note of the time we spent with others or in solitude. Then we can better decide how to balance tomorrow's activities. If we've dealt with people all day, it might be good to spend some time alone, traveling in solitude on the infinite sea. If we've spent most of the day in solitude, it might be good to spend time with others, experiencing that we are a part of those around us. We can strive to seek balance and harmony as we steer our ships.

What do I need to balance tomorrow's activities: the company of others or the company of myself?

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Going forward

Our lives have not come to a standstill. In fact, our lives began when we decided to stop using drugs. This program isn’t a punishment but a glorious gift from our Higher Power.

Because we are recovering, we are stronger. If we feel we’re at a standstill, we can move forward. When things are bad, we can change them to good. When things are good, we can improve them. With our Higher Power’s guidance, we keep progressing and don’t get stuck in a rut.

Am I out of all the old ruts?

Higher Power, may I realize that this program is not a punishment but a step forward with you.

Today I will take a step forward by improving

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

When someone's life is shattered, there is only humanity.

~ DIANE SAWYER ~

Newcomer

There's someone I took a dislike to the first time I saw her at a meeting. From her age and appearance, I assumed that we had little in common. Recently, she was the speaker at a meeting I attended, and I heard more. The sincerity of her sharing touched off strong memories from my own past. After the meeting, I thanked her, and told her how moved I'd been listening to her. It surprised me to find out that my prejudices can still keep me from seeing and hearing people as they really are. It's humbling.

Sponsor

Congratulations on listening in spite of your initial negative feelings. We can learn from people whose lives and personalities are vastly different from our own, people whom we would not necessarily choose as friends or close associates. I once heard a man in recovery say, "If you haven't met anyone you don't like, you haven't been to enough meetings." We aren't required to like everyone we meet here, but we do need to give one another respect and a special kind of attention. As we hear how others' lives have changed, we listen actively for feelings that echo our own. We learn to go deeper than the surface, to see the journey of another's spirit, and we find that we want to celebrate one another's victories in recovery. Our respect for those who speak at meetings has a further benefit. As we learn to see the humanity of those who are recovering in this fellowship, our tolerance for all human beings grows.

Today, I sense the humanity of all those in this fellowship.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Have you ever noticed those old expressions: "Sit down and cry"; "Prostrate with grief"; "Wallowing in pity"; "Bowed down with troubles," etc.?

Truly troubles in all their forms get us "down" so the only antidote would appear to be to "get up and do."

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

We Need Only Obey

Dear God, I realize the whole course of things goes to teach me faith. I need only obey. There is guidance for me, and by listening 1 shall hear the right word. I will place myself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom that flows from You; I will place myself in the center of that flood. And then I may know the truth, the right, and contentment.

~ Adapted from writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

Don't Hurry. You are going to live forever—somewhere. In fact, you are in eternity now; so why rush?

Don't Worry. You belong to God, and God is Love; so why fret?

Don't Condemn. As you cannot get under the other fellow's skin, you cannot possibly know what difficulties he has had to meet—how much temptation, or misunderstanding, or stupidity. You are not perfect yourself and might be much worse in his shoes.

Don't Resent. If wrong has been done, the Great Law will surely take care of it. Rise up in consciousness and set both yourself and the delinquent free. Forgiveness is the strongest medicine.

...For there is no power but of God (Romans 13:1).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

All Taken Care Of

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

~ Psalm 23 ~

In their inspiring book, The Peace of God Is My One Goal, Barbara and Robert Varley recounted many experiences in which they put A Course in Miracles into action and proved that faith works.

While traveling across the country offering seminars, the couple needed a new van. They went into a local auto dealership and found a vehicle they liked, but the salesman quoted a price beyond what they felt they could afford. When the Varleys meditated on it, however, their guidance was to buy the van and not even bargain with the salesman. They agreed to the asking price, and the salesman began to weep. “It has been a very slow season, and I did not know how I would provide for my family for Christmas,” he told them. “This sale will enable me to buy my children some decent presents.” Over the next few months, the income from the Varleys’ seminars, on a donation basis, swelled significantly, and the van was paid off in short time. Then their income subsided to its previous level.

The universe provides for all our needs if we trust it. We do not have to fight for our good or struggle with others over a seemingly limited supply The God that created countless stars and fathomless seas is able to create abundance for us to the extent we require it. Our job is to listen to our guidance and trust.

Search your mind for thoughts of lack, and offset them with thoughts of abundance. Practice living as if you always have enough of what you need, and you will manifest great supply. Some people have bank checks printed with the motto, “God is my source.” Turn to the invisible hand of grace, and you shall see it made visible.

Help me to remember that You are the source of all my good.

I allow God to provide me with an abundant life.

[bluidkiti]

December 9

Step by Step

“Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), p 64.

Today, I cannot hear too often that my drinking “was but a symptom” of a deeper emotional and spiritual turmoil that plunged me into alcoholism. Accepting this truth, logic brings the companion truth that abstinence from drinking by itself will not bring me the serenity and better life that sobriety promises. Without confronting and taking on the “causes and conditions” of my alcoholism, I may be a relapse waiting to happen. This is why, for me, I have to move beyond abstinence alone and work the steps of the program, from the gut-wrenching honesty of the Fourth Step to offering amends to everyone my drinking hurt and the spiritual renewal promised me in Step 12 – and its command that I be in some form of service if for no other reason than to take my attention off myself and on the needs and plights of the alcoholic who still suffers. Today, simply not drinking is not enough by itself and I look to the steps to guide me to the promise of being sober and not just a dry drunk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

Faith is spiritualized imagination.

~ HENRY WARD BEECHER ~

Scientists have been trying to prove or disprove the concept of God for centuries. Philosophers have been debating the issue. But no one has concrete evidence either way. It takes faith in a Power greater than ourselves, not proof.

I seriously and diligently tried every means in my control to break free of my compulsion to use nicotine, but was unsuccessful. Our Fellowship provided the strength I lacked. Not only do we provide each other the ability to get and stay free, we help each other learn to live better lives.

To me the efforts human beings have consistently made over centuries in becoming better people are evidence of a greater Power.

Today, I will look for the good in every person.

Nicotine Anonymous World Services

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

TRANSFORMATION

Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator.

~ Robert F. Kennedy ~

We humbly ask God in our Seventh Step to remove our shortcomings. We are asking God to do in other parts of our lives what He has done to our addiction. Each moment we experience freedom from our disease, we acknowledge God’s Power. Many of us lost our desire for our addiction quickly. Others waged a long and painful battle to reach a point of surrender. How will God work on our shortcomings? Will it be immediate or will it be over time?

Our Fellowship suggests that we live our lives one day at a time. Personal change occurs but one day at a time. We must resist the temptation to set God’s clock to fast forward. The long-sought-after changes will occur in ways we cannot predict and should not expect.

I have not been the best judge as to what is good for me. I must trust God in all things, even those that are most personal to me.

by Anonymous

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

It has been my philosophy of life that difficulties vanish when faced boldly.

~ Isaac Asimov ~

When a serious problem comes into our life, the first question most of us ask is, why me?

It’s a question with no answer. But we know that being born means we will face problems and challenges. No life is free of them. Our development is as much about learning to deal with problems as it is about learning to avoid them. Most of us have tried mightily to not deal with our problems by hiding from them or denying them. We have also tried bulldozing our way over problems with the force of our will.

Now we have a new tool for facing problems; it’s the paradox of powerlessness. Now we understand that we cannot control many of life’s challenges. When we boldly face difficulties that we cannot control, we accept the facts. Accepting our powerlessness over a problem surprisingly makes us stronger. It changes everything. It even transforms our life.

Today I will face difficulty head on and admit the situation as I see it.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

We are ruled by that which we choose not to see.

~ Clara Rosemarda ~

Why do we choose to ignore particular experiences? Some would say it’s because we want to avoid taking the action that our conscience demands. Others suggest it’s out of fear: what we can’t see can’t hurt us. On the contrary, unaddressed situations, whether acknowledged or not, make their demands on us. We will pay in time.

How do we make sure we are dealing with problems that affect us? Being willing to see what’s going on is the first step. Focusing our thoughts on the present comes next. We need to remember the slogan “One day at a time.” We certainly know that, but it’s hard to live by it consistently. Little by little, we’ll realize we are changing, that we are more aware of what’s happening around us. The result is that we’ll come to understand the influences in our lives. We’ll no longer be ruled by mysteries.

What I pretend not to see has power over me. Being consciously in charge of my life will decrease my anxiety today.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I am learning to pray

Before I started learning about the Steps in my recovery program, I did not pray. I did not have talks with a higher power. I was angry and I felt too alone and unloved to trust. I could not admit that I needed help, although I needed it badly.

Now, after only a few months in dual recovery, I have already seen prayer work for others. By quiet example, they are teaching me how to pray—simply, personally, any time, any place. I can now admit to my higher power that I need help. And I feel strong enough to ask for that help in a spiritual way. I am learning the power of prayer. I believe mine will be heard. *

I will stop whatever I am doing, close my eyes, and make contact with my higher power.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

I often turn in a crowded city to stare at a face on which experience has written a pattern of celebration.

~ Mary Francis Shura Craig ~

A beautiful soul can’t be dimmed. A soul lit by joy brightens all our features and makes us beautiful beyond measure. Even though our bodies often show wear, an internal zest grows stronger and shines brighter.

Living our lives with vigor and involvement fuels the spirit and keeps us getting up each morning expecting good to come of the day.

