Daily Recovery Readings - June

[bluidkiti]

June 16

Daily Reflections

OPEN-MINDEDNESS

We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those
who seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all
inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly
seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 7

Open-mindedness to concepts of a Higher Power can open doors
to the spirit. Often I find the human spirit in various dogmas
and faiths. I can be spiritual in the sharing of myself. The
sharing of self joins me to the human race and brings me closer
to God, as I understand Him.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

But even faith is not the whole story. There must be service.
We must give this thing away if we want to keep it. The Dead
Sea has no outlet and it is stagnant and full of salt. The Sea
of Galilee is clear and clean and blue, as the Jordan River
carries it out to irrigate the desert. To be of service to
other people makes our lives worth living. Does service to
others give me a real purpose in life?

Meditation For The Day

Seek God early in the day, before He gets crowded out by life's
problems, difficulties, or pleasures. In that early quiet time
gain a calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in
the universe. Do not seek God only when the world's struggles
prove too much and too many for you to bear or face alone.
Seek God early, when you can have a consciousness of God's
spirit in the world. People often only seek God when their
difficulties are too great to be surmounted in any other way,
forgetting that if they sought God's companionship before
they need it, many of their difficulties would never arise.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not let God be crowded out by the hurly-burly
of life. I pray that I may seek God early and often.

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As Bill Sees It

Progress Rather than Perfection, p. 167

On studying the Twelve Steps, many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go
through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain
anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints.

The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have
set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual
perfection.

<< << << >> >> >>

"We recovered alcoholics are not so much brothers in virtue as we are brothers in our
defects, and in our common strivings to overcome them."

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 60
2. Letter, 1946

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Keep It Simple

AA states that resentments is the "number one offender" among our members, that it puts more alcoholics in the graves than any other thing.---Stools and Bottles

We can get high on anger. That's why it's dangerous. We get a false sense of power from being angry. Our anger turns into resentments. Resentments turn into hate. Hate eats at our spiritual core.
We can get rid of resentments and hate through prayer and helping others. That's why we we're to pray for those who have wronged us, so our hearts don't fill with hate. This why, we use our energy in a healthy way. And our serenity will grow as we see that anger no longer has so much power over our actions.

Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me stop using anger, resentments and hate for control over other people and advents I don't like.

Action for the Day
I'll list all the people I'm angry at. I'll say a simple prayer for each of them.

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Walk In Dry Places

Solving our common problem
Recovery
Twelve Step programs bring together people who admit certain behaviors that society often views with pity or contempt. Some of these behaviors, such as alcoholism and gambling, are heavily stigmatized.
Though we often talk about "our common problem", the thing we have most in common with each other is that we're human beings who share the human condition. No one is really immune from the similar problems that beset us.
That's why somebody once remarked, only in half-jest, that "alcoholics are like normal people, only more so." We have to remember that the people around us are no different from us in that they are subject to such feelings as pride, resentment, self-pity, and discouragement.
Our common problem is really that we're human beings who need a spiritual life in order to become our true selves. This can turn a problem into a new life if we accept the program.
Today I'll look upon all people with understanding and acceptance. Everyone shares the same feelings that drive me, and everyone deserves my warmth and understanding.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down. --Olive Schreiner
God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. Many times--yesterday, last week, today, and even tomorrow--we'll come face-to-face with a seemingly intolerable situation. The compulsion to change the situation, to demand that another person change the situation, is great. What a hard lesson it is, to learn we can change only ourselves! The hidden gift in this lesson is that as our activities change, often the intolerable situations do, too.
Acceptance, after a time, smooths all the ripples that discourage us. And it softens us. It nurtures wisdom. It attracts joy and love from others. Ironically, we often try to force changes that we think will "loosen" love and lessen struggle. Acceptance can do what our willpower could never accomplish.
As we grow in wisdom, as we grow in understanding, as we realize the promises of this program, we'll stand ready, as women, to weather all our personal storms. Like the willow in the wind, we'll bend rather than break. And we'll be able to help our sisters become wise through our example.
My lessons are not easy. But they will ease my way. Better days begin, today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

We gave up our positions and off we roared on a motorcycle, the sidecar stuffed with tent, blankets, a change of clothes, and three huge volumes of a financial reference service. Our friends thought a lunacy commission should be appointed. Perhaps they were right. I had had some success at speculation, so we had little money, but we once worked on a farm for a month to avoid drawing on our small capital. That was the last honest manual labor on my part for many a day. We covered the whole eastern United States in a year. At the end of it, my reports to Wall Street procured me a position there and the use of a large expense account. The exercise of an option brought in more money, leaving us with a profit of several thousand dollars for that year.

pp. 2-3

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

A year and a half later I retired. I was enjoying my new freedom and gave myself permission to have a drink only when I was dining out. That worked so well that I made a new rule: I could have a cocktail before dinner and an after-dinner drink. Then I made a rule that said I could serve alcohol to my friends in my home. That or course is the rule that sent me spinning right back down into fearful drunkenness. I was worse than before. My self-imposed hell was in my own home. Unbathed, in the same nightclothes day after day, afraid of the phone, the doorbell, and the darkness. If the clock said six, I wouldn't know whether it was morning or evening. Days ran into each other in an agonizing blur. I crawled to bed, drank when I came to, and sat shivering in fear of some unknown tragedy that I thought was about to descend on me. I remember wailing because I couldn't make coffee, sitting curled in a corner trying to sort out how I could commit suicide without making a mess. I might have tried, but I was afraid no one would find me before I started to stink.

pp. 538-539

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

Ed not only stayed, he stayed sober - month after month. The longer he kept dry, the louder he talked - against God. The group was in anguish so deep that all fraternal charity had vanished. "When, oh when," groaned members to one another, "will that guy get drunk?"

p. 144

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"The secret of self-confidence and courage hinges on the kind of
thoughts you think. In the long run, your subconscious will send
up to you what you send down to it. Take charge of your mind and
begin to fill it with healthy thoughts."
--Norman Vincent Peale

Act on God's will, and you will be led to better things.
--SweetyZee

Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he
learned in school.
--Albert Einstein

"Don't talk about what you have done or what you are going to do
--do it and let it speak for itself."
--Martin Vanbee

Thank God For What You Have,
TRUST GOD For What You Need.

If every man would sweep before his own doors, the city would soon be
clean.
-- Italian Proverb

Those who dance are thought to be quite insane by those who cannot
hear music.
-- Maggie Erotokritou

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LEARNING

"Anyone who stops learning is old,
whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays
young. The greatest thing in life is
to keep your mind young."
--Henry Ford

My life is exciting today because I am learning and creating so much in
recovery. Even things that I thought I understood have a new "ring".
Words, ideas, relationships and the awareness of God are forever
changing - usually for the better.

Sobriety is not boring. It is not stuffy, rigid or restrictive - and
discussions (not arguments) within the fellowship of recovering people
produces fresh insights. Today I am involved in the life of God. I am
creating, healing and forever learning more about the mystery of love.

O Teacher of the Universe, let me seek beyond that which I
understand.

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There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48

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Daily Inspiration

Nothing is more important than your own peace of mind and ability to be happy. Lord, help me to remember that I must take care of myself because only then can I care for others.

Confront your problems so they don't gather like weights upon your back. Lord, help me to handle my concerns of today and lay them to rest.

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NA Just For Today

Accepting Life

"Some things we must accept, others we can change. The wisdom to know the difference comes with growth in our spiritual program."
Basic Text, p.92

It's relatively easy to accept the things we like-it's the things we don't like that are hard to accept. But remaking the world and everyone in it to suit our tastes would solve nothing. After all, the idea that the world was to blame for all our problems was the attitude that kept us using-and that attitude nearly killed us.

In the course of working the steps, we begin to ask ourselves hard questions about the roles we ourselves have played in creating the unacceptable lives we've lived. In most cases, we've found that what needed changing was our own attitude and our own actions, not the people, places, and things around us.

In recovery, we pray for wisdom to know the difference between what can and can't be changed. Then, once we see the truth of our situation, we pray for the willingness to change ourselves.

Just for today: Higher Power, grant me the wisdom to know the difference between what can be changed and what I must accept. Please help me gratefully accept the life I've been given.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Being alive is being creative. You need do nothing but affirm your aliveness. --Gay Bonner
What does it mean to be alive? Does it mean merely breathing, eating, and moving around, or is there more to it? Being alive can mean different things to different people. To some, it's sewing a baby quilt for a new life about to be born. To others, it's singing, or walking, or running. Still others find it in the exhilaration of skiing, or the tropical splendor they find when scuba diving.
Each of us has our own favorite activity that lets us feel our creativity and vitality, that lets us feel a part of the larger world. Two gifts these activities leave us with are joy and energy. Joy is one of the most creative forces we can call on, and energy gives us the power to do it well.
What will my creative activity be today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
It's not hard. When I'm not hittin', I don't hit nobody. But when I'm hittin', I hit anybody! --Willie Mays
It seems like some days everything goes our way. Everything falls together in a way that makes life easier for us. Other days are just the opposite; on a bad day we seem to be all thumbs. In our spiritual practice we know we don't control all that goes on around us.
We all are vulnerable to accidents, random misfortune, and illness. Yet, when we don't fight against the events of our lives, somehow things go better for us. We can remember that as difficult as a day may be, we are never alone because nothing can separate us from our Higher Power. When we accept the bad things that come, even though they are unfair, we give them less power in our lives. Then we are free to go forward and leave more room for the good things.
Today, I'll accept the problems I must confront and leave room for the good things.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
The pain of love is the pain of being alive. It's a perpetual wound. --Maureen Duffy
We live in one another's company. We grow to yearn for one another's company at a deeper level. The yearning reciprocated, opens the way to a love relationship, a relationship both blessed and torn by intimacies.
It's human to long for love, to want to shower it and receive it. But the pain of waiting for it doesn't match the pain that accompanies its arrival. Love heightens our sensitivities. Any separations, any discrepancies, physical or emotional, wound the partners in love. The pain that accompanies never having something is less than the pain of projected loss after its arrival.
Love should bring only happiness, we mistakenly think. But love, giving it and receiving it, beckons us to bare our souls, to expose our hidden selves. The fear of rejection, the anxiety that we'll be rejected "when they know the real me" is large and looms over our shoulders.
How lucky we are to have this program, these Steps, which if practiced in all our affairs will prepare us for love and loving. They will help us to live with the pain of love, knowing that it increases our humanity - that it deepens our awarenesses and thus, heightens our appreciation of all of life.
The pain of love increases my rapture.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Feeling Good
Having boundaries doesn't complicate life; boundaries simplify life. --Beyond Codependency
There is a positive aspect to boundary setting. We learn to listen to ourselves and identify what hurt us and what we don't like. But we also learn to identify what feels good.
When we are willing to take some risks and begin actively doing so, we will enhance the quality of our life.
What do we like? What feels good? What brings us pleasure? Whose company do we enjoy? What helps us to feel good in the morning? What's a real treat in our life? What are the small, daily activities that make us feel nurtured and cared for?
What appeals to our emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical self? What actually feels good to us?
We have deprived ourselves to long. There is no need to do that anymore, no need. If it feels good, and the consequences are self-loving and not self defeating, do it!
Today, I will do for myself those little things that make life more pleasurable. I will not deny myself healthy treats.


Today I choose to see myself well and whole. Today I put all my energy into positive thoughts, knowing that my body is healthy and strong. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Seek Freedom and Equality in Love

Are you deferring to someone in your life? When we relinquish control of our lives to someone else, we also relinquish responsibility for our happiness, our well-being, our joy, our growth, and our choices.

It’s healthy and normal to want to be nurtured. A partner can make our lives easier, take some of the load off. We are sent helpers, friends, and lovers. The Divine arm of love reaches out through people, through our loved ones, to bring us the support we need. Opening to and receiving that support are essential to well-being, to joy, to happiness. But there’s a difference between receiving help and support and being controlled. There’s a difference between surrendering to love and surrendering to control.

Relinquishing control can happen subtly, but its effects are powerful. We begin to believe we’ve lost our freedom. We begin to believe that someone has taken it away. We feel stifled, repressed.

Don’t make other people responsible for delineating your boundaries. It’s your job to take responsibility for your choices, your comings, your goings, your well-being, your path. If you feel you’ve relinquished your power, your freedom, take it back. Take responsibility for yourself. You don’t have to defer to anyone. The times of being controlled are past. You can accept nurturing without being manipulated. You can accept love without being controlled.

Set yourself free. Love exists only where freedom exists. Create relationships that are equal. There you will find love.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Deal with manipulation

A few years ago I was in Jordan on an excursion through the Middle East. I wanted to go to Pakistan, but when I got to the Pakistani embassy in Jordan, an official ordered me to go to the American embassy, miles away, saying, “You have to get a piece of paper from your government vouching for you. That’s the only way the government of Pakistan will even consider your request.”

I went to the American embassy in Jordan and stood in line there all day. Finally, when it was my turn, I told the gentleman why I was there. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “There’s no such thing as an international voucher for people in the United States. That’s what a passport does. It says the American government is vouching for you, declaring you worthy and reliable to travel abroad.”

He began to speak more quietly. “He’s just messing with you,” he said, of the government official at the other agency. “Sometimes they like to play games with people, show them how much power they really have.”

I went back to the Pakistani embassy. When I returned, there was an elderly Muslim man sitting in the waiting room. He wore a turban. His head was bowed. He was reciting the Koran and rubbing his string of prayer beads.

He helped set the tone and reminded me of what I needed to do: calm down, be peaceful, stop resisting, and harmonize with the situation. It didn’t matter if the visa man was wrong and I was right. he had the power. I needed to go to him. I sat quietly waiting for my turn. When I went up to the counter, I deliberately acknowledged his point of view. Then I gently explained that I didn’t get the piece of paper he asked for from the American embassy, because that paper didn’t exist. I explained it was probably the only time in my life. I’d be in this area of the world. I pointed to the poster on the wall. “The Himalayas are so beautiful there,” I said. “If I don’t go now, I don’t know that I ever will. You have the power to say yes or no. And I have no choice but to go along with whatever you say. It’s in your hands.”

He told me to go sit down. I did. Five minutes later, he called me back to the stand. “Here,” he said, handing me my passport. “Enjoy your visit in Pakistan.”

We have a right to get as mad as we want, but sometimes harmonizing can achieve so much more than yelling in indignation or even fighting back. Next time you find yourself in a situation where you’re being manipulated, let go of your resistance and practice harmony instead.

God, teach me the power of moving gently, with humility and respect, through the world.

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In God’s Care

Once you accept the existence of God – however you define Him, however you explain your relationship to Him – then you are caught forever with His presence in the center of all things.~~Moris West
Having our Higher Power is an integral part of how we experience all the hours of a day (whether they hold burdens or blessings) heightens our awareness of the fullness of our life. Believing that God exists for us and in us profoundly changes how we see every aspect of our day. The day and our place in the drama that unfolds take on new meaning and purpose.

A number of us didn’t believe in God when we joined a Twelve Step program. Or if we did, many of us believed in a demanding or punishing God who had no relevance to our daily life. What a difference it makes to let a loving God take charge of our thoughts, attitudes, behaviors, and plans for the future. Nothing can stir much fear in us when we remember that God is right here, now, always.

Today God will be the center of all my activities.

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Day By Day

Taking off the masks

We’re not much different from other people (except that we couldn’t stop abusing mood-altering chemicals). Like other people, we, too, wear masks. We’re afraid that others will find out who we really are, especially since we no longer hide behind chemicals.

But if we work the program, we will get stronger, If we work the program, we won’t need our masks because we will accept ourselves (and others) more.

Can I stop wearing my masks?

Higher Power, help me work the Steps and to accept myself and my recovery.

Today I will practice treating myself well. I will practice being myself with…

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Start with the Heart
Checking in with Your Heart Daily

Every day we experience a magical twilight between our dreams and waking state. During this brief period of time, our minds still remember that all things are possible. We can smoothly transition into our physical world without losing a sense of hope when we check in with our heart center first, before we even get out of bed. Our heart center is the link between body and spirit, instinct and inspiration. It doesn’t take long to hold a thought of loving gratitude for the heart that beats within us. In a mere moment we can review all that we want to accomplish in the light of love. When we get into the habit of beginning our day from the heart, all of our activities glow with the infusion of conscious intent and all interactions are done with compassion.

We can restart our day right now by imagining how love and inspiration feel. As light glows from our heart center, radiating out through our bodies into the space around us, any feelings of stress or frustration seem to melt away. Now, we see each person we encounter as fellow travelers in the journey of life, and every activity becomes part of a spiritual partnership. As conscious participants in the cycle of giving and receiving, we share our light with others as we become enlivened ourselves, with our heart leading the way.

In the intersection where our body and soul meet, our physical heart beats in time with the rhythm of the universe. It does the physical work of supplying our body with life force without our attention, but for its spiritual work, we need to be conscious. When we concentrate on its rhythm and glowing light, we remember that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Then we know that we can choose any time to check in with our heart center, and in doing so, experience the joy of being in love with life. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

The Ninth Step of The Program is: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” To make restitution for the wrongs we’ve done can be extremely difficult, to say the least; if nothing else, it deflates our egos and batters our pride. Yet that in itself is a reward, and such restitution can bring still greater rewards. When we go to a person and say we’re sorry, the reaction is almost invariably positive. Courage is required, to be sure, but the results more than justify the action. Have I done my best to make all the restitution possible?

Today I Pray

May I count on my Higher Power to stop me if I start to crawl out from under my Ninth Step responsibility. May I feel that blessed, liberating wash of relief that goes with saying out loud, to someone I have harmed, “I was wrong. I made mistakes. I am honestly sorry.” May I not worry about cracking the brittle, cover-up crust of my ego, because the inside will be more mature.

Today I Will Remember

Restitution is blessed.

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One More Day

We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous or brave action.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

As our life experience unfolds, we live some days to the fullest and others in a very minimal way. If we focus too much on the less productive days or if we use them only as substandard comparisons to our best days, we may lose sight of the real value and meaning of the time we’ve been given.

A wholesome life, a productive life, a good life — whatever we call it — is not a shimmering length of perfectly woven cloth. It’s more like a patchwork quilt set together by resourceful hands. We cannot choose to discard a bad experience or a poor decision; instead, we piece it into the total colorful work that is life.

Today, I will be more aware of how the contrasts of my life create a unique and beautiful pattern.

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Food For Thought

Satisfaction Comes from Inside

Why do we continually expect to be satisfied by taking in and possessing things from the outside? Amassing material goods and possessions more often than not stimulates rather than satisfies our appetite. What we do and contribute satisfies us more than what we have and consume.

When we are at peace within ourselves and in contact with our Higher Power, we make fewer demands on the outside world. When we are able to use our abilities in productive work and can give of our emotional and spiritual strength to other people, we feel replete.

Nothing from the outside can bring us happiness if we are at war with ourselves. Chronic dissatisfaction indicates that we have not turned our will and our lives over to God's care, but are still trying to run the show egotistically. Complete surrender opens the way to satisfaction.

I want to surrender to the inner needs of my spirit.

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One Day At A Time

MIRROR, MIRROR
"Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.”
Kahlil Gibran

As a child, I often looked in the mirror and wished I were a boy. I thought I was ugly, had a deep voice, and was a disappointment as a girl. Even as a young woman I could never enjoy my appearance. I never saw the truth in the mirror. I would always focus on my “problem areas” and feel devastated that this had happened to my body. I felt totally helpless and wanted to cry; but I didn’t cry ~ I ate instead. Compulsive overeating stripped me of my true self. It made me incapable of seeing the truth, feeling the truth, and perceiving the truth.

Since coming to OA the scales have fallen from my eyes. By reading the Big Book, going to meetings, interacting with my sponsor, and working the steps, I have been able to see things as they are. Now I see my true self in the mirror and I can deal with life as it is. I can feel my feelings and know that they are neither right nor wrong and they will pass and change with the wind. This healing has cleared space in my mind and spirit for me to connect with my Higher Power. It has made room for me to grow, to love and care for myself, and to appreciate the body God gave me. When I doubt my perceptions, my feelings, or what I’m seeing in the mirror, I just surrender and remind myself that God has given me new eyes and new tools for living my life. The 12 Steps of OA shine a light into my soul and show me the truth in all areas of my life and recovery.

One day at a time...
I will look at myself ~ in all areas of my recovery ~ and know that what I am seeing is the truth because the light of OA and the 12 steps are guiding my life today.
~ Karen

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could quit on our will power. If anyone questions whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving liquor alone for one year. If he is a real alcoholic and very far advanced, there is scant chance of success. - Pg. 34 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Tomorrow is not a day to worry about. Yes, there are possible adversities, burdens, and fears but the sun will rise without our control and we know not whether it rises in splendor or behind a mask of stormy weather. Therefore, we leave tomorrow to tend itself.

Tomorrow is a day I will never meet so I stay focused in this hour and tend to my needs now--not project about unknown needs tomorrow.

Anger and Blame

Today, I accept my feelings of anger and blame without beating myself up for them. Feelings aren't facts; they are meant to inform me of what is going on inside me. When I constantly judge myself for what I feel, I make my difficult emotions much more complicated, and they last ten times as long. There is nothing inherently wrong with any feelings - so what if I am angry and feel like getting mad? Accepting this allows the feeling to pass through me. Fighting it keeps me tangled up inside with no way out. Judging myself doesn't help anyone, least of all me. Frightening feelings are just frightening feelings. I do not have to overreact to them.

My own feelings need not toss me in every direction.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

There are many times when crying is the appropriate thing to do. Tears let us know that you need to be supported and consoled. Do not be afraid to cry. Do not be afraid to support others when they cry.

Tears are liquid prayers.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

A good listener is not only popular everywhere but after awhile he knows something.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I choose to see myself well and whole. Today I put all my energy into positive thoughts, knowing that my body is healthy and strong.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should be as happy as kings. - Robert Louis Stevenson.

[bluidkiti]

June 17

Daily Reflections

"DEEP DOWN WITHIN US"

We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last
analysis it is only there that He may be found. . . . search
diligently within yourself . . . With this attitude you
cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come
to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 55

It was out of the depths of loneliness, depression and despair
that I sought the help of A.A. As I recovered and began to
face the emptiness and ruin of my life, I began to open myself
to the possibility of the healing that recovery offers through
the A.A. program. By coming to meetings, staying sober, and
taking the Steps, I had the opportunity to listen with
increasing attentiveness to the depths of my soul. Daily I
waited, in hope and gratitude, for that sure belief and
steadfast love I had longed for in my life. In this process,
I met my God, as I understand Him.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We in A.A. have the privilege of living two lives in one
lifetime. One life of drunkenness, failure, and defeat. Then,
through A.A., another life of sobriety, peace of mind, and
usefulness. We who have recovered our sobriety are modern
miracles. And we're living on borrowed time. Some of us might
have been dead long ago. But we have been given another chance
to live. Do I owe a debt of gratitude to A.A. that I can never
repay as long as I live?

Meditation For The Day

Thinking about God in love and worship drives away evil. It is
the thought before that the hosts of evil flee. The thought of
a Power greater than yourself is the call for a life-line to
rescue you from temptation. The thought of God banishes
loneliness and dispels gloom. It summons help to conquer your
faults. Think of God as often as possible. Use the thought
prayerfully and purposefully. It will carry your thoughts away
from material things and toward the spiritual things that make
life worthwhile.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may think of God often. I pray that I may rest in
peace at the thought of His love and care.

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As Bill Sees It

Accepting God's Gifts, p. 168

"Though many theologians hold that sudden spiritual experiences amount to a special
distinction, if not a divine appointment of some sort, I question this view. Every
human being, no matter what his attributes for good or evil, is a part of the divine
spiritual economy. Therefore, each of us has his place, and I cannot see that God
intends to exalt one another.

"So it is necessary for all of us to accept whatever positive gifts we receive with a
deep humility, always bearing in mind that our negative attitudes were first necessary
as a means of reducing us to such a state of that we would be ready for a gift of the
positive ones via the conversion experience. Your own alcoholism and the
immense deflation that finally resulted are indeed the foundation upon which your
spiritual experience rests."

Letter, 1964

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Walk In Dry Places

Is the Golden Rule Applicable?
Inventory
Some people say the Golden Rule is impractical or believe it can work only if everybody begins following it at the same time.
We learn in 12 Step programs that the Golden Rule does work. We start by taking our own inventory, whether nor not others do. We make amends for our own wrongs, even when amends are not made to us. We think rightly about others, no matter how they think about us.
>From time to time, we also receive a cosmic hint that the Golden Rule is far more than a mere human ideal expressed in an ancient time. It really appears to be one way of stating a law of life. We should treat others as we want to be treated because, in time, this is how we will be treated.
Nothing will help me more with my program today than to practice the Golden Rule, even in the face of trying situations. This will show me, more than word ever can, that God is really in charge of my life.

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Keep It Simple

Each day provides its own gifts. ---Ruth D. Freedman
Life is full of wonderful gifts. Recovery is life's greatest gift to us. If we're not excited about being sober, we need to check ourselves. Are we keeping something secret? Is there a sadness we need to talk about? Are we stuffing anger? These things eat away at our excitement for life.
Many addicts never get the gift of recovery. Those of us in recovery are special. We've been given a new life. There will be hard times. But the joy of getting a second chance will be stronger. Am I grateful that I've been given recovery?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see recovery as a gift. I deserve this gift because I'm human. Help me to always accept this gift.
Action for the Day: At the end of the day, I'll list three gifts that this day has given me.

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Each Day a New Beginning

. . . we could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. --Helen Keller
We chase after joy, like a child after a firefly, being certain that in joy all problems are solved, all questions are answered. Joy has its rewards, and we deserve them. But life has more to teach us.
We need to learn patience; through patience we come to respect time and its passage, and we are mellowed. We need to learn tolerance; through tolerance our appreciation of another's individuality is nurtured. We need to learn self-respect; self-respect prepares us to contribute more freely to our experiences, and we find wholeness.
Life's travails are our opportunities for lasting, enriching joy. The rough spots deepen our understandings. And these help us to bring joy to the lives of the friends near and dear.
I need not turn my back on joy. But I will be glad for all life's experiences. The panorama will sustain me more fully.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

For the next few years fortune threw money and applause my way. I had arrived. My judgment and ideas were followed by many to the tune of paper millions. The great boom of the late twenties was seething and swelling. Drink was taking an important and exhilarating part in my life. There was loud talk in the jazz places uptown. Everyone spent in thousands and chattered in millions. Scoffers could scoff and be damned. I made a host of fair-weather friends.

p. 3

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

Once again my daughter came to my rescue, and I checked into the detox program at the hospital. This time I was there for ten days. During that time, A.A. meetings were made available at the hospital. I was genuinely touched by the fact they they were led by a young man in a leg cast and on crutches, especially when I realized that he came as a volunteer. And twice before I left, I was given a leave of absence to attend local A.A. meetings.

p. 539

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

Quite a while later, Ed got a sales job which took him out of town. At the end of a few days, the news came in. He'd sent a telegram for money, and everybody knew what that meant! Then he got on the phone. In those days, we'd go anywhere on a Twelfth Step job, no matter how unpromising. But this time nobody stirred. "Leave him alone! Let him try it by himself for once; maybe he'll learn a lesson!"

p. 144

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When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to
step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of
two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to
stand on or you will be taught to fly.
--Edward Teller

Take time each day to seek out stillness, to find that sacred spot. Let
your mind and soul be at ease. Don't grasp and grab for the magic and
miracles. When you reside in that place of stillness, the joy, miracles,
and magic you're seeking will find you.
--Melody Beattie

"Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to
think."
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I only have to be what I am, no more, no less.
--Robbie Rocheford

Higher Power, help me to be open, flexible, and accepting in my
recovery.

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SELF-LOVE

"Only a person who can live
with himself can enjoy the gift of
leisure."
--Henry Greber

As an addict I could not tolerate my own company for long. I was
forever telephoning somebody, going over to a friend's house, inviting
people in, creating an "occasion" so I did not have to think or, at least,
think about myself. Being alone terrified me. I was terrified because I
would begin to think about what was happening in my life and I did not
want to face it.

Spirituality is reality. Some years ago I decided to encounter the
"real" me, painful but necessary. I began to develop an awareness of
who I am. Acceptance followed: I am an alcoholic.

Today I know me; today I like me; today I can love me - and this
awareness brings with it a knowledge of God, self and my neighbor.

Today I can be alone without feeling lonely.

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Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is
the right thing to do. "Honor your father and mother." This is the first
of the Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. And this is the
promise: If you honor your father and mother, "you will live a long
life, full of blessing." And now a word to you fathers. Don't make your
children angry by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with
the discipline and instruction approved by the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1-4

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I
will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My
righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no
law.
Galatians 5:22, 23

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were
called in one body; and be thankful."
Colossians 3:15

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Daily Inspiration

The best thing to let go of is your past. Lord, the goodness of my past is part of whom I am now, but the rest only serves to pull me away from You. Help me to keep my thoughts only on this moment.

Imagine that you were paid for every kindness and charged for every unkindness. Would you be rich or poor? Lord, I often pray for material wealth. Let me not neglect my soul by now praying for the ability to build my spiritual wealth also.

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NA Just For Today

Walls

"Reaching out is the beginning of the struggle that will set us free. It will break down the walls that imprison us."
Basic Text, p.80

Many of us came to NA emotionally shattered. Years of using people and allowing them to use us had taken their toll on our ability to trust anyone, ourselves included. But the love and acceptance we found in Narcotics Anonymous encouraged us to reach out and get close to others.

