Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - July

[bluidkiti]

July 16

Step by Step

"It would be hard to estimate how much AA has done for me. I really wanted the program, and I wanted to go along with it. I noticed that the others seemed to have such a release, a happiness, a something that I thought a person ought to have. I was trying to find the answer." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part I ("Personal Stories"), (1), p 191.

Today, grant me the common sense to realize the answer I seek to questions about recovery and life in general is no farther away than the text and program of AA. This here, in its proper context, is that the answer is the spiritual foundation on which recovery must be cemented. Paraphrasing the quote, "I was raised in religion but born of the spirit," let me understand that I must surrender on blind faith if I still struggle with the program's concept of higher power and spirituality. But if I still require some logical argument that a stronger power for good exists, can I not say that something stronger and better exists if alcohol and its destructive power also exist? Today, any answer I seek is here, and I am here in the now. I need look no farther. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

ACCEPTANCE

The 12 Step way of life is accepting, not necessarily passive.

~ Anonymous ~

When we accept life on life's terms, we are acknowledging reality. We have all, on occasion, run from the truth. When we were in a situation that frightened us, we would turn tail and run. We would do our imitation of an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, pretending the situation didn't exist and was not happening.

When we accept something, we are not passively taking it in. We are ready to work through and toward our new awareness. But we can't do anything at all unless we accept it as a reality.

We know what it's like to run from our disease. We tried to prove it was anything and everything but addiction. We tried to prove it was caused by something wrong in our lives, our jobs, our family, our childhood, our relationships, even the weather. After we ran out of excuses, we finally accepted our disease.

My acceptance of my addiction is not passive, but based in reality and truth.

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

The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never scoring.

~ Bill Copeland ~

We all have goals. Some of them are implicit or even beneath our conscious awareness. Some of us have very clear goals that we have spelled out for ourselves. Perhaps we are seeking to hold a certain job some day. Maybe we have the goal of saving money for our children’s college fund. Another goal might be to complete a particular next Step in our recovery program.

It helps to spell out a few goals that we truly want to accomplish. Sitting down and writing just a few goals helps us find direction. That kind of list is best when it is kept short, limited to a few things we sincerely care about. Then we have a focus to inform our small and large daily decisions.

Today I will think about my goals so that I can be clearer about how to achieve them.

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

If I want to feel better, I need to tell someone how I feel. If a friend in recovery asks me how I am, I answer honestly. Something special occurs. We are kindred spirits.

~ Marianne Lunde ~

We have a choice. We can isolate ourselves with our problems and remain stuck in their pain, or we can share with a friend or a sponsor what’s troubling us and as a result experience serenity.

When we were using, we withdrew from the world, hiding the thoughts and feelings that haunted us. Dwelling in the scary places all alone, we felt even more distant and alienated from the very people who might have helped us discover some peace.

At last those days are over. We are on this journey together, and we will help one another find the joy we deserve. We have only two assignments today or any day: one is to share honestly, openly, and lovingly with someone else who we really are; the other is to listen with a caring heart as another woman shares her story. Both of us will discover a peacefulness that neither of us has felt before.

It is my choice today whether to stay isolated and sick or to reach out and help two people: me and a sister in need. Help me, God, to want to help my sister.

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

I am working to keep my faith

I've been taking my medication and going to support meetings long enough to feel better. I do feel better, but I still have strong symptoms from time to time. Now my doctor wants me to try another medication—with, of course, a new regimen and new side effects. These days I feel very weary. At times I feel lost.

And yet I know I am not alone' I have a home. I have my dual recovery program and for that I am grateful. It reminds me that I didn’t cause these illnesses and I can't cure them. It encourages me to keep doing the good things I've been doing. My higher power and my program have brought me this far; I trust that they will carry me further.

I will list two improvements I've made in recovery and ask my sponsor for support with my meds.

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

We are betrayed by what is false within.

~ George Meredith ~

From the beginning of our lives we were taught to control ourselves. We were taught to be strong, not to cry, and not to show others how we feel. We became false, to others and to ourselves.

But today, in recovery, we can unlearn all those teachings. Recovery demands that we let our feelings out, be honest, and share our fears. We have to let go of our old ways. Just as we learned our old lessons well, we are capable of unlearning and replacing them with our program.

We have the tools and support to learn a new, honest way of living. We can learn to recognize dishonesty. Our minds are clear again. We can finally be honest, inside and out. With nothing to hide, we can safely share our deepest secrets, our darkest fears. We can get in touch with who we really are, secure in the knowledge that our Higher Power will help us find the strength we need to change. Now, we can become real.

Today help me learn a new way of life, one day at a time.

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

I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.

~ Virginia Woolf ~

You may have joined the program at a more mature age than most of the people you see at meetings. You may even question why, at your age, you are in a program of recovery.

Yet no matter what your chronological age, it is important to be willing to change and to never lose your dedication to that commitment. At those times when you doubt whether you belong in the program, think of all of those years in which you were miserable. Reflect on all of the things and people you lost from your life because of your addiction. Consider your current state of health and how drugs and alcohol ate away at your body and mind. And think about how hopeless and disconnected you once were from a spiritual life.

Recovery offers hope for a better life for anyone of any age. It does not matter if this better life for you consists of one day, one year, or several years. The peace and serenity that comes from being clean and sober can make a huge difference in your life.

I am older than most of those I meet in recovery. But I am growing younger in mind, body, and spirit each day.