This doesn’t mean we expect all joy and no sadness. It doesn’t mean we don’t anticipate challenge. It has been said that we couldn’t see the beauty of the canyon carvings without the windstorms of life. By surviving and growing through life’s windstorms, we find ourselves more weathered and more real. We also find ourselves trusting more in our Higher Power. Time is teaching us that our surface beauty may be temporary, but the beauty of a joyful spirit, the beauty of God, is forever.

Today let me value my joyful spirit and love myself for the light that shines from my human struggles.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

It is very difficult to be wholly joyous or wholly sad on this earth. The comic, when it is human, soon takes upon itself a face of pain

~ Joseph Conrad ~

Recovery encourages you to recognize and manage your feelings so you can reduce your chance of relapse, develop open and honest relationships with others, and improve your overall health and wellness. Feelings are sometimes referred to as positive or negative. Positive emotions include love, joy, happiness, pride, and excitement. Negative emotions include hatred, anger, jealousy, fear, and guilt.

But such labels can be limiting. Take, for instance, the emotion of pride. When you feel proud of something, it can infuse you with positive energy But if you feel too much pride, you run the risk of displaying an overblown ego. On the other hand, anger is often considered to be a negative emotion. However, anger can also be seen as positive, especially when it provides you with a valuable warning that your boundaries have been encroached, when you have been mistreated, or when you are feeling tired or vulnerable.

Consider the positive and negative aspects offered by any emotion you feel. They are your most honest expressions of what is going on, so pay attention to them.

I will pay attention to my feelings so I can better understand myself.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

Risk! Risk anything! . . . Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.

~ Katherine Mansfield ~

Many times when we feel fear we don’t realize it’s related to a risk that we have the option to take. A risk doesn’t have to be as dramatic as climbing a mountain or placing all our money on a bet. A risk can be walking into a new meeting, smiling at a familiar face, or purchasing our first program literature.

In the beginning, we may feel fear taking small risks. As time goes on, we learn there is nothing to fear at a new meeting, at smiling at another, or reading literature that tells us who we are. Then we begin to take greater risks, like asking someone to be our sponsor, going out for coffee, or taking the Fourth Step.

The safety and security we feel when we take risks in the program will help us take risks outside the program. With time, we can learn to trust others, share our needs, and set our limits at home, at work, and with friends. Taking a new risk allows another to soon appear.

What is there to fear in taking a risk? Help me learn that each time I take a risk I open another door. 

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Being healthy

Because we are clean and sober, we now con-front matters we had previously overlooked or snubbed. One concern new to many of us is the importance of taking care of our bodies.

After years of mistreating ourselves, we can’t expect to be perfectly healthy. Some conditions may be permanent. The next time we start to feel sorry for ourselves because our bodies are not perfect, let us breathe in and out and listen to our heartbeat. Can we say our Higher Power hasn’t been good to us?

How is my spiritual health?

Higher Power, help me to remember that mind and body are connected and to know that the healthier my thoughts are, the healthier my body will be.

I will improve my health today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

~ KAHLIL GIBRAN ~

Newcomer

Someone told me that she liked what I’d shared at a meeting and asked me to be her sponsor. I explained that I don’t have a full year of recovery yet and that I need to wait until the year is up before taking on a sponsee. I’m flattered that she asked me, but sponsoring someone seems like such a big responsibility.

Sponsor

What a lovely acknowledgment of your growth, your love of the program, and your clarity. Her request that you sponsor her indicates respect for you and your recovery. I trust you can accept the compliment. Sometimes we’re not aware of how much we’ve grown until people who’ve seen and heard us sharing let us know that they appreciate our words and example.

You are wise, too, to have said no to this particular request. Customs vary from program to program, group to group; in some places, people may begin serving as sponsors before they themselves have completed a year of recovery. But giving ourselves time to go through an entire year of focusing on our own recovery ensures a more solid basis for helping other newcomers. The time will come. Meanwhile, there are many other ways to give service.

Today, I’m aware of the difference my recovery has begun to make in the lives of others.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Remember when they used to tell us, “If you don’t stop drinking you’ll go straight to Hell”? What a laugh that is — trying to tell us about Hell when we had been living in it for years. If we had told them about the Hell we knew, it would probably have scared them into drinking.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) Silence: Cultivate silence.

2) Work(ing): You don’t have to understand how the Steps work for them to work.

3) STANDARD ACRONYMS: WISDOM: Words In Steps Do Open Minds.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

For the Spirit of Prayer

Help me, Higher Power, to cultivate the habit of prayer. Enable me to know Your will. I pray I may conform my actions to the demands of Your will. I will pray with concentration of my mind, and I will pray with all my soul. I will pray to You in words of devotion with all my heart. I will pray to You aloud, and I will pray to You in silence. For You hear my prayers, even in thought, and measure my feelings and know my aspirations. I will pray, O God, that prayer may lift me to You and make me Yours.

~ Adapted from a Zoroastrian prayer ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

THE EVERLASTING GATES

Read Psalm 24.

The Twenty-fourth Psalm is the great summing up of the Bible teaching on letting God come into your life.

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof…

The key to the true meaning of this first stanza is found in the two pivotal words Lord and earth. In the Bible the word Lord means the I AM. The earth is a general term covering all expression or manifestation under the jurisdiction of the I AM. Now all trouble of every land really arises from the belief that the earth is subject to the dominion of some outer power or law that is able to govern it independently of the I AM. But the Law of Being is, that man is the image and likeness of God, and has full dominion over all his conditions, and this psalm emphasizes this wonderful fact by adding the world, and they that dwell therein.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?

The hill of the Lord, or His holy place, means the realization of God. It is that vivid, real sense of the Presence. When one attains to this he has a marvelous power of helping and healing others. To reach this state is the real object of all our prayers.

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart…

But who are the pure in heart? Fundamentally, purity means complete loyalty to the belief in one single, all-embracing, Omnipotent God, Our Father which art in heaven. Hold unswervingly to God—this is purity.

To keep one’s mentality consciously loyal to the One Power is only half the battle. The other half is to purify and re-educate the soul, not merely from the grosser sins that everybody recognizes, but from the thousand-and-one concessions to limitation belief that fill the everyday life of humanity. This is to have “clean hands,” and to be able to ascend that wondrous “hill of the Lord.”

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Withholding Tax

When we’re hungry, love will keep us alive.

~ from the song, “Love Will Keep Us Alive,” by The Eagles ~

Would you like more love in your life? Do you long to be closer to other people? Is your heart yearning for more intimacy and safety? If so, here is a practice that will ensure all of these goals if you put its principles into action.

Begin to notice the ways you are withholding love from others. Such an introspection requires courage and honesty, for we are prone to avoid facing or admitting our resistance to love. If you can do it, you will be rewarded far beyond any fear you have to walk through in order to get there.

Withholding love is made visible through the symbols we attach to love. Are you withholding money from anyone, refusing to pay them, diminishing the amount you will pay, or delaying payment to get back at them for something they did that hurt you? Usually divorce-settlement fights over children or assets have nothing to do with the objects, which become pawns in the ego’s game to withhold love to punish. Do you withhold sex from your partner? Do you withhold the completion of your part of an agreement? Do you withhold your presence by making yourself so busy that you cannot be there in quality relationships? Are you consistently late? Do you withhold sharing your feelings for fear of being hurt? Do you withhold generous words of praise when someone deserves them?

While the ego perceives that withholding these things is protecting us, it only hurts us. Whenever you withhold love, you are the one who loses. In our efforts to punish another, we punish ourselves. In attempting to maintain worldly security, we lose our spiritual security. Only giving love can keep us secure. Love is the real food of our soul; the way we get more is by giving it away. Begin to discover where you are holding back from giving what would heal you; there you will find the doorway to the peace you seek.

Show me where and how I can love more.

I give all the love I would receive. The more I love, the happier I am.

[bluidkiti]

December 10

Step by Step

Today, understand that gratitude and humility are not the same thing and why understanding the difference is important to our recovery. We may tend to believe humility is being sincerely thankful for the good we have experienced in sobriety. But this is not humility; being thankful is gratitude. Humility is the surrender of our own will to the higher power of our individual understanding. And why is humility vital to our recovery? In genuinely seeking the will of our individual higher power and the ability to carry out His will, we are abandoning the failed strategy of yesterday’s drunks – doing it our way. Most of us have been there and done that and, for most of us, it didn’t work. Today, we cannot express sincere gratitude and claim we are humble if we have not asked our higher power what He wants us to do and how to do it. With that expression, we loosen our grip on self-will run riot, and we have taken a step forward toward recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.,

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

Life is a dance. Am I dancing?

~ UNKNOWN ~

Am I enjoying life? Am I trying to enjoy life? Am I giving myself a break and practicing, “easy does it” on myself and other people?

I believe God wants me to be “happy, joyous and free.” I believe God wants me to live free of addiction and at times dance to the music I feel inside. I believe God wants me to help others dance to the sounds of their own music.

And if I am not careful I am inclined to be too busy to dance and enjoy life as I was when I was feeding my nicotine addiction.

Today, I thank God for helping me enjoy this precious gift of life.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

GLAMORIZING

I’m slipping when I begin to remember more of the good times than the bad.

~ Anonymous ~

We must keep our memories of the years before the Program in proper perspective. By the grace of God the compulsion was released from us. However, the addiction was not; it is always waiting for us to lower our guard. A danger sign we watch for is the voice that rewrites our past history.