The longer we stayed clean, the more we began to long for greater intimacy with our loved ones. We began reaching out in deeper, more meaningful ways, even though we might get hurt. Despite our fears of rejection, we decided to risk revealing ourselves, our beliefs, and our needs. We decided to let down our defensive walls.

The freedom we've found has been worth the risk involved. We know there is still work to do before we will be completely free of the barriers built by years of active addiction. But by reaching out to other addicts and allowing them to reach out to us, despite our human failings, we have come to know that we have a great capacity for love and intimacy. When set free of their restraining walls, our hearts hold great power.

Just for today: I will let down my personal walls and reach out to others. I will allow my heart the freedom to love and be loved.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
You will jump to it someday. Then you'll fly. You'll really fly. After that you'll quite simply, quite calmly make your own stones, your own floor plan, your own sound. --Anne Sexton
A young man sat beside a whispering creek all day for years, never moving. The townsfolk who watched him wondered whether he heard the gurgling creek sounds, or felt the sting of insects, or saw the raccoons when they came at night to sip from the cool, dark waters.
One day the young man rose and dashed up the hill above the creek. There, using all the healing strength of the stream which he had quietly absorbed over the years, he gathered stones. He arranged them layer by layer to fit the plan he had thought out by the creek, and feverishly he built his home. When done, he let out a brassy, booming holler of joy. Imagine the townsfolk's surprise when they turned their eyes to that lonely spot by the creek and saw a huge castle of stone above the place where the young man once rested.
What plans can I make during my idle hours today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The loneliness each man feels is his hunger for life itself.... It is the yearning that makes fulfillment possible. --Ross Mooney
Many different journeys have been taken by the men who finally entered this program in search of hope. Most of us have known our own brand of desperation, but we have one thing in common - the loneliness we felt. Some of us felt left out of our families and other groups. We were appalled by what was happening in our lives, alone with our secrets, as if no one truly knew us. Some of us even romanticized our loneliness as a form of heroism.
As we gave up our controlling behaviors, false pride over-competitiveness, and striving for power, we made our weak spots and secrets more obvious. We became more accessible to friends. As we count the blessings of recovery, high on our list is that we are no longer lonely.
In part, what kept me going and led me to this program was my hunger for life. I'm grateful for the friends who truly know me now, and still accept me.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down. --Olive Schreiner
God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change. Many times--yesterday, last week, today, and even tomorrow--we'll come face-to-face with a seemingly intolerable situation. The compulsion to change the situation, to demand that another person change the situation, is great. What a hard lesson it is, to learn we can change only ourselves! The hidden gift in this lesson is that as our activities change, often the intolerable situations do, too.
Acceptance, after a time, smooths all the ripples that discourage us. And it softens us. It nurtures wisdom. It attracts joy and love from others. Ironically, we often try to force changes that we think will "loosen" love and lessen struggle. Acceptance can do what our willpower could never accomplish.
As we grow in wisdom, as we grow in understanding, as we realize the promises of this program, we'll stand ready, as women, to weather all our personal storms. Like the willow in the wind, we'll bend rather than break. And we'll be able to help our sisters become wise through our example.
My lessons are not easy. But they will ease my way. Better days begin, today.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Surrender
Master the lessons of your present circumstances.
We do not move forward by resisting what is undesirable in our life today. We move forward, we grow, we change by acceptance.
Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.
Listen to this truth: We are each in our present circumstances for a reason. There is a lesson, a valuable lesson that must be learned before we can move forward.
Something important is being worked out in us, and in those around us. We may not be able to identify it today; but we can know that it is important. We can know it is good.
Overcome not by force, overcome by surrender. The battle is fought, and won, inside ourselves. We must go through it until we learn, until we accept, until we become grateful, until we are set free.
Today, I will be open to the lessons of my present circumstances. I do not have to label, know, or understand what I'm learning; I will see clearly in time. For today, trust and gratitude are sufficient.


I am learning new ways to deal with all that comes up in my life today. I am letting go of all negative ways of dealing with stress and anxiety that are harmful to my mind and my body. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Learn to Report Instead of Judge

There is a world of difference between reporting and judging.

When you report, you merely say what happened. I am going through this. I did this. She did that. I feel this. But when you judge, attitudes and feelings are added on. I am going through this; therefore I’m deficient. I did this; therefore I’m wrong. She did that; therefore there’s something wrong with her. I feel this; so I must be bad.

Reporting brings clarity and helps move us forward. Report on what is happening in your life as often as you like. But try not to judge. Judgment limits, confines, brings condemnation down on others and ourselves. It says who you are, where you are, what you are doing is wrong. That leaves little room to move, and even less space for acceptance. Ir diminishes the freedom to grow and evolve.

Reporting without judgment doesn’t mean we approve of what’s going on or that we don’t have feelings about the situation. Nor does it mean we have to tolerate whatever comes our way. But when we can report without judgment, we can accept. And acceptance sets us free. Acceptance is the place from which all growth and change occurs.

When there is truth and acceptance without fear of judgement, there is love. Create your own world of love.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relax when things don’t go as you planned

So, the boyfriend calls, says he’s going hiking with his buddies for a week, cancels his date with you, says he hopes you won’t be mad.

Or the bank calls and says you’re overdrawn, and you don’t know how that can be. You’ve been trying to carefully watch your deposits and checks. You’ve gone out of your way not to mess up. This can’t be right.

What do you do when life seems to force you to react? You can panic, become anxious, yell, and respond with a counterattack. But that probably won’t solve the problem. And it may turn things into a brawl.

Or you can calm down. Breathe deeply. Tell yourself to relax. Say as little as possible, if that’s possible, while you’re upset and disturbed. If a problem or disturbance that’s not fair interrupts your life, try responding by saying “hmmm.” Then calm down and decide what you need to do.

There’s a time to get upset, yell, scream, and shout. But that time isn’t when you’re trying to sort out problems. Before you take action, get centered, calm, and clear.

You will discover that when you’re centered and calm, you’re more powerful than you think.

God, help me start sailing through life with more ease by learning to relax and let life be.

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In God’s Care

One can survive anything these days except death.
~~Oscar Wilde

Perhaps we remember the pain of discovering that a loved one had betrayed our trust. The hurt and shame might have felt unbearable. Maybe we suffered a devastating blow when a dream of ours was lost forever. At the time, our pain may have consumed and immobilized us. But it finally went away and we did survive.

We are survivors or we wouldn’t still be on this journey. All of us have lived through some tragic and overwhelming circumstances. At times we may have felt we were being pushed to the edge of sanity. But we didn’t topple over. And we are still on our journey of recovery. We can continue to find purpose in every situation that claims us, with the knowledge that our Higher Power will be there for us.

I will be able to handle even the most difficult situation today with God’s help.

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A New Level of Mastery
Coming Full Circle by Madisyn Taylor

When we come full circle there is the feeling that we have come to a familiar place but we are somehow different.

Life is a circular journey through our issues and processes, and this is why things that are technically new often seem very familiar. It is also why, whenever we work to release a habit, change a pattern, or overcome a fear, we often encounter that issue one last time, even after we thought we had conquered it. Often, when this happens, we feel defeated or frustrated that after all our hard work we are still dealing with the same problem. However, the reappearance of a pattern, habit, or fear, is often a sign that we have come full circle, and that if we can maintain our resolve through one last test, we will achieve a new level of mastery in our lives.

When we come full circle, there is often the feeling that we have arrived in a familiar place, but that we ourselves are somehow different. We know that we can handle challenges that seemed insurmountable when we began our journey, and there is the feeling that we might be ready to take on a new problem, or some new aspect of the old problem. We feel empowered and courageous to have taken on the challenge of stopping a pattern, releasing a habit, or overcoming a fear, and to have succeeded. At times like these, we deserve a moment of rest and self-congratulation before we move on to the next challenge.

Coming full circle is like stepping into a clearing where, for a moment, we can see where we came from and where we are standing at the same time. Remembering that we will be tested again is important, but it’s also important to pause and take a look at the ground we’ve covered, honoring our courage, our persistence, and our achievement. Then we can begin the next leg of our circular journey with a fuller understanding of where we are coming from. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Readiness to take the full consequences of our past acts, and to take responsibility for the well-being of others at the same time, is the very spirit of Step Nine. A casual apology, on the one hand, will rarely suffice in making amends to one we have harmed; a true change of attitude, in contrast, can do wonders to make up for past unkindness. If I’ve deprived anyone of any material thing, I’ll acknowledge the debt and pay it as soon as I’m able. Will I swallow my pride and make the first overtures toward reconciliation?

Today I Pray

God show me the best ways to make “direct amends.” Sometimes simply admitting my mistakes may make it up to someone and unload my own simmering guilt. Other times restitution may take some creative thought. May I be wholly aware that I cannot take this Ninth Step unless I develop some caring, some real concern about how others feel, along with changes in my behavior.

Today I Will Remember

First I care, then I apologize.

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

One More Day

Variety is the mother of enjoyment.
– Benjamin Disraeli

Ideally, we anticipate awakening in the morning, not sure what the day is going to bring, but looking forward to it anyway. Sometimes this eagerness comes more easily, for we have places to go and people to see. At other times, we’re unable to recapture our previous joy. What took away our excitement for life? What can we do to reclaim it?

Life does not end at retirement or when the children move away or when our good health is diminished. It just changes. We can develop some new interests and hobbies. We can reexamine old attitudes and come up with new perspectives. Music and-good fellowship with others can enrich our lives and strengthen us to go on. We can turn to our spiritual natures, and we will know joy.

I am aware of the wonders and opportunities around me. I will share the joy I find.

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

Food For Thought

Conflicts

To be alive is to have conflicts. We find ourselves in disagreement with other people and in conflict with ourselves. Often, the things we want seem mutually exclusive, such as more money and more free time, more food and fewer pounds.

Our Higher Power does not promise us freedom from conflict, at any rate, not in this life. Like all growing organisms, we struggle with opposing forces. Frequently, our overeating is an attempt to escape the conflicts, which we should be facing. Sometimes we need to be more self-assertive with those around us instead of futilely trying to suppress justifiable indignation with food. There are times when we need to fight for our legitimate requirements.

We cannot always resolve our internal conflicts without a long and difficult battle. Time and maturity are often necessary before a problem is seen in its proper perspective. Some problems we may expect to wrestle with as long as we live. Having faith in the light, even when we cannot see it, makes our darkness bearable.

Lighten our darkness, Lord.

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One Day At A Time

VICES AND VIRTUES
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues." Abraham Lincoln

In doing a tenth step daily, I am faced with my character defects -- and yes, even vices. While I may not be compulsively eating, I may over-indulge in any number of other things like talking, whining, or frenetic busy-ness. I have been told that in life I must learn to "take my foot off the gas." I have also been told that I am "too intense" or just "too much." I guess this means I am not moderate in all things (by a mile.)

This thought comforts me in all of this: at least I am in the game. If someone asks for my opinion, he or she will get it ~ straight from the heart or the hip, as they say. If someone needs a favor, I am apt to be excessive in performing it. If someone needs a friend, he or she often gets much more than a casual acquaintance in me. In essence, my being "too much in general" has its good side -- at least I am not asleep at the wheel. I am fully engaged in life.

One day at a time...
I will not forget that my zest for overindulging and overdoing-it-in-general has its counterpart in my zest for goodness and service. I am alive and kicking. I will not hate myself for being fully alive.
~ Q

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

In the early days of our drinking we occasionally remained sober for a year or more, becoming serious drinkers again later. Though you may yet be a potential alcoholic. We think few, to whom this book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year. Some will be drunk the day after making their resolutions; most of them within a few weeks. - Pg. 34 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

It is a good idea to take five minutes to reflect on our situation while we go through the beginning stages of abstinence. For many of us the battle is acute withdrawal, pain and confusion. 'Taking five to revive' can be very important to our focus on survival.

As I 'take five' give me the thoughts necessary to carry me forward.

The Witness

Today, I will become aware of that part of me that is separate and observes all that I say, do, think and feel. I have a witness within me that can become a very useful part of my life. Watching my behavior with a little bit of objectivity will help me to see myself as I really am. I will look with a compassionate eye. Just as I know it is not right to hurt others intentionally, it is equally not right to hurt myself. I recognize the godlike nature within me and others - we are all a part of the same Higher Power. By allowing my mind to watch itself with no thought of controlling or participating, I can learn a great deal about the way I work.

I am an uncritical observer of my own inner workings.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

There will always be people who did worse than you and always people who do better. You can use comparison to prove anything you want: that you lack thus and such or that you are better than so and so. We learn not to compare our selves and our stories, but to identify.

I identify, I don't compare.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

No matter how much sobriety you have, you will never rise above the level of human being.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am learning new ways to deal with all that comes up in my life today. I am letting go of all negative ways of dealing with stress and anxiety that are harmful to my mind and my body.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm never going to forget about self, but the Big Book tells me that I'm supposed to be of maximum service to God and my fellows - I'm not even mentioned. And in that process, I'm of maximum service when I'm focused on others; folding chairs, emptying ashtrays, making coffee, a commitment at my home group. As it says: 'Our very lives as ex problem drinkers depends on our constant thought of others.' What do they mean by that? They can't possibly mean that we're supposed to constantly think of others. Could they? Who's going to think about me? - Chris C.

[bluidkiti]

June 18

Daily Reflections

A FELLOWSHIP OF FREEDOM

. . . if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 50

When I no longer live under the dictates of another or of alcohol, I live in a new freedom. When I release the past and all the excess baggage I have carried for so very long, I come to know freedom. I have been introduced into a life and a fellowship of freedom. The Steps are a "recommended" way of finding a new life, there are no commands or dictates in A.A. I am free to serve from desire rather than decree. There is the understanding that I will benefit from the growth of other members and I take what I learn and bring it back to the group. The "common welfare" finds room to grow in the society of personal freedom.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The A.A. way of living is not an easy one. But it's an adventure in living that is really worthwhile. And it's so much better than our old drunken way of living that there's no comparison. Our lives without A.A. would be worth nothing. With A.A., we have a chance to live reasonably good lives. It's worth the battle, no matter how tough the going is from day to day. Isn't it worth the battle?

Meditation For The Day

The spiritual life has two parts. One is the life apart, the life of prayer and quiet communion with God. You spend this part of your life apart with God. Every day your mind can be set in the right direction so that your thoughts will be of the right kind. The other is the life impart--imparting from others what you have learned from your own meditative experience. The victories you have won over yourself through the help of God can be shared with others. You can help them by imparting to them some of the victory and security that you have gained in your life apart.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may grow strong from my times apart with God. I pray that I may pass on some of this strength to others.

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As Bill Sees It

Learning Never Ends, p. 169

"My experience as an oldtimer has to some degree paralleled your own and that of
many others. We all find that the time comes when we are not allowed to manage and
conduct the functional affairs of the groups, areas, or, in my case, A.A. as a whole. In
the end we can only be worth as much as our spiritual example has justified. To
that extent, we become useful symbols--and that's just about it."

<< << << >> >> >>

"I have become a pupil of the A.A. movement rather than the teacher I once thought I
was."

1. Letter, 1964
2. Letter, 1949

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Walk In Dry Places
AA is an Automatic sprinkler system
Emotional emergencies
Wise managers install automatic sprinkler systems to protect their businesses. The system's great value is that it goes into action during the first few minutes of a fire, before it gets out of control. This gives the fire department precious time to arrive and put the fire out.
Our AA program gives us something like an automatic sprinkler system. We never know when the flames of resentment might leap up, seemingly our of nowhere. If we've been working our program, something takes over automatically to being dealing with resentment.
This gives us time to bring more of our valuable spiritual tools into use. Knowing that resentment is burning away, we can try one thing and then another until it is brought to rest. Perhaps we will try prayer. We might also discuss our problem with a close friend or sponsor. Maybe we'll attend a meeting and lay the matter out for the group attention. We may help somebody, even in a small way. An amazing healing of resentment can come from any helpful action. Even a simple action like helping a person in a stalled automobile can work wonders in deflecting the pain of ongoing resentment.
I need not fear the sudden appearance of resentment if I have been following my program. I already have within myself the methods for holding resentment at bay while I deal with it.

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

Keep It Simple

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. Rodin
When we first start our recovery, it hurts a lot to look at our past. We feel sad. It feels like our life was a waste.
But it wasn't a waste. The program promises that if we practice the Steps, we'll not reget the past nor wish to shut the door on it. Hard to believe? Just look at all the happy old-timers in AA. Their lives were just as messed up as ours.
Because of our addiction, we're learning a new way to live. We are getting to know ourselves, our Higher Power, and other people.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for helping me into recovery. Help me learn from my addiction.
Action for the Day: I'll list three important things I've learned about life because of my addiction. I'll talk to my sponsor about them.

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Each Day a New Beginning

One receives only that which is given. The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words, return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy. --Florence Scovel Shin
Each of us can attest to the truth of this passage. During the difficult times, however, it is not uppermost in our minds that "what goes around, comes around." It feels all too easy to be justifiably resentful or to gossip, or to ignore another's presence. And the repercussions are seldom immediate. They will come, though.
Goodness is likewise repaid. Giving love, attention, respect to the individuals who share our lives and to the people who cross our paths by chance, will smooth our own passage day by day. The effects of our goodness will often be felt quickly. A smile elicits a smile. Kind thoughts bless us as well as the receiver. Life events do come full circle.
With a bit of effort, I can smile at someone today, even though I'm frowning inside. Both will be better for it.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

My drinking assumed more serious proportions, continuing all day and almost every night. The remonstrances of my friends terminated in a row and I became a lone wolf. There were many unhappy scenes in our sumptuous apartment. There had been no real infidelity, for loyalty to my wife, helped at times by extreme drunkenness, kept me out of those scrapes.

p. 3

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

Others have stated that they eagerly embraced the A.A. program. Unlike them, I did not enter the rooms willingly, nor did I find myself immediately at home. However, I had no other option. There was no escape route that I had not tried, none that had not led me to another failure. I was sixty-nine years old. I had neither time nor health to waste. For six months I didn't drink, attended meetings, and sometimes read the Big Book. I went to meetings exactly on time, sat quietly, and left as soon as the meeting closed. In no way was I a part of the the group. I was not impressed by the sayings and didn't really believe the messages I heard. Then one day I was called on to share, and I proceeded to explode. I announced that in no way was I a "grateful alcoholic," that I hated my condition, that I did not enjoy the meetings, and that I did not leave the meetings refreshed. I found neither ease nor growth in the Fellowship.

pp. 539-540

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

About two weeks later, Ed stole by night into an A.A. member's house, and unknown to the family, went to bed. Daylight found the master of the house and another friend drinking their morning coffee. A noise was heard on the stairs. To their consternation, Ed appeared. A quizzical smile on his lips, he said, "Have you fellows had your morning meditation?" They quickly sensed that he was quite in earnest. In fragments, his story came out.

p. 144

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"If we've been fighting something or someone, we can try gratitude & acceptance."
--Melody Beattie

"My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment."
--Oprah Winfrey

"Confidence, like art, never comes from having all the answers; it comes from being open to all the questions."
--Earl Gray Stevens

"Whatever your problem, no matter how difficult, you can release spiritual power sufficient to solve your problem. The secret is--pray and believe."
--Norman Vincent Peale

"When you focus on what might have been, it gets in the way of what can be."
--Patricia Fripp

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

ACCEPTANCE

"Less is more."
--Mies van der Rohe

As a gambler, I always wanted more. I wanted to win more, get more, have more, spend more - always my energy was in getting "the more".
But this constant and demanding lifestyle only gave me less. I could never stop to smell the roses. Activity robbed me of satisfaction. I was running through my life and missing it.

Then somebody told me to stop and rest awhile. Don't chase life; enjoy it. The gambling had become a compulsive and obsessive disease that was ruining my life. I was losing. I was not only losing money - but family, intimacy, life. I was so busy trying to win that I missed the pain and loneliness of my daily losses.

Today I choose not to do this. I accept that the "less" in my life is giving me more. I take responsibility for me, and I share freely with other recovering gamblers.

God, teach me to see Your power and beauty in what I can give up.

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For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 5:8-10

Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
Psalm 20:13

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Daily Inspiration

Live with gratitude for all that you are and all that you have because often what looks good on the outside is not really what it seems. Lord, remind me to spend a few moments each day appreciating my life and becoming aware of how good it really is.

Worse than being a quitter is the one who is afraid to begin. Lord, grant me the courage to believe in myself and the ability to focus on what I can do, not what I can't do.

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NA Just For Today

Indirect Amends

"Indirect amends may be necessary where direct ones would be unsafe or endanger other people."
Basic Text, p.40

When we used, we allowed nothing to stand in the way of that next high. As a result, many of us didn't always know precisely whom we had injured, either financially or emotionally. When it came time to make amends through our Ninth Step, we found that there were so many people we had victimized that we might never remember them all.

With the help of our sponsor and other recovering members of NA, we found a solution to this obstacle. We vowed to complete these nameless amends by making restitution to our communities. We focused our service efforts on helping the still-suffering addict. In this manner, we found a way to give back to society.

Today, with the love and guidance of members in NA, we are giving back to the world around us rather than taking. We are making our communities better places to live by carrying the message of recovery to those we encounter in our daily lives.

Just for today: I will make indirect amends by reaching out to an addict who may need help. I will strive in some small way to make my community a better place in which to live.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Let your conscience be your guide. --Jiminy Cricket
Crickets sing on summer nights because it's their nature to do so. They don't think about whistling or trumpeting or sleeping or changing the world. They've figured out their role on earth, and they do it.
We are a bit more complex than crickets, and most of the time that's lucky. In most of our affairs it's our conscience more than sheer instinct that helps us choose those thoughts and acts and feelings that are right for us.
Each of us has that little voice inside, relentless as a chirping cricket, telling us what to do. Even in the middle of our toughest decisions, we always have within us the solution that is right for us. All we have to do is listen--and trust.
What does my inner voice say about today's decisions?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences. --W. H. Auden
Many of us have said, "I can't help myself!" when we tried to stop our constant thinking about other people or their behavior. "I know it's not good for me, but what can I do when they keep acting that way?"
Let us think of ourselves as living in a house with many windows. At each window is a different view, and within each view are many things to catch our attention. Perhaps there are some people, some traffic, some buildings, a horizon, and some trees. If we always go to the same window and focus on the same object, we are not using all our choices. We may have overlooked some things in our lives that need attention. There are many things we are totally powerless over. Our power exists in changing the focus of our attention.
Today, I will notice where I am choosing to pay attention. I pray for guidance in being aware of my options.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
. . . we could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world. --Helen Keller
We chase after joy, like a child after a firefly, being certain that in joy all problems are solved, all questions are answered. Joy has its rewards, and we deserve them. But life has more to teach us.
We need to learn patience; through patience we come to respect time and its passage, and we are mellowed. We need to learn tolerance; through tolerance our appreciation of another's individuality is nurtured. We need to learn self-respect; self-respect prepares us to contribute more freely to our experiences, and we find wholeness.
Life's travails are our opportunities for lasting, enriching joy. The rough spots deepen our understandings. And these help us to bring joy to the lives of the friends near and dear.
I need not turn my back on joy. But I will be glad for all life's experiences. The panorama will sustain me more fully.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Being Vulnerable
Part of recovery means learning to share ourselves with other people. We learn to admit our mistakes and expose our imperfections - not so that others can fix us, rescue us, or feel sorry for us, but so we can love and accept ourselves. This sharing is a catalyst in healing and changing.
Many of us are fearful of sharing our imperfections because that makes us vulnerable. Some of us have tried being vulnerable in the past, and people tried to control, manipulate, or exploit us, or they made us feel ashamed.
Some of us in recovery have hurt ourselves by being vulnerable. We may have shared things with people who didn't respect our confidence. Or we may have told the wrong people at an inappropriate time, and scared them away.
We learn from our mistakes - and despite our mistakes, it is still a good thing to allow ourselves to be vulnerable and honest. We can learn to choose safe people with whom to share ourselves. We can learn to share appropriately, so we don't scare or push people away. We can also learn to let others be vulnerable with us.
Today, God, help me learn to be appropriately vulnerable. I will not let others exploit or shame me for being vulnerable, and I will not exploit myself.


I am learning new ways to deal with all that comes up in my life today. I am letting go of all negative ways of dealing with stress and anxiety that are harmful to my mind and my body. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Don’t Worry

Worrying doesn’t help. Our worries haven’t prevented one disaster along the way. At times, the only thing they’ve prevented is our joy. Our worries are fear. We say, I will worry and be fearful until things have worked out; only then can I relax and enjoy. Our worries are self-punishment, a form of not forgiving ourselves, not loving ourselves, not trusting.

We may think that worrying helps ward off trouble, but that’s an illusion. Sometimes worrying brings trouble upon us, because we’re so caught up in our fear that we don’t take the responsible steps we need to take. By neglecting our lives due to worry and fear, we may bring needless consequences upon ourselves.

The lesson is trust. When we’re trusting, we let go of our fear, confident that what we want and need will come. We trust that if what comes appears to be trouble or hardship, we will get what we need to get through that,too. When we trust, we get peaceful first, before we get what we want, before we see what the future brings.

Worry and fear are the opposite of love. Love yourself more that you ever have. Love yourself enough to stop worrying. Love yourself enough to give yourself the gift of peace.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relax even when you’re being attacked

Attacks can come in many shapes and forms. They can be emotional attacks, when someone pelts us with anger and rage. We can be attacked physically,too.

Self-defense is important. But ti’s easy to get confused when we’re being attacked, about what it means to take care of and protect ourselves. It may be a boss, a spouse, a child, or a friend who turns on us in anger and rage. We might be dating someone, someone we don’t know well, who suddenly starts spewing venom and rage. Instinctively, we may attack back.

If someone yells at us in anger, says something mean, or physically hurts us, we usually don’t think twice. We tense up and fight back. Then the situation escalates. The other perosn’s fear and anger contaminate us. We become afraid, angry, and mean,too. Our intense and volatile emotions feed and fuel the situation. Things can easily get out of control.

Instead of escalting the situation into an all-out brawl, try harmonizing and restoring the situation to peace. You might be surprised with the results that learning to relax and harmonize brings. And you’ll be closer to connecting with your true power.

God, fill me up with so much peace that my presence neutralizes and deflects attacks, no matter where I might be.

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In God’s Care

One can survive anything these days except death.
~~Oscar Wilde

Perhaps we remember the pain of discovering that a loved one had betrayed our trust. The hurt and shame might have felt unbearable. Maybe we suffered a devastating blow when a dream of ours was lost forever. At the time, our pain may have consumed and immobilized us. But it finally went away and we did survive.

We are survivors or we wouldn’t still be on this journey. All of us have lived through some tragic and overwhelming circumstances. At times we may have felt we were being pushed to the edge of sanity. But we didn’t topple over. And we are still on our journey of recovery. We can continue to find purpose in every situation that claims us, with the knowledge that our Higher Power will be there for us.

I will be able to handle even the most difficult situation today with God’s help.

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Clearing Our System
Food Allergies by Madisyn Taylor

Understanding how our bodies react to food, and making adjustments can have a profound effect on our energy system.

In this day and age we know so much more about our relationship to food than our predecessors, and the way we eat and think about food has become almost unrecognizable to our grandparents’ generation. One example of this is our awareness of food allergies, a condition that has recently entered the collective consciousness. Most of us know someone who is allergic to such commonplace foods as wheat and dairy, and we may even be prone to such an allergy. Understanding how our bodies react to food, and making the necessary adjustments in our diet, can have a profound effect on our whole energy system, and can be the key to shifting our mind into a state of greater clarity.

When we are continuously exposed to a food that gives us an allergic reaction, we feel lethargic, foggy-headed, or as if we always have a low-grade sinus infection. Other symptoms can include nausea, digestive difficulties, skin problems, and difficulty breathing. Many of us have been fighting these symptoms our whole lives without realizing that getting relief could be as simple as cutting a particular food out of our diet. When we do, we feel as if we are waking up out of a fog, and our whole system, cleared of substances that work against it, benefits. Many people see skin improvements, they sleep better, have more energy, and feel able to think more clearly. When we feel less than well, testing ourselves, or getting tested by someone else, for food allergies may be a good place to start.

If you know how to do kinesiology, or if you work with a pendulum or have access to clear signals from an inner guide, you can test yourself. If these modes of gaining information are unfamiliar or uncomfortable, you can get tested through a doctor of your choice. However we go about it, exploring our relationship to the foods we eat can be the first step to a more optimal state of health, well-being, and clarity of mind. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

I believe today that I have a right to make spiritual progress. I have a right to be emotionally mature. I have a right to take pleasure in my own company, and that makes me more pleasant to be with. I also have a right to become willing — deeply willing, entirely willing – to make amends to all those I’ve harmed. Because I can now accept myself the way I am, I can accept other people the way they are — no entirely, but to a much greater degree than in the past. Have I begun to make friends with God, and thus with myself?

Today I Pray

May God show me that it’s okay to like myself, even while trying to repair old wrongs and rebuild from splinters. May I keep telling myself that I am different now, I have changed. I am a better and wiser and healthier person, I have made some good choices. As this “new person,” may I find it easier to make atonement for what happened long ago and in another spiritual place. May those I have wronged also find it easier to accept my amends.