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

When something does not insist on being noticed, when we aren't grabbed by the collar or struck on the skull by a presence or an event, we take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.

~ Cynthia Ozick ~

Was today an ordinary day, one filled with the usual events, the same people, the same routine? If nothing unusual or out-of-the-ordinary happened, are we now feeling a little ho-hum about the day's predictable pattern?

It’s easy to recognize the extraordinary events in a day—the ones that break the norm, perhaps add a challenge, or a chuckle, or a bit of chaos. We give those events recognition and tend to belittle the events in an ordinary day.

Tonight we can look back over our day and feel gratitude for every minute of it. We can remember our uneventful commute to work, for instance, and feel grateful that we drove in safety. We can recall the people, places, and things now and be grateful they were a part of our day.

Tonight, I will feel grateful for the good in the ordinary.

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

Putting our own recovery first

After we have put together a few months of recovery, we may really want to help others in our meeting. The goal is worthy, but we must be careful that we don’t find it easier to worry about others’ recovery than our own.

In recovery we all have plenty to do on our own. We need to concentrate on ourselves, especially at first. This is not being selfish; it’s putting “first things first.” Chances are, we can be more helpful to our brothers and sisters if we simply (although not easily) set a good example, that is, if we go to meetings, work with a sponsor, pray, and do regular inventories.

Am I setting a good example?

Higher Power, help me simply to do my own work and not worry about others’ work.

Today I will set a good example by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Too much of a good thing can he wonderful.

~ MAE WEST ~

Newcomer

I’ve been asked to speak at a meeting I’ve never attended before. I know that speaking in this fellowship is a service, and that we’re supposed to say yes when we’re asked to do things in recovery. The problem is that the speaking engagement conflicts with my favorite regular meeting, the one where we all go out afterward; I hate missing it.

Sponsor

Decisions have often been a challenge for us. In active addiction, we may have been too ill to make a choice, or we made it by default: we forgot to show up, or we waited until the last minute and canceled because of some “unforeseen emergency” we invented to justify our excuse. We missed out on a lot of what life had to offer. In recovery, though we know how to show up for commitments, we often feel uncertain about what’s the right thing to commit ourselves to. What if we make the wrong decision? If we choose plan A, what will we miss? If we choose plan B, we’ll immediately regret not having chosen plan A.

Having choices is part of the abundance of our lives in recovery. Where two good options are concerned, there’s no “wrong” decision. If we choose the unfamiliar, we can be open to meeting new people whose sharing will inspire us with a fresh point of view. Or we can nurture ourselves with the comfort of what’s known.

All the choices I make today have the potential to nourish me and my recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We in AA are taught to live for today and to shut out all regrettable yesterdays. This philosophy is good, but it does not mean that we can cut off yesterdays as though they never existed.

If we had not been alcoholics in the yesterdays, we would not be in AA today. If our lives had not been wrecked, we would not now be rebuilding upon a better and surer foundation.

We do not need to lament over misspent yesterdays, but we should salvage what was good in them to help construct our new way of life.

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

Protected and Safe

Dear God, help me feel protected and safe today.
Free my mind from resentment, doubt, and fear, and fill me with love, peace, and hope.
When my faith in You and the Twelve Steps and the Fellowship is strong,
I feel protected against the storms of life and safe in my mind and home.

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

LARGESS UNLIMITED

The most mischievous thing in life is man's reluctance to perceive his own dominion. God has given us dominion over all things, but we shrink like frightened children from assuming it, although that assuming is the one and only escape for us.

Jesus, who knew the human heart, and understood our weakness in this respect, commands us,

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Matthew 7:7-8).

Is not this the Magna Carta of personal freedom for every man, woman, and child on earth? Is not this the decree of the emancipation of the slaves of every kind of bondage, physical, mental, or spiritual? We have no business to accept ill-health, or poverty, or sinfulness, or strife, or unhappiness, or remorse, with resignation. We have no right to accept anything less than freedom and harmony and joy, for only with these things do we glorify God, and express His holy will, which is our raison d'etre.

We are to reorganize our lives in accordance with his teaching, continuously and untiringly until our goal is attained. That this attainment, that our victory over every negative condition is not merely possible but is definitely promised to us, finds its proof in these glorious words.

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

Feed Each Other

One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

~ Albert Schweitzer ~

A man was being given a tour of the kingdoms beyond this world. His guide opened a door where he saw a group of unhappy people standing around a sumptuous banquet. Although the tables were spread with inviting, delicious food, the people were starving. When the man looked closer, he saw that the spoons the people were holding were longer than their arms, and they could not get food into their mouths. "This," the guide explained, "is hell."

"Then show me heaven," the man requested.

The guide opened another door where the man saw another group of people standing before a similar banquet with spoons longer than their arms. In this room, however, the people were happy and their tummies were full. The people in heaven had learned to feed one another.

When Jesus was saying goodbye to the apostle Peter, he asked him three times, "Peter, do you love me?"

Three times Peter answered, "Yes, Lord, I do love you."

And three times Jesus told Peter, "Then feed my sheep."

All philosophy and rhetoric pale in the face of true kindness and caring. When we take care of one another, we fulfill our highest function as divine beings. We can feed each other on many levels: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. There is no greater joy and service than to fill one another with whatever we have to share.

Let me know the joy of giving love. I pray to be a channel for love and blessing at every level.

I am an instrument of God’s healing love. I delight in feeding my brothers and sisters.