The scenes we remember are parties, new partners, romance, laughter, music, sex, ballgames, intimate conversations, poolside play, Sunday brunch, getting ready to go out and “party hearty.” Seldom do we remember the bleary-eyed mornings, the waking up with horrible strangers, the embarrassments, the lost jobs, wrecked cars, wet beds, the toilet-hugging, the divorce that broke our hearts.

When my addiction talks to me about the good times, I need to remember “the rest of the story.”

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

What comes from the heart goes to the heart.

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge ~

Most of what we say and do is laden with implication and feeling. We can say the same words with many different inflections and convey very different meanings. When we have something very important to say, we may worry whether we will be understood. We can rely on the truth that when we speak from our heart to a trusted friend, and when we have his attention, our message will strike a chord.

A man was worried about speaking at a meeting. His friend told him, “Say it from the heart, man! Say it from the heart!” Communication at that level is instantly clear. We all have things in our hearts that we may be afraid to say. We can say them if we remind our-selves that a message from the heart will be heard by the heart. As we grow in our strength and recovery, we become more comfortable and we speak more and more from that level.

Today I will keep my heart open and speak to others from that level.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

As I learn self-acceptance, I have less need to rely on others to feel tall.

~ Kathy Kendall ~

How do we develop self-acceptance? What does it feel like? During the initial stages of our recovery, self-acceptance probably didn’t sound all that difficult to attain. But now we know the truth: practicing self-acceptance is rarely easy. Judging ourselves as failures and putting ourselves down for our mistakes has become habitual and “easy” to do; practicing self-acceptance, by contrast, is at first much more difficult.

While struggling to like ourselves, we perhaps fall easily into the trap of building ourselves up by judging others. As our recovery strengthens, however, we feel increasingly uncomfortable, even shameful, about judging others. And shame makes us feel even less acceptable.

Coming to believe that we have been chosen for this journey, that we have a caring Higher Power who loves us, is the best route to self-acceptance. When we’re finally comfortable with the idea that we each have a gift that’s unique, we’ll no longer struggle to accept ourselves.

I really am as good as I need to be today. Being here, now, means I have a unique gift to give.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I know now that I find no relief when I drink

I tried to handle my deep sadness and anxiety by using alcohol. When I drank, I paid less attention to my feelings. (In fact, I seemed to have fewer feelings.) But when the drug’s effects wore off, there were the deep sadness and anxiety again.
There too were guilt and shame and a headache. All this pain—and still I wanted to drink again.

Now in recovery when I have painful feelings, with the help of my higher power, I don’t drink—it would only increase the pain. I don’t try to erase the feelings. As best I can, I let them be and apply the tools of the program. Slowly, eventually, the pain lessens. Slowly, I heal. When I abstain, I can find relief.

Because urges tend to pass in four or five minutes, I will try counting slowly to 300.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Music drives the devil away.

~ Martin Luther ~

How many times have we seen a movie and liked the music so much we went out and bought the sound track album? It may have been classical music in the background, or country and western, or jazz, or even rock music. Perhaps the music was soothing, or fun and spirited. It made us want to sing or dance. It was so good to listen to it made us feel good all over!

Music of many kinds can enrich the spirit, drive away our worries, and soothe tension. It’s a gift we all can have as long as we can hear. And many who are hearing-impaired may still benefit from the rhythmic vibrations of music that are felt more than heard, but which can still be soothing.

When we take some time each day to stop and listen to music, we contribute to our physical wellbeing and our spiritual health. And we appreciate it when those who have the gift of making music share that gift with others. We may even find a music-making gift in ourselves that we can share and enjoy.

Today help me take time from the hectic part of my day and allow music to heal and refresh me.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Treat your friends as you do your pictures, and place them in their best light.

~ Jennie Jerome Churchill ~

Long ago, a ship was wrecked during a storm at sea. Two crew members swam to a small island and decided to pray for their survival. They fashioned a challenge to find out whose prayers were more powerful and they agreed to stay on opposite sides of the island as they prayed.

The first man prayed for food. The next morning he had a fruit-bearing tree on his side. The other man’s land was barren.

The first man prayed for companionship. It so happened that another ship was wrecked, and he welcomed a woman. The other man had no tree and no woman.

Finally, the first man prayed for rescue. The next day he saw a ship anchored close to his side of the island. He boarded the ship and decided to leave his friend behind. As the ship was about to depart, a voice from the heavens called out, “Why are you leaving your friend?” The man answered, “My blessings are mine because of the power of my prayers. His prayers went unanswered. So, he is not deserving.”

The voice replied, “Your friend had only one prayer, which I answered. He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”

I will treat my friends with kindness and wish them to receive everything they need.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

Actually, these are among the most important times in one’s life, when one is alone. Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~

Most of us are alone for some time at night, whether we’re commuting home or sitting down for a few minutes of meditation. Time alone—with ourselves and our Higher Power—is a valuable part of our day. In this stillness, we can listen to ourselves and feel our feelings without the constant distractions of the day.

Being still with ourselves means not running away from the silence around us. It means feeling our feelings, whether they’re good or bad. It’s a time of reflection and prayer.

For every moment we can be at peace with our-selves, we are that much closer to being a part of life. For as there is peace in nature, so it is in our nature to feel peace.

Am I at peace with myself now? Have I prayed to my Higher Power to help me at this time?

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Being loving people

Many of us considered ourselves to be loving people. When we learned that we weren’t as loving as we’d made ourselves out to be, we became reproachful. We knew we couldn’t truly love other people and presumed it was our fault. But our only fault was in not realizing that to give love we need to receive it. To give love, we need first to be open to receiving it from our Higher Power.

We didn’t know that to find love we only needed to ask for it. When we feel love for our enemies, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Higher Power is with us. We know in such situations that we could not produce this kind of love by ourselves.

Do I have the gift of love?

Higher Power, help me be willing to love any person you set in my path.

Today I will ask my Higher Power for love in my relationship with

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

When you take the alcohol out of alcoholism, you still have to deal with the ism.

~ SAYING HEARD AT MEETINGS ~
Newcomer

I’ve had a falling out with someone I’d been spending time with recently. She’s been in recovery a couple of years longer than I have, and I assumed that she’d be normal by now or, at the least, more stable than I am. But she is needy and difficult, and I just can’t do and be what she wants.

Sponsor

Recovery doesn’t give anyone instant maturity, insight, or a gift for stable relationships. Even after we’ve let go of addictive substances and behaviors, we still have work to do. This work isn’t identical for all of us and doesn’t follow a prescribed timetable. We’ve entered recovery at different times in our lives, having had different experiences, and we may face a variety of challenges in addition to our common problem of addiction. Once in recovery, we have the opportunity to address underlying issues; that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ll resolve them quickly, or that all of us are maturing at the same pace.

We can’t assume that someone’s length of time in recovery guarantees that he or she won’t have unreasonable expectations of us. Good relationships develop over time, if we have the willingness and ability to take responsibility for our own needs, to communicate with love and patience through periods of conflict as well as harmony.

Today, I have realistic expectations of myself and others.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

It is hard for us at times to understand the misfortunes that befall us when we are doing the very best we know how, to live right by both God and man.

It is only in times that try men’s souls that the soul develops and grows stronger. Like a muscle, it develops with hard work.

If you would produce an exceptional rose, you must prune the brush of every budding branch so that all the strength goes into the single bloom. It’s not what the bush would want, but it develops the perfection in the rose you desire.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) Al-Anon: I’m a Friend of Lois W.

2) Drink(ing,): Each day, you are either a step farther from your last drink or a step closer to your next.

3) Heal(ing): Feel, Deal and Heal (Feel it, Deal with it and then Heal from it)

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Father of Light

O my Father, Father of Light,
Who watches over us all,
I have no words to thank You.
But with Your great wisdom
I am sure that You can see
My willingness to change
And how I value Your glorious gifts.

O my Father, when I look upon Your greatness,
I am confounded with awe.
O Supreme Being,
Ruler of all things earthly and heavenly,
I am your warrior,
Ready to act in accordance with Your will.

~ Adapted from a Kenyan prayer ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

THE KING OF GLORY ENTERS HERE

Read Psalm 24.

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face….

To many it may seem that the purification of the heart will be a long and wearisome task, but we have to remember that when we pray it is God who works and not we. If you will use the power of the Word, old habits of thinking will fall away and new ones come in; and this is because you will receive your righteousness, or right thinking, from God. You have sought His face, and you must begin to express something of His nature, for we always grow unto that which we contemplate.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Gates and doors symbolize understanding and it is only by the attainment of a higher degree of understanding that the King of glory—the vivid realization of God which we are seeking—can come to our souls. We are then told to ask ourselves who the King of glory is, and for what He stands. He is nothing less than the Lord; strong and mighty in battle, and the battle he fights, of course, is our battle.

The Lord of hosts, he is the King of Glory.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Just Sit There

All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure toward success.