Today I Will Remember

It’s okay to like myself.

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One More Day

Never believe in faith, see for yourself! What you yourself don’t learn, you don’t know.
– Berolt Brecht

While faith seems to be the watchword here, this quotation also extols the value of learning. Learning is not the opposite of faith. In fact, it supports and builds our faith. We often can trust our intuitions to guide us through all the lessons life provides us. It’s up to us to pick and choose, to decide what lessons would be particularly pertinent to us, and to incorporate that knowledge into our own spirituality.

We learn firsthand, of course, from our own day-to-day lessons in living, but we also learn from the experiences of others, and these are equally beneficial to us. We can see for ourselves.

Learning strengthens my faith — in my Higher Power, in others, and in myself. I can use that greater faith to enhance and strengthen the quality of my life.

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Food For Thought

Homesickness

There are certain foods, which we will always associate with home and which make us nostalgic to recapture the past. No matter how much we eat, we cannot go back home and again be the babies and little children we were. No food will satisfy our longing for the love, care, and safety most of us associate with home. Even (and especially) if our dependency needs were not met when we were young, eating unnecessary food now will not help.

As we grow in relationship with our Higher Power, we begin to believe that home lies ahead, rather than behind us. We begin to see that our homesickness is for a spiritual state instead of a physical place. Wherever we are, we are pilgrims and travelers, not sure of our final destination but drawn toward something more than what we know in this world. We sense that though we are in the world, we are not of it, that we are homesick for a spiritual fulfillment.

May our homesickness bring us closer to You.

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One Day At A Time

GUILT
“The worst guilt is to accept an unearned guilt.” Ayn Rand

I think that I was fed on guilt from the minute I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My mother's favorite saying was, "After all I've done for you..." I'd immediately feel guilty because of all that I perceived my mother had given up for me. As a result, I was given the message that love had to be earned and that as far as my mother was concerned, I had to do something to be worthy of her love. I felt like I had to be the perfect daughter my mother wanted. No matter what I did, it never seemed to be good enough. My guilt grew even more.

Of course I know now that I didn't deserve that guilt and that I chose to take it on ~ but as a child I didn't know that. Thank goodness for the program which is enabling me to see what I deserve -- and what doesn't belong to me. I am realizing that most of the time it's other people's stuff and that I don't have to take that on.

One day at a time...
I will remember to only take on what is rightfully mine and I don't need to feel guilty if I don't deserve to.

~ Sharon

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We believe, and so suggested a few years ago, that the action of alcohol on these chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy; that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.

Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves, if they are to re-create their lives. - Pg. xxviii - 4th. Editon - The Doctor's Opinion

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The origin of our disease mystifies us -- genetic, societal, environmental, or all three? But we can't wait on science or medicine to untangle the addiction web. We must work on recovery today! That means no mind-affecting chemicals in this 24 hours!

May I stay clean and sober this day, this hour.

Separation

Today, I see that some of my anger towards my parents or their generation is about my need to separate from them and seek an individual identity. Even if my parents were wonderful, it would be natural to want to become my own person. Healthy parents have an easier time allowing this process because they have their own identity and intuitively understand what their children are doing. Less healthy parents take separation as a personal indictment and tend either to hold on tighter or to reject the relationships altogether. It is difficult to separate under these circumstances because it becomes so threatening. It is difficult to establish an individual identity without fearing either great loss or engulfment.

I see separation for what it is.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Take heart. There is no situation too difficult to be bettered and no unhappiness too great to be lessened. This is because the spiritual tools you require reside within-within that heart you 'take.'

What lies in front of me and what lies behind me is insignificant compared to what lies within me.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Not asking for support is a sign of weakness.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I look honestly at what is real without denial or judgement. I accept my reality without struggle and this gives me all the courage I need to deal with what needs to be done.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

They say there are no 'musts' in AA, that it's a 'suggested program'. That's right. The same way that when you jump out of a plane, it's suggested you take a parachute. Unknown origin.

[bluidkiti]

June 19

Daily Reflections

"A.A. REGENERATION"

Such is the paradox of A.A. regeneration: strength arising
out of complete defeat and weakness, the loss of one's old
life as a condition for finding a new one.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 46

A thousand beatings by Barleycorn did not encourage me to
admit defeat. I believed it was my moral obligation to
conquer my "enemy-friend." At my first A.A. meeting I
was blessed with a feeling that it was all right to admit
defeat to a disease which had nothing to do with my
"moral fiber." I knew instinctively that I was in the
presence of a great love when I entered the doors of A.A.
With no effort on my part, I became aware that to love
myself was good and right, as God had intended. My feeling
set me free, where my thoughts had held me in bondage. I
am grateful.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We have this choice every day of our lives. We can take the
path that leads to insanity and death. And remember, our
next drunk could be our last one. Or we can take the path
that leads to a reasonably happy and useful life. The choice
is ours each day of our lives. God grant that we take the
right path. Have I made my choice today?

Meditation For The Day

Your real work in life is to grow spiritually. To do this you
must follow the path of diligently seeking good. The hidden
spiritual wonders are revealed to those who diligently seek
this treasure. From one point to the next, you have to follow
the way of obedience to God's will until finally you reach
greater and greater spiritual heights. Work on the material
plane should be secondary to your real life's work. The
material things that you need most are those that help you
to attain the spiritual.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may keep growing spiritually. I pray that I
may make this my real life's work.

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As Bill Sees It

Whose Will? p. 170

We have seen A.A.'s ask with much earnestness and faith for God's explicit guidance
on matters ranging all the way from a shattering domestic or financial crisis to a
minor personal fault, like tardiness. A man who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of
prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly
disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions, he instantly
proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small.

He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking and the human
tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of
intentions, he tends to force his will into all sorts of situations and problems with the
comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction.

12 & 12, pp. 103-104

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Walk In Dry Places

Open minded but concerned.
Responsibility
Open-mindedness is a quality that helps us attract new ideas for our self-imporovement. Oddly, many of us though we were open-minded long before we ever considered a 12 Step program.
We learned that what we considered open-mindedness was really indifference based on self-justification. It follow that people who are deep into selfish, compulsive behavior will appear to be open-minded and even very tolerant. This attitude is really the result of a desire to be accepted in spite of questionable behavior. It reflects no concern for others.
In living the program, we seek to cultivate true open-mindedness. This means being open to new ideas and opportunities, but also being concerned about others and taking care not to harm them.
Today I'll be open to what people are thinking and saying. I will be careful not to let my own prejudices keep me from viewpoints that will help me and others.

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Keep It Simple

If you tell the truth, you don't need to remember anything.---Mark Twain
One thing is a lot easier in life now is this---we can keep our story straight! We are learning that there's one really good way to get along with people. Keep It Simple. Just tell the truth.
It's hard to do at first. We might think, "If people see the real me, what will happen?" We might be afraid of what will happen if we don't lie or make excuses.
But telling the truth works! We find out we never did fool anyone anyway!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, make me honest.
Action for the Day: I'll list all the ways honesty will help me in recovery. I'll sign-up to give a meeting on honesty.

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Each Day a New Beginning

There were deep secrets, hidden in my heart, never said for fear others would scoff or sneer. At last I can reveal my sufferings, for the strength I once felt in silence has lost all its power. --Deidra Sarault
There is magic in sharing ourselves with someone else. We learn from Steps Four and Five that what we thought were heinous acts are not unusual. Our shameful acts are not unique, and this discovery is our gift when we risk exposure.
Realizing how much we are like others gives us strength, and the program paves the way for us to capture that strength whenever and wherever we sense our need. Secrets block us from others and thus from God too. The messages we need to hear, the guidance offered by God, can't be received when we close ourselves off from the caring persons in our lives. They are the carriers of God's message.
How freeing to know we share the same fears, the same worries. Offering our story to someone else may be the very encouragement she needs at this time. Each of us profits from the sharing of a story. We need to recognize and celebrate our "sameness." When we share ourselves, we are bonded. Bonding combines our strength.
Silence divides us. It diminishes our strength. Yet all the strength we need awaits us. I will let someone else know me today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

In 1929 I contracted golf fever. We went at once to the country, my wife to applaud while I started out to overtake Walter Hagen. Liquor caught up with me much faster than I came up behind Walter. I began to be jittery in the morning. Golf permitted drinking every day and every night. It was fun to carom around the exclusive course which had inspired such awe in me as a lad. I acquired the impeccable coat of tan one sees upon the well-to-do. The local banker watched me whirl fat checks in and out of his till with amused skepticism.

pp. 3-4

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

My healing began with the arrogance of that statement. One of the women came to me after the meeting and told me I was about to "go out." She offered to help me find a sponsor and led me to exactly the person I needed. This lady had nineteen years of sobriety and, even more important, a wealth of experience in helping and guiding alcoholics through the steps of A.A. By no means do I intend to imply that I leaped with pleasure into the program. I stalled and resented and refused to accept each step as it came up. I felt challenged by each new concept and resentful toward my sponsor, who seemed intent on reducing me to abject stupidity. It was years before I realized that I resented the changes the program asked me to make, not my sponsor.

p. 540

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

In a neighboring state, Ed had holed up in a cheap hotel. After all his pleas for help had been rebuffed, these words rang in his fevered mind. "They have deserted me. I have been deserted by my own kind. This is the end . . . Nothing is left." As he tossed on his bed, his hand brushed the bureau near by, touching a book. Opening the book, he read. It was a Gideon Bible. Ed never confided any more of what he saw and felt in that hotel room. It was the year 1938. He hasn't had a drink since.

pp. 144-145

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"Praying is asking God for help, meditating is listening for God's answer." "Keep trying" is the rule that must be followed to become successful in anything."

It isn't "me" and "you" anymore; it's "we" and "us." I get drunk. We
stay sober! It's a we program.....

"The way to develop the best that is in a man is by appreciation and
encouragement."
--Charles Schwab

As thou valuest thyself, others will esteem thee.
--Gaelic Proverb

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PREJUDICE

"A great many people think they
are thinking when they are only
rearranging their prejudices."
--William James

An aspect of prejudice in my life is my refusal to listen. I tend to stay
with my own thinking and I "shut off" people or ideas I do not want to
hear. The problem with this attitude is that it does not lead to
discussion, growth or change.

Spirituality is having the capacity to hear what others are saying, even
people you may not like or respect, and also being prepared to live
with and alongside confusion and "difference". Truth is a many-sided
diamond, and it cannot be comprehended from one viewpoint. I need to
remove my prejudices if I am ever to move towards an understanding
of God's truth.

I need to learn in my heart that there is that "image" of God in every
person I meet.

Teach me to listen so that I may hear, so that I may grow.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

"So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom."
Luke 12:32

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Daily Inspiration

Trust yourself more than you trust the pressures of society and the ways other people try to influence you. Lord, strengthen me and continue to bless me with wisdom so that I can stand firm on my beliefs and know that how I feel is very important to me.

It is not making a mistake, but repeating it that is cause for concern. Lord, may I use my mistakes to guide me to better choices.

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NA Just For Today

A Sense Of Humor

"We find that when we lose self-obsession, we are able to understand what it means to be happy, joyous, and free."
Basic Text, p.103

The laughter in our meetings often surprises the newcomer. As a group, we appreciate the healing that healthy laughter brings. Even if we are deeply troubled, the joy that often fills the meeting rooms allows us, for a time, to have some fun with our recovery. Through humor, we can be temporarily relieved of our obsession with self.

Life on life's terms is often anything but funny. But if we can keep a sense of humor about us, things that might overwhelm us can be made bearable. How often have we allowed ourselves to be upset by incidents that, taken with a bit of humor, are not all that intolerable? When we become annoyed with people and events, a search for the humor in the situation can put things in a brighter perspective. An ability to find humor in a difficult situation is a gift to develop.

Just for today: I will look to find the humor in adversity. When I make mistakes, I will find a way to laugh at the humor of my imperfections.

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Jealousy is cruel as the grave. --Song of Solomon
Most bushes and small trees need trimming every year. They have branches that hang out over the sidewalk and get in people's way. Sometimes the branches grow so long and low to the ground that the tree looks weighted down.
Jealousy is like an overgrown branch--it weighs us down. It is one of those feelings all of us deal with. We may be jealous of someone's looks or talent, or maybe even their good luck. Like the overgrown branches, jealousy sticks out all over and gets in other people's way as well as our own. It is a part of us we need to keep cutting back.
If we are good gardeners, we will get out the clippers. Seeing and talking about our jealousy is the best way to start using those clippers. If we do this, our own leaves will be healthier, and our blossoms will grow.
Is there someone I am jealous of? Can I use my clippers today?



You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. --Helen Keller
When a man looks at his life and at the lives of others, it is clear that pain is part of life. We cannot escape this tragic truth; our growth and our wholeness must include it because our recovery stresses honesty. In our old way of living, we may have been bitter. Many of us felt sorry for ourselves. Some of us cursed God and wasted time in our self-centeredness, thinking life was especially unfair to us. Life is not fair; it just is. It is left to us to choose how we will respond.
People's responses to life inspire us. We not only acknowledge the pain, but we see the heroic lives of others around us. They met their limitations and went forward with a willing spirit and faith. Today we can be grateful for the progress we have made in overcoming our suffering. We have friends who give us the joy of human contact. We have choices and possibilities where we never saw them before. We have a growing self-respect as men.
I accept the reality of life, and I will respond with faith in the choices I make today.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
One receives only that which is given. The game of life is a game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words, return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy. --Florence Scovel Shin
Each of us can attest to the truth of this passage. During the difficult times, however, it is not uppermost in our minds that "what goes around, comes around." It feels all too easy to be justifiably resentful or to gossip, or to ignore another's presence. And the repercussions are seldom immediate. They will come, though.
Goodness is likewise repaid. Giving love, attention, respect to the individuals who share our lives and to the people who cross our paths by chance, will smooth our own passage day by day. The effects of our goodness will often be felt quickly. A smile elicits a smile. Kind thoughts bless us as well as the receiver. Life events do come full circle.
With a bit of effort, I can smile at someone today, even though I'm frowning inside. Both will be better for it.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Making Life Easier
Life doesn't have to be hard.
Yes, there are times we need to endure, struggle through, and rely on our survival skills. But we don't have to make life, growth, recovery, change, or our day-to-day affairs that hard all the time.
Having life be that hard is a remnant of our martyrdom, a leftover from old ways of thinking, feeling, and believing. We are worthy, even when life isn't that hard. Our value and worth are not determined by how hard we struggle.
If we're making it that hard, we may be making it harder than it needs to be, said one woman. Learn to let things happen easily and naturally. Learn to let events, and our participation in them, fall into place. It can be easy now. Easier than it has been. We can go with the flow, take the world off our shoulders, and let our Higher Power ease us into where we need to be.
Today, I will stop struggling so hard. I will let go of my belief that life and recovery have to be hard. I will replace it with a belief that I can walk this journey in ease and peace. And sometimes, it can actually be fun.


I trust that I have all that I need in every moment of this day. --Ruth Fishel

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

Journey To The Heart

Your Heart Will Guide You Through

If you feel confused, alone, unsure of what to do next, go back to a place you can trust– your heart. In matters of work, money, love, play, go back to your heart.

The issues that arise in your life can be dealt with from the heart. You will be guided through gently, safely, with love and truth, along the path that’s best for you. Are you feeling upset? Do you wonder why things aren’t working out? Are you unsure of the map, uncertain of the next step, wondering how to untangle the mess of the past?

The answer isn’t in your head, it’s in your heart. It’s not outside of you, although sometimes we receive guidance from others. The answer you’re seeking, the guidance you’re looking for needs to feel right to you. It needs to resonate with your heart. Your heart is the center, the balance point for your emotions, your intellect, and your soul. Your heart is safe.

Go back to your heart. It will always lead you home.

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

More Language Of Letting Go

Relax enough to face reality when life twists and turns

Sometimes in life, no matter how deeply we intend to make the best decisions possible for ourselves, things happen. Marriages end, jobs turn sour, friends wane. For reasons outside our control or understanding, the situation twists and turns into something other than what we bargained for.

Have you been waiting for a situation to revert to what it originally was–or what you hoped it would be when you got in? Are you telling yourself that there’s something wrong with you, when the reality is, the situation has changed into something other than what you thought it was? Things often don’t go as smoothly as we planned. Sometimes, we need to endure amd get through the rough spots. But I’m talking about those grindingly difficult moments when life suddenly twists on us.

These are the times we need to quit torturing ourselves. Let go of what you thought would happen. If life has twisted on you, don’t turn on yourself. Don’t try to make things be the way they were. Come up to speed. Return to now. Let yourself accept the new situation at hand.

The road isn’t always a straight course. Sometimes, even a path with heart unexpectedly twists and turns.

God, help me relax and trust myself enough to deal with reality, not my fantasy of what I hoped it would be.

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

In God’s Care

Our immediate temptation will be to ask for specific solutions to specific problems, and for the ability to help other people as we have already thought they shoud be helped. In that case, we are asking God to do it our way.
~~Bill W.

As much as we say we want God’s will to be done, we often find ourselves asking God to do what we think is best. Always, of course, with the best intentions. Who would not want a sick friend to get well, a spouse to earn a raise in pay? And what about our own needs? What’s the harm in a specific request? Surely we all do this. But isn’t it a bit presumptuous of us to decide what is best for ourselves or anyone else?

Love and compassion may motivate our prayers, but only God knows what each or us needs to experience and learn. If we insist on seeing things happen our way we’re not trusting God’s plan for us. A loving God will see that our needs are supplied without instructions from us.

Instead of asking for what I want, I will pray to be open to God’s will.

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

Day By Day

Doing the footwork

We often ask our Higher Power for spiritual assets without recognizing the work we need to do to get them. To grow strong, we must learn to carry burdens; to gain patience, we must learn to handle stress; to follow God’s will, we must become willing to let go. To be courageous, we must practice faith in the face of fear; to be right, we must learn to admit wrongs; to be loved, we must learn to be loving.

Our Higher Power gives us opportunities to grow. The footwork is up to us.

Am I doing my part?

Higher Power, help me to recognize, and do, my part in recovery.

Today I will do the footwork necessary to…

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

Just for Fun
Remembering Childhood Joys by Madisyn Taylor

Fun isn’t something that is given or done to you, it is something that you allow yourself to experience.

As adults, we often get so caught up in “grown up” business that we can forget how to have pure fun. This isn’t the kind of fun that comes from doing a specific kind of activity or being in a specific mood for fun. Rather, this is the fun born from the state of pure being. You see this kind of fun in small children who are so busy being fully present to their lives and in their own bodies that the glow of fun radiates from them just because they are alive: the delight that flashes across the eyes of a child who discovers that water flows with the turn of the tap knob or the squeal of pleasure from a young baby whose tongue is being tickled by cold ice cream; then there’s the full, infectious laughter of a child watching the same hat trick for the fiftieth time.

Back when we were children, this experience of pure delight didn’t have to come from a heightened, heady event in order for us to feel like our day had been made; and it can be that way for us again - if we are willing to remember and reconnect with that part of ourselves that knows how to be in the flow of fun. You can begin this process by reminiscing on what was fun for you as a child. Think about what caused you to giggle in delight or wriggle in pleasure or burst into endless laughter that you couldn’t sit up straight no matter how much you wanted to. Try to spend a few moments with each memory, and really feel what it was like to be in those experiences – allowing that feeling of pure fun to wash over you. It lives, in you – that feeling. It can’t be bottled, manufactured, or sold. You just have to call it back up in order to experience it again.

Pure fun happens when we are fully engaged with ourselves and our world in each moment. It is the spontaneous delight that bubbles out of us when we let go long enough to bring it through; it is the experience of natural, organic pleasure that springs up from our bellies, through our souls, up through our faces, and down to our toes. We’ve naturally known how to have pure fun since we were babies and the flicker of lights caused us to jump to attention from the sheer enjoyment of being able to see. Approach your life today with the knowledge that pure fun isn’t something that is given or done to you; rather, it is something that you allow yourself to experience. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Refection For The Day

The Program teaches us that only one consideration should qualify our desire to completely disclose the damage we’ve done. And that’s where a full revelation would seriously harm the one to whom we’re making amends. Or, just as important, other people. We can hardly unload a detailed account of extramarital misadventures, for example, on the shoulders of an unsuspecting wife or husband. When we recklessly make the burdens of others wavier, such actions surely can’t lighten our own burden. Sometimes, in that sense, “telling all” may be almost a self indulgence for us. So in making amends, we should be tactful, sensible, considerate, and humble — without being servile. As a child of God, do I stand on my feet and not crawl before anyone?

Today I Pray

May God show me that self-hatred has no role in making amends to others. Neither has the play-acting of self-indulgence. I ask most humbly for His guidance as I strive to maintain a mature balance in interpersonal relations, even in the most casual or fragile ones.

Today I Will Remember

Making amends is mending.

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

One More Day

We can either change the complexities of life… or develop ways to enable us to cope more effectively.
– Herbert Benson

Our illnesses have brought many new complexities into our lives, and our reactions may become much more intense as time goes on — especially if we feel helpless or pity ourselves.

All people have crises in their lives. Our medical conditions don’t give us immunity from the normal problems, pains, and disappointments that all of us must face. If anything, we may have an advantage over people who have never had health problems; we have learned some coping skills in dealing with our medical conditions. Also, we have become more open to advice and support from others. We can be proud of how far we’ve come; we can be optimistic of how far we can go.

I will gladly exchange help and support with my friends.

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

Food for Thought

Taking Inventory

Blaming circumstances and other people for our difficulties, including compulsive overeating, is counterproductive. We cannot control external circumstances or other people, but we can work on changing ourselves. In order to change, we first need to be aware of the attitudes and characteristics, which get us into trouble. If we overeat or have a tantrum when we do not get our own way, then we need to learn how to function without demanding that everything should go according to our personal schedule and preference.

We take inventory in Step Four and we continue to take it in Step Ten. It is a valuable tool for our growth. The amazing result is that as we recognize and begin to correct personal defects, our relationships with others improve tremendously. With a positive change in our attitude and behavior, there is a corresponding change in the way other people respond to us.

Taking inventory involves recognizing our good qualities as well as our weaknesses. In OA, we measure our wealth not by what we have but by what we have given.

Teach me to give.

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One Day At A Time

KIND WORDS
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa

How many times are we gifted with newcomers to our meetings? They are so easy to see as they huddle in the back of the room -- usually as close to the exit as possible. Their oversized coat is a good giveaway, especially in July. Their eyes show the fear and anxiety that we all felt. Sure, we made it, and so can they.

I remember the elder who first said those magical words to me -- those two simple words -- "Welcome Home." The warmth and safety those words held were immense. I felt that my body was huge, and I was embarrassed in a room full of people who looked very similar to me…but my eyes could not see that. They were filled with tears because of those two words. Welcome home. Whoever that person was, I have two words for you, "Thank you.”

What can you do to make a newcomer feel welcome to your meeting? Let us not forget that all-important first hug. I remember mine; do you remember yours? It felt good, I'll bet. So welcome the newcomer and let them know they are home.

One day at a time...
I will do my part to welcome the newcomer into our fellowship.
~ Danny

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Some day we hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find a Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. - Pg. 162 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

One hour at a time leads to one day at a time in our recovery program. Each hour is one of 24 building blocks of each day of our sobriety and clean time.

My current building block is to raise above fear and practice faith this hour.

Projection

Today, I understand that when I project my feelings outward and see them as belonging to other people and not to me, I postpone my own self-awareness. The only way I can deal with difficult feelings is first to claim them as my own. Sitting with anxiety, anger, rage and jealousy is not pleasant, but actually experiencing my own feelings is the only way to get through them.

I own my feelings and am willing to experience them.
- Tian Dayton PhD

'Self-forgiveness brings your mental and emotional energy systems back into balance. That's all. No big deal. It's not necessarily religious or spiritual, it's just good ol' street sense - the missing link in intelligence that scientists are looking for. Once you practice forgiving and releasing yourself, you'll realize the benefits soon in the way you feel overall.'
- Doc Childre

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Ramana Marhrshi talks about life's journey and likens it to a train trip. He says that you can carry your baggage on your head or set it on the floor beside you. Either way, both you and your baggage arrive at your destination. This is because the train carries your baggage, not you. If you prefer to carry your burdens on your head, it doesn't change the destination, it simply gives you a head ache.

I chose to let my Higher Power carry my baggage and my burdens.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

You woke up this morning clean and sober. That's your spiritual awakening.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I trust that I have all that I need in every moment of this day.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

A sober alcoholic is like a turtle on a fence post - You know it had help. - Anon.

[bluidkiti]

June 20

Daily Reflections

RELEASE FROM FEAR

The problem of resolving fear has two aspects. We shall
have to try for all the freedom from fear that is possible
for us to attain. Then we shall need to find both the
courage and grace to deal constructively with whatever
fears remain.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 61

Most of my decisions were based on fear. Alcohol made life
easier to face, but the time came when alcohol was no
longer an alternative to fear. One of the greatest gifts
in A.A. for me has been the courage to take action, which
I can do with God's help. After five years of sobriety I
had to deal with a heavy dose of fear. God put the people
in my life to help me do that and, through my working the
Twelve Steps, I am becoming the whole person I wish to be
and, for that, I am deeply grateful.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

You should be ready and willing to carry the A.A. message
when called upon to do so. Live for some purpose greater
than yourself. Each day you will have something to work for.
You have received so much from this program that you should
have a vision that gives your life a direction and a
purpose that gives meaning to each new day. Let us not
slide along through life. Let us have a purpose for each
day and let us make that purpose for something greater than
just ourselves. What is my purpose for today?

Meditation For The Day

To see God with eyes of faith is to cause God's power to
manifest itself in the material world. God cannot do His
work because of unbelief. In response to your belief, God
can work a miracle in your personality. All miracles happen
in the realm of personality and all are caused by and based
on belief in God's never-failing power. But God's power
cannot manifest itself in personalities unless those
personalities make His power available by their faith.
We can only see God with the eyes of faith, but this kind
of seeing produces a great change in our way of living.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may see God with the eyes of faith. I pray
that this seeing will produce a change in my personality.

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As Bill Sees It

Dividends and Mysteries, p. 171

"The A.A. preoccupation with sobriety is sometimes misunderstood. To some, this
single virtue appears to be the sole dividend of our Fellowship. We are thought to be
dried-up drunks who otherwise have changed little, or not at all, for the better. Such a
surmise widely misses the truth. We know that permanent sobriety can be
attained only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the
individual--by a spiritual awakening that can banish the desire to drink."

<< << << >> >> >>

"You are asking yourself, as all of us must: 'Who am I?' . . . 'Where am I?' . . .
'Whence do I go?' The process of enlightenment is usually slow. But, in the end, our
seeking always brings a finding. These great mysteries are, after all, enshrined in
complete simplicity. The willingness to grow is the essence of all spiritual
development."

1. Letter, 1966
2. Letter, 1955

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

Walk in Dry Places

Estrangements
Amends
A number of alcoholics become estranged from members of their family. Sometimes these estrangements continue
into sobriety and fester as a source of resentment.
Where estrangements have occurred, we are always responsible for any wrongs on our part. We need to check
carefully to make sure that pride and bitterness on our part aren=t prolonging the estrangement.
But some of these estrangements have been chosen by others. We need to accept them if we've done everything
possible to correct the problem.
Honesty will be our guide as we look carefully at any estrangements in our rives. All that's ever necessary is that we
use our best principles in dealing with any estrangements.
If I find today that an estrangement is bothering me or others in the program, I'll examine it carefully with the thought
that either making amends or acceptance might be required.

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

Keep It Simple

Order is heaven's first law.---Alexander Pope
We need order in our lives. It makes life simpler for us. Life without order would be like driving in a large city without traffic signals. Our lives as addicts were like this. We lived with no plan, no order.
Now that we're sober, we can put some order in our lives. We can get up every morning. We can make our beds and be on time for work. These things make life so much easier and nicer. we need this order. It allows us to depend on ourselves.
We now look at the Twelve Steps to bring order to our lives. The Steps follow each other as summer follows spring. Do I allow myself to follow the natural order or do I fight it?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You've put order in this world. Please put order in my life. Let me flow within this order instead of being on my own.
Action for the Day: The Twelve Steps have a natural order. Today I'll take time to read each Step and think about the order found in them.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

There were deep secrets, hidden in my heart, never said for fear others would scoff or sneer. At last I can reveal my sufferings, for the strength I once felt in silence has lost all its power. --Deidra Sarault
There is magic in sharing ourselves with someone else. We learn from Steps Four and Five that what we thought were heinous acts are not unusual. Our shameful acts are not unique, and this discovery is our gift when we risk exposure.
Realizing how much we are like others gives us strength, and the program paves the way for us to capture that strength whenever and wherever we sense our need. Secrets block us from others and thus from God too. The messages we need to hear, the guidance offered by God, can't be received when we close ourselves off from the caring persons in our lives. They are the carriers of God's message.
How freeing to know we share the same fears, the same worries. Offering our story to someone else may be the very encouragement she needs at this time. Each of us profits from the sharing of a story. We need to recognize and celebrate our "sameness." When we share ourselves, we are bonded. Bonding combines our strength.
Silence divides us. It diminishes our strength. Yet all the strength we need awaits us. I will let someone else know me today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Abruptly in October 1929 hell broke loose on the New York stock exchange. After one of those days of inferno, I wobbled from a hotel bar to a brokerage office. It was eight o'clock-five hours after the market closed. The ticker still clattered. I was staring at an inch of the tape which bore the inscription XYZ-32. It had been 52 that morning. I was finished and so were many friends. The papers reported men jumping to death from the towers of High Finance. That disgusted me. I would not jump. I went back to the bar. My friends had dropped several million since ten o'clock-so what? Tomorrow was another day. As I drank, the old fierce determination to win came back.

p. 4

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

With the patience of unconditional love, she led me to acknowledge first that I was powerless over my alcoholism; then that others before me had conquered their illnesses. That there had to be some source of help higher than any one of us and that together, we were a well of strength on which any one of us could draw. From that point it was not hard to venture into the realization that a Power greater than any one of us existed, and with that understanding I found direction to my own special Higher Power. On that spiritual foundation I began to build a new life.

pp. 540-541

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

Nowadays, when oldtimers who know Ed foregather, they exclaim, "What if we had actually succeeded in throwing Ed out for blasphemy? What would have happened to him and all the others he later helped?"
So the hand of Providence early gave us a sign that any alcoholic is a member of our Society when he says so.

p. 145

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Let me tell thee, time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it's only given to us moment by moment.
--Amelia Barr

"Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone
else to die."
--unknown

Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.
--Anonymous

The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the
giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
-- Ethel Percy Andrus

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was
yesterday.
--Jonathan Swift

"You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight
to keep it from turning somersaults. The same with man. No man will
succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is
prepared to assume responsibilities."
--William J. H. Boetcker

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

THOUGHT

"Write down the thoughts of the
moment. Those that come
unsought are commonly the most
valuable."
--Francis Bacon

My mind sometimes races with ideas: What should I do? What should I
write? Where should I go? Phrases that could prove useful in an
article. People I need to get in contact with, etc., etc. Many of these
ideas come late at night and so today I have a note pad and a pencil at
the side of my bed so that I can write down the thought and then go
back to sleep.

I am not God. I know that if I say I will remember the thought
tomorrow, it would be unrealistic. As an imperfect human being I take
any help I can get. The pad at the side of the bed is invaluable!

Let me employ discipline as an aid to joyful and creative living.

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

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what
you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I
forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I
will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Remember your leaders,
who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way
of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever.
Hebrews 13:5-8

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Daily Inspiration

Don't allow yourself to live in constant anticipation because the time for your happiness is right now. Lord, help me to see that no matter what, there is no better time for me than right now.

Everywhere we turn, there is so much need and so little time. Lord, give me the desire to reach out to just one person in Your name and share my blessings.

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

NA Just For Today

Meditation For Beginners

"For some, prayer is asking for God's help; meditation is listening for God's answer. Quieting the mind through meditation brings an inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us."
Basic Text, pp.44-45

"Be patient when you're learning to meditate," many of us were told. "It takes practice to know what to ‘listen’ for."

We're glad someone told us that, or many of us would have quit after a week or two of meditating. For the first few weeks, we may have sat each morning, stilled our thoughts, and "listened", just as the Basic Text said-but "heard" nothing. It may have taken a few more weeks before anything really happened. Even then, what happened was often barely noticeable. We were rising from our morning meditations feeling just a little better about our lives, a little more empathy for those we encountered during the day, and a little more in touch with our Higher Power.

For most of us, there was nothing dramatic in that awareness - no bolts of lightning or claps of thunder. Instead, it was something quietly powerful. We were taking time to get our egos and our ideas out of the way. In that clear space, we were improving our conscious contact with the source of our daily recovery, the God of our understanding. Meditation was new, and it took time and practice. But, like all the steps, it worked - when we worked it.

Just for today: I will practice "listening" for knowledge of God's will for me, even if I don't know what to "listen" for yet.

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not to try to do or be anything whatsoever. --May Sarton
A whole world can be seen through even the smallest window. Knowing this can help us slow down and enjoy everyday events. We can listen to the regular rhythms of letter carriers and school children, dogs and delivery trucks, city buses and song birds playing out a piece of their daily lives outside the window.
We can greet the letter carrier who comes up the walk, feed the robin who lands on the sill, wave to the kids who've found a shortcut through our backyards on their way home from school.
It is not necessary, today, for us to fill our lives with important meetings, gala parties, expensive treats, toys, or outings to be happy. There is a whole world to be discovered just outside the nearest window.
What worlds lie on the other side of my window today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
"Wait'll next year!" is the favorite cry of baseball fans, football fans, hockey fans, and gardeners. --Robert Orben
Hope was a casualty for many of us in our life of chaos and extremes. Some of us said to ourselves, "Life is just drab, I'd better get used to it." We may have slowly changed our definition of normal to mean a hopeless existence. Others of us held onto some shred of hope that said "Better times are just around the comer," but it only kept us from confronting how disastrous our lives had become. We are brothers in that we truly have been men on a dead-end path.
Our new lives have seen the dawning of true hope that has a solid base upon reality. We have the reality of friendships with our brothers and sisters. They provide comfort and support which are reliable and durable. We have the reality of our clearer thinking and our amended lives. We may not have everything we could desire, but we are actually on the road and progressing in directions we wish to go. We are engaged in the adventure of increasing our conscious contact with God. Our hope is founded in what we already feel in our lives.
Today, nothing is perfect, but hope underlies everything. With the return of hope, I have my life back again.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
There were deep secrets, hidden in my heart, never said for fear others would scoff or sneer. At last I can reveal my sufferings, for the strength I once felt in silence has lost all its power. --Deidra Sarault
There is magic in sharing ourselves with someone else. We learn from Steps Four and Five that what we thought were heinous acts are not unusual. Our shameful acts are not unique, and this discovery is our gift when we risk exposure.
Realizing how much we are like others gives us strength, and the program paves the way for us to capture that strength whenever and wherever we sense our need. Secrets block us from others and thus from God too. The messages we need to hear, the guidance offered by God, can't be received when we close ourselves off from the caring persons in our lives. They are the carriers of God's message.
How freeing to know we share the same fears, the same worries. Offering our story to someone else may be the very encouragement she needs at this time. Each of us profits from the sharing of a story. We need to recognize and celebrate our "sameness." When we share ourselves, we are bonded. Bonding combines our strength.
Silence divides us. It diminishes our strength. Yet all the strength we need awaits us. I will let someone else know me today.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Relationship Martyrs
Many of us have gone so numb and discounted our feelings so completely that we have gotten out of touch with our needs in relationships.
We can learn to distinguish whose company we enjoy, whether we're talking about friends, business acquaintances, dates, or spouses. We all need to interact with people we might prefer to avoid, but we don't have to force ourselves through long term or intimate relationships with these people.
We are free to choose friends, dates, and spouses. We are free to choose how much time we spend with those people we can't always choose to be around, such as relatives. This is our life. This is it. We can decide how we want to spend our days and hours. We're not enslaved. We're not trapped. And not one of us is without options. We may not see our options clearly. Although we may have to struggle through shame and learn to own our power, we can learn to spend our valuable hours and days with the people we enjoy and choose to be with.
God, help me value my time and life. Help me place value on how I feel being around certain people. Guide me as I learn to develop healthy, intimate, sharing relationships with people. Help me give myself the freedom to experiment, explore, and learn who I am and who I can be in my relationships.


My past experience no longer take up room and live in my mind and body. I am free to live in today. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

You Are a Perfect Balance of Yin and Yang

I trudged to the top of the mesa in Sedona. A woman I’d met had told me what to look for. There it was: a rock formation, a naturally formed statue. On the left side, the formation looked like a woman, an Egyptian goddess with necklace and breasts. On the right, it had taken the shape of a male. I found it immediately. A statue with two sides– one male, one female.

For many years, I denied the feminine part of God, of the universe, of myself. I thought my strength and my power had to come from other parts, other sides. I resented my femininity, raged about it, because I thought being feminine meant being helpless and powerless. But I’ve learned something along the way. There is power in the feminine and power in the masculine. Both parts are in us. Both parts are valuable.

Our strength, courage, protectiveness and feminine energy, the yin and the yang in yourself, the universe, the people around you. Both parts are important. Both can be trusted. Learn to let them work together in harmony.

Climb to the top of the mountain. Look around. See the perfect balance of masculine and feminine. Let that balance come alive in you.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relax and face the truth

Sometimes, we have to face things we’d rather not see.

That person we’ve been dating just isn’t someone who is good for us. Our spouse isn’t just a social drinker, he or she has a serious problem with alcohol. Our child isn’t just being a cute little child anymore, making up silly stories; that child is lying and stealing from us.

Sometimes, these moments of truth are big bombs in our lives. Other times, we run from those smaller moments of truth– we’ve done something that hurt someone, no matter how defensive and innocent we pretended to be, and we need to face up to that. Maybe our children have grown up and left home and we;ve been running from that truth, pretending that we still need to center our lives around them. Or maybe the truth is, we are feeling angry, abandoned, or hurt.

We all have moments of truth in our lives.

I was talking to a friend one day. He had been complaining that his air purifier didn’t work. I was going to the repair shop, so I offered to take his machine in and get it fixed.

“It’s plugged in,” he said. “I got it to turn on, and I can’t afford to be without it.”

“You’ve got it turned on, but it’s not working right?” I asked. “You’re without it now.”

Relax. Let your illusions go. Turn and face whatever you’re running from. Not facing the truth doesn’t make the truth go away, no matter how much we hope it will.

If you’ve been running from the truth in some area of your life, gently begin to face what you’ve preferred to avoid. The power is in the truth.

God, help me let go of my illusions. Help me understand the power that comes when I take the time to see clearly and have my moments of truth.

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In God’s Care

The crucial task of old age is blance.
~~Florida Scott Maxdwell

Finding balance is important at any age, not just when we’re old. We need balance in our diet, between work and rest, in our emotional life – any activity is more rewarding, more life enhancing when done in moderation.,

Most of us developed a belief that if a little of something is good, then a whole lot is better. Had we been able to practice moderation, we would not be sharing this fellowship today. It’s paradoxical that our drive to live on the edge, doing everyting to extreme, has rewarded us with a program for living quite a distance from the edge.

Many a friend or sponsor has suggested Easy Does It; Let Go and Let God; One Day at a Time. These slogans are simple and yet profound reminders to find balance and quiet moderation in all our activities. We can only fully know and appreciate this moment if we’re participating in it, not racing to the next thought, hour, or day.

Today I can enjoy moderation with the knowledge it will enhance my life.

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

Day By Day

Looking for beauty

It is important that we look for beauty. There are beautiful things in the world each and every day, if we only know how to see.

In recovery, in serenity, beauty is everywhere – even in pain and suffering – if we only know how to see.

How good am I at seeing all the beauty there is to see?

Higher Power, help me to use my recovery, my new vision, to see beauty.

Today I will practice looking for beauty in…

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

Food for Thought

Head Hunger

Those of us who overeat are responding to distorted signals. When we consume food that harms rather than helps our bodies, we are eating in response to some irrational demand in our head rather than because of legitimate physical hunger. The mental obsession with food is an illusion, but one to which we cling with great tenacity.

When we feel “hungry,” we need to stop and evaluate the signal. Is it coming from our stomach or from our head? Often, it is after a meal that we most strongly crave something more to eat. This is either because we ate so fast that our stomach has not had time to register satisfaction or because eating has awakened a giant, insatiable appetite for more. It is frequently our mind that wants more, even after our body has had quite enough.

Emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety can trigger “head hunger.” We need perception and insight to know whether the hunger comes from our body or our mind.

May I learn to respond to the legitimate needs of my body.

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Technology as Distraction
Choosing True Connections by Madisyn Taylor

By always using our cell phones, texting and surfing the Internet, we actually become less connected and more distracted.

We are often lured by the promise of new technologies to make our lives easier and help connect us to others. While they do so in many ways, they also present each of us with opportunities to make new choices about how we spend our time and invest our energy. Most gadgets are generally meant to improve the quality of our lives, but it is when we spend too much time with them that they actually do the opposite. By always using our portable emailers, cell phones, video games, and surfing the Internet, we actually become less connected and more distracted. By becoming aware of these tendencies, we harness the power to overcome them and make better choices for ourselves and our families.

Once we decide to consciously put our gadgets to work for us, we become masters of our time. We can give our full attention to whatever we are doing and not let phone conversations and other distractions take the place of human contact. Each of us has the ability to consciously choose to be more present in our lives. We can decide at any time to leave our gadgets behind and become aware of the sights and sounds around us in order to expand our awareness and be fully present in our bodies and our surroundings.

When we use our discernment about how we invest our personal energy, we can be sure that we choose only the best for ourselves and those we love. Our gadgets can be useful tools for our journey in the material world, but we must not forget that we are spiritual beings having a human experience and that means interacting with people on a personal level. Choices that enliven us and help us feel connected to our world and our loved ones always deserve our full attention and presence of mind, body, and spirit. Published with permission from Daily OM

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

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

When we take the Ninth Step, we must be willing to be absolutely honest. Obviously, though, indiscriminate “absolute honesty” would blow the roof off many a house and entirely destroy some relationships. We must hold nothing back through deceit and pride; we may need to hold something back by discretion and consideration of others. Just when and how we tell the truth — or keep silent — can often reveal the difference between genuine integrity and none at all. Am I grateful for the products of truth which, through the grace of God, I have been privileged to receive?

Today I Pray

May I have the wisdom to know the fine-line difference between tact and dishonesty. In my eagerness to make restitution, may I not be the charmer, the flatterer or the crawler who insists, “You’re so good, and I’m so bad.” All are forms of dishonesty and hark back to the role-playing days of my active addiction. May I recognize them.

Today I Will Remember

Tact is honest selectivity.

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

One More Day

Be content to grow a little each day. If the improvement is the sort of thing which is very slow, do not measure it too often. Do a self-comparison every two weeks, or every six months — whatever is appropriate.
– Lewis F. Presnall

It’s now easy to change the way our minds have been set, but sometimes we really need to sit back and tak3e stock of how we have chosen to live — in both large and small ways. We may realize that we are racing about without so much as a moment for our own well-being. We might even delude ourselves that we enjoy what we are doing so much that it is for our well-being.

What matters most is that we vary the pace of our days. We need the fast times, but the slower, easier times are essential for our total health — emotional, physical, social, and spiritual.

I will slow down and spend some quiet time with myself today.

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

One Day At A Time

STRUGGLE
“Our way is not soft grass, it's a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upward, forward,toward the sun.” Ruth Westheimer

I've been in a Twelve Step program for a while now. When I look back, I sometimes think how easy the journey has been to find the peace, serenity and love I've been given -- thanks to the program. I brought a lot of denial with me when I joined the program, and apparently I'm still in some denial. I'm so grateful to be where I am today that I have forgotten the struggles I've faced to get here.

No wonder some newcomers look at longtimers and think they'll never be able to get there! When I stretch my memory, I remember running headlong into the Fourth Step and thinking it the scariest thing I'd ever faced in my life. I know that first one was traumatic--holding my pencil to do it, getting the first page down, and admitting so many things that had been shaming me for decades. I usually don't think about that today. Now I know firsthand the cleansing of a good Fourth Step and I look forward to them as I peel the onion and find more defects.

When I look back over my journey, I can remember sitting in an emergency room using the slogan "One Day at a Time" for the first time. I changed "one day" to "five minutes" because it was all I could handle. But it got me through that day and the next two days. A few years ago I read that the slogans are the handrails to the Steps. I wish I'd known that before. For me to use that slogan when I did was an act of faith ~ and at the time my faith was shaky. After having proved to my satisfaction that there is a Higher Power out there who wants the best for me, I have faith now. Maybe this is why I look back on my journey and have a hard time finding the struggles. Maybe it's my new attitude of gratitude that keeps me looking to the positive rather than the negative. Whatever the reason, I'd like to say that
I struggled in the program, but it was worth it.

One day at a time...
I will remember to turn to the program to help maintain my peace and serenity,especially through the bad times.
~ Rhonda

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. - Pg. 86 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The best decision you have ever made is to opt for the health that sobriety and clean time will give you. If the decision was someone else's then your decision to accept it was the best one ever made. You will gain a new perspective on life and for this you need to thank yourself.

As I thank myself, I also thank any others, including a Higher Power, as I understand Him / Her, for giving me another hour without mind-affecting chemicals.

Inner Belief

I believe in this world; it is the place that I have been born into. I love the breeze and the grass, the sky and the water. I have an intimate exchange with nature - like a lover. I feel held and nourished by it. I believe in people; they are the species to which I belong. I recognize that, underneath our superficial differences, we all want and need the same things. I believe that truth and goodness will prevail. I have experienced and seen more healing than I thought would ever happen. I feel good with small gains. I see deep meaning in quiet things, and I am moved by a power that I cannot explain but that I sense inside and out. Today, I feel good.

I believe in life.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Trying to pray is praying, even when we aren't sure exactly what God wants from us. Trying means we have the desire to communicate with the Divine Source. Even if no words come, just hitting your knees means a prayer has occurred.

My healing begins in kneeling.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Pray and wait for the answer. If you don't get an answer, that's the answer.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

My past experience no longer take up room and live in my mind and body. I am free to live in today.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

'When you think that you've lost everything. You find that you can always lose a little more.' - Bob Dylan. Tying To Get To Heaven'

[bluidkiti]

June 21

Daily Reflections

FEAR AND FAITH

The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime
undertaking, one that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other
condition of insecurity, we shall all react to this
emotion - well or badly, as the case may be. Only the
self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 263

Fear has caused suffering when I could have had more
faith. There are times when fear suddenly tears me apart,
just when I'm experiencing feelings of joy, happiness
and a lightness of heart. Faith--and a feeling of
self-worth toward a Higher Power -helps me endure
tragedy and ecstasy. When I choose to give all of my
fears over to my Higher Power, I will be free.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Intelligent faith in that Power greater than ourselves can
be counted on to stabilize our emotions. It has an
incomparable capacity to help us look at life in balanced
perspective. We look up, around, and away from ourselves,
and we see that nine out of ten things that at the moment
upset us will shortly disappear. Problems solve themselves,
criticism and unkindness vanish as though they had never
been. Have I got the proper perspective toward life?

Meditation For The Day

A truly spiritual man or woman would like to have a serene
mind. The only way to keep calm in this troubled world is to
have a serene mind. The calm and sane mind sees spiritual
things as the true realities and material things as only
temporary and fleeting. That sort of mind you can never obtain
by reasoning, because your reasoning powers are limited by
space and time. That kind of a mind you can never obtain by
reading, because other minds are also limited in the same way.
You can only have that mind by an act of faith, by making the
venture of belief.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have a calm and sane mind. I pray that I may
look up, around, and away from myself.

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As Bill Sees It

This Matter of Honesty, p. 172

"Only God can fully know what absolute honesty is. Therefore, each of us has to
conceive what this great ideal may be--to the best of our ability.

"Fallible as we all are, and will be in this life, it would be presumption to suppose that
we could ever really achieve absolute honesty. The best we can do is to strive for a
better quality of honesty.

"Sometimes we need to place love ahead of indiscriminate 'factual honesty.' We
cannot, under the guise of 'perfect honesty,' cruelly and unnecessarily hurt others.
Always one must ask, 'What is the best and most loving thing I can do?'"

Letter, 1966

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Walk In Dry Places

Remember the Golden Key
Living in the Spirit
Whenever trouble arises, the first thing to do is to turn it over to our Higher Power. We can take all necessary practical steps to solve a problem, but we don't need to decide what the answer may be. Do this, and you'll soon be out of your difficulty.
This is essentially the formula of the Gold Key as taught by Emmet Fox. It is also the core idea os Steps three and Eleven. It is a manner of living one's life iwht the constant knowledge that a Higher Power is always part of it.
We should also condition ourselves to believe that our Higher Power has been with us all along and will continue to show us the way. Nothing depends on our being "spiritual" or "saintly" or perfect in behavior. With all our shortcomings, we are and ever will be children of God.
My Higher Power is always with me today, supplying whatever I need for the accomplishment of any good purpose.

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

Keep It Simple

The future is much like the present, only longer.---Dan Quisenberry
In many way we don't know what the future holds. But in terms of recovery, we know the future holds the Twelve steps. They will be with us for life.
We should never fall into the trap of thinking we "know" the program. We'll never know all the truth and love the Steps hold for us. "Knowing the Steps" is a project we'll never finish. As we change , the Steps change. As the seasons come and go, the same field or the same tree becomes a different picture.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I pray for Your help as I work the Steps and continue my recovery. Help me discover new treasures.
Action for the Day: I will ask long-time members of my program how they keep the program fresh and alive.

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Each Day a New Beginning

There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are interesting monologues, that is all. --Rebecca West
How often we want to be heard, to be truly listened to by our spouse, our children, friends and co-workers. And we deserve to be fully attended to. So do the other persons in our lives who come to us to be heard. We let our minds wander in the midst of important messages. And we may miss the very phrase that we need to hear--the answer to a problem, perhaps. Our minds wander, randomly, looking for a place to light, unconsciously searching for peace, the serenity promised by the Twelve Steps.
Living fully in the present, soaking up all the responses of the life we are immersed in for the moment, is the closest we can get to our higher power, our God. Being there--fully--is conversation with God. How can we know all that God intends for us to know if we don't take advantage of God's many messages? Every moment of every day offers us information, divine information. Each time we turn our minds away to self-centered thoughts, we're refusing the chance to grow.
As I come together with friends and family today, I will remember to listen for God's message. I will hear what I need to hear if I will but listen.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Next morning I telephoned a friend in Montreal. He had plenty of money left and thought I had better go to Canada. By the following spring we were living in our accustomed style. I felt like Napoleon returning from Elba. No St. Helena for me! But drinking caught up with me again and my generous friend had to let me go. This time we stayed broke.

p. 4

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

The Third Step was the most difficult for me. But having completed it, I found that I could face or untangle the other steps if, and when, I could remember to relax, trust the program, and implement the step rather than fight it. Accepting my Higher Power did not fully change my attitude of resistance. It just made yielding to instruction a more rational and acceptable mode of behavior. For each step, I still had to go through the process of recognizing that I had no control over my drinking. I had to understand that the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous had helped others and could help me. I had to realize that if I want sobriety, I had better do the step whether I liked them or not. Every time I ran into trouble, I ultimately found that I was resisting to change.

p. 541

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

AUTONOMY is a ten-dollar word. But in relation to us, it means very simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened. Comes now the same question raised in Tradition One. Isn't such liberty foolishly dangerous?
Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely a band of ego-driven individualists. Children of chaos, we have defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and, we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today.

p. 146

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Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
--Art Linkletter

It is in the silence of the heart that God speaks.
--Mother Teresa

"Our entire life--consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are."

--Jean Anouilh

"You are infinitely lovable, infinitely desirable, because the One who
most desires and loves you is also infinite."
--Deepak Chopra

You will find that the spiritual energy will permit you to perform tasks
far beyond your conditioned capacity in terms of time and
accomplishment.
--John-Roger

Gratitude is the memory of the heart.
--Italian Proverb

God, help me stay serene, confident, and joyful as I go through my
day.
--Melody Beattie

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LIES

"The cruelest lies are often told in
silence."
--Robert Louis Stevenson

In treatment I said that I did not "tell" many lies - and although this
was not true (hence a lie), it missed the fact that most of my lies were
"lies of silence". It was what I did not say that produced the
confusion; the pretended self-confidence that hid the pain and shame;
the half-spoken truth that harbored the disease.

Communication is the key to any spiritual relationship and a sick
silence creates the ultimate blasphemy. God created you and me to
relate. In the interchange of our ideas is the miracle born. A sick,
angry and ego-centered silence is our shouted "no" to God.

O Lord of the paradox, let me see how the lie of silence can be used to
destroy my world.

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

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Ephesians 6:11

"For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
I John 3:20b

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully
use you."
Luke 6:27-28

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his
friends."
John 15:13

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Daily Inspiration

Set aside time for quiet because it is here that you will come to know yourself and to know God. Lord, the distractions and interruptions of my day are many, but for a few moments each day we will talk.

When life seems hard and filled with troubles, look for reasons to be thankful. Lord, Your beautiful presence is always with me.

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

NA Just For Today

New Levels Of Honesty

"We have been experts at self-deception and rationalization."
Basic Text, p. 27

When we come to our first meeting and hear that we must be honest, we may think, "Well now, that shouldn't be too difficult. All I have to do is stop lying." To some of us, this comes easily. We no longer have to lie to our employers about our absence from work. We no longer have to lie to our families about where we were the night before. By not using drugs anymore, we find we have less to lie about. Some of us may have difficulty even with this kind of honesty, but at least learning not to lie is simple - you just don't do it, no matter what. With courage, determined practice, the support of our fellow NA members, and the help of our Higher Power, most of us eventually succeed at this kind of honesty.

Honesty, though, means more than just not lying. The kind of honesty that is truly indispensable in recovery is self-honesty, which is neither easy nor simple to achieve. In our addiction, we created a storm of self-deception and rationalization, a whirlwind of lies in which the small, quiet voice of self-honesty could not be heard. To become honest with ourselves, we first must stop lying to ourselves. In our Eleventh Step meditations, we must become quiet. Then, in the resulting stillness, we must listen for truth. When we become silent, self-honesty will be there for us to find.

Just for today: I will be quiet and still, listening for the voice of truth within myself. I will honor the truth I find.

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
To be able to invite pain to join in my experience and not have to control my life to avoid pain is such a freedom!
--Christina Baldwin
If we really stopped to think about it, we would be astounded to discover how much of our time is spent trying to avoid pain. We are afraid to say what we think or tell others our needs because we fear rejection. We are afraid to face the pain of our own anger. We are afraid of telling others who we are. When we are afraid of opening up to others for fear they will hurt us, we are not free, we are prisoners of our own fears.
Pain is a natural part of life, and we are gifted with the ability to feel it. Pain teaches us, makes us work harder sometimes, and it helps us appreciate pleasure.
When we accept pain, and stop exhausting ourselves trying to avoid it, we will be free to live life more fully and without so much worry.
How has my own fear limited my freedom?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
In the life of the Indian there is only one inevitable duty - the duty of prayer - the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's. --Ohiyesa, Santee Dakota
Some of our past troubles came from our naive arrogance. We failed to acknowledge anything beyond ourselves. Whatever was unseen or eternal remained invisible to us. We were skeptical, scientific, task-oriented, self-centered, and unreflective. It's like we had been racing down a country highway at top speed, hardly tuned in to the rich vitality of life that surrounded us. When we stopped the car and explored the road banks, we could suddenly smell the grasses, hear birds singing, perhaps see a whole community in an anthill, or watch a darting squirrel.
Coming to believe in a Power greater than ourselves is not something we create on our own. It is largely a matter of shifting our attention, of being open to the spiritual. We don't need to force it. We need only be willing to quiet ourselves and notice. Ultimately, every moment is sacred.
Today, may I live from moment to moment.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
There is no such thing as conversation. It is an illusion. There are interesting monologues, that is all. --Rebecca West
How often we want to be heard, to be truly listened to by our spouse, our children, friends and co-workers. And we deserve to be fully attended to. So do the other persons in our lives who come to us to be heard. We let our minds wander in the midst of important messages. And we may miss the very phrase that we need to hear--the answer to a problem, perhaps. Our minds wander, randomly, looking for a place to light, unconsciously searching for peace, the serenity promised by the Twelve Steps.
Living fully in the present, soaking up all the responses of the life we are immersed in for the moment, is the closest we can get to our higher power, our God. Being there--fully--is conversation with God. How can we know all that God intends for us to know if we don't take advantage of God's many messages? Every moment of every day offers us information, divine information. Each time we turn our minds away to self-centered thoughts, we're refusing the chance to grow.
As I come together with friends and family today, I will remember to listen for God's message. I will hear what I need to hear if I will but listen.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
The Good Feelings
Let yourself feel the good feelings too.
Yes, sometimes-good feelings can be as distracting as the painful, more difficult ones. Yes, good feelings can be anxiety producing to those of us unaccustomed to them. But go ahead and feel the good feelings anyway.
Feel and accept the joy. The love. The warmth. The excitement. The pleasure. The satisfaction. The elation. The tenderness. The comfort.
Let yourself feel the victory, the delight.
Let yourself feel cared for.
Let yourself feel respected, important, and special.
These are only feelings, but they feel good. They are full of positive, upbeat energy - and we deserve to feel that when it comes our way.
We don't have to repress. We don't have to talk ourselves out of feeling good--not for a moment.
If we feel it, it's ours for the moment. Own it. If it's good, enjoy it.
Today, God, help me be open to the joy and good feelings available to me.


"Faith is the thread we hang on to when our life is falling apart" --Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse
Sometimes faith is right there, holding us up, keeping us light so that hard times feel manageable. And other times we have to 'act as if' we have faith to get through the tough times. We have to pray for faith. It feels so good to know that no matter what is going on today, I have the faith to know that my Higher Power is guiding and supporting me. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

You’re Right Where You Need to Be

You’re right where you need to be– on your path, guided, in just the right place for you today.

Many times on my journey I stopped short, convinced I would never find the place I was trying to find, only to discover that it was right in front of me all the time. I had gone there instinctively. Gone right where I needed to go, right where I was heading.

There is a part of us that knows where we need to be and understands where we really want to go. There’s a place in us that has the map, even if our eyes and conscious mind can’t see it, can’t figure it out, or aren’t certain it’s there.

If you’re spinning in circles, feeling lost and confused, trying to figure out where you need to be and not all that certain where you’re going,stop. Breathe deeply. Look around.