~ Dorothea Brande ~

Rev. Diane Winter has established a unique prison ministry in which she spends most of her time teaching spiritual classes, counseling, and assisting inmates before and after their release. When I asked Diane how she got started, she told me, “It wasn’t easy. I went to the administrator’s office and told him that I wanted to teach a class on spiritual growth. He told me I had to go to another city two hours away and get permission from his three supervisors. Then he told me, ‘I will think about it.’ I knew he was just trying to put me off, and I made an appointment to meet with him again. Then he forgot about me and never showed up. But I wasn’t about to quit. His secretary refused to make an–other appointment for me, so I decided I would just go to his office and sit there until I could see him. If I had to sit there every day, all day, I would. But I didn’t have to; that day he saw me and gave me permission. I later learned that he and the other administrators made bets on how long I would last; the longest estimate was three months. That was five years ago. These have been the five most rewarding years of my life. ”

Sometimes we need such depth of determination to accomplish our dream. We have to be willing to sit there every day, all day, until we get results. Our will to succeed must be stronger than someone else’s will to put us off.

In light of the success, service, and joy that Diane has achieved, her initial efforts seem minor in comparison. If you feel discouraged or put off, remember the bigger picture, and paint it as you choose.

I pray to be sufficiently dedicated to my goals that I fulfill my dreams.

I can do anything I set my mind and heart to do.

[bluidkiti]

December 11

Step by Step

“For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt – and one more failure.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 11 (“A Vision for You”), p 151.

Today, drinking to deal with emotions and people I could not handle, I ask if I ever found “release from care, boredom and worry” or a “joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good?” No,I didn’t. Alcohol was never a social luxury for me; instead, it was a way to oblivion so that I didn’t have to deal with what I couldn’t or didn’t want to face. “…(T)he great moments of the past?” Mine overwhelmed any good ones. With that memory, then, why do I want to reclaim any moments of my drinking past? I don’t. The program has given me the ammunition to deal with and face what I once could not. I don’t need alcohol now, and I don’t want it. In sobriety, I’m making better memories. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

I always pretended that it was no big deal to be around non-smokers, but it was a total pain in the a$$.

~ NICOTINE ANONYMOUS: THE BOOK ~

How true for me. It got so I would avoid going places with non-smokers because it interfered with my smoking. And that included most of the population out there, eventually even including my girlfriend.

Things are different now. After I quit smoking I thought it was cool to hang out with people who were smoking. I try to avoid this now. I am still a smoker in recovery and I do not need to be around people who are actively smoking. I like the smell of tobacco too much.

So I avoid bars and other places where people smoke, not completely but mostly. And I always try to be compassionate toward smokers and other nicotine addicts and give them their right to live as they are living.

I am grateful to live in a time and place where the rights of non-smokers are so great. I remember the days we were allowed to smoke everywhere except church and elevators, and I even lit up once or twice in elevators.

Today, I will be tolerant of others regardless of our differences.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

FORGIVENESS

I’m slipping when I say forgive, but don’t forget.

~ Anonymous ~

When we join in an act of forgiveness, we bring relationships whole again. Forgiveness is not a state of mind. It is a state of being. If we do not forgive deep within our hearts, we have not really forgiven. Forgiveness which stays up in the head is really only the intention to forgive.

We know we have not truly forgiven when we can’t forget what caused our resentments. If this wound is still open and sore, we did not forgive from the heart. We remember to give ourselves time, talk with our sponsor and fellow
members, and pray for help. It is good to share our resentment in a meeting and ask for suggestions. Finally we must wait. God will heal the wound in time if we let Him.

My willingness is the key. If I am willing to let go, I will be given the power to truly forgive.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

The Eskimo term for sexual intercourse is “laughing together.”

~ Anonymous ~

This Eskimo term teaches us that sexuality is a God- given gift intended to bring pleasure and create bonds between two people. Problems surrounding sexuality are common among recovering men, and it is another area where we can grow. Some of us attached great anxiety to sex and used chemicals to handle our anxiety. In sobriety we become faced with the anxiety again. Some of us used sex as our drug, an addiction that served more to escape our feelings than to enrich them.

Our sexual desires and feelings provide energy for our intimate partnership. There is no more shame in having a sexual problem than there is in having a communication problem with someone. We can learn that taking sexual pleasure within a loving relationship is hardly separate from giving it. Talking to our intimate partner and a trusted friend can relieve many problems. Just as we can lighten the burden of any other problem, sexual matters are solvable too.

Today I am grateful for the pleasure and the gift of sexuality.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

The Twelve Steps have taught me to feel my pain—and then walk through it.

~ Joan Rohde ~

Getting clean and sober has not meant an end to the pain in our lives. Being human gives us many opportunities to feel and grow through painful experiences. But what is different now is that we have the support of a loving God and the Twelve Steps to give us hope and clarity. We also have the friendship of many women who understand us. Our journey through the unknown is made in the company of these friends.

Sometimes we wonder why we have been graced. Most of us are befriending women who still struggle without the benefit of this program. We see our former selves in them, and we wish we could give them what we now have. In our past, every experience had the potential to devastate us; today no experience is too much for us to handle.

We are free: free to enjoy every moment; free of the fear that we have to solve our problems alone; free of dread about what the future may hold.

I am looking forward to my experiences today, for they will be the right ones for my growth. God will help me handle the hard parts.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I am getting used to my meds.

I thought that taking psychiatric medication would help fix my problems, not cause them. While it has helped with my psychiatric problems, the price is some unpleasant side effects. I don’t like having a sensitive bladder, a limited diet, a dry mouth, or some temporary sexual problems.

But lately I’ve come to see that these dis-comforts are minor compared to the disasters caused by my psychiatric illness. Deep down I am grateful that medications exist that can help me cope and adjust. I can learn to live with some side effects.

Today I will look for a positive aspect of two negative situations in my life.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

I’ve taken my fun where I’ve found it.

~ Rudyard Kipling ~

Today we’ve all been given another day to use and explore. Why on earth would we spend so much time and effort on recovery if we don’t plan on having fun? What’s the point? God gave us today and if we don’t put some joy into it, we’re at fault. If we’re rusty at having fun we have all kinds of willing participants at meetings. There is always something to enjoy if we only look for it.

When we bring joy and laughter into our lives we gain perspective, we lighten our load of worry, and we make ourselves more open and receptive to others who may like to get to know us. We also celebrate the sobriety we have worked so diligently to nurture in meetings and in partnership with our Higher Power. Fun is not only a reward for our efforts, but another step in our healing.

Today let me live each moment gratefully and openly.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Happy or unhappy, families are all mysterious.

~ Gloria Steinem ~

Children often adopt roles to help them cope within a dysfunctional family. You may identify with these roles.

• Hero. Your role was making everyone in the family look good. Your struggles today are with your need for perfection and learning how to face conflict.

• Mascot. Your role was to make light of the bad situation in your home. Your struggles today are dealing with anger and resentment, and understanding the difference between humor and sarcasm.

• Lost Child. Your role was maintaining silence and staying out of everyone’s way. This timidity is something you need to learn how to overcome today so you can find your voice, express your feelings, and take risks.

• Scapegoat. Your role was to act out in ways that created distraction from the addict and family problems. More often than not your actions resulted in punishment and abuse. You need to come to terms with childhood abuse and the consequences of rebellious actions.

• Caretaker. Your role was to try to make everyone happy. Your struggles today are learning how to balance taking care of others with developing the ability to focus on yourself.

I will shed my childhood role so I can become who I need and want to be.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

You cannot be anything if you want to be everything.

~ Solomon Schechter ~

Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed by the amount of things we believe we have to work on at one time. We may feel stressed under the pressure of working a full-time job, attending school, working on a relationship, caring for ourselves and a family, and growing in recovery. Sometimes we may want to put up an “Out to Lunch” sign and take off for parts unknown.
Anytime we feel overwhelmed it’s our mind’s way of telling us we need to set limits. We can’t do everything and expect to get very far. But we’ll get far if we do some things and leave others alone for a while.
Tonight we can look at our overbooked schedules and see where we can make changes. We first need to leave some free time for ourselves. Then we need to prioritize our obligations. Once we try out our new schedules for a while, we may see some changes or find others that need to be made. Starting tonight, we can stop feeling overwhelmed with life and take charge of it.

How can I reorganize my schedule so I’m not so overwhelmed? Tonight I can begin to take charge of my life and mold it to fit my needs. 

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

On the move

Do we remember the “geographical cure,” when we rationalized that if we changed our location our problems would melt away? Some of us left a city. Some left a state. Others thought the communes had the answer. Some even sought the answer in other countries.
Wherever we went we always brought our selves along. Unless we changed our selves, no place in the universe could resolve our problems for us. Invariably, we found that our program was the only answer for us.
Have I changed within?
Higher Power, let me hear the “still small voice within” and know that change begins with me.
Today I will analyze my changes, including

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

~ SAYING HEARD AT MEETINGS ~

Newcomer

I know that doing service is suggested, and I’ve done a lot of it. But I want to take some time off now. You’ve said before that this program makes suggestions, not rules, so I know there’s no rule that I have to keep doing service.

Sponsor

We need to look carefully at our motives. Some of us do a great deal of service early in recovery—chores like setting up chairs, making coffee, and cleaning up. This has kept us busy and helped us get to meetings and stay away from our drug of choice. Perhaps now we want to give other new-comers opportunities to serve the group. Or perhaps we’d like to try something new. These are legitimate reasons for changing service positions. Perhaps, however, we’ve been harboring feelings of resentment about responsibilities we’ve taken on. We may feel overextended or unappreciated.
Or perhaps we want to pull back from the program. We may even be unconsciously laying the groundwork for a relapse.
Service is essential to recovery. Without it, meetings wouldn’t take place, newcomers wouldn’t find sponsors; phones would go unanswered. Others’ service makes our recovery possible; we do the same for those who want what we have. Each of us is responsible for giving service that’s appropriate to our schedules and abilities.

My willingness to give service today expresses my gratitude for recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Every man is both human and divine, both good and evil, strong and weak, wise and foolish. The body, soul and mind are the battleground of our conflicting natures, and while these conflicts rage, we can have no peace. It is only when we bring our conflicting emotions under control that victory over self is possible. We alcoholics have learned that we are unable to accomplish this without outside help. With that help, real peace is obtainable. No other way has worked for us.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) Opinion(s): Group conscience: There’s room for more than one opinion and none of them has to be wrong

2) Silence: Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

3) Work(ing): You have to work a full program in a half way house.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Better Relationships

I pray for the opportunity to form better relationships now that I am in recovery. The Program has revealed a need to completely overhaul my attitudes about intimate and personal relations. I pray the working of the Program will help me be a better partner in relationships. Most of the time I never really needed better partners. I just needed to be a better person.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

People sometimes accept the idea that a change of thought, plus turning to God in prayer, will transform their lives into harmony and freedom. The logic of this principle appeals to them, and they set to work upon it in earnest. Then, after a few days, they say, “Nothing has happened after all,” and they drop back into their old negative thinking.
That is extremely foolish. The results of many years of general negative thinking are seldom corrected in a few days.
No one who goes upon a new physical diet or medical regimen expects to reap the advantages in so short a time. You must keep up the new way of thinking and refuse to be discouraged by seeming failures at first.
The right motive for adopting right thinking is that it is right, and that wrong thinking is wrong; and we should do right whether it seems to pay dividends or not. Of course, it does pay dividends—fabulous dividends—but it usually takes a little perseverance in the face of preliminary slowness.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Christmas Gold

It is in your power to make this season holy, for it is in your power to make the time of Christ be now.
~ A Course in Miracles ~

There is much more to the Christmas season than meets the eye. This is the time of year when the human race publicly acknowledges the presence of divinity. It is a time when angels are accepted as real, and people sing openly in the streets. It is a time when we are urged to reach beyond self-involvement and bring joy to others. It is a time when we take a respite from our worldly activities to remember the importance of friendship, family, and love. For many, the Christmas season is a challenging time. The call to love brings forth everything unlike love, and some of us find ourselves feeling stressed or depressed. We face unresolved family issues, and our yearning to be with a special person at a special time is sometimes met with frustration or disappointment. We face unwanted obligations to give to certain people or be present at certain gatherings, and the general level of rush, stress, and conflict does not decrease in the spirit of Christmas, but only escalates in the name of fear.
Consider the Christmas season an invitation to master love, an opportunity to practice the presence of Christ in the face of vast materialism and insanity. To love in a world of love is ideal, but to love in the face of illusion is mastery. Heightened materialism during the season is the ego’s response to the increased spiritual energy on the planet. Rather than surrender to love, the ego tries to distract us from Spirit by dangling gold before us. But the real gold is within. You are the gold, and the game is to find the gold in your brothers and sisters.
This year, honor the Christ in you by remaining at peace. If you never send one Christmas card, show up at one party, or give one present, but remain in love, you will give the greatest gift of all. As you go through your Christmas activities, be kind. That is all that Jesus would care about. Help me to remember the reason for Christmas. I pray to keep my heart open.

I honor Christ by living His peace.

[bluidkiti]

December 12

Step by Step

“What alcoholic can live with rejection? How devastating, too, are the subsequent feelings of inadequacy and self-pity. There’s only one answer – liquid comfort. The unwillingness to admit failure requires even further friendly intake. It becomes vital, also, that others not know of our defeats nor suspect our loss of confidence.”- Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Stopped in Time,” Ch 3 (“Those Golden Years”), p 331.

Today, a drinking alcoholic cannot accept or live with rejection – but a recovering alcoholic can. With the Program, I see now that what is “rejected” is not my entire being but only what I have said and done. And when I was ill-equipped as a drinking alcoholic to learn, the steps of AA alert me when I am wrong, to promptly admit it and how not to respond verbally with emotion but with logic. Few are the feelings of absolute rejection. I am sober now, though, and I can see with the vision AA has provided that I do not have to perceive a “no” to be a total rejection of my whole being but only in what I have said or done. In the end, I am a member of AA, and the Program rejects no one. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.,

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.

~ MARK TWAIN ~

My selfishness is the root of my troubles, before and after recovery. I was such a selfish smoker, expecting non-smokers to accept my smoke in their air. I was irritated when a friend put a sign asking people not to smoke in her work area, thinking how selfish she was. I was angry when the company eventually banned smoking from the workplace except in designated areas. My brother is still this way, and it drives me away from him now that I am free of tobacco.

In recovery I see in my Step Ten inventories my selfishness is still very much with me. It comes out in fear, self-pity, jealously, and many other ways. And yes, subtly when I step on the toes of my fellows they retaliate in their own ways, if only to steer clear of me.

Today, I will ask God to relieve me of the bondage of self and allow me to be of loving service.

Nicotine Anonymous World Services

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

DEFECTS

The greatest of all faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

~ Pliny ~

One of the first things we heard in our Program was that we probably had defects of character. We first admitted we were powerless over a substance or behavior. Then we learned that those who believed they had no faults of character were mistaken. Little progress could be made without looking at our defects of character.

Such a self-analysis, in order to be thorough, must include assets. But the big challenge is to understand our faults and to use the other Steps of the Program to get rid of them. We are not, never were, and never will be candidates for sainthood. We never try to be perfect, but give continual attention to character growth.

By doing my inventory on a daily basis, I make myself aware of my character defects and what I need to do to grow out of them.

by Anonymous

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.

~ Michel de Montaigne ~

The spiritual path is filled with paradox. One example is the word defeat, which has a bad reputation. In recovery we learn that brokenness can be the beginning of changes for the better. Sometimes the drive of our ego takes us on a very exciting but destructive ride. Only in defeat do we open our eyes and begin to understand the deeper truth and go in a direction that fits our better self. That is every man’s story in recovery. Out of defeat we find a new form of triumph.

This may be a day in which we face particular worries or losses. Our first thoughts are about the pain and difficulty—we don’t yet know what we need to learn from them. We only need to stay focused on the kind of man we choose to be. From that will come the wisdom and the wherewithal to create the kind of life we will feel good about.

Today I am grateful for the sustaining power of this spiritual life and will stay focused on the kind of man I choose to be.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

When you are down, get back up and fight!

~ Iris Timberlake ~

Our attitude determines how we handle every experience. If we feel defeated by circumstances— say we’ve lost a job or a friend has abandoned us— we will not be ready for the next opportunity our Higher Power has in store for us. No door is ever closed without another one being opened. However, if we are focused on what’s no longer ours, we’ll miss what can be.

This is not to say we shouldn’t grieve our losses. In order to accept them, we must feel them. Then we need to get back on our feet and go on with this moment, this day, this life. Not to do so is to deny trust in one’s Higher Power. The Third Step promises that we have a caring God in charge. Yesterday’s closed doors didn’t mean our lives were over. Nor will today’s.

I will relish the strength I feel today when I remember that God is opening (and closing) all the right doors for me.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I have not one, but two illnesses

I knew I had a problem with drugs—I kept losing jobs by going to work high. But it wasn’t until later, when I finally got into treatment, that my doctor diagnosed my psychiatric illness.

In treatment I learned that I have two no-fault illnesses, addiction and depression. I learned that I need to stay clean and sober, and I need to stay stable with my psychiatric illness. To do this I am now taking medication and learning healthy ways to cope with the symptoms of my biological illness. It’s hard to accept a dual disorder, but now that I know what my problems are, it is easier to do what I need to do to recover.

I will attend a Twelve Step meeting that supports dual recovery and stay in touch with my personal and professional helpers.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

I have more memories than if I were a thousand years old.

~ Charles Baudelaire ~

Inside us we carry our entire lives imprinted like photographs. And like photographs, these memories can bring back all the feelings we experienced at the time. They’re all locked away, the good times and the bad.

During active addiction and sometimes in early recovery we tend to remember only the bad times. We created such unhappy lives that it became easy for us to hate ourselves. We seemed to punish ourselves by dwelling only on the bad times, our faults, shames, and sins.

But now we’re finding the other side of life again, the positive and joyful experiences of yesterday and today. When we need inspiration we can tap into all the good that’s come to us. Like a photograph, it’s all there for us to enjoy again — a special family gathering, sunset over a church steeple, the face of a special friend, mountains at twilight, the first time we saw our newborn children. It’s all there, waiting and ready, our own personal album of positive experiences for us to draw on. It’s a part of us that comes back more and more as our recovery progresses.

Today let me remember the good times instead of the bad. Let me focus on joy instead of pain.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

We are what we think.

~ Buddha ~

When you learn there are members of your fellowship who are using again, you may wonder what they were thinking about before they made the decision to drink. “Why did they choose to throw away all the work they have done and all the progress they have made?” Those who relapse often do so because they have been over-whelmed by the slick talk of the Demon of Denial. Like the sirens of lore who, with their beautiful singing, lured ships to crash into treacherous rocks, the Demon provides seductive enticement.

At this time of year, the Demon uses the upcoming holidays as a good excuse to resume drinking. But the Demon also entices with other excuses: stress, family dynamics, finances, an illness in the family, or the anniversary of the death of a parent or loved one. The Demon is skilled at convincing recovering alcoholics that because their life is better now, it was not their drinking but something or someone else that created past problems.