You’re right where you need to be. Maybe you’ve been there all along.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Calm yourself first

Calm yourself.

Many incidents will come to pass in our lives. Sometimes, things happen to get our attention, to point the next lesson out, to help guide us along our path. Sometimes, things just happen.

Our emotional responses to the world are important. How do you feel? What do you like? What don’t you like? Have you been denying something, something taking place before your eyes? What we sense, what we feel, and, more important, what we know deep inside is an important part of our spirit, our connection to the Divine.

It’s important not to underreact. It’s important not to overreact.

When something comes up, calm yourself. Feel your emotions. Don’t move into denial. Feel each wave of each feeling. Allow your thoughts to pass through you. But the key is not to act on these emotions. Let them pass through you first.

Your power comes from being centered and clear. That’s where your answers, insights, and lessons will come from,too.

The first thing to do when something happens is feel what you feel.

The second is calm yourself. From that place of calm, you’ll be guided into your next step.

God, teach me to take guided action, not action motivated by turbulent emotions.

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In God’s Care

It is well, when one is judging a friend, to remember that he is judging you with the same godlike and superior impartiality. ~~Arnold Bennett

It’s amazing how well we know our friends and how we think they should behave. And isn’t it interesting that what we want others to do always benefits us in some way? When we are upset with people, it’s usually because they have failed to fulfill an assignment we have mentally given them – or because their errors are a little too much like our own.

We couldn’t fairly or accurately judge people without knowing an infinite number of things about them. And we would have to know how those things influenced their judgment. Too, we would have to be sure that our perception was without flaw before we could judge fairly.

God, of course, is the only competent judge of anyone. Only God knows everyone’s past, present, and future. Only God can be fair. What, then, are we doing in the judge’s chair?

My only judgment is that I’m not competent to judge anyone.

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Day By Day

Dealing with problems

Eventually we reach a point in recovery where one trying incident doesn’t have to ruin the whole day. We reach a point where we’re less sensitive or emotional. We learn to take each day with everything in it. We learn to take each day with humor, acceptance, and love.

This is not to say that we become doormats; it just means we’re going to find ways to calm down and not complicate existing problems. Just for today, let’s leave all our trials and complications to our Higher Power.

Am I learning to be less sensitive or emotional?

Higher Power, when I start to feel the pressure of today’s tribulations,
help me remember that you can handle anything.

My plan for handling problems today is…

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The Day the Sun Stands Still
The Summer Solstice by Madisyn Taylor

Summer solstice represents a time to reflect upon the blessings we have received in seasons past and look toward new growth.

On the longest day of the year, the sun, which has on the days preceding seemed to rise higher and higher into the sky, reaches its zenith and rises no more. This day, which in the Northern Hemisphere can occur between the 20th and 23rd of June, marks the start of summer and is known as the summer solstice. From time immemorial, the coming of summer’s light and warmth has been a time of gladness and celebration. In June, the snows had long since melted, the ground had thawed, the first fruits were ripening on their vines, and Mother Nature had once again renewed herself. Though most of us have turned away from our agricultural heritage, the summer solstice remains a time of new beginnings and life-enriching endings. It is the day the sun reaches the peak of its power as well as the day that heralds the shorter days that eventually bring with them autumn’s chills.

For ancient peoples of the Americas and Europe, the summer solstice was a particularly joyous day—and one auspicious for those seeking year-long luck, fertility, abundance, and prosperity. Men and women on two continents would gather to pay tribute to the sun’s magnificence, to pray for a bountiful harvest, and to bolster the sun’s energy with bonfires and fireworks. Today, the summer solstice represents an optimal time to reflect upon the blessings we have received in seasons past and visualize the new bounties we hope to receive in the season just beginning to flourish. At noon, when the sun is at its highest point, we can pay reverence to its incredible strength and its ability to create life while also musing on the impermanence of life as represented by the impermanence of the season. You can reestablish your innate connection to nature on the summer solstice by spending time outdoors; following the sun’s procession as the day passes; burning sun oils such as orange, be! nzion, or juniper; or decorating an altar with solar images, summer greens, or colorful blossoms.

Just as the summer solstice is symbolic of agricultural growth, so is it symbolic of personal growth. It is a wonderful time to nurture your potential as you would nurture a tiny seedling and let your creative energy express itself fully. On the summer solstice, you may feel compelled to emulate the noontime sun and be at one with the world around you or to let your inner brilliance shine forth at full strength, if only for a single day. Your life, like the seasons, follows a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, and summers, whether literal or figurative, can always be celebrated. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

“Direct” is a key word in the Ninth Step. There are times, unfortunately, where many of us are hopeful that indirect amends will suffice, sparing us the pain and supposed humiliation of approaching people in person and telling them of our wrongs. This is evasion and will never give us a true sense of breaking with the wrong-doings of the past. It shows that we’re still trying to defend something that isn’t worth defending, hanging on to conduct that we ought to abandon. The usual reasons for sidestepping direct amends are pride and fear. As I make amends to others, do I realize that the real, lasting benefits accrue to me?

Today I Pray

May I be sure that the best reward for coming on straight as I try to repair my damages is, after all, my own. But may I avoid making amends purely for my own benefit — to be forgiven, to be reinstated, to flaunt the “new me.” Ego-puffing and people-leasing are not part of the real “new me.” God save me from opportunism.

Today I Will Remember

No puffery or people-pleasing.

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One More Day

One cloud is enough to eclipse all the sun.
– Thomas Fuller

Sometimes a beautiful day suddenly falls to pieces because of a criticism from a friend or being stuck in traffic before an important appointment. Later we may have wondered why one small happening could overshadow other happy events.

Quite possible the answer lies within us and our expectations. if we expect each day and all our relationships to be without mishaps or misunderstandings, we set ourselves up to be disappointment. If we direct our energies toward pleasing our friends and relatives at the expense of our own needs and values, we are placing too much responsibility in their hands. We can have more rewarding days when our expectations are realistic. Each day will have unexpected delays or unappreciated remarks, but they are just a scattering of clouds in a bright, wide, wonderful sky.

I will have more realistic expectations.

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Food for Thought.

Discipline

If we think of discipline in terms of punishment, we miss the more constructive meanings of the word. Discipline is order, training, practice, study. Without it, our lives are ineffective and full of chaos. Before we came to OA, our eating patterns were probably chaotic. We may have been short of order in other areas, too.

Discipline is a tool which produces self-respect and a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction. When we discipline ourselves to eat three measured meals a day, we achieve physical and emotional results which make our spirits sing! The discipline of the OA program liberates us from the tyranny of self-will and self-indulgence.

As we develop trust in our Higher Power, we begin to see that the hardships and difficulties we face are means to spiritual development. Through them, we acquire self-discipline and strength. Our lives become ordered according to God's plan.
Make me willing, Lord, to accept the discipline of an ordered life.

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One Day At A Time

A Person of Worth
“It is funny about life:
if you refuse to accept anything but the very best
you will very often get it.”
W. Somerset Maugham

Upon entering recovery, I found it ironic, even strange, that I was so very good at taking care of others and helping them secure the help that they needed, yet often in my life I have not done this for myself. I would grow depressed and very frozen in anger, grief, and fear. Why wasn’t I ever able to care properly for myself? At what point did I begin to expect the worst as my own allotment in life?

It is possible that I dreamed of a “rescue” or an intervention of some kind that would “save me.” It is likely that my Higher Power knew of my tendencies for magical thinking. He caught my attention by the introduction of someone who knew of a program that would point me in a realistic direction. In this program, I would be taught to take small actions -- “One day at a time” -- that would encourage and re-build my shattered self-esteem. I now am in possession of a wonderful program that has given me tools for recovery and change so that I can learn to treat myself as well as I treat others.

One day at a time...
I no longer accept anything but the best, as it will indirectly affect my recovery. This is my new mindset: that I am a person of worth.
~ January K.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

In the spring of 1940, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. gave a dinner for many of his friends to which he invited A.A. members to tell their stories. News of this got on the world wires; inquiries poured in again and many people went to the bookstores to get the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous.' By March 1941 the membership had shot up to 2,000. Then Jack Alexander wrote a feature article in the SATURDAY EVENING POST and placed such a compelling picture of A.A. before the general public that alcoholics in need of help really deluged us. By the close of 1941, A.A. numbered 8,000 members. The mushrooming process was in full swing. A.A. had become a national institution. - Pg. xviii - 4th. Edition - Foreward To Second Edition

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

As we learn to accept our disease, our circumstances and what we must do to recover, we come to realize that although we may not have control over these situations, we do have control over how we react to them. Bill W., co-founder of 12-step programs, wrote 'We neither ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we were free.'

I chose to accept this wonderful opportunity to grow spiritually and know this 'new freedom and new happiness' of which they speak.

Personal Truth

Today, I know that no one from my past needs to see things the way I do for me to get better and move on. Trying to convince others of what I have learned through my own journey can be an exercise in futility and delay my progress. First of all, each of us has our own truth that is unique unto itself. Second of all, each of us is at a different level of understanding and acceptance of who and where we are in life. Each member in my family had different experiences. That I thought we somehow matched up was an illusion. We each experienced our childhoods in our own way and have a right to our own perceptions. I do not have to get anyone to see it my way in order for me to feel comfortable. My truth is my truth, theirs is theirs.

I honor my own experiences and personal truth, as well as those of others.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

There is a difference between sharing our experience and imposing our opinions on someone. A sure way to set yourself up for a 'slip' is to be convinced that others will slip if they don't listen to your opinion.

When my opinion means more to me than my sobriety, I set myself up for a SLIP (Sobriety Loses Its Priority).

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

In AA, we surrender to win, not to whine.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

'Faith is the thread we hang on to when our life is falling apart' - Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse

Sometimes faith is right there, holding us up, keeping us light so that hard times feel manageable. And other times we have to 'act as if' we have faith to get through the tough times. We have to pray for faith.

It feels so good to know that no matter what is going on today, I have the faith to know that my Higher Power is guiding and supporting me.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

For an alcoholic, drinking alcohol is like dancing with a gorilla; you're only finished dancing when the gorilla says so. Tom W.

[bluidkiti]

June 22

Daily Reflections

TODAY, I'M FREE

This brought me to the good healthy realization that there
were plenty of situations left in the world over which I
had no personal power--that if I was so ready to admit that
to be the case with alcohol, so I must make the same
admission with respect to much else. I would have to be
still and know that He, not I, was God.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 114

I am learning to practice acceptance in all circumstances
of my life, so that I may enjoy peace of mind. At one time
life was a constant battle because I felt I had to go through
each day fighting myself, and everyone else. Eventually, this
became a losing battle. I ended up getting drunk and crying
over my misery. When I began to let go and let God take over
my life I began to have peace of mind. Today, I am free. I
do not have to fight anybody or anything anymore.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

If you have any doubt, just ask any of the older members of
the A.A. group, and they will readily tell you that since they
turned their lives over to the care of God as they understand
Him, many of their problems have been banished into the
forgotten yesterdays. When you allow yourself to be upset over
one thing, you succeed only in opening the door to the coming
of hundreds of other upsetting things. Am I allowing myself to
be upset over little things?

Meditation For The Day

I would do well not to think of the Red Sea of difficulties
that lies ahead. I am sure that when I come to that Red Sea,
the waters will part and I will be given all the power I need
to face and overcome many difficulties and meet what is in
store for me with courage. I believe that I will pass through
that Red Sea to the promised land, the land of the spirit where
many souls meet in perfect comradeship. I believe that when
that time comes, I will be freed of all the dross of material
things and find peace.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may face the future with courage. I pray that I
may be given strength to face both life and death fearlessly.

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As Bill Sees It

Roots of Reality, p. 173

We started upon a personal inventory, Step Four. A business which takes no regular
inventory usually goes broke. Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a
fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock in trade. One
object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and
without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool
himself about values.

We had to do exactly the same thing with our lives. We had to take stock honestly.

<< << << >> >> >>

"Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual serenity, as I have
excellent reason to know. Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will
hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy us, or which we would
use to destroy ourselves."

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 64
2. Letter, 1949

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Walk In Dry Places

Faking it, and then making it
Finding the Spirit of the Thing.
We’re sometimes advised to “fake it until you make it.” But how can anything false really lead us to recovery? Aren’t we told that this is an honest program?
We’re not being dishonest by pushing ourselves to become actively involved in AA. The self-help movements have told us for years that we have to form an image of what we want to be in order to reach our goals. We are forming an image that corresponds to the sober people we want to be. We are actually rehearsing sober living and working to accept a picture of sobriety in our heart of hearts.
There’s also much to be said for “faking it” enough to attend meetings and try to benefit from association with people….. even those we don’t like. This puts us in line for the change we really need.
A lot of members say that they “white-knuckled it” during the first months or years of sobriety. If this worked to bring recovery, it had to be the right approach.
Even if there is rebellion within, today I’ll talk and act like the sober person I want to be.

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Keep It Simple

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.---St. Augustine.
We started recovering the minute we admitted we were powerless over our illness. We crossed over from dishonesty to honesty.
Often, we don't see what power honestly has. Maybe we still aren't sure that being honest is best for us. It is! This is why the authors of the Big Book ask us to be totally honest from the start.
Just as denial is what makes addiction work, honesty is what makes recovery work.
Honesty means self-respect. Honesty heals. Honesty let us look people in the eyes. What comfort we'll feel as we deeper into our program.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I'll let go totally. I pray that I'll keep no secrets that could put my sobriety at risk.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll read the first three pages of "How It Works" in the Big Book.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others. --Amelia Earhart
Fear of failure plagues many women, not just those who get into trouble with drugs, alcohol, food. Those of us in this recovery program may still fear failure. Halting our addiction doesn't solve all our problems, but it does allow us to realistically take stock of our assets. Knowing our assets and accepting them provides the confidence we need to attempt a project, to strive for a goal.
Another plus of this recovery program is the help available from our groups and our higher power. All things become possible when we understand we are not alone. Seeing other women strive and succeed or strive, fail, and strive again, undefeated, creates an energy flow that can spur us on, if we choose. Feeling good about others' accomplishments can motivate each of us.
Today, I will pay particular attention to the accomplishments of other women, those close to me and those I read or hear about. I will believe their example and feel the forward push.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

We went to live with my wife's parents. I found a job; then lost it as a result of a brawl with a taxi driver. Mercifully, no one could guess that I was to have no real employment for five years, or hardly draw a sober breath. My wife began to work in a department store, coming home exhausted to find me drunk. I became an unwelcome hanger-on at brokerage places.

pp. 4-5

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

My mentor had to remind me that A.A. is not just a project. A.A. offers me an opportunity to improve the quality of my life. I came to recognize that there is always a deeper and wider experience awaiting me. Early in my growth I remember thanking my sponsor for the hours and hours she had given me. She said, "Don't you think that you will do the same for someone else some day?" I replied, "I will never be responsible to or for anyone else ever again." That refusal to make any kind of repayment to the program delayed my offering to be of service in any capacity and consequently delayed my maturing process. Not until two years had passed was i willing to act as group secretary. It was four years before I was willing to sponsor anyone. Today it is with real gratitude that I am allowed into the lives of a few women. My own understanding is broadened and deepened by their influence in my life. As the newcomer and I examine each step, both she and I receive new insight and find an additional facet to this jewel of sobriety. I'm proud now to be a part of the Fellowship that showed me the path up and out of hell. Now I am eager to share my experience as others have shared theirs with me.

pp. 541-542

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

When A.A.'s Traditions were first published, in 1946, we had become sure that an A.A. group could stand almost any amount of battering. We saw that the group, exactly like the individual, must eventually conform to whatever tested principles would guarantee survival. We had discovered that there was perfect safety in the process of trial and error. So confident of this had we become that the original statement of A.A. tradition carried this significant sentence: "Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group provided that as a group they have no other affiliation."

pp. 146-147

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As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you
only get to play one round.
--Ben Hogan

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are
infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."
--Oscar Wilde

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

My partnership with God is steady, strong and certain.
--SweetyZee

I let go of everything that is unkind and seek to enter the spirit of
kindness, and compassion.
--SweetyZee

"The measure of our life is not whether others know our name, but
whether we have touched the lives of others."
--author unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INDIVIDUALITY

"You'll never really know what I
mean and I'll never really know
exactly what you mean."
--Mike Nichols

There is a certain loneliness in life with which we must all live;
perhaps this is the price of individuality. I am not always sure that I
know what I am feeling or thinking and so I know I cannot be
absolutely sure of what you are feeling or thinking. Today when I say
"I know how you feel", it is with this reservation.

Another problem I face daily is finding words to express what I feel --
language seems so inadequate. Words, although bridges to meaning,
are often barriers to understanding. What I mean by what I say is
often misunderstood.

This awareness provides me with the stimulus to be more precise,
explicit and creative in my methods of communication and
understanding. Today I consider more seriously what the other person
is trying to say, rather than just listening to the words. Because I am
sensitive to my difficulties in being understood, I am becoming patient
with my neighbor.

Teach us never to become victims of our language.

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"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and ONLY Son, so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the
skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice
like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How
priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find
refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of
your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with
you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your
love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in
heart.
Psalms 36:5-10

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Daily Inspiration

We will live life fully only when we become aware of our own inner power which is our connection with God. Lord, the more I rely on You, the more I am able to accomplish.

When you need to calm your emotions, stop and turn to God. Lord, I know that You are my help right now and will show me simple answers to what seems complicated and impossible.

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NA Just For Today

Accepting Life As It Is

"In our recovery, we find it essential to accept reality. Once we can do this, we do not find it necessary to use drugs in an attempt to change our perceptions."
Basic Text, p. 87

Drugs used to buffer us from the full force of life. When we stop using drugs and enter recovery, we find ourselves confronted directly with life. We may experience disappointment, frustration, or anger. Events may not happen the way we want them to. The self-centeredness we cultivated in our addiction has distorted our perceptions of life; it is difficult to let go of our expectations and accept life as it is.

We learn to accept our lives by working the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous. We discover how to change our attitudes and let go of character defects. We no longer need to distort the truth or to run from situations. The more we practice the spiritual principles contained in the steps, the easier it becomes to accept life exactly as it comes to us.

Just for today: I will practice self-acceptance by practicing the Twelve Steps.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
When fate hands us a lemon, let's try to make lemonade. --Dale Carnegie
Good fortune is built on misfortune. By losing a race we learn what mistakes to avoid next time we run. A burglar may make us install the lock that will keep out a murderer. Each time a toddler falls is a lesson in how to walk.
We can never assume that, because things are not going the way we want, they are not following a better plan. God is a better manager than we can hope to be. If things aren't shaping up the way we like, let's wait with curiosity to see that better things are in store for us. Let's look for lights in the darkness and follow them to the bright day that always will follow. We will remember our lessons of misfortune with gratitude.
What can I learn from delay today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it. --Clarence Budinton Kelland
We learn much of what we need to know about being men from models we have in other men. Some of us have fond memories of being next to our fathers and imitating their ways. Many of us also have the feeling of a gap in our models. Perhaps our fathers weren't around enough, or we may have rejected some of their habits and values, creating an uncertainty about masculine roles. We may feel unsure of ourselves, or we may berate ourselves for what we don't know.
It is well to remember how much we have already learned in our adult years. It is never too late. No man ever reaches adulthood having learned everything from his father that he will need to know about masculinity. We can look around us for more models in the men we know. For a man to be our model, we first choose someone we admire and then get to know him well. In this way, we carry on the human tradition of one man learning from another.
I am continuing to grow, and I can learn from the men I know now.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others. --Amelia Earhart
Fear of failure plagues many women, not just those who get into trouble with drugs, alcohol, food. Those of us in this recovery program may still fear failure. Halting our addiction doesn't solve all our problems, but it does allow us to realistically take stock of our assets. Knowing our assets and accepting them provides the confidence we need to attempt a project, to strive for a goal.
Another plus of this recovery program is the help available from our groups and our higher power. All things become possible when we understand we are not alone. Seeing other women strive and succeed or strive, fail, and strive again, undefeated, creates an energy flow that can spur us on, if we choose. Feeling good about others' accomplishments can motivate each of us.
Today, I will pay particular attention to the accomplishments of other women, those close to me and those I read or hear about. I will believe their example and feel the forward push.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Work Histories
Just as we have relationship histories, most of us have work histories.
Just as we have a present circumstance to accept and deal with in our relationship life, we have a present circumstance to accept and deal with in our work life.
Just as we develop a healthy attitude toward our relationship history - one that will help us learn and move forward - we can develop a healthy attitude toward our work history.
I have worked many jobs in my life, since I was eleven years old. Just as I have learned many things about myself through my relationships, I have learned many lessons through my work. Often, these lessons run parallel to the lessons I'm learning in other areas of my life.
I have worked at jobs I hated but was temporarily dependent on. I have gotten stuck in jobs because I was afraid to strike out on my own and find my next set of circumstances.
I have been in some jobs to develop skills. Sometimes, I didn't realize I was developing those skills until later on when they become an important part of the career of my choice.
I have worked at jobs where I felt victimized, where I gave and gave and received nothing in return. I have been in relationships where I manufactured similar feelings.
I have worked at some jobs that have taught me what I absolutely didn't want; others sparked in me an idea of what I really did want and deserve in my career.
Some of my jobs have helped me develop character; others have helped me fine tune skills. They have all been a place to practice recovery behaviors.
Just as I have had to deal with my feelings and messages about myself in relationships, I have had to deal with my feelings and messages about myself, and what I believed I deserved at work.
I have been through two major career changes in my life. I learned that neither career was a mistake and no job was wasted time. I have learned something from each job, and my work history has helped create who I am.
I learned something else: there was a Plan, and I was being led. The more I trusted my instincts, what I wanted, and what felt right, the more I felt that I was being led.
The more I refused to lose my soul to a job and worked at it because I wanted to and not for the paycheck, the less victimized I felt by any career, even those jobs that paid a meager salary. The more I set goals and took responsibility for achieving the career I wanted, the more I could decide whether a particular job fit into that scheme of things. I could understand why I was working at a particular job and how that was going to benefit me.
There are times I have even panicked at work and about where I was in my employment history. Panic never helped. Trust and working my program did.
There were times I looked around and wondered why I was where I was. There were times people thought I should be someplace different. But when I looked into myself and at God, I knew I was in the right place, for the moment.
There were times I have had to quit a job and walk away in order to be true to myself. Sometimes, that was frightening. Sometimes, I felt like a failure. But I learned this: If I was working my program and true to myself, I never had to fear where I was being led.
There have been times I couldn't survive on the small amount of money I was receiving. Instead of bringing that issue to a particular employer and making it his or her fault, I have had to learn to bring the issue to my Higher Power and myself. I've learned I'm responsible for setting my boundaries and establishing what I believe I deserve. I've also learned God, not a particular employer, is my source of guidance.
I've learned that I'm not stuck or trapped in a job no more than I am in a relationship. I have choices. I may not be able to see them clearly right now, but I do have choices. I've learned that if I really want to take care of myself in a particular way on a job, I will do that. And if I really want to be victimized by a job, I will allow that to happen too.
I am responsible for my choices, and I have choices.
Above all else, I've learned to accept and trust my present circumstances at work. That does not mean to submit; it does not mean to forego boundaries. It means to trust, accept, then take care of myself the best I'm able to on any given day.
God, help me bring my recovery behaviors to my career affairs.


Today I know I am not the best or the worst. I am just me. God is guiding me to become the best me I can be and that is very exciting. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Forgive Your Inner Child for Being So Afraid

No matter how much work we’ve done on ourselves, no matter how committed we are to healing, there may be part of us that’s four years old when we deal with certain people. There may be a part of us that feels frozen, frightened, powerless, and abandoned when we face certain situations.

We may be all dressed up, look grown up, have our professional hat on. But the person wearing it is four. And scared. Afraid to speak up, relax, be who we are– a powerful, sensitive, creative, competent, intelligent, wise adult.

Watch for these four-year-olds. Be gentle, kind, compassionate. Forgive them for being so frightened. They have reasons that are valid, understandable, and sometimes noble. But their reasons come from a long time ago. This is now.

We’ve grown now. We’re strong. We’re free. We can walk away, speak up, laugh, say how we feel. And we can’t be abandoned anymore, because we know how to live on our own.

Watch for your four-year-old. This child may never completely leave you, but you don’t have to let him or her run the show.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relaxing is how we heal

Stopping, calming, and resting are preconditions for healing. When animals in the forest are wounded they find a place to lie down and rest completely for many days… They just rest, and get the healing they need.
–Thich Nhat Hanh

We hurt. We suffer. We wrong our loved ones and they do wrong by us. Reaching desperately for an answer will not help us. Pretending we’re not hurt doesn’t help, either. When we are wounded, the wound needs rest in order to heal. So it is with our souls. If we poke at our hurt, pick at the sore, rub it in the dirt of others’ opinions, we do not allow it time to heal.

If you’ve been hurt, accept that. Feel the hurt. Be aware of it. Let it heal. Maybe it would be better if you didn’t talk to that person for a while. Maybe you need to let go of the relationship. Maybe you just need some quiet time. Whatever the answer is, find a safe place and allow yourself to heal.

If you’re feeling pain, be aware of it. Feel the pain, and then quit picking at the wound. Lie low. Quit fighting. Relax. Give your wounds time and enough rest to heal.

God, help me relax enough to stop, calm down, and heal.

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In God’s Care

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse.
~~Washington Irving

It’s important to trust that change can be positive even when it looks otherwise. Change is part of God’s plan for our life. Change holds unexpected opportunities and spiritual lessons even though it may cause fear in us now.

We can look back to our using days for evidence of changes that we may have feared. For example, we may have lost jobs, or relationships may have ended and we struggled with being alone. But with time we’ve come to realize that nurturing relationships don’t end; new people come into our life, and we help each other grow. We can trust that God will provide opportunities in our life that enhance our growth, our recovery, and in particular, our spiritual development.

Change will occur and it is seldom easy. But we can be certain that all change will be beneficial to us in the future.

I’ll rely on the Third Step if I fear change today. God is in charge and all is well.

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Day By Day

Overcoming loneliness

Chances are, we considered ourselves loners when we came into the program. Some of us had divided the world into the people who hated us and the people who didn’t like us very much. Some of us felt very alone even though we knew people liked us.

We never have to be alone again, however. By staying sober and clean, the walls we built around ourselves gradually come down.

Have I stopped being a loner?

Lord, help me to do what I need to do to never be alone again.

I will avoid loneliness today by…

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Food for Thought

God Is a Verb

We cannot contain our Higher Power at a fixed point or in a closed system. However we may understand God, our understanding is always limited. The Power that rescues us from compulsive overeating is an active force, which constantly beckons us to move on. What we were to do yesterday is past; a new day brings new challenges and opportunities.

Our compulsion had us trapped in a pattern of self-destructive repetition. We did the same dumb thing over and over again. When we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand Him, we are linking up with the source of newness and creativity. God moves, and if we are linked with Him, we also move. His spirit changes us, and what we thought and did yesterday is not adequate to the demands of today.

Trusting our Higher Power means acting according to His promptings. We follow Him as He leads us into new tasks and activities and ideas. We learn from experience that He is always more than adequate for our needs.

May I follow where You lead.

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Saying Yes to the Universe
Making the Decision by Madisyn Taylor

Saying Yes to the universe opens the gate to receiving what your soul really wants.

The hardest thing about saying yes to the universe is that it means accepting everything life puts in front of us. Most of us have a habit of going through our days saying no to the things we don’t like and yes to the things we do, and yet, everything we encounter is our life. We may be afraid that if we say yes to the things we don’t like, we will be stuck with them forever, but really, it is only through acknowledging the existence of what’s not working for us that we can begin the process of change. So saying yes doesn’t mean indiscriminately accepting things that don’t work for us. It means conversing with the universe, and starting the conversation with a very powerful word—yes.

When we say yes to the universe, we enter into a state of trust that whatever our situation is, we can work with it. We express confidence in ourselves, and the universe, and we also express a willingness to learn from whatever comes our way, rather than running and hiding when we don’t like what we see. The question we might ask ourselves is what it will take for us to get to the point of saying yes. For some of us, it takes coming up against something we can’t ignore, escape, or deny, and so we are left no choice but to say yes. For others, it just seems a natural progression of events that leads us to making the decision to say yes to life.

The first step to saying yes is realizing that in the end it is so much easier than the alternative. Once we understand this, we can begin examining the moments when we resist what is happening, and experiment with occasionally saying yes instead. It might be scary at first, and even painful at times, but if we continue to say yes to every moment through the process, we will discover the joy of being in a positive conversation with a force much bigger than ourselves. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

The minute we think about a twisted or broken relationship with another person, our emotions go on the defensive. To avoid looking at the wrongs we’ve done another, we resentfully focus on the wrong he or she has done us. With a sense of triumph, we seize upon his or her slightest misbehavior as perfect excuse for minimizing or forgetting our own. We have to remember that we’re not the only ones plagued by sick emotions. Often, we’re really dealing with fellow sufferers, including those whose woes we’re increased. If I’m about to ask forgiveness for myself, why shouldn’t I start out by forgiving them?

Today I Pray

When I blame or fault-find, may my Higher Power tell me to look under the rug for my own feeling of guilt, which I have neatly swept under it. May I recognize these behavior clues for what they really are.

Today I Will Remember

Resentment, inside-out, is guilt.