Beware of the Demon! It can show up at the most un-expected times to push, prod, and influence. Resist the Demon whenever you feel its presence by enlisting help from your sponsor.

I will beware and be aware of the Demon of Denial.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

The reputation of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.

~ Japanese proverb ~

For the next hour, how will we act or feel? Will we toss and turn filled with fear and worry over the night? Will we be anxious and stressed over our day’s activities and unable to sleep? Will we feel lonely and abandoned in our isolation? Or will we be able to sleep peacefully?

If we let this next hour determine how we would feel for the rest of our lives, which feelings would we choose? We might find it easy to let go of the negative feelings we feel right now if we knew we’d have to feel that way all the time.

For the next hour, we can choose how we want to feel just as if we were making a permanent character mold. Chances are we want a good night’s sleep, so we can face the new day relaxed and filled with good feelings. Then we can approach the day an hour at a time, maintaining those positive feelings. Imagine what good we can feel if we look at our lives as a series of hours that can be changed and improved as each one is completed!

For the next hour, I would like to relax and begin a peaceful night’s sleep. Then I can face tomorrow in a positive mood.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Dealing with turmoil

Our emotional reactions to people and events—not the people and events them-selves—are the source of our turmoil and strife. Other people don’t make our lives un-bearable. The turmoil is not in the event but in our reaction to it.

If a friend slips and falls, do we react with, “Look what you’ve done to me”? Most likely, we’ll offer a helping hand and some compassion. We don’t take the happening personally. When we’re upset or frustrated with others, we can choose to fill our hearts with anger, sadness, pain or—in the spirit of our Higher Power—with love and understanding. Have I stopped reacting?

Higher Power, I pray that I may gain strength in your love and turn away the strife caused by fear and uncontrolled emotions.

Today I will handle any frustration placidly by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

One must talk. That’s how it is. One must.

~ MARGUERITE DURAS ~

Newcomer

Someone I’m involved with is active in this disease again, after time in recovery. I’ve felt ashamed to talk with you about it or to share it at meetings. Am I jeopardizing my recovery by staying loyal to this person?

Sponsor

Some of us are already in committed relationships when we enter recovery. A partner, child, or family member may have problems of addiction. We know we cannot give recovery to another person. But it’s appropriate to raise the question, as you have, of the impact of this situation on our own recovery.

While we want to avoid gossip, accusation, and blame of those we are close to who are still active, it’s essential for our own recovery that we don’t keep secrets. At meetings, we can share about the ways that a relationship challenges our own recovery, keeping the focus on ourselves. We can talk in more detail with a sponsor or counselor knowledgeable about addiction. We can avoid any tendency to enable another’s addictive habits. We can pay close attention to our own addictive thinking and not let ourselves drift away from meetings and from using the tools of recovery.

While it may be painful and challenging to remain close to someone suffering from addiction, we can maintain our own recovery if we use all the help available to us. We can pray for our own and others’ healing, as we continue sober practices that have worked for us.

Today I protect my recovery by honest sharing about any challenges to it.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

If our God. as we understand Him, is a personal God, then it is reasonable to assume that He is so close to us that He is residing in us. He is then part of us and we are part of Him. As we cannot have two different personalities at the same time, we can assume we are either worldly or Godlike, depending upon the characteristic that has dominance at the moment of any specific action.

We cannot expect this God in us to help us unless we are in accord with Him and are endeavoring to help ourselves; otherwise we would be working contrary to ourselves.

Give the God in you a chance—He has given you a thousand.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) STANDARD ACRONYMS: WOW: Willingness Over Willpower

2) Al-Anon: It’s Al-Anon, not Ala-Mom.

3) Drink(ing,): Eventually every alcoholic will have his last drink. Those of us in AA get to talk about ours.

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

God’s Love

I pray that I may walk in Your love, God. I pray that as I go, I may feel the spring of Your power in my steps and the joy of Your love in my heart. A consciousness of Your loving presence makes all life different. You have brought me relief from the cares and worries of my daily life. I pray for the freedom and serenity of a sober life.

~ Adapted from Twenty-Four Hours a Day, September 8 ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN

The Bible mentions the existence of an unforgivable sin, and this has greatly frightened innumerable Christians.

Let us be absolutely clear upon one point. There is no sin that a human being can commit that God will not forgive but there is one sin that he cannot forgive until we make it possible. This sin consists in shutting ourselves off from fresh inspiration or guidance from God. If your mind is already made up about everything appertaining to God; if you decide that you now know all the truth, and that you could not be mistaken; then it will not be possible for the Holy Ghost to open your eyes to error and lead you into higher truth. Naturally, as long as this is your state of mind, no help or improvement can come to you; and in that sense only is your sin unforgivable—unforgivable while it lasts. When you do change your attitude, enlightenment will come, and the sin will be destroyed.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me (Revelation 3:20).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

God Is My Agent

I do not have to worry about what to say or what to do, for He who sent me will direct me.

~ A Course in Miracles ~

When I self-published The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, I went to New York with $5,000 of borrowed money and made a deal with a printer. As I rose to leave his office, he remarked, “You know, they say you don’t make any money until your third book.” His words took me by surprise; I felt as if he was trying to dump a load of manure on my dream. Hardly thinking, these words came out of my mouth: “That’s what they may say, but what they may not know is that my agent is God.”

The printer looked at me, puzzled, and I went on my way. The book became an instant success, my investment was returned, and it went on to be quite profitable even long before my second book was published.

When your work proceeds from Spirit, the universe will take care of you. The laws of right livelihood far supersede the norms and expectations of those who are in business simply to make money. Don’t work for a living; create for a life. If your idea or product is the result of prayer, intention, and a dedication to true service, you will prosper in miraculous ways. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”

You do not need to fight to champion your cause; instead, let God open the doors for you. This does not mean that you do nothing and sit around and wait for the money to pour in. If a result is to come through your efforts, Spirit will tell you what to do. You do not need to fret, struggle, scheme, and sweat for your good. The same God that gave you the idea will help it succeed.

I turn my work, my relationships, and my life over to You to guide, knowing that Your love and wisdom will prosper me in wondrous ways.

I take care of God’s business, and God takes care of mine.

[MajestyJo]

Love the last line, took me a long time to recognize the fact let alone put it into action.

[bluidkiti]

December 13

Step by Step

“In our belief, any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself, he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 7 (“Working With Others”), p 101.

Today, recognize that we cannot shield ourselves from places or people that could trigger temptation because to do so is living in the problem of alcoholism and not in the solution of sobriety. I may well be required to attend gatherings where alcohol is available, or I may be in a relationship where my spouse or companion continues to drink. Shielding myself from any source of alcohol will undoubtedly limit my ability to carry out the command of the 12th Step – to work with others who are still drinking. While I certainly don’t want to risk temptation by returning to my past watering holes for a cup of coffee, I cannot reasonably expect myself never to be in a situation where alcohol is available. In those instances, then, I have AA to get through any temptation. It is up to me to invoke and put the steps to work. I am an alcoholic, but I am a recovering one. I have the choice to live with the problem of fighting temptation or with the solution of recovery. Today, I pick the latter. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

One may know how to gain a victory, and know not how to use it.

~ PEDRO CALDERON DE LA BARCA ~

All those wasted years I smoked from my teens into my late forties. It was inevitable for me as the child of two heavy smokers. I lived in the lie of believing that smoking tobacco was helping me live a better life, at such a high cost in so many ways that only smokers understand. So many wasted feelings numbed with the drug nicotine.

Thank God for our Twelve Steps and Fellowship to guide me away from my drug and toward each other and God. After almost nine years of living free of nicotine, I know with certainty this is the best way to live, free from addiction and living with God as I understand God, trying to “do the next right thing.”

Today, I am grateful for smobriety and being able to share this precious life.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

ENVY

There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy.

~ Richard Sheridan ~

In the past when we drank, used, or misbehaved, our self-worth was beaten down to the point of feeling less than everyone around us. We wallowed in feelings of worthlessness, awkwardness, sadness, and self-pity. We were envious of those who had what we wanted.

Envy brought hatred, jealousy, anger, fear, disrespect, and distrust. We wished failure and disaster on people who had become successful or had gained in any way.

Before the Program, we wanted what others had, but we didn’t know how to get it. Now we’re happy with the miracles we receive in recovery. We have discovered that doing is more important than having and experiencing is more important than possessing.

Today, I’ll remember when I practice love, caring, and sharing, I experience little envy.

by Anonymous
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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

~ Marcel Proust ~

We have awakened with new eyes as men with new lives. We are walking in the same world but seeing it with new clarity. We were asleep in the darkness, pursuing pleasures that ultimately brought only pain and pursuing control over that which could not be controlled. What once was confusing and beyond the grasp of our understanding we now find simple and interesting in the bright sunlight of our new lives. This path of healing is based on honesty with ourselves and acceptance of our powerlessness.

On this path we feel like real human beings. We may see that we have much work to do, but we have hope for our lives. Healing has become an exciting adventure. We are gaining a sense of self-esteem, our friendships are deeper, and we are more productive at work. When we feel discouraged, we have new choices for handling our feelings.

Today I am grateful to be awake and to see the world with new eyes.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

When I started feeling the pain of my story, my healing process began.

~ Helen Neujahr ~

Healing is a crucial element in our recovery, and the Fourth and Fifth Steps are oftentimes the catalyst to get the process going. Doing a careful Fourth-Step inventory helps us to recognize the sources of our wounds. Sharing our darkest secrets in a Fifth Step takes away some of the shame that has kept us sick.

Forgiving ourselves for our past transgressions is a hurdle we must clear in order to sustain the healing process. The bonds of intimacy we are forging with other women help us know how very alike we are. None of us are without a tarnished past. Sharing our stories will help us heal.

Forgiving the other significant people in our lives is also necessary for real healing to occur. The past abuse we may have suffered left scars. But we can heal. We can help each other heal too. The Steps and our Higher Power will guide us.

Sharing some of my story with another person today will help both of us heal.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I know what I need to do

Some days I wonder, What did I do to deserve this dual disorder? Sometimes I am hard on myself and think, People don’t get this sick without a reason. With thoughts like these I feel ashamed and guilty.

But in recovery I need to counteract these messages. It helps when I recall a most important lesson: Even though I may feel bad, and even though it feels like people may treat me differently, I am not a bad person. I do not deserve my dual illnesses. They are not my fault. Instead of giving in to guilt, fixating on the negative, my task is to work my dual recovery program daily, to simply do the best I can.

Today I will make a list of all the steps I am taking to recover from my illnesses.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

~ William James ~

We have a choice today. We can look at our lives as drudgery and the tasks before us as painful and hopeless, or we can choose to take the high road. We change a lot in recovery. We have decided that sobriety is better than active addiction. This decision itself is our affirmation that life is worth living.

Now we are not only beginning to see the real value in ourselves and our lives, we are starting to add to that value. We feel and share our feelings now; we have friends who care about our struggles; we have hope; and we have a Higher Power helping us feel at home in the universe. These are all tangible results of a simple belief — that life has more to it than pain and the denial of addiction. Each time we act on this belief we add more to our lives.

When we do simple, caring things for ourselves — like going for a walk, taking time for a long bath, or for communing with our Higher Power — we place ourselves more squarely in our new lives. By growing spiritually we enhance not only our own joy but the joy of those around us.

Today help me create another layer of happiness in my life by taking time for myself.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

No individual raindrop considers itself responsible for the flood.

~ Author unknown ~

A story has been told about a young girl who loved to play the piano. Her mother bought tickets to see a famous pianist perform. On the night of the concert, the mother took her daughter into the grand venue. They found their seats, and the girl sat spellbound as she stared at the piano onstage. When the mother spotted a friend in the audience, she left her daughter alone for a few moments. Then the lights flickered to signal the concert was about to begin. The mother returned to her seat and found her daughter missing. As she was about to alert an usher, she heard a familiar song being played on the piano.

A hush fell over the crowd and everyone looked to the stage. The girl sat hunched over the piano keys, slowly tapping out her practice piece. Before anyone could escort the girl offstage, the pianist walked over to her. He observed her, then joined her at the piano and whispered something in her ear. The girl stopped playing.

Then, together, the great pianist and the novice played her simple piece together. A few times the grand master placed his hands over hers and guided her movements. When the song was concluded, the audience erupted in wild applause.

I am ready to give newcomers a helping hand.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

We cannot build until we have laid foundation stones. We add to our foundations every time we meet our difficulties well, however insignificant they may be.

~ Charles B. Newcomb ~

A house without a foundation will not last. As the ground shifts in hot and cold weather, so will the floors. The wood placed upon the ground will rot. The rooms will be cold and damp with no protection from the temperature of the ground. Before the program, we were houses without foundations.

A house built with a strong foundation will provide warmth in the winter and coolness in the summer. Though the ground may shift, the foundation will absorb the movements and keep the rooms level and unharmed. The foundation will protect the precious wood. In the program, we are houses with foundations.

The strength of our foundations will depend on our commitment to recovery. If we keep the program ever in our lives, work the Steps, and take regular inventory of our progress, our foundations will be strong and durable. They will protect our houses through all kinds of weather for a long time.
Tonight I can make repairs upon my foundation and strengthen it.

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

Although we know that on some level we are always connected, our most common experience is one of estrangement.

~ MARGOT ADLER ~

Newcomer

I’ve had a huge disappointment in my life recently. The details may be too private to share at a meeting, but not sharing them is making me feel more and more distant.

Sponsor

Our own preferences determine how much detail we feel comfortable sharing at meetings. Numerous details may not be necessary, however, for the process of sharing to help us begin to heal. Simply speaking up is always useful; just sharing a few words about how we’re feeling today can accomplish a lot. It’s a way of saying, “I’m here today; I’m a part of this group of recovering people; I’m staying sober- no matter what.” It can keep us from isolation and self-pity.

It is important to share the details of whatever may be having an impact on our lives in recovery with at least one other person. Conversations with a sponsor, a trusted friend, a therapist, or a spiritual adviser are essential. While such conversations may not give us solutions to our problems, they can be a source of support as we find our own way to solutions. Writing about our experiences and speaking with our Higher Power in prayer can also help us go through challenging events in recovery. We don’t have to struggle on our own.

Today, my sober life includes people with whom I can share in depth.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

One of the great satisfactions resulting from sobriety is the ability to drop into bed at night with the knowledge that the day has been completed, all chores finished and no regrets.

There will always be affairs to be taken care of on the morrow, but we know that tomorrow will find us physically and mentally prepared for most any eventuality. Remorse and Fear are no longer our bedfellows.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) Heal(ing): God has no reproach for anything that God has healed.

2) Opinion(s): Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

3) Silence: You may often regret your speech, never your silence.

by Shelly Marshall

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

God of Our Life

God of our Life,
There are days when the burdens we carry
Hurt our shoulders and weigh us down,
When our lives have no music in them
And our hearts are lonely.
Flood our path with light, we pray.
Turn our eyes to where the skies are full of promise;
Tune our hearts to brave music;
Give us a sense of fellowship with others,
And lift our spirits so we may encourage
Others who journey with us on the road of recovery.

~ Adapted from writings by St. Augustine ~

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

PRACTICE MAKES REAL

The only part of our religion that is real is the part we express in our daily lives. Ideals that we do not act out in practice are mere abstract theories. Actually, such pretended ideals are a serious detriment, because they drug the soul.

If you want to receive any benefit from your religion you must practice it; and the place to practice it is right here, where you are; and the time to do it is now.

A writer on prayer has said: “Knead love into the bread you bake; wrap strength and courage in the parcel you tie for the woman with the weary face; hand trust and candor with your coin you pay to the man with the suspicious eyes.” This sums up the Practice of the Presence of God.

Give to him that asketh thee…(Matthew 5:42).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Goods for Guns

The nations shall beat their swords into plowshares.

~ Isaiah 2:4 ~

An amazing phenomenon is sweeping the country. In many cities, police departments are offering valuable donated merchandise in exchange for street guns. Many thousands of people have traded in dangerous weapons for tickets to sporting events, stereo equipment, and discount coupons on valued commodities. On a news program, I saw a huge pile of guns that had been voluntarily turned in.

The Goods for Guns program is built on a key principle: Bad habits do not leave unless we have something more positive with which to replace them. If you want to lose weight, it is not enough to just despise your excess weight; it is only when you embrace a vision of yourself at your ideal weight that you gain the leverage to shed the unwanted pounds. If you want to take a dangerous object out of the hand of a child, he will cry if you yank it away Give him another toy that he enjoys, and he will not miss the first one.

The mind needs something to chew on, and it is just as willing to chew on dog food as fine cuisine. If you are plagued by negative or self-destructive thinking, you will not succeed by trying to simply stop your mind; you must fill it with something more productive. When the mind begins to worry or chatter with self-criticism or doubt, immediately substitute thoughts that will take you where you want to go, such as “Peace, Be still, I walk in love,” or “God is the source of all supply.” If you are vigilant and diligent, eventually the constructive thinking will take root, and you will automatically think with truth, not against it.

I open myself to positive living and feed my mind and heart with healing thoughts and visions.

The word of God is my strength.

[bluidkiti]

December 14

Step by Step

Today, and hopefully every subsequent 24 Hours, I will include discipline in my recovery. Let me reach back into my yesterdays to learn from my mistakes as a drinking alcoholic and temper potential flareups of those mistakes with the discipline not to act or react as I did then. While I cannot undo the damage or hurt of my mistakes then, I can prevent them from happening again by applying the discipline of changing myself. With discipline, I may reach the point where it is second-nature and something I don’t have to consciously exert. This, in effect, is one of the spiritual awakenings or experiences promised in the 12 Steps. With discipline, grant me patience, logic over emotion, selflessness and kindness in place of intentional harm. Today, I begin to work consciously not to redo what I did wrong yesterday. Today, I expect progress from myself and not from the outside. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

Never give up, for that is just the place and time the tide will turn.

~ HARRIET BEECHER STOWE ~

I read the Bible for strength, hope and encouragement. Exodus 14:14 says, “The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your place.” This is so great for me because cigarettes were a sedative. When I know someone cares this much it is very soothing.

I now have eight months without nicotine. It is so rewarding. I did not feel real well yet, but I hiked for two miles with a group knowing oxygenating my blood would be beneficial. It was a great hiking party. I would not have done that as a smoker.

Today, I will take time to enjoy healthy activities.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

SPADE WORK

Count your garden by the flowers, not by the leaves that fall

~ Dixie Willson ~

Stories we hear as lessons should be shared with friends so they too can benefit from them. One such tale is about a young woman seeking spiritual growth.