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One More Day

Disability usually puts a strain on a good marriage and exposes a bad one.
– Robert Lovering

The strain on relationships of chronically ill people is clearly shown in the fact that their divorce rate is higher than the national average. Perhaps this is not so strange, since any stressful situation only serves to point out any preexisting deficits.

Suffering is a personal and lonely state even though others have been where we are now. We can share some of our pain with others. We can perhaps be an inspiration to them because of how well we handle our suffering. We still can choose our attitudes and our responses. Even though there are some situations we can not control, there is always hope and help. We can receive relief and understanding.

I will try to stay aware, in all my relationships, of the added stresses caused by illness.

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One Day At A Time

SUNLIGHT OF THE SPIRIT
“Trust God and buy broccoli.”
Author Unknown

I heard that quotation in an OA meeting years ago. “What an odd thing,” I thought. “Why does God care what I buy?” But as years have gone by and my abstinence continues one day at a time, I see the meaning of that phrase and have deep respect for its principle.

I can trust God 'til the cows come home, but there is work to be done. A more familiar quote is: “Trust God but continue to row toward shore.”

Abstinence for me is not only refraining from compulsive overeating, but abstaining from what I call my “alcoholic foods.” They block that beautiful contact between me and the Sunlight of the Spirit. It is my responsibility to purchase, prepare, weigh and measure the best foods for my peace of mind ~ and to open the channel to a Power Greater than Myself. Now I live this way, with thanks to the twelve steps.

One day at a time...
I will be grateful that food does not have power today.
~ Gerri

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

And acceptance is the answer to ALL my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation - some fact of life - unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. - Pg. 417 - 4th. Edition - Personal Stories - Acceptance Was The Answer

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There have been many disappointments, trials, and tribulations for you, but you don't have to get loaded. There will be many more, but you don't have to get loaded. There is nothing so bad that getting loaded won't make it worse!

Higher Power, of my understanding, show me that picking up will only make my life more painful in the long run. No matter how high the immediate high, the low will be more than I can bear.

Learning

Today, I do not accept other people's truth as my truth. Even if what they believe seems better or more obvious, I need to give myself credit for feeling and seeing what I feel and see. Learning is meaningful to me as it relates to or is understood within the workings of my own mind. Without something in me making it relevant, learning is very disconnected. I am the learner behind the information; I am the seer behind the seen. I learn by direct experience.

I learn to trust the perceptions that I gain from my own observation of life.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Almost all anger is some form of control-either you trying to control people, places, or things or them trying to control you. If it's you controlling them, stop it. If it's them controlling you, stop it.

I can't do HP's will, my way.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Embrace the power of love. Reject the love of power.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I know I am not the best or the worst. I am just me. God is guiding me to become the best me I can be and that is very exciting.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

He said he was going to kill himself. He owed these heavies some big gambling debts. I suggested he approach them with an amends deal; offer to pay them back a bit at a time. He said, no he couldn't, if he went to them, they'd kill him. I said; 'Well, nothing to lose, at least you wouldn't have suicide on your mind.' - Chuck C.

[bluidkiti]

June 23

Daily Reflections

TRUSTING OTHERS

But does trust require that we be blind to other people's motives or,
indeed, to our own? Not at all; this would be folly. Most certainly, we
should assess the capacity for harm as well as the capability for good
in every person that we would trust. Such a private inventory can
reveal the degree of confidence we should extend in any given
situation.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 144

I am not a victim of others, but rather a victim of my expectations,
choices and dishonesty. When I expect others to be what I want them
to be and not who they are, when they fail to meet my expectations, I
am hurt. When my choices are based on self-centeredness, I find I am
lonely and distrustful. I gain confidence in myself, however, when I
practice honesty in all my affairs. When I search my motives and am
honest and trusting, I am aware of the capacity for harm in situations
and can avoid those that are harmful.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

No chain is stronger than its weakest link. Likewise, if you fail in the
day-by-day program, in all probability it will be your weakest point.
Great faith and constant contact with God's power can help you
discover, guard, and undergird your weakest point with a strength not
your own. Intelligent faith in God's power can be counted on to help
you master your emotions, help you to think kindly of others, and help
you with any task that you undertake, no matter how difficult. Am I
master of my emotions?

Meditation For The Day

You need to be constantly recharged by the power of the spirit of
God. Continue with God in quiet times until the life from God, the
Divine life, by that very contact, flows into your being and revises your
fainting spirit. When weary, take time out and rest. Rest and gain
power and strength from God, and then you will be ready to meet
whatever opportunities come your way. Rest until every care and
worry and fear have gone and then the tide of peace and serenity, love
and joy, will flow into your consciousness.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may rest and become recharged. I pray that I may pause
and wait for the renewing of my strength.

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As Bill Sees It

Constructive Forces, p. 174

Mine was exactly the kind of deep-seated block we so often see today in new people who
say they are atheistic or agnostic. Their will to disbelieve is so powerful that apparently
they prefer a date with the undertaker to an open-minded and experimental quest for God.

Happily for me, and for most of my kind who have since come along in A.A., the
constructive forces brought to bear in our Fellowship have nearly always overcome
this colossal obstinacy. Beaten into complete defeat by alcohol, confronted by the living
proof of release, and surrounded by those who can speak to us from the heart, we have
finally surrendered.

And then, paradoxically, we have found ourselves in a new dimension, the real world of
spirit and faith. Enough willingness, enough open-mindedness--and there it is!

A.A. Today, p. 9

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Walk In Dry Places

Walk in Dry Places
The ONLY reason to drink

Staying Sober

There's only one real reason I can ever have for taking a drink, ant that's because I want to.
This remark at a meeting sums up AA's position on why we drink. We never really drink because of pressures and troubles. We drink because we want to, because we feel like taking a drink.
It's true that a serious crisis, like going into bankruptcy may make us conscious of an urge to drink. But we know that we're also likely to have such urges in the face of good fortune. The alcoholic who would drink over a bankruptcy would also probably get drunk if he or she won the lottery.
By refusing to accept all of these alleged reasons for drinking, AA simplified our problem so we can deal with it. We either want to drink or we don't want to drink, period. Even if we want to drink..... and some members do.... AA can show us how to stay sober and eventually lose such desires.

Nothing has the power to make me drink today. It is only my own willfulness that can destroy my sobriety.

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Keep It Simple

Words are sacred, we must use them wisely. . . . They are a gift from God.
Burton Pretty-On-Top
We use words to bring peace to others. We can use words to tell God and others how much we care. Or we can use words to hurt others. We can curse them and scare them away. We often did when we used alcohol and other drugs.
In recovery, we learn to use words in a kind, wise way. We treat words as a gift from God. We use words to build our relationships.
Do I always use words in a kind way? Do I treat words as a powerful gift from God? Do my words make the world better or worse for those who hear me speak?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, when I speak words, help me think about their power. Help me speak to others in a kind way.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll speak to others with respect. My words will add a little kindness, honesty, and love to the world today.

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Each Day a New Beginning

. . . How much bondage and suffering a woman escapes when she takes the liberty of being her own physician of both body and soul. --Elizabeth Cady Stanton
If we listen to ourselves, to the innermost voice of our Spirits, we know that we have the power to heal ourselves. Self-healing begins with making our own decisions--about what we wear, what we do, who we are--and deciding that we will be true to ourselves. With the help of our spiritual guide, we can resist the temptations to betray ourselves, for these temptations are born of fear; the fear that we are not good enough to be our "own physicians."
To give away our powers bind us and cause us to suffer. But we can go to others for help without losing our own strength.
Today and every day, I will pray for the wisdom to choose wise counselors and the strength to love and heal myself.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Liquor ceased to be a luxury; it became a necessity. "Bathtub" gin, two bottles a day, and often three, got to be routine. Sometimes a small deal would net a few hundred dollars, and I would pay my bills at the bars and delicatessens. This went on endlessly, and I began to waken very early in the morning shaking violently. A tumbler full of gin followed by half a dozen bottles of beer would be required if I were to eat any breakfast. Nevertheless, I still thought I could control the situation, and there were periods of sobriety which renewed my wife's hope.

p. 5

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

Small miracles keep offering new opportunities just when I need change and growth. New friends have shown me hidden truths in those sayings that I once found so shallow. The lessons of tolerance and acceptance have taught me to look beyond exterior appearances to find the help and wisdom so often lurking beneath the surface. All my sobriety and growth, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, are dependent upon my willingness to listen, understand, and change.

p. 542

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

This meant, of course, that we had been given the courage to declare each A.A. group an individual entity, strictly reliant on its own conscience as a guide to action. In charting this enormous expanse of freedom, we found it necessary to post only two storm signals: A group ought not do anything which would greatly injure A.A. as a whole, nor ought it affiliate itself with anything or anybody else. There would be real danger should we commence to call some groups "wet," others "dry," still others "Republican" or "Communist," and yet others "Catholic" or "Protestant." The A.A. group would have to stick to its course or be hopelessly lost. Sobriety had to be its sole objective. In all other respects there was perfect freedom of will and action. Every group had the right to be wrong.

p. 147

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Remember how we'd talk every night at bedtime? I miss that.
--God

If you think clothes make no difference, try walking down the street
without any.
--unknown

"The greatest treasures of your life are associated with the people
you love and who love you in return."
--Brian Tracy

Half the failures of this world arise from pulling in one's horse as he is
leaping.
--Augustus Hare

The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called
love and feel the depth and delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that
your world is transformed.
-- Krishnamurti

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the
past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live
the present moment wisely and earnestly.
--Buddha

"Tis grace that brought me safe thus far.
Tis grace will lead me home."
--John Newton ("Amazing Grace")

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

REALITY

"Do not take life too seriously.
You will never get out of it
alive."
--Elbert Hubbard

When I used to take life too seriously, I was always miserable. I
missed so much. I placed a disproportionate amount of energy on my
own importance. I am not saying that I am not important, but I must
learn to live within the structures of this imperfect world.

For so long I made myself the "victim" of this world. Every airplane I
missed was seen as a personal abuse. I could not wait in a line without
getting angry and developing a resentment to everybody around.
Everybody was expected to revolve around my world and I felt the
world owed me a living! The result: unhappiness.

I needed to change or remain unhappy. Today I am learning to change
and I am working on patience.

Thank You for the spiritual gift of balance in my life.

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The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalms 23:1-6

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting
God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or
weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to
the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow
tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope
in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like
eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be
faint.
Isaiah 40:28-31

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Daily Inspiration

Integrity is one of our most valuable assets. Lord, may I live responsibly and never have the need to make excuses for my behavior.

Kindness can accomplish that which force won't. Lord, may I pause when I am about to react to irritations and respond as though it is You to whom I speak.

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NA Just For Today

Surrender

"We didn't stumble into this fellowship brimming with love, honesty, open-mindedness, or willingness....When we were beaten, we became willing."
Basic Text, p. 20

Surrender may be the necessary foundation for recovery, but sometimes we fight it. Most of us look back after some clean time and wonder why on earth we fought so hard to deny our powerlessness when surrender is what finally saved our lives.

As we recover, new opportunities to surrender present themselves. We can either struggle with everyone and everything we encounter or we can recall the benefits of our first surrender and stop fighting.

Most of the pain we experience comes from fighting, not surrendering. In fact, when we surrender, the pain ends and hope takes its place. We begin to believe that all will be well and, after some time, realize that our lives are much better as a result. We feel the same way we did when we gave up the illusion that we could control our using-relieved, free, and filled with fresh hope.

Just for today: Is there a surrender I need to make today? I will remember my first surrender and remind myself that I don't need to fight anymore.

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Real friends are those who, when you've made a fool of yourself, don't feel that you've done a permanent job. --Erwin T. Randall
What kind of friends do we have? Are they people who complain a lot? Are they people who laugh at us or put others down?
The kind of people we want to be will decide what kind of friends we have. If we want to feel sorry for ourselves, we will choose friends who will tell us how rotten their lives are. If we want to think we're better than others, we will hang around people who laugh at others' mistakes.
But if we want to be the best we can be, we will pick friends who see the good in life, people who will encourage us to be ourselves and who will help us try harder at things that are difficult for us.
How can I be a better friend today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
He who conceals his disease cannot expect to be cured. --Ethiopian proverb
Concealment and secrecy have been second nature to some of us. We may have felt that our masculinity kept us loners. Perhaps we said we were covering the truth for someone else's good. Maybe we could not bear to expose the truth because we feared the consequences. For some of us a lie came more automatically than the truth. Now we are learning to be open with our friends, and we are finding the healing effect of fresh air for our secrets.
Although it's frightening to stop tampering with the truth, it's also exciting to feel the power of honesty and to deal with the consequences of uncovering it. Perhaps we still have some secrets that erode our wellbeing. If so, we need to bring them into the open so we can live completely honest lives. When we let others know us as we really are, we are casting our lot with good health and recovery.
Today, I will make progress in my recovery by letting myself be fully known.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
. . . How much bondage and suffering a woman escapes when she takes the liberty of being her own physician of both body and soul. --Elizabeth Cady Stanton
If we listen to ourselves, to the innermost voice of our Spirits, we know that we have the power to heal ourselves. Self-healing begins with making our own decisions--about what we wear, what we do, who we are--and deciding that we will be true to ourselves. With the help of our spiritual guide, we can resist the temptations to betray ourselves, for these temptations are born of fear; the fear that we are not good enough to be our "own physicians."
To give away our powers bind us and cause us to suffer. But we can go to others for help without losing our own strength.
Today and every day, I will pray for the wisdom to choose wise counselors and the strength to love and heal myself.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Letting Go of Old Beliefs
Try harder. Do better. Be perfect.
These messages are tricks that people have played on us. No matter how hard we try, we think we have to do better. Perfection always eludes us and keeps us unhappy with the good we've done.
Messages of perfectionism are tricks because we can never achieve their goal. We cannot feel good about ourselves or what we have done while these messages are driving us. We will never be good enough until we change the messages and tell ourselves we are good enough now.
We can start approving of and accepting ourselves. Who we are is good enough. Our best yesterday was good enough; our best today is plenty good too.
We can be who we are, and do it the way we do it - today. That is the essence of avoiding perfection.
God, help me let go of the messages that drive me into the crazies. I will give myself permission to be who I am and let that be good enough.


Today I'm learning to release my stress and anxiety in positive and healthy ways. My body is becoming free from all negative experiences. My past no longer lives in my body. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Discover the Power of Stillness

I will forever remember Yellowstone Glacier Lake at midnight. A large full moon– the biggest I have ever seen– was resting atop the lake. The lake was frozen over, a still mirror between the mountains. Even the pines stood motionless. At that moment, I saw stillness– quiet, motionless stillness– I began to understand its power.

Be still and know that I am God. How often I heard that verse from the Bible. How well I knew it, but how little I understood stillness. Stillness is different from aloneness, different from turning off the stereo or speaking softly.

Stillness is a place. You can find it in the desert or in the mountains. You can find it when you’re alone or when you’re in the midst of people. You can find stillness wherever you are, whatever you’re going through. Stillness is a place within you. Slow down. Breathe deeply. Get quiet. Become familiar with stillness. Take time to learn its power.

From that place of stillness, the right action will emerge and you will find your next step. From that place of stillness, you can move into the present moment. There you will find your power, and there God will find you.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Relax and enjoy the ride

One of the good things about jumping out of airplanes is that there is at least one aspect of the sport that is impossible to mess up. When you choose to open the door and get out of the plane, one thing is certain. You will fall. There will be wind that you can use to control your movement through the air, and you will get back to the ground. So relax. Enjoy the ride.

Some things in life are that way,too. We can be as tense or as relaxed as we want to and the thing will not change– other people, the weather, the driver in front of you on the freeway. Often there is nothing that we can do to affect a situation, and yet we will fight with the universe, tense up, and try to control things rather than just relaxing and learning to use what is to the best of our ability.

There is no need to change the universe. It was before this lifetime, and it will be long after you have passed. You can choose to spend your life fighting it, or you can relax, let go of your control, and learn to work with and within it.

Have you been fighting against gravity, trying to get back into the plane? Let go of the uncontrollable situations in your life. Let them be what they are. Relax and learn to work with them rather than against them. You will have more strength and success when you do. You might even have some fun.

God, show me the areas of my life where I’m still trying to exert control over the impossible. Help me let go and enjoy the ride.

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In God’s Care

Someone who knew what he was talking about once remarked that pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress.
~~Bill W.

It’s perplexing that we don’t always seem able to live up to our own expectations. When we find ourselves snapping at our loved ones, belittling our friends, insulting strangers, or generally withholding our love, we can’t understand what came over us. It’s painful to realize that, even with the best intentions, we are hurting others.

Perhaps, though, this pain we feel is exactly what we need to bring us to our senses. God gave us the help we needed when our addictions had us licked, but not until we were really hurting. The help didn’t come until we hit bottom and surrendered. Our harmful character defects couldn’t be removed until we were ready to admit that our own efforts failed and we need God to show us the way.

If I feel mental pain today, I may need to take inventory and humbly ask God to remove my character defects.

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Day By Day

Becoming patient

Let us not rush and demand perfection all at once; it would only blind us. If we are impatient, it is impossible to work a daily program; but if we are patient, we can learn to see our daily opportunities for growth.

We can’t develop a new relationship with our Higher Power overnight. It is worth waiting for, striving for. Let us not go too fast but simply count each day as an opportunity.

Am I learning patience?

Higher Power, I pray that I may be patient as I work my program and develop a relationship with you.

Today I will practice patience with…

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Food for Thought

The Everlasting Arms

God moves, and yet He is always here. “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” Our former support systems failed us or proved inadequate. We overate because we had no firm ground of support to rely on.

Now we see that since our lives belong to a Higher Power, there is nothing temporal which can remove us from His care and protection. Whatever happens, the everlasting arms are there to uphold us. Knowing that, we no longer need to overeat. We are able to endure whatever comes, whether it is physical hunger, emotional anguish, or spiritual depression.

To experience God’s support, all we need to do is admit that we are powerless to sustain ourselves by our own efforts. What a relief not to have to depend on our own ego! If, when we are perplexed and upset, we will stop struggling and take time to be quiet, we will feel the inner peace and support which comes from our Higher Power. The everlasting arms are always here, underneath us.

I need You, Lord.

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Gut Response
In Touch with True Emotions

Our bellies can be wonderful monitors of our emotional health and the truth can always be found there.

So often, emotions that we long to express get stored in our bodies instead. The space where this most often happens is in our bellies. Rather than telling people, our even ourselves, the way we truly feel, we may stuff our true feelings deep inside of us, where they take up space until we are ready to let them go. Stuffing our feelings in our bellies may feel like the “safe” response, since we then don’t really have to deal with our emotions. Yet, doing so can actually be detrimental to our emotional well-being and physical health.

One way to connect with and release your emotions is to do a focused exercise with your stomach area. Take a moment to center yourself with some deep breathing and quiet meditation, relaxing your body fully and turning off the chatter in your brain. With your right hand on your stomach, tell yourself three times: “Please reveal to me my true emotions.” Listen for the answers. Repeat the exercise as many times as you would like, allowing yourself to drop deeper into your body each time. Notice any physical response in the stomach area, whether you have a warm, relaxed feeling in the middle of your body or if you feel tight knots in response to any emotions that do come up. You may even want to write down any answers that come to you. Remember that the body doesn’t lie.

Releasing our pent up feelings from our bellies can prevent disease and allow us to live more authentic and expressive lives. Sometimes, if too much emotional energy builds up inside of us, a blowout can result that can cause discomfort. You can help to alleviate this compression by doing the same exercise and adding sound to your emotional release. The more guttural the sounds released through your mouth, the more emotions you are likely letting go. Releasing your emotions from your belly doesn’t have to be painful and hard; rather, it can be organic and effortless. It’s important not to judge whatever comes up for you. We tend to stuff our feelings in our bellies when we are ashamed of them or not ready to express them. There is nothing wrong with having feelings, whatever they may be. You can’t help your feelings; if anything, you can help yourself by acknowledging the truth of your emotions so you can set yourself free. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Complacency is my enemy, easy to recognize in others, but difficult to identify and accept in myself. Complacency simply means being sure we’re right — taking it for granted that we couldn’t possibly be wrong. It means, moreover, judging others by what we think is right. It blocks out understanding and kindness, and seems to justify qualities in ourselves that we’d find wholly intolerable in others. Do I tend to assume that my views are always correct?

Today I Pray

God, please steer me past complacency, that state of being on dead center. When I am smug, I am no longer a seeker. If I assume I am always right, I am never on guard for my own mistakes, which can run away with me. Keep me teachable. Keep me growing, in heart, mind and spirit.

Today I Will Remember

Complacency stunts growth.

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One More Day

Quote: The degree and kind of sexuality of a human being reaches up into the ultimate principle of his spirit.
– Friedrich Nietzsche

Having a long-term medical problem presents new problems, which we have to cope with as part of our total picture. One area that may present difficulties is sexuality.

Sexuality is how we think about ourselves, of how we present ourselves, of all that makes us unique. Our self-image may bottom out as we undergo the daily rigors of a medical problem, and we may for a time feel unsexual and unsensual. It takes us a while to realize that we still have the same needs we always had — to be touched and to feel good about ourselves. We don’t have to be silent or passive. We need love and support, and sometimes we have to ask before our needs can be met.

I will remember that the quality of a relationship depends on both people involved.

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One Day At A Time

MIRACLES
“Miracles are instantaneous,
they cannot be summoned but come of themselves,
usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.”
Katherine Ann Porter

I never believed that we live in an age of miracles. As far as I was concerned, those happened only in the days of the Bible -- with burning bushes and the red sea opening up. When I first came into the program and heard people talking about miracles, I was skeptical. As I became more open to the possibility, things began to happen which I can only consider to be miracles. They may not have seemed large to my old closed mind, but being able to give up certain trigger foods -- or having a fellow member in the program call me when I most needed a call -- have become miracles in my life today.

Being able to maintain my weight, rather than losing and gaining weight every few months, is a miracle. Most importantly, my transformed relationships with my children and other loved ones are miracles.

One day at a time...
I will open my mind to the possibility of miracles occurring in my life…and they will come.
~ Sharon

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

I will never know all the people I hurt, all the friends I abused, the humiliation of my family, the worry of my business associates, or how far reaching it was. I continue to be surprised by the people I meet who say,'You haven't had a drink for a long time, have you?' The surprise to me is the fact that I didn't know that they knew my drinking had gotten out of control. That is where we are really fooled. We think we can drink to excess without anyone's knowing it. Everyone knows it. The only one we are fooling is ourselves. We rationalize and excuse our conduct beyond reason. - Pg. 351 - 4th. Edition - Personal Stories - It Might Have Been Worse

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The world is not consistent, you are not consistent, and those around you will not always be consistent. We don't have to be. We only have to remember not to use mind-affecting chemicals right now and our world will improve.

When inconsistency scares or annoys me, let me understand that to remain always constant would be like a plastic plant, never to grow and change!

Higher Power Within Me

Today, I recognize that a Higher Power lives and breathes inside me, through me, as me. I used to think that God was the chairperson of somebody else's board, and I spent my time in search of another person's version of a Higher Power. But really, there is no searching - it is more like an acceptance. That is the well-kept secret: that God lives, not in the heavens or inside special buildings, but within my very self. My direct access to myself is my direct access to my Higher Power, and my estrangement from myself is my estrangement from my Higher Power. We are co-creators, hand-in-glove, a team. Today, I see allowing God into my life as an act of surrender, acceptance and love.I love my Higher Power and my Higher Power loves me - we are one.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

There may be some people who want you to be perfect. But thanks to our fellowship, to God, and the Twelve Steps, you don't have to be one of them!

I claim progress, not perfection.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Don't put a question mark where your sponsor puts a period.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm learning to release my stress and anxiety in positive and healthy ways. My body is becoming free from all negative experiences. My past no longer lives in my body.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Weird things they tell you; 'How do you do this?'
'Hold on.'
'How do you surrender?'
'Just let go.' - Bea.

[bluidkiti]

June 24

Daily Reflections

A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN

We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which
people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace
to go on living to better effect.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95

When I came to A. A., I was run down by the bottle and
wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn't really
know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough
to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a
sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher
Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out
there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I
understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead
in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that
Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was
removed and--one day at a time--my life went on, and I
learned how to live sober.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts
from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in
drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities
of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build,
it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys.
We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life's
realities, little realizing or caring that in continued
drinking we are only multiplying our problems. Have I got
control over my unstable emotions?

Meditation For The Day

When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with
what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track
and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right
thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with
living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no
clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the
path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its
reward as surely as acting upon God's direct guidance. I must
not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques
upset me.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that
I may go quietly along the path I have chosen.

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As Bill Sees It

Aspects of Tolerance, p. 175

All kinds of people have found their way into A.A. Not too long ago, I sat talking in my
office with a member who bears the title of Countess. That same night, I went to an A.A.
meeting. It was winter, and there was a mild-looking little gent taking the coats. I said,
"Who's that?"

And somebody answered, "Oh, he's been around for a long time. Everybody likes him.
He used to be one of Al Capone's mob." That's how universal A.A. is today.

<< << << >> >> >>

We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can
be acquired. All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are the children of a living
Creator, with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms
as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 102
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 28

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Walk In Dry Places

Expressing gratitude
Self Improvement
How can we express gratitude when we feel it? We can begin by simply using the proper forms of courtesy at all times; this reminds us that we can't live without other people.
The best way to express gratitude, however, is to "ass on" the good that has come to us. This is more effective when we share ideas and experiences that have helped us on the way to self-improvement.
It's also a good idea to dismiss thoughts and statements that are forms of prideful boasting. Even telling people how hard we've worked for the 12 Step program can detract from our gratitude. And never, under any circumstances, should we put others under obligation to us.
I'll discover ways to express my gratitude today. I'll know that my best way of doing it is to pass on good ideas to others.

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Keep It Simple

Beauty is gift of God.---Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people's defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn't let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure--- if we turn to our program, we'll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
Action for the Day: Today I'll let myself feel beautiful. I'll see recovery as beautiful.

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Each Day a New Beginning

If you attach yourself to one person, you ultimately end up having an unhealthy relationship. --Shirley MacLaine
Needing people in our lives is healthy, human and natural. Needing a single person to love at a very deep level, is also soothing to the soul's well-being. Love and attachment are not synonymous, however. They are close to being opposites. If we "attach" ourselves to others, our movements as separate individuals are hampered. Attachment means dependency; it means letting our movements be controlled by the one we are "hooked" to.
Dependency on mood-altering chemicals, on food, on people, means unmanageability in our individual lives. Many of us in this recovery program, though abstinent, still struggle with our dependency on a certain person or a certain friend.
The tools we are learning apply in all cases of dependency. It is healthy independence we are striving for--taking responsibility for our own lives--making choices appropriate for our personal selves. Loving others means letting them make their own choices unhampered by our "attachment."
Are my relationships attachments or are they based on love? I will take an inventory of them today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Gradually things got worse. The house was taken over by the mortgage holder, my mother-in-law died, my wife and father-in-law became ill.
Then I got a promising business opportunity. Stocks were at the low point of 1932, and I had somehow formed a group to buy. I was to share generously in the profits. Then I went on a prodigious bender, and that chance vanished.
I woke up. This had to be stopped. I saw I could not take so much as one drink. I was through forever. Before then, I had written lots of sweet promises, but my wife happily observed that this time I meant business. And so I did.
Shortly afterward I came home drunk. There had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I simply didn't know. It hadn't even come to mind. Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy? I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective seemed near being just that.

p. 5

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

During my fifth year, as a part of my annual personal inventory, I realized that I had not succeeded in developing a spiritual depth in my program. I had accepted what I was taught but had not gone in search of the private growth that I saw in others. I watched for and found people who take the program with them as they live, work, and play in the real world. Through their leadership, by precept and example, I am finding the daily excitement essential to my development as a person and to my contact with my Higher Power.

p. 542

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

When A.A. was still young, lots of eager groups were forming. In a town we'll call Middleton, a real crackerjack had started up. The townspeople were as hot as firecrackers about it. Stargazing, the elders dreamed of innovations. They figured the town needed a great big alcoholic center, a kind of pilot plant A.A. groups could duplicate everywhere. Beginning on the ground floor there would be a club; in the second story they would sober up drunks and hand them currency for the back debts; the third deck would house an educational project - quite noncontroversial, of course. In imagination the gleaming center was to go up several stories more, but three would do for a start. This would all take a lot of money - other people's money. Believe it or not, wealthy townsfolk bought the idea.

p. 147

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God, today I give you all of the guilt from my past. Take it from me,
and allow me to begin fresh right now. Help me make the amends I
need to make, then let my guilt go.
--Melody Beattie

"Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes
revenge, and dares forgive an injury."
-- E. H. Chapin

The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare
up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
--Vance Havner

Trust, faith, love of God, makes light all my burdens.
--SweetyZee

"It's not the load that breaks you down...it's the way you carry it."
--unknown

Worry about tomorrow saps today of its strength.
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PERFECTION

"I have offended God and
mankind because my work didn't
reach the quality it should
have."
--Leonardo da Vinci

How I used to beat myself up! I was not good enough. I was not
attractive enough. I could not speak properly. I was too small. My
family was not prestigious enough. I was boring. My breath smelled,
etc., etc. I never saw my value in life. I could never see beyond my
failings into my God-given virtues. Sin was all too evident in my life!

Today I catch an egotism in my past criticism of self and others! Who
was I to think I should be perfect? I could find fault with the Archangel
Gabriel if he came to be my neighbor. My compulsive disease
extended beyond drugs to negative attitudes about life.

Today I see my value. Sobriety has restored my dignity. Today I am in
touch with that part of me that is noble. Today in my sobriety I am a
spiritual somebody, not a nobody.

Let my desire for "perfection" be tempered by reality.

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

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." Jeremiah 1:5-10

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with
an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build
you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will
take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
Jeremiah 31:3-4

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Daily Inspiration

You will have an easier time keeping your thoughts positive if you look for good in every situation. Lord, help me change my focus and develop an awareness that situations often have more good in them than bad.

If you live in the light of God, He will bless the work of your hands and you will see your efforts flourish. Lord, I am your servant. I do my daily work for You and I am filled with peace.

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NA Just For Today

Tolerance

"...ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
Tradition Twelve

Sometimes it's hard to accept others' character defects. As we recover together, we not only listen to others talk in meetings, we also watch how they walk through their recovery. The more we get to know other members, the more we become aware of how they live their lives. We may form opinions about how they "work their program." We may find that certain members upset us, or we may even hear ourselves say, "If I worked their program, I would surely use."

We have found tolerance to be a principle that not only strengthens our own recovery but also our relationships with individuals who are a source of irritation to us. It becomes easier to accept other members' frailties when we remember that we ourselves rarely turn over our own character defects until we become painfully aware of them.

Just for today: I will strive to accept others as they are. I will try not to judge others. I will focus on the principles of love and acceptance.

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment. --Maxwell Maltz
The way we think about ourselves determines how we behave and who we become. If Eileen believes she is good at baseball, she will swing the bat more confidently and catch fly balls more easily. And her extra effort will generally pay off. At math, Steve thinks he's a whiz and it makes him proud. He studies so he'll continue to be a whiz.
The image we have of ourselves is like the blueprint the contractor follows when building a house. When we see ourselves sad or angry, our behavior and personality will match it. When we see ourselves withdrawn and afraid, we seem to avoid activities that involve others. How wonderful that we can change our behavior and thus ourselves by changing the picture we carry in our minds.
Do I have a good picture of myself today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The only intrinsic evil is lack of love. --John Robinson
When we have feelings of guilt or self-hate, we have spiritual problems. It is a time to turn to our program for help. In the early stages of recovery we may, at times, feel more shameful than we ever did before, simply because we are becoming honest about how we feel. We may even become ashamed of our guilty feelings, and then the problem escalates.
Lack of love for ourselves is at the heart of our problem. We cannot become self-loving by force of will, but we can stop being so willful by simply yielding to the care of a loving God. At those moments we do not feel deserving of love, but we can stop fending it off. Perhaps God's love is coming to us in the concern of a friend or partner. Maybe it comes in the warm sunshine or in the smile of a child. As we yield to it, we take a spiritual leap into a world we don't control and we didn't create, but we can be healed by it.
Today, I will surrender to the love which comes from the world around me and let it teach me how to love myself.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
If you attach yourself to one person, you ultimately end up having an unhealthy relationship. --Shirley MacLaine
Needing people in our lives is healthy, human and natural. Needing a single person to love at a very deep level, is also soothing to the soul's well-being. Love and attachment are not synonymous, however. They are close to being opposites. If we "attach" ourselves to others, our movements as separate individuals are hampered. Attachment means dependency; it means letting our movements be controlled by the one we are "hooked" to.
Dependency on mood-altering chemicals, on food, on people, means unmanageability in our individual lives. Many of us in this recovery program, though abstinent, still struggle with our dependency on a certain person or a certain friend.
The tools we are learning apply in all cases of dependency. It is healthy independence we are striving for--taking responsibility for our own lives--making choices appropriate for our personal selves. Loving others means letting them make their own choices unhampered by our "attachment."
Are my relationships attachments or are they based on love? I will take an inventory of them today.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Detachment
Detachment doesn't come naturally for many of us. But once we realize the value of this recovery principle, we understand how vital detachment is. The following story illustrates how a woman came to understand detachment.
"The first time I practiced detachment was when I let go of my alcoholic husband. He had been drinking for seven years --since I had married him. For that long, I had been denying his alcoholism and trying to make him stop drinking.
"I did outrageous things to make him stop drinking, to make him see the light, to make him realize how much he was hurting me. I really thought I was doing things right by trying to control him.
"One night, I saw things clearly. I realized that my attempts to control him would never solve the problem. I also saw that my life was unmanageable. I couldn't make him do anything he didn't want to do. His alcoholism was controlling me, even though I wasn't drinking.
"I set him free, to do as he chose. The truth is, he did as he pleased anyway. Things changed the night I detached. He could feel it, and so could I. When I set him free, I set myself free to live my own life.
"I've had to practice the principle of detachment many times since then. I've had to detach from unhealthy people and healthy people. It's never failed. Detachment works."
Detachment is a gift. It will be given to us when we're ready for it. When we set the other person free, we are set free.
Today, wherever possible, I will detach in love.


I love me because of all that I am, not just a part of me. I fully accept myself just as I am today and that feels so good. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Restore Your Natural Balance

Seek healing, a refilling of energy and spirit, as soon as you see that you need it. You don’t have to push yourself to give, do, or perform when what your body, mind, soul, and emotions need is to heal.

Seek and support your natural balance. Listen to your body, listen to your soul, and both will tell you what they need and when. If you aren’t certain what you need,ask. Ask your body what you need. Ask your heart what to do next. Ask God and the universe to help.

Find the balance that’s right for you. Become sensitive to your needs. When you become stressed, depleted, out of sync, in need of healing, seek help immediately. Nurture and care for yourself until you’re in balance again.

Inhale, receive. Exhale, give back. Your natural balance is as necessary as breathing. The inhaling is the breathing in of life’s energy. The exhaling is the sharing of your resources. You wouldn’t expect to exhale if you hadn’t inhaled. So it goes with healing, with our life force, with our energy. You cannot give it out if you don’t take it in.

Find the balance of receiving and giving, of the taking in of energy and the giving out of energy, that works for you.

Let the balance become natural. See how much more you do and are. See how much better you feel when you keep your life force vital.

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

More Language Of Letting Go

Find ways to relax

Recovering alcoholics– and many people who choose not to drink or use drugs– need to find ways to relax that don’t involve alcohol, drugs, or medications.

Many of us remember daily that we are choosing not to drink or use drugs. But we may forget that it’s important to learn ways to relax our bodies and our minds. Maybe it’s time to assertively pursue options for helping us to unwind.

I can tell you things that help me: Hot water– whether it’s taking a long shower, sitting in a hot tub, or resting in a bathtub, meditation and visualization being near a large body of water and if that’s not possible, looking at a good picture of the ocean or a beautiful sea; drinking hot herbal tea; massage; music; meditation tapes; a good movie; laughter, deep, conscious breathing; playing the piano; and being outside in the sun.

We each have our own needs, our own methods of calming ourselves down. Do you have a list of what works for you? If you don’t, today is a good day to make one.

Today and each day do at least one thing deliberately that relaxes you. Begin allowing your body to memorize how it feels when it’s relaxed; then consciously duplicate that feeling throughout the day whenever you feel yourself become tense.

God, show me ways to relax.

Activity: Begin making a list of the things that help you relax. This is an important part of your self-care. If it’s a long one, great. If it’s a short one, pursue other methods of relaxing that are available to you, and add them to this list. Whenever you feel yourself becoming tense, take out your list and actually do one of the things on it– the one that most appeals to you at that moment. Part of getting to know yourself better means becoming acquainted with things that help your body relax.

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In God’s Care

Discipline is the basis of a satisfying life.
~~Katharine Hepburn

When trying to reach a goal, we may tire of the constant effort that is required of us, or we may rebel against the structure that’s necessary to keep us focused. We often long for what we remember as a freer, more spontaneous time in the past.

It’s helpful to remember that our goals come from our desire for change. We can see each yearning as God’s invitation for us to move in a new direction. And we can be sure that we have God as our helpmate throughout the journey wherever our destination may be.

Goals that inspire us to act bring meaning to our life. We make progress in moving toward them, and our feeling of satisfaction and renewed sense of purpose will motivate us to persevere to their completion.

The comfort of regular conscious contact with our Higher Power, as we seek always to align our goals with God’s will for us, will carry us to the fulfillment of our goals.

I will seek direction and strength from God while moving toward my goals today.

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

Day By Day

Getting honest

There is an intuitive understanding between recovering addicts and newcomers. Old-timers know well the games that newcomers play at first. Newcomers are not asked what they’re thinking, they’re told what they’re thinking! They don’t need to be trapped into lies; old-timers tell them the lies they were about to tell.

Thus, in the beginning, we start to get honest because we hardly have a choice. We give up on playing games because there are no tricks left in the bag. Being confronted by others, we have to get honest – honest enough to save our lives.

Have I stopped playing games? Am I getting more honest?

Higher Power, let me be grateful for the intuition and quick tongue of my fellow members:
They can help me get honest.

I will practice honesty today by…

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Food for Thought

A Program for Living

The OA program does much more than promote our recovery from compulsive overeating, essential as that is. It gives us a structure for our daily lives. Before OA, we chased illusions and despaired when they let us down. Now we have a concrete plan of action for living richer, fuller lives.

We have found like-minded friends who help and encourage us. Instead of isolating ourselves and consuming, we are experiencing the fellowship of sharing. We find that the more we contribute to OA, the more we get out of it.

Practicing the Twelve Steps involves every aspect of our lives. We cannot be honest in our efforts to work this program without being honest in all our affairs. What we learn about ourselves through OA can be applied to our other activities as well. We were eating compulsively because we did not know how to cope with the rest of life. As we become better equipped for living through the guidance of our Higher Power, we recover from our disease.

Bless our program, we pray.

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Foundations of Evolution
Acknowledging Your Growth by Madisyn Taylor

Evolution of your soul is a natural fact of life and becomes a potent motivational force when celebrated.

Since personal evolution is most often a slow and gradual process, it can be difficult to recognize the scope of the changes taking place in our lives. Yet it is important that we regularly acknowledge our ongoing growth and reward ourselves for the many wonderful feats of self-improvement we have accomplished. When we intentionally contemplate our progress, we need never feel that we are languishing between past achievements and the realization of future goals. If we look closely at our lives, we may see that much of what brings us pleasure in the present is representative of the ambitions of our past that we worked so hard to attain. At one time, the abundance we enjoy currently likely seemed like a far-off dream. Now it is simply reality—a reality we created through our diligence, passion, and unflagging determination. Whether our progress is fast or slow, we deserve to congratulate ourselves for our successes.

To remind yourself of the insights you have gained with time, temporarily adopt an outsider’s perspective and carefully consider how your life in the present differs from the range of experiences you lived through in the past. Creating a written list, in a journal or otherwise, of those strengths, aptitudes, and inner qualities you now attribute to yourself can help you accept that you are not the same person you were one year ago, five years ago, or 10 years ago. Your attitudes, opinions, and values were likely markedly different, and these differences can be ascribed to your willingness to accept that you still have much to learn. If you have difficulty giving yourself credit for these changes, think about the goals you realized, the lives you touched, the wisdom you acquired, and the level of enlightenment you attained over the past years.

Recognizing growth is neither boastful nor immodest. Evolution is a natural fact of life and becomes a potent motivational force when celebrated. Knowing that you are brighter, stronger, and more grounded than you once were, you can look forward to the changes to come. In acknowledging your growth, you build a sturdy foundation upon which you can continue to blossom well into the future. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

The primary purpose of The Program is freedom from addiction; without that freedom we have nothing. But that doesn’t mean I can say, for example, “Sobriety is my only concern. Except for my drinking, I’m really a sure person, so give me sobriety, and I’ve got it made.” If I delude myself with such specious nonsense, I’ll make so little progress with my real life problems and responsibilities that I’ll likely return to my addiction. That’s why The Program’s Twelve Step urges us to “practice these principles in all our affairs.” Am I living just to be free of chemical dependence, or also to learn to serve, and to love?

Today I Pray

May I relish and be grateful for my sobriety, which is where all good things begin. But let me not stop at that and give up trying to understand myself, the nature of God and of humanity. Freedom from dependency is the first freedom. May I be certain that there are more to come — freedom from tight-mindedness, from the unrest of bottled-up feelings, from over-dependence on others, from a Godless existence. May The Program which answered my acute needs also answer my chronic ones.

Today I Will Remember

Sobriety is just a beginning.

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One More Day

Quote: There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first.
– Paramahansa Yogananda

Friendships develop slowly and are based on mutual interests and understanding. They are tested by time, by changes in life circumstances, and even by health. To be a real friend means being there when the chips are down, even when no one else is. It means giving and not receiving, but trusting that our friends are prepared to do the same.

Real friends take risks for one another — especially emotional risks — and still don’t leave. A cherished friendship is not questioned, for we know, deep in our hearts, that we will always be there to help our close friends. We know they will always be there to help us.

I have strong and rewarding relationships. I cherish my friendships.

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One Day At A Time

ACCEPTANCE
“Because you’re not what I would have you be,
I blind myself to who in truth, you are.”
Madeleine L’Engle

The Big Book of AA says, “Acceptance is the answer to all my problems.” I am finding this to be true for me. Living in a household with several family members, I need to not focus on others’ faults. I can choose to practice acceptance by looking past what others do that I think they shouldn't do, and instead I can love them for who they are.

In order to show unconditional love I must look past their shortcomings. I need to stop dwelling on the fact that they sometimes don’t do things the way I want them to. If I don't do that, anger and resentments follow and I find myself trying to control things and play God. We all know that doesn't work. It just causes misery and takes away my joy, peace and serenity.

As I work my program of recovery, I am better off to “let go and let God” and just accept others as they are. Putting others in God’s hands and resisting the temptation to try to make things turn out the way I want them to is the definition of acceptance for me. When I love others unconditionally I experience peace and serenity beyond my wildest dreams.

One day at a time ...
I will practice the miracle of acceptance and unconditional love.
~ Bluerose

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the affect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic's past thus becomes the principle asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one! - Pg. 124 - The Family Afterward

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If 'I don't wanna,' 'I don't have time,' and 'Let someone else do it,' are your major responses to people asking for help, remember this: the recovery that was there for you may not be there for others if you don't serve. Service is one of the principles we practice.

Tonight at the meeting I will serve my group by helping to clean up.

Inner Hearing, Inner Sight

Today, I will trust my own heart. The clear message that whispers within me has more to tell me than a thousand voices. I have a guide within me who knows what is best for me. There is a part of me that sees the whole picture and knows how it all fits together. My inner voice may come in the form of a strong sense, a pull from within, a gut feeling or a quiet knowing. However my inner voice comes to me, I will learn to pay attention. In my heart I know what is going on. Though I am conditioned by the world to look constantly outside myself for meaning, today I recognize that it is deeply important for me to hear what I am saying from within.

I will trust my inner voice.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Our program does not teach us how to handle drinking and drugging. It teaches us how to handle recovery.

Another day, another recovery!

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

AA does not teach us how to handle drinking, it teaches us how to handle sobriety.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I love me because of all that I am, not just a part of me. I fully accept myself just as I am today and that feels so good.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

The first time I drank alcohol, I was about 12 years old, and it made me feel so good that the way I felt without it was never really OK again. Never really. - Bob D.

[bluidkiti]

June 25

Daily Reflections

A TWO-WAY STREET

If we ask, God will certainly forgive our derelictions. But in no case
does He render us white as snow and keep us that way without our
cooperation.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 65

When I prayed, I used to omit a lot of things for which I needed to be
forgiven. I thought that if I didn't mention those things to God, He
would never know about them. I did not know that if I had just
forgiven myself for some of my past deeds, God would forgive me also.
I was always taught to prepare for the journey through life, never
realizing until I came to A.A. when I honestly became willing to be
taught forgiveness and forgiving that life itself is the journey. The
journey of life is a very happy one, as long as I am willing to accept
change and responsibility.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

One of the most encouraging facts of life is that your weakness can
become your greatest asset. Kites and airplanes rise against the wind.
In climbing up a high mountain, we need the stony crags and rough
places to aid us in our climb. So your weakness can become an asset if
you will face it, examine it, and trace it to its origin. Set it in the very
center of your mind. No weakness, such as drinking, ever turned into
an asset until it was first fairly faced. Am I making my weakness my
greatest asset?

Meditation For The Day

Whenever we seek to worship God, we think of the great universe
that God rules over, of creation, of mighty law and order throughout
the universe. Then we feel the awe that precedes worship. I too must
feel awe, feel the desire to worship God in wondering amazement. My
mind is in a box of space and time and it is so made that I cannot
conceive of what is beyond space or time, the limitless and the eternal.
But I know that there must be something beyond space and time, and
that something must be the limitless and eternal Power behind the
universe. I also know that I can experience that Power in my life.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may accept the limitless and eternal Spirit. I pray that It
may express Itself in my life.

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As Bill Sees It

Domination and Demand, p. 176

The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true
partnership with another human being. Our egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls.
Either we insist upon dominating people we know, or we depend upon them far too
much.

If we lean too heavily on people, they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human,
too, and cannot possibly meet our incessant demands. In this way our insecurity grows
and festers.

When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own willful desires, they revolt,
and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a sense of persecution, and a
desire to retaliate.

<< << << >> >> >>

My dependency meant demand -- a demand for the possession and control of other
people and the conditions surrounding me.

1. 12 & 12, p. 53
2. Grapevine, January 1958

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Walk In Dry Places

Transforming garbage.
Handling the past
Left to itself, nature takes ordinary garbage and transforms it into useful nutrients that help sustain life. It's usually poor human action that makes garbage a problem.
Our mental and emotional garbage takes the forms of bad memories, festering resentments, and useless regrets. We waste time berating ourselves and others about bad decisions and experiences that are behind us.
The magic of the 12 Step program is that we can use it to transform this mental garbage into useful experience. A past mistake can become as asset when we share it with others. Pain and suffering can teach a lesson that helps all of us to grow. By forgiving others, a resentment can be turned into a friendship.
I'll resolve today not to worry about garbage any longer than it takes to identify it and release it to my Higher Power for transformation.

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Keep It Simple

When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that three of his fingers are pointing at himself.---Louis Nizer
It's so easy to blame others. Others are always making mistakes we can hide behind. That's what blame is---hiding. When we blame others for our mistakes, we're trying to hide our character defects.
It's nobody else’s fault that we act the way we do. It's our fault. We're responsible for our actions.
And with the help of our Higher Power, we can change. We can turn over our character defects. Over time, we're not afraid to learn about ourselves---even the parts we don't like---because we want to know ourselves better.
Prayer for the Day: I pray for help in facing my character defects.
Action for the Day: I'll think about the past week. I'll list times I've used blame to hide from reality.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches. --Alice Roosevelt Longworth
All too often, we complicate our lives. We can wonder and worry our way into confusion; obsession or preoccupation it's often called. "What if?" "Will he?" "Should I?" "What do you think?" We seldom stop trying to figure out what to do, where to do it, how to meet a challenge, until someone reminds us to "keep it simple."
What we each discover, again and again, is that the solution to any problem becomes apparent when we stop searching for it. The guidance we need for handling any difficulty, great or small, can only come into focus when we remove the barriers to it, and the greatest barrier is our frantic effort to personally solve the problem. We clutter our minds; we pray for an answer and yet don't become quiet enough, for long enough, to become aware of the direction to go, or the steps to take. And they are always there.
Inherent in every problem or challenge is its solution. Our greatest lesson in life may be to keep it simple, to know that no problem stands in our way because no solution eludes a quiet, expectant mind.
I have opportunities every day to still my mind. And the messages I need will come quietly. My answers are within me, now.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

Renewing my resolve, I tried again. Some time passed, and confidence began to be replaced by cocksureness. I could laugh at the gin mills. Now I had what it takes! One day I walked into a cafe to telephone. In no time I was beating on the bar asking myself how it happened. As the whisky rose to my head I told myself I would manage better next time, but I might as well get good and drunk then. And I did.

pp. 5-6

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

I approached Alcoholics Anonymous with fear and hesitation. Then, urged by the dread of what was behind me, I took tine delicate steps into this new path. When I found the footing was firm, each tentative move brought me a little nearer to trust. Confidence grew, faith in my Higher Power expanded, and I came to recognize a light I had not known existed. Something within me shifted and welcomed a new source of strength, understanding, tolerance, and love. That selfish, withdrawn woman who announced that she would "never be responsible to or for anyone ever again" now finds sincere warmth in just being available. I count it a privilege to help another drunk.

pp. 542-543

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

There were, though, a few conservative dissenters among the alcoholics. the wrote the Foundation*, A.A.'s headquarters in New York, wanting to know about this sort of streamlining. They understood that the elders, just to nail things down good, were about to apply to the Foundation for a charter. These few were disturbed and skeptical.

*In 1954, The name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc. was changed to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc. and the Foundation office is now the General Service Office.

p. 148

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.
--John Wooden

"Never answer an angry word with an angry word. It's the second one
that makes the quarrel."
--W.A. Nance

Don't argue for other people's weaknesses. Don't argue for your own.
When you make a mistake, admit it, correct it, and learn from
it--immediately.
--Stephen Covey

"Making prompt amends is the fresh air of each new day."
--Sandra Little

A man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is
committing another mistake.
--Confucius

"He who angers you conquers you."
--Elizabeth Kenny

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INTEGRITY

"Integrity has no need of rules."
--Albert Camus

The benefit of a spiritual program is the development of integrity in
my life. Integrity is having an honest respect for myself; it is
respecting who I am and how I live in the world. Integrity also
becomes a bridge by which I can reach my fellow man. My respect for
my life develops a respect for others. My determination to have
integrity affects the way I treat you. Integrity gives me freedom to be
-- and this allows for an acceptance of you.

Of course I must follow some rules and guidelines in my life but today
they are not written in cement. Today I can be flexible with me and
this means that I can be flexible with you. My past need to control has
developed into an accepting serenity that brings peace. My spiritual
program forever teaches me to be free; now I can live.

I pray that I can see beyond the rules into the beauty of Integrity.

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Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but
your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in
Me, says the LORD.
Jeremiah 39:18

"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in
glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

"...in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus for you."
1 Thessalonians 5:18

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Daily Inspiration

Those that least deserve your love are the ones that need it the most. Lord, may I have the humbleness of spirit to reach out even when my feelings may be hurt.

If you feel the need to get even, try getting even with those that have helped you. Lord, free me from any thoughts of revenge because this only shuts the door to my own happiness.

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NA Just For Today

Not Just Lucky

"The process of coming to believe restores us to sanity. The strength to move into action comes from this belief."
Basic Text p. 24

Coming to believe is a process that stems from personal experience. Each of us has this experience; all addicts who find recovery in NA have solid evidence of a benevolent Power acting for good in their lives. Those of us who are recovering today, after all, are the fortunate ones. Many, many addicts die from our disease, never to experience what we have found in Narcotics Anonymous.

The process of coming to believe involves a willingness to recognize miracles for what they are. We share the miracle of being here clean, and each of us has other miracles that await only our acknowledgment. How many car accidents or overdoses or other near-catastrophes have we survived? Can we look back at our lives and see that we were not just "lucky"? Our experience in recovery, too, gives us examples of a Higher Power working for our good.

When we can look back at the evidence of a loving Higher Power acting on our behalf, it becomes possible to trust that this Higher Power will continue to help us in the future. And trust offers us the strength to move forward.

Just for today: My recovery is more than coincidence. My strength comes from the knowledge that my Higher Power has never let me down and will continue to guide me.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end. --Ursula K. LeGuin
Billy and his dad were excited about fan appreciation night. They wanted to get one of the souvenir baseballs thrown into the stands. As they hurried toward their seats, they saw a man drop a ten-dollar bill. Billy picked up the money.
"Hey, Mister," he said loudly. The man in front of him turned around. "You dropped this." Billy handed him the money.
"Thank you," said the man. Billy returned to his dad. Just as they reached their row, a ball came sailing towards their empty seats. Someone from the row behind caught it. Billy swallowed hard.
"I know," said his dad, looking at Billy, "But you did the right thing."
For his effort, Billy will bring home a souvenir far more lasting and valuable than a baseball or a ten-dollar bill. He will know the bittersweet feeling of making a sacrifice to do what is right.
What sacrifice have I made to do what is right?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Some people greet the morning with a smile, but it's more natural to protest its presence with sleepy sulkiness. "Who asked you to come again?" we feel like saying to it, as if it were a most unwelcome guest. --Brendan Francis
We begin with the truth and build on the firm foundation it provides. We often hear we should have a positive attitude, we should be grateful for the new day. Perhaps some days we feel enthusiasm, and it's wonderful when we do. But we don't need to turn it into a requirement because shoulds tend to keep us out of touch with our honest feelings.
All feelings are acceptable. Whatever they are, the entire range of color and intensity of feelings comes from our Creator. Our task is dealing with them and responding to them. We begin by acknowledging them as they are. We do not have license to do whatever we feel like doing, only to feel what we feel. This point of honesty is a solid stepping-stone to grow from. We often find we feel different as soon as we admit our feelings.
Today, I will admit my true feelings and accept them as stepping-stones.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches. --Alice Roosevelt Longworth
All too often, we complicate our lives. We can wonder and worry our way into confusion; obsession or preoccupation it's often called. "What if?" "Will he?" "Should I?" "What do you think?" We seldom stop trying to figure out what to do, where to do it, how to meet a challenge, until someone reminds us to "keep it simple."
What we each discover, again and again, is that the solution to any problem becomes apparent when we stop searching for it. The guidance we need for handling any difficulty, great or small, can only come into focus when we remove the barriers to it, and the greatest barrier is our frantic effort to personally solve the problem. We clutter our minds; we pray for an answer and yet don't become quiet enough, for long enough, to become aware of the direction to go, or the steps to take. And they are always there.
Inherent in every problem or challenge is its solution. Our greatest lesson in life may be to keep it simple, to know that no problem stands in our way because no solution eludes a quiet, expectant mind.
I have opportunities every day to still my mind. And the messages I need will come quietly. My answers are within me, now.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Withholding
Sometimes, to protect ourselves, we close ourselves off from a person we're in a relationship with. Our body may be present, but we're not. We're not available to participate in the relationship.
We shut down.
Sometimes, it is appropriate and healthy to shut down in a relationship. We may legitimately need some time out. Sometimes it is self-defeating to close ourselves off in a relationship.
To stop being vulnerable, honest, and present for another person can put an end to the relationship. The other person can do nothing in the relationship when we are gone. Closing ourselves makes us unavailable to that relationship.
It is common to go through temporary periods of closing down in a relationship. But it is unhealthy to make this an ongoing practice. It may be one of our relationship sabotaging devices.
Before we close down, we need to ask ourselves what we are hoping to accomplish by shutting down. Do we need some time to deal? To heal? To grow? To sort through things? Do we need time out from this relationship? Or are we reverting to our old ways - hiding, running, and terminating relationships because we are afraid we cannot take care of ourselves in any other way?
Do we need to shut down because the other person truly isn't safe, is manipulating, lying, or acting out addictively or abusively? Are we shutting down because the other person has shut down and we no longer want to be available?
Shutting down, shutting off, closing ourselves and removing our emotional presence from a relationship is a powerful tool. We need to use it carefully and responsibly. To achieve intimacy and closeness in a relationship, we need to be present emotionally. We need to be available.
God, help me be emotionally present in the relationships I choose to be in.


Today I sit quietly in prayer and meditation so that I can hear God's Will for me. I know that I am being guided in this very moment. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Ground Yourself

So much of our growth is spiritual. Sometimes we fly so high, our soul soars into the heavens, touching life’s magic, sailing into the high spiritual realms. That is as it should be. But we need to be grounded,too. Even the tallest tree, the one that reaches hundreds of feet into the sky, has roots that go deep into the earth. The higher we want to travel on spiritual planes, the more we need to learn to ground ourselves. Our roots need to go deep into the earth,too.

Touch things that grow in the earth. Walk on the grass. Sit on the ground. Feel its presence, its solid grounding energy, rise up into you.

You are a soul, a spirit, but you have a body,too. Remember and nurture your spirit, but take time to attend to your body. Connect with what is physical, connect with the energy of the earth. Do the simple tasks that connect you to life on this planet– the day-to-day chores that connect you with your body and the rhythms of this world.

Grow spiritually, but let your spiritual growth be grounded in daily life and the things on earth. That is how you stay grounded; that’s how you honor your body and stay connected to it. Grow spiritually, but let that growth reflect and honor embodied life. Just as the body and workings of an airplane give shape to the idea of an airplane and allow it to fly, your body gives shape, form, and freedom to your soul. But even airplanes need to land sometimes.

Learn to tell when your body and soul need to come back to earth. Take time to get grounded. Then you’ll be able to soar.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Surrender to God’s will

It was a stressful time in my life. I didn’t know what to do. I had pressing business decisions to make, and painful relationship issues to face. Everything felt like a mess.

I gathered up a few favorite books, the Bible, a journal, and some clothes. Then I headed for the mountains, a resort that was a favorite place of mine to hide out in and gather my thoughts.

I told myself, “I’m going to stay in there. Write in my journal. Pray. And meditate. I’m not coming out until I know what to do.”

After forty-eight hours of writing about my problems, praying about my problems, and meditating about my problems, I remembered something a friend had said to me.

“What are you doing?” he had asked.