When told, “You weren’t promised a rose garden,” she replied, “No, but I appreciate the garden I’ve been given. I know I’ll never enjoy lovely roses unless I personally spend much time weeding, hoeing, mulching, fertilizing, watering, spraying, and pruning. Only after working in my garden can I pause to smell the roses. And if I am unwilling to risk getting stuck by thorns, I’ll never have the joy of gathering beautiful flowers to give to those I love.”

Life is like a garden. Enjoyment of it depends on how well I do the spade work. Many an old-timer reminds me “pray for potatoes but pick up a hoe.”

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Man is the only kind of varmint who sets his own trap, baits it, and then steps in it.

~ John Steinbeck ~

It’s a universal truth that we often reap the results of our own bad choices. We are drawn to substances and behaviors that seem so pleasurable at first, but lead us far astray from the kind of man we want to be. Our bad choices may be self-indulgent escapes from the challenges of life. Ultimately the escape becomes the trap. We are in the company of millions of would-be escapers, but some of us did a bigger job of it than others.

Life as a spiritual path means that we learn from our mistakes and we get better at facing our challenges head-on. There is no need to berate ourselves for being human. When we learn from our experience, it isn’t a total loss, and we grow deeper.

Today I am grateful for what I have already learned, and I will keep an open mind to continue to learn from my mistakes.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

To let go is to wander often into dark, unknown, scary places. The darkness fades as we stretch out our hand and feel the touch, the grasp, of another.

~ Margo Casey ~

It’s not surprising that we fear letting go. We spent years trying to control other people and circumstances. And just because we generally failed at our attempts doesn’t mean that we understood why. Most of us have continued to think, “Maybe this time . . .” How lucky we are to have this program as a daily guide. We are getting the message. Some of us may take longer hearing it, but all of us will learn that letting go is possible. Every time we do so successfully, we ensure that we will let go even more quickly the next time.

Besides the serenity that comes when we let go, we feel the soft touch of our Higher Power, who has been awaiting our reach for help. Letting go gives us not only peace but also the spiritual connection that will help us let go more quickly the next time.

I can let go of any problem that troubles me today. God will be there to take my burden and my hand.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I want to show my gratitude

When I was experiencing strong symptoms of my emotional illness and using street drugs every day, I was angry at the world for my problems and angry at myself because I couldn’t fix them. I felt grateful only when I could get high and find some relief from pain.

These days, it’s different. I feel deeply grateful to my helpers and my program because I’m abstinent and my psychiatric symptoms are in check. I feel acceptance, strength, and much good will. I want to give back to others with a dual disorder some of what I’ve recently received. I want to help carry the message of hope and recovery.

I will do two acts of kindness today: one for a stranger and one for myself

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy can live.

~ Bertrand Russell ~

During active addiction, we rarely felt content. Quite the contrary, we lived in constant turmoil. We had no models for a quiet mind, much less a quiet life, and so we lived with a constant noise in our heads, like static on the radio.

In recovery we learn again and again that our old ways of coping no longer work. They make too much noise, and we don’t tolerate the noise as well as we used to.

Now, we welcome quiet. We seek out quiet places, calm people, and serenity in our daily activities. We also find that we enjoy a calmer life and no longer need the quick pace of excitement all the time. We enjoy our daily communing with our Higher Power, and appreciate our quiet time in the morning and evening.

Today help me quiet my mind. Help me seek serenity one day at a time.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Realize you are licked, admit it, and get willing to turn your life over to God.

~ Ebby Thacher ~

On December 14,1934, Bill Wilson was at Towns Hospital, a detox center located in Manhattan. He had been there three times before. Each time, he resumed drinking once he was released.

While he was at the clinic, Ebby Thacher, one of his old drinking pals, paid him a visit. Thacher had given up liquor and replaced it with religion. As he spoke with his friend, Thacher advised him to give up drinking for good. “Realize you are licked,” he advised him. “Admit it, and get willing to turn your life over to God.”

The story of Wilson’s recovery from addiction recounts that later that evening, while suffering through intense withdrawal, Wilson cried out that he was willing to try anything. He asked God to show himself. At that, Wilson reportedly saw a vision and felt he was being released from the hold of addiction. Upon his discharge from the clinic, he began attending Oxford Group meetings, a Christian fellowship. There he met surgeon Robert Smith, who was a heavy drinker. Smith, who later became known as Dr. Bob, gave up drinking on June 10,1935, and, with Wilson, founded Alcoholics Anonymous.

Today I celebrate the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous and the help they have given to me.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

In the old days, if a person missed the stagecoach he was content to wait a day or two for the next one. Nowadays, we feel frustrated if we miss one section of a revolving door.

~ Modern Maturity ~

Many things today can take place overnight. We can cook a turkey dinner, mail a package several states away, or travel to another continent in a matter of hours. Because the world moves at such a fast pace, it’s only natural that we absorb some of that frenetic activity into our own lives.

We become accustomed to wanting change to hap-pen right away. When we share that at a meeting others may laugh, but it’s because they, too, have had the same feelings. It’s not unusual to want miracles with the blink of an eye.

But just because the outer world is at a frantic pace doesn’t mean we, too, have to operate at such a pace. When all the world is a raging stream, we can have a small peaceful stream of serenity flowing within us.

Tonight I can learn patience that things will happen in my time, not the time of the world. Everyone moves at his or her own pace, and I need to move at mine.

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Giving it away

We can’t give away what we don’t possess. We can’t teach others to live what we don’t live. Before we tell others about the joys of a chemical-free existence, we must live that chemical-free existence. We must be spiritual.

Our Higher Power guides us to the people we need to carry the message to.

Do I give it away every day?

Higher Power, I pray that I may be a channel of your blessing to others.

Today I will give it away to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

Our prayers are answered not when we are given what we ask, but when we are challenged to become what we can be.

~ ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL ~

Newcomer

So many things continue to be frustrating for me. I’ve been working so hard at my recovery, but my Higher Power doesn’t seem to want to reward me.

Sponsor

Trust in a Higher Power includes trust that our lives in recovery are unfolding over a long period of time and that, though we can’t always foresee where our journey is taking us, we’re on the right path. Our work in recovery includes the work of learning patience, gratitude, and trust.

Should we turn our backs on a Higher Power simply because we haven’t been given some material thing, some recognition from others, or a relationship we’ve been fantasizing about? Or because our Higher Power’s timetable differs from our own? The true dimensions of our recovery are not always visible to us. If we’re feeling frustrated about our progress, it helps us see things in perspective when we remember how far we’ve come in the relatively short time since we walked into our first meeting. Surely our recovery will continue to take us far beyond what we can imagine today, just as it’s already taken us beyond what we imagined a year ago.

Today, I remember that I’m a work in progress.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Our greatest enemy was alcohol and we have learned how to protect ourselves against it, but we are in constant danger from some of our well meaning friends. They constantly tell us how wonderful we are in that we have cut out our drinking and, unfortunately, we sometimes believe them to the point where our heads begin to swell.

At that very moment, that very necessary ingredient of sobriety, HUMILITY, goes out the window and sobriety frequently accompanies it.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) Working with Others: A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up.

2) STANDARD ACRONYMS: WWBBD: What would Bill and Bob do?

3) Al-Anon: It’s not your business to keep their secret.

by Shelly Marshall

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Power of Choice
<>Dear God, I pray for Your help
in making the right choices.
I am, at any given moment of my life in recovery,
the sum total of the choices I make.
I pray for Your guidance in choosing between
positive and negative,
humility and arrogance,
gratitude and self-centeredness;
And if at times my choices prove wrong,
help me to learn from those experiences.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

IS THAT YOUR HAT?

Why has not your prayer been answered? Perhaps it has. Strangely enough, it often happens that we receive an answer to our prayer and do not recognize it. Some of us have had demonstrations in our possession for weeks or months and have not known it. This mistake is caused by outlining. We have unconsciously decided that the demonstration must take a particular form, and because that form does not appear, we think we have failed. Actually we probably have an even better demonstration than we expected, but for the moment we are blind to it.

If a boy prayed for a man’s hat (because he thought it would look well on him or make him grown up) he would not get it; since divine Wisdom knows that he could not wear it. He would get a good hat of the sort that would be useful to him. We often pray for things for which we are not really prepared; but if we pray scientifically this will not matter, since Creative Intelligence will send us the thing that we really need.

Seek God for His own sake, for the joy of being with Him, and demonstrations will take care of themselves.

I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:34).

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

Soul Required

It’s all about soul.

~ from the song, “All About Soul, ” by Billy Joel ~

In a parable, Jesus told:

The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” And he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:17-21)

While a traditional reading of this parable might interpret “your soul is required” as passing from this world, there is a practical lesson here for enrichment of daily living. At any given moment, our soul is required. We must bring forth the riches of our spirit to be fully present and alive in our relationships, career, and spiritual path. If we become preoccupied with material pursuits, worldly worries, or self-protection, we dampen the light of our soul, and miss the true joy of living.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. Do not cover your light with a basket.” The light is our true nature. The basket is the mountain of distractions we generate when we invest our energy in building a kingdom on earth (the outer world) instead of heaven, the true inner life.

At every moment, our soul is required—not for death, but for greater life.

I want to live in the kingdom today. Help me remember that my only true joy is in spiritual aliveness.

Clothed in majesty, I walk in the glory of my spiritual identity.