“I’m trying to surrender to God’s will.”

“No you’re not, you’re trying to figure it out.”

Within six months, each of the problems I was wrestling with worked themselves out. I was either guided into an action that naturally felt right at the time, or a solution came to me. The immediate solution to each problem was the same: let go. Just surrender to the situation taking place. Sometimes, what we need to do next is surrender.

If you don’t like the word surrender, try calling it making peace.

God, help me surrender to your will, especially when I don’t know what to do next.

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In God’s Care

Thinking about interior peace destroys interior peace.
The patient who constantly feels his pulse is not getting any better.
~~Hubert van Zeller

As goal-oriented people, we are often determined to do such things as lose ten pounds, bring our cholesterol down to 180, read three books a month, spend fifteen minutes a day in meditation. We are constantly measuring ourselves by one standard or another – standards that we create for ourselves. We are so intent upon measuring up that we end up putting ourselves down.

We all want peace of mind, but when that’s our focus, it eludes us. True peace comes not from trying to have peace, but in trying to find God’s will and doing it. Turning our will and our life over to the care of God is the formula for inner peace. And when we share God’s love with others, we are too pleasantly occupied to wonder if we’re happy – we just are.

It’s all right to have goals, but peace comes from letting God run my life.

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Day By Day

Analyzing

Our constant analyzing could mean we don’t work the Steps; eventually, it could cost us our lives. It’s as if we were standing in a burning building, in front of a fire escape, trying to understand the principles of oxidation.

What we need to do first is to get out of the fire; we can learn about oxidation – addiction and recovery – later. It is dangerous to stand on the fringes of addiction; it can be dangerous to delay a commitment.

Have I made a clear choice?

Higher Power, help me learn to relate to you as well as to my analytical mind.

Today I will let go of analyzing and take Steps!

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Food for Thought

Accepting Change

One day my mother and I were working together in the garden. We were transplanting some plant for the third time. Grown from seed in a small container, the plants had been transferred to a larger container; then transplanted into the garden. Now, because I was moving, we were transplanting them again.

Inexperienced as a gardener, I turned to my green-thumbed mother. “Isn’t this bad for them?” I asked, as we dug them up and shook the dirt from their roots. “Won’t it hurt these plants, being uprooted and transplanted so many times?”

“Oh, no,” my mother replied. “Transplanting doesn’t hurt them. In fact, it’s good for the ones that survive. That’s how their roots grow strong. Their roots will grow deep, and they’ll make strong plants.”

Often, I’ve felt like those small plants – uprooted and turned upside down. Sometimes, I’ve endured the change willingly, sometimes reluctantly, but usually my reaction has been a combination.

Won’t this be hard on me? I ask. Wouldn’t it be better if things remained the same? That’s when I remember my mother’s words – that’s how the roots grow deep and strong.

Today, God, help me remember that during times of transition, my faith and my self are being strengthened.

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Recognizing Our Own Abundance
Planting the Seeds of Generosity by Madisyn Taylor

One way to practice generosity is to give energy where it is needed whether that is in the form of time, money or love.

The most difficult time to be generous is when we ourselves are feeling poor. While some of us have experienced actually being in the red financially, there are those of us who would feel broke even if we had a million dollars in the bank. Either way, as the old adage goes, it is always in giving that we receive. Meaning that when we are living in a state of lack, the very gesture we may least want to give is the very act that could help us create the abundance that we seek. One way to practice generosity is to give energy where it is needed. Giving money to a cause or person in need is one way to give energy. Giving attention, love, or a smile to another person are other acts of giving that we can offer. After all, there are people all over the world that are hungry for love.

Sometimes when we practice generosity, we practice it conditionally. We might be expecting to “receive back” from the person to whom we gave. We might even become angry or resentful if that person doesn’t reciprocate. However, trust in the natural flow of energy, and you will find yourself practicing generosity with no strings attached. This is the purest form of giving. Remember that what you send out will always come back you. Selflessly help a friend in need without expecting them to return the same favor in the same way, and know that you, too, will receive that support from the universe when you need it. Besides, while giving conditionally creates stress (because we are waiting with an invisible balance sheet to receive our due), giving unconditionally creates and generates abundance. We give freely, because we trust that there is always an unlimited supply.

Being aware of how much we are always supported by the universe is one of the keys to abundance and generosity. Consciously remember the times you’ve received support from expected and unexpected sources. Remember anyone who has helped you when you’ve needed it most, and bless all situations that come into your life for the lessons and gifts they bring you. Remember that all things given and received emanate from generosity. Giving is an act of gratitude. Plant the seeds of generosity through your acts of giving, and you will grow the fruits of abundance for yourself and those around you. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

If ever I come to the complacent conclusion that I don’t need The Program any longer, let me quickly remind myself that it can do far more than carry me through the anguish of living in the bondage of addiction. Let me further remind myself that I can make even greater strides in fulfilling myself, for The Program and the Twelve Steps is a philosophy — a way of life. Will I ever outgrow my need for The Program?

Today I Pray

May my Higher Power lead me through the Twelve Steps, not just once, but again and again, until they become the guiding principles of my existence. This is no quickie seminar on improving the quality of my life; this is my life, restored to me through Divine Power and the friendship of my fellow addicts, who, like me, are recovering in the best known way.

Today I Will Remember

Step by Step, from bondage to abundant life.

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One More Day

Quote: Nothing is more fatal to health than an over-care of it.
– Benjamin Franklin

Let’s face it. There are certain times when we become preoccupied with our health. After all, if we’d broken a leg we’d be abnormal if we weren’t concerned with how we were going to walk or how frustrating it was. Long-term medical problems are a different matter. If we continue to constantly talk about our health, we will drive away the people we need most.

Talking less about our health problems may have benefits. We won’t be wearing down our friends and family members with our lengthy medical discussions, and we also may become more accepting. To be alive is to experience challenges, problems, and conflicts. Acceptance ensures that we’ll overcome some of the pain and that hope will be renewed.

Acceptance does bring relief and peace. God will grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.

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One Day At A Time

STEP TWELVE
“One must really have suffered oneself to help others.”
Mother Teresa

Before coming into the program, I always worked in some sort of caring profession and was always either helping or “fixing” someone else ~ mostly in areas in which I had no personal experience. I was a people-pleaser and I would be there for someone else. If anything needed to be done, I was the one to offer to do it. But ultimately that backfired because I would feel used and resentful, and I would land up in the food as my way of compensating.

Since coming into program I have changed the way I help others. Instead of doing for others so they would like me -- or so I would get a pat on the back -- I share my experience, strength and hope with other compulsive overeaters. I have been where they have been, and I can share with them my struggles and how I've overcome them. Not only do I help others in the program with what I have learned, but, as they say, I can only keep what I have if I give it away. I get as much -- if not more -- from sharing with another in the program. How different this is from the way it was before I began the program, and I'm so grateful for that!

One day at a time...
I will share my experience, strength and hope with another compulsive overeater. By doing so, I get to keep what I have so generously been given in this program.
~ Sharon

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Never forget that resentment is a deadly hazard to an alcoholic. We do not mean that you have to agree with your husband whenever there is an honest difference of opinion. Just be careful not to disagree in a resentful or critical spirit. - Pg. 117 - To Wives

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

You are not your fault, but you are your responsibility. Others are not your fault either and they are their responsibility.

Help me concentrate on my own problems and growth and not accept blame or give blame for things that belong to another.

Being with Life

Today, I allow myself just to be with life. Somehow, it doesn't have to prove anything to me or give me any more than I already have to be okay. The lessons I have learned through working through all that blocks my forgiveness have taught me that I can face my most difficult feelings and still come home to a place of love and acceptance. Life is always renewing itself; nothing lasts, good or bad, and that is just the way it is. It is enough today to enjoy my coffee, to take a walk, to appreciate the people in my life. I can rest in a quiet sort of understanding that this is what it's all about; all the searching turned up such an ordinary but beautiful thing.

I am enraptured with the ordinary.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

It really is a daily program. Think about it, if you only quit one day at a time, every day that you don't pick up will be an accomplishment. If you quit forever, you won't have accomplished anything until you're dead.

Today, my one day.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Some people move when they see the light; alcoholics move when they feel the heat.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I sit quietly in prayer and meditation so that I can hear God's Will for me. I know that I am being guided in this very moment.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Which way did they go? How fast are they moving? How many are there? - I must find them, I'm their leader. ( Favorite of Ken D's )

[bluidkiti]

June 26

Daily Reflections

A GIFT THAT GROWS WITH TIME

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.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 151

The longer I chased these elusive feelings with alcohol, the more out
of reach they were. However, by applying this passage to my sobriety,
I found that it described the magnificent new life made available to me
by the A.A. program. It "truly does get better" one day at a time.
The warmth, the love and the joy so simply expressed in these words
grow in breadth and depth each time I read it. Sobriety is a gift that
grows with time.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We must know the nature of our weakness before we can determine
how to deal with it. When we are honest about its presence, we may
discover that it is imaginary and can be overcome by a change of
thinking. We admit that we are alcoholics and we would be foolish if
we refused to accept our handicap and do something about it. So by
honestly facing our weakness and keeping ever present the knowledge
that for us alcoholism is a disease with which we are afflicted, we can
take the necessary steps to arrest it. Have I fully accepted my
handicap?

Meditation For The Day

There is a proper time for everything. I must learn not to do things at
the wrong time, that is, before I am ready or before conditions are
right. It is always a temptation to do something at once, instead of
waiting until the proper time. Timing is important. I must learn, in the
little daily situations of life, to delay action until I am sure that I am
doing the right thing at the right time. So many lives lack balance and
timing. In the momentous decisions and crises of life, they may ask God's
guidance, but into the small situations of life, they rush alone.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may delay action until I feel that I am doing the right
thing. I pray that I may not rush in alone.

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As Bill Sees It

Money--Before and After, p. 177

In our drinking time, we acted as if the money supply were inexhaustible, though between
binges we'd sometimes go to the other extreme and become miserly. Without realizing it,
we were just accumulating funds for the next spree. Money was the symbol of pleasure
and self-importance. As our drinking became worse, money was only an urgent
requirement which could supply us with the next drink and the temporary comfort of
oblivion it brought.

<< << << >> >> >>

Although financial recovery is on the way for many of us, we find we cannot place
money first. For us, material well-being always follows spiritual progress; it never
precedes.

1. 12 & 12, p. 120
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 127

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Walk In Dry Places

Let it Happen
Easy Does it.
Student pilots learn a simple method for getting an airplane out of a stall; Release the stick forward, and the airplane rights itself. Continue to hold the stick back, and you cause a fatal spin.
Many times, we cling too tightly to conditions that could simply right themselves if we would only let go. Situations often work themselves out when we stop pushing and pulling too hard.
If we're living on a spiritual basis and following our 12 Step program, lots of unpleasant conditions will clear up without any strain or struggle on our part. The secret, then, is to do our part and act prudently, but also to be willing to let things happen.
I'll remember today not to push or pull too hard to get my way. Things might work themselves out if I simply let natural forces work properly in every situation.

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Keep It Simple

But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads.---Albert Camus
Sometimes we sat we're getting out lives together. Together with what? With our selves. The Twelve Steps help us clean up the mess we've made. We're fixing our mistakes. We're looking at ourselves closely---at what we believe, what we feel, what we like to do, who we are. We're asking our High Power to help us to be our best.
No wonder over lives are coming together! No wonder we feel more peace, harmony, and happiness!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me remember the best harmony comes when I sing from Your songbook.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll make choices that are in line with who I am.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Mental health, like dandruff, crops up when you least expect it. --Robin Worthington
We're responsible for the effort but not the outcome. Frequently, a single problem or many problems overwhelm us. We may feel crazy, unable to cope and certain that we have made no progress throughout this period of recovery. But we have. Each day that we choose sobriety, that we choose abstinence from pills or food, we are moving more securely toward mental health as a stable condition.
We perhaps felt strong, secure, on top of things last week, or yesterday.
We will again tomorrow, or maybe today. When we least expect it, our efforts pay off--quietly, perhaps subtly, sometimes loudly--a good belly laugh may signal a glimmer of our mental health.
No one achieves an absolute state of total mental health. To be human is to have doubts and fears. But as faith grows, as it will when we live the Twelve Steps, doubts and fears lessen. The good days will increase in number.
Meeting a friend, asking for a raise, resolving a conflict with my spouse, or friend, will be handled more easily, when I least expect it.
Looking forward with hope, not backward, is my best effort--today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

The remorse, horror and hopelessness of the next morning are unforgettable. The courage to do battle was not there. My brain raced uncontrollably and there was a terrible sense of impending calamity. I hardly dared cross the street, lest I collapse and be run down by an early morning truck, for it was scarcely daylight. An all night place supplied me with a dozen glasses of ale. My writhing nerves were stilled at last. A morning paper had told me the market had gone to hell again. Well, so had I. The market would recover, but I wouldn't. That was a hard thought. Should I kill myself? No - not now. Then a mental fog settled down. Gin would fix that. So two bottles, and--oblivion.

p. 6

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

A LATE START - "It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic."

It's been ten years since I retired, seven years since I joined A.A. Now I can truly say that I am a grateful alcoholic. Had i not become a drunk, I would have become another sober but sad statistic. At seventy-five I would be a lonely, unproductive woman, watching TV, doing needlepoint, in my home without friends, and sinking further and further into old age depression. As it is, A.A. has filled my days with friends, laughter, growth, and the feeling of worth that is rooted in constructive activity. My faith in, and contact with, my Higher Power shines more brightly than I dreamed it could. Those promises I thought were impossible are a viable force in my life. I am free to laugh all of my laughter, free to trust and be trusted, free to both give and receive help. I am free from shame and regret, free to learn and grow and work. I have left that lonely, frightening, painful express train through hell. I have accepted the gift of a safer, happier journey through life.

p. 543

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

Of course, there was a promoter in the deal - a super-promoter. By his eloquence he allayed all fears, despite advice from the Foundation that it could issue no charter, and that ventures which mixed an A.A. group with medication and education had come to sticky ends elsewhere. To make things safer, the promoter organized three corporations and became president of them all. Freshly painted, the new center shone. The warmth of it all spread through the town. Soon things began to hum. to insure foolproof, continuous operation, sixty-one rules and regulations were adopted.

p. 148

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However many holy words you read, However many you speak,
What good will they do you, If you do not act upon them?
--Buddha

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always
yours. And if they don't, they never were.
--Kahlil Gibran

The true test of character is not how much we know how to do,
but how we behave when we don't know what to do.
--John Holt

Be gentle with yourself, learn to love yourself, to forgive yourself, for
only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we have the
right attitude toward others.
--Wilfred Peterson

"Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
whatever state I may be in, therein to be content."
--Helen Keller

"Seven days without a meeting makes one weak."
--unknown

"There is no one giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps."
--Peter A. Cohen

Words are powerful tools. Use them to help and not hurt.
--Cited in BITS & PIECES

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

GENIUS

"In the republic of mediocrity,
genius is dangerous."
--Robert G. Ingersoll

Spirituality is a creative and positive energy that forever seeks new
ways to improve and heal itself. Spirituality is never satisfied with
mediocrity. God is alive in musicians, writers, singers and prophets --
and always the standard of "excellence" is searched for; best can be
made better!

As a drunk I often settled for convenience, "no sweat", mediocrity.
My motto was "Why bother? It can be done tomorrow." I had low
energy. Addiction robs the human being of God's productive energy.

In recovery I seek the best because I believe I am the best; God made
me -- and I respect His choice!

Lord, save me from the "comfortable way" that makes no demands on
my genius.

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As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor -- this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:19

"The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with
Him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 'Return home and tell how much
God has done for you.' So the man went away and told all over town
how much Jesus had done for him."
Luke 8:38-39

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all
sin."
1 John 1:7

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Daily Inspiration

Enjoy life while you've got the chance. Lord, may I view each day as a gift and a privilege.

Knowing about God and knowing God are very different things. Lord, may I recognize Your workings in my life so that I may really know You.

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NA Just For Today

Surrendering Self-Will

"Our fears are lessened and faith begins to grow as we learn the true meaning of surrender. We are no longer fighting fear, anger, guilt, self-pity, or depression."
Basic Text p. 26

Surrender is the beginning of a new way of life. When driven primarily by self-will, we constantly wondered whether we'd covered all the bases, whether we'd manipulated that person in just the right way to achieve our ends, whether we'd missed a critical detail in our efforts to control and manage the world.

We either felt afraid, fearing our schemes would fail; angry or self-pitying when they fell through; or guilty when we pulled them off. It was hard, living on self-will, but we didn't know any other way.

Not that surrender is always easy. On the contrary, surrender can be difficult, especially in the beginning. Still, it's easier to trust God, a Power capable of managing our lives, than to trust only ourselves, whose lives are unmanageable. And the more we surrender, the easier it gets.

When we turn our will and our lives over to the care of our Higher Power, all we have to do is our part, as responsibly and conscientiously as we can. Then we can leave the results up to our Higher Power. By surrendering, acting on faith, and living our lives according to the simple spiritual principles of this program, we can stop worrying and start living.

Just for today: I will surrender self-will. I will seek knowledge of God's will for me and the power to carry it out. I will leave the results in my Higher Power's hands.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
One cricket said to another, -- come, let us be ridiculous, and say love! --Conrad Aiken
Let's all sit in a circle and take turns being ridiculous about what our love is like. Let's play tag with it, and pass it on. Let's say that our love is like diamonds sprinkled on a clear moonless sky, and let's pass it on. Let's say it's like one rose petal too tender to touch, and let's pass it on. Let's say it's like rainbows filling a city sky, and pass it on. Let's say it's small and hard, like an agate or shell, and let's keep passing it on.
We can find images for love all around us, and when we express it to others this way, it grows.
What is my love like today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
God is near me (or rather in me), and yet I may be far from God because I may be far from my own true self. --C. E. Roll
Our relationship with God and our relationship with ourselves are always interwoven. Sometimes we feel disconnected from ourselves or emotionally flat. We may block the flow of communication with our deeper selves by trying to evade a difficult or painful truth. At those times we grope for some kind of contact and may even ask, "Where is God?"
God is always with us, but sometimes we are the missing party. In the past, most of us were deeply alienated from ourselves and from our Higher Power. Our first moments of spiritual awakening may have been when we saw how far we were from our true selves. This honest message from ourselves to ourselves was painful but was also a re-contact with the truth that made it possible to find God.
I need not ask where God is because God is loving and always near. I only need to ask, "Where am I?"


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Mental health, like dandruff, crops up when you least expect it. --Robin Worthington
We're responsible for the effort but not the outcome. Frequently, a single problem or many problems overwhelm us. We may feel crazy, unable to cope and certain that we have made no progress throughout this period of recovery. But we have. Each day that we choose sobriety, that we choose abstinence from pills or food, we are moving more securely toward mental health as a stable condition.
We perhaps felt strong, secure, on top of things last week, or yesterday.
We will again tomorrow, or maybe today. When we least expect it, our efforts pay off--quietly, perhaps subtly, sometimes loudly--a good belly laugh may signal a glimmer of our mental health.
No one achieves an absolute state of total mental health. To be human is to have doubts and fears. But as faith grows, as it will when we live the Twelve Steps, doubts and fears lessen. The good days will increase in number.
Meeting a friend, asking for a raise, resolving a conflict with my spouse, or friend, will be handled more easily, when I least expect it.
Looking forward with hope, not backward, is my best effort--today.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Surviving Slumps
A slump can go on for days. We feel sluggish, unfocused, and sometimes overwhelmed with feelings we can't sort out. We may not understand what is going on with us. Even our attempts to practice recovery behaviors may not appear to work. We still don't feel emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as good as we would like.
In a slump, we may find ourselves reverting instinctively to old patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, even when we know better. We may find ourselves obsessing, even when we know that what we're doing is obsessing and that it doesn't work.
We may find ourselves looking frantically for other people to make us feel better, the whole time knowing our happiness and well being does not lay with others.
We may begin taking things personally that are not our issues, and reacting in ways we've learned all to well do not work.
We're in a slump. It won't last forever. These periods are normal, even necessary. These are the days to get through. These are the days to focus on recovery behaviors, whether or not the rewards occur immediately. These are sometimes the days to let ourselves be and love ourselves as much as we can.
We don't have to be ashamed, no matter how long we've been recovering. We don't have to unreasonably expect "more" from ourselves. We don't ever have to expect ourselves to live life perfectly.
Get through the slump. It will end. Sometimes, a slump can go on for days and then, in the course of an hour, we see ourselves pull out of it and feel better. Sometimes it can last a little longer.
Practice one recovery behavior in one small area, and begin to climb uphill. Soon, the slump will disappear. We can never judge where we will be tomorrow by where we are today.
Today, I will focus on practicing one recovery behavior on one of my issues, trusting that this practice will move me forward. I will remember that acceptance, gratitude, and detachment are a good place to begin.


Today I know that I am being guided and protected by a power greater than myself. I look forward to the unknown around the next bend in the road, the adventure over the next hill. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Say Good-Bye with Love

When traveling with another person, we sometimes come to a junction. It may be in the best interests of one person to go one way to see certain sights, gain certain experiences, learn particular lessons, and for the other to go in another direction. This is a difficult time of challenges, maybe hard choices.

Blending journeys sometimes is not always best, or even possible. We can accompany another on his or her journey, but there may be a price to pay for that. We may forgo our own journey and become passive observers. We can ask or insist that the other go along with us on our journey. But for the most part, he or she may be as bored and restless as we would be if the situation were reversed. Sometimes we need to let go. Sometimes we need to say good-bye.

These junctions can surprise us. They can appear early on or after years and years. They can occur in friendships, professional relationships, love relationships, or with family members. Although arriving at these junctions may be a surprise, it’s usually not an accident. often it’s an important part of the journey.

Feel all your feelings. Although you may need to feel angry for a while, clear all resentments from your heart as soon as possible. Say good-bye with blessings and love toward the other, thanking that person for all he or she has helped you learn. Remember that any curses you place on another will ultimately come back to harm you,too.

Grieve your losses. Say your good-byes. then let each travel down the road that he or she needs to go. Holding on won’t help. Let both be free to plan their own journeys, map their own trips, and embrace and enjoy their own destinies.

Set others free to achieve and experience the path that leads to their highest good and you, too, will become free to find yours.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Take a time-out

“Tickets! Tickets!” And you give yours to the big man in the beard and the T-shirt at the gate and step onto the carousel. So many choices! Horses and carriages of every color. The white one with the golden tail? The green one with fire in his eyes? Yes, he looks fast– but no, someone else got there first. You settle for the black-and-red horse with the sparkling silver saddle. Someone bumps past, leaving sticky cotton candy on your arm. And then the music starts– loud, creaky organ music, blaring through old blown-out speakers. The lights flash on and off, and the world spins around you. Children shriek in delight while you tug on the reins, guide your mount around the course, and try to let go of the nagging suspicion that the green horse would have been more fun. You vow to get back in line and get that one next time.

Step off of the carousel.

Take a break for a moment and watch all the horses go hurrying past. The green one is no better than the red one, just different, and certainly not any faster. All your frantic pulling on the reins is wasted effort,too. See, they come right back again. They keep right on going around whether you are there or not. Let them.

Sure, it’s fun to be on the ride, to be right in the middle of all the action, up and down,’ round and ’round, lights flashing, music blaring. Just remember that you have a choice. You can be on the ride, or you can get off. Be where you want to be, and occasionally, relax.

God, help me remember that I have choices, and relaxing and letting go are two of them.

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In God’s Care

Prayer for many is like a foreign land, when we go there, we go as tourists.
~~Robert McAfee Brown

One of the many benefits of our Twelve Step program is to make prayer a familiar experience in our life. If prayer has been difficult for us, we are encouraged when we hear other people talk about what prayer has meant in their lives.

Matthew Fox says prayer is nothing more than being joyfully attentive to life, moment by moment. We don’t have to speak certain words or assume a particular posture or demeanor. We simply must be awake to the currents in our life and be grateful.

The most wonderful gift of prayer is the friendship we discover with God. This friendship promises security in the midst of any turmoil. We can know this security at any time. It is available in the quiet of our mind when we recall God’s presence and hear, ever so softly, all is well. Making the choice to pray, to let God offer comfort will become easier with each surrender.

Today, I will seek God’s comforting presence through prayer, even if my words fail me.

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Day By Day

Listening by reading

We need to listen to drug-free members of the program to hear what it takes to stay clean and sober. But “listening” is not limited to meetings: There is a lot of literature that discusses the program and how to work it more effectively.

When we first come into the program, it is wise to keep our mouths shut and our eyes and ears open. Reading books, magazines, and pamphlets is an important way of listening. It is a gift from our fellow addicts that so much listening is available to us.

Am I well read on the program?

Higher Power, help me to “listen” in all the ways available to me

Today I will read…

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Food for Thought

Abstaining Is Not Easy

Abstaining is not easy, but it is much easier than overeating! The reason that we think it easy to overeat is because overeating was a habit. In actuality, processing the extra food was hard on us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

When we abstain, we break an old habit and learn a new one. The transition requires concentration and dedication. We abstain every minute of the day and night. Even when we are eating, we are abstaining, because we are eating only planned, moderate meals. We are not overeating compulsively, according to whim and irrational pressure.

Some of us apparently have to go through a certain amount of “white knuckled abstinence” before we arrive at the point where abstaining is easier than not abstaining. Others of us are able from the beginning to relax and abstain comfortably. Whatever our individual experience, we each have available to us the Higher Power that sees us through.

May I stay with You when the way is hard.

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Unhindered Movement
Get Out of Your Own Way by Madisyn Taylor

So often we are sabotaging ourselves by being in our own way without even know we are doing so.

When you find yourself facing obstacles that appear to be blocking you from your goals, it is important to try not to get discouraged. It can be easy to feel “stuck” or that “life” is creating circumstances preventing you from getting what you want. And while it is easy to look at everyone and everything outside of ourselves for the problem, perhaps even wanting to “get rid” of the person, object, or circumstance we may feel is blocking us, sometimes the best course of action to take may be to look inside ourselves first.

It is amazing how often we can get in our own way without even being aware that we are doing so. Even though we truly want to succeed, there are many reasons why we may sometimes block our own efforts. It may be that we are afraid to succeed, so we subconsciously create circumstances to keep ourselves stuck. Or it may even be that we are afraid that we will succeed, so we block ourselves by making the achievement of our goals more difficult than they really are. We may even approach our goals in a way that keeps creating the same unsuccessful results.

If you believe that you’ve been standing in your own way, you may want to take a piece of paper and record how you’ve done so. Write down the choices you’ve made that have hindered your efforts and the fears that may have prompted you to make these decisions. Take note of any thoughts and feelings that arise. It is important to be gentle and compassionate during this process. Try not to blame yourself for getting in your own way. Remember the choices we make always are there to serve us, until it is time to let them go. When you are finished, throw the paper away while setting an intention that you are getting rid of any obstacles you’ve created to block yourself. You can then let yourself start again with a clean slate. Doubts and fears are going to be natural, but with this new awareness, you should be able to prevent yourself from subconsciously thwarting yourself. Besides, now that you’ve decided to get out of your own way, the part of you that has always wanted to succ! eed can now do so. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

How many of us would presume to announce, “Well, I’m sober and I’m happy. What more can I want, or do? I’m fine just the way I am.” Experience has taught us that the price of such smug complacency — or, more politely, self-satisfaction — is an inevitable backslide, punctuated sooner or later by a very rude awakening. We have to grow, or else we deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we can’t stand still. Am I sometimes tempted to rest on my laurels?”

Today I Pray

May I look around me and see that all living things are either growing or deteriorating; nothing that is alive is static, life flows on. May I be carried along on that life-flow, unafraid of change, disengaging myself from the snags along the way which hold me back and interrupt my progress.

Today I Will Remember

Living is changing.

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One More Day

A man can’t retire his experience. He must use it.
– Bernard Baruch

We may want to pretend that some of our life experiences didn’t happen to us, but they did happen. We even helped create some of our bad experiences.

We can own our behaviors and attitudes and even admit to the ones we are not comfortable with. By doing so, we are not permanently passing judgment on ourselves. We can use our negative experiences as a basis for the changes we need to make. Our weaknesses can be useful to us when we let them teach us where we need to begin our change. They will lead us to new attitudes and strengths we will be proud to claim as our own. When we are ready, we can create and accept improvements in ourselves.

I am the sum total of my experiences. I can use my past experiences to guide me into positive change.

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One Day At A Time

TOOLS
”We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or tire...
give us the tools and we will finish the job.”
Winston Churchill

We use tools everyday to complete a task at hand. To cook, we need tools such as pots, pans, knives, and silverware; to tend to our laundry, we need soap and water; to clean our home, we use a vacuum, dust rags, and cleaners.

Our journey of recovery is handled in the same way. The tools we use to help us throughout each day include: Step Work, Sponsorship, Meetings, Prayer, Meditation, Writing, Literature, Meal Plan, Service and Abstinence. These tools assist us in keeping our days balanced and they allow for a meaningful, productive day, each day of our recovery.

We hold strong to our recovery with the assistance of these tools, building our endurance each day. Like soldiers marching across the field, we are on the frontline day-to-day. By using these tools and keeping them close to us, we are ready to take on anything that might come our way.

One day at a time...
Give us the tools, and I will keep them close to me.
~ Kimber

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Psychologists are inclined to agree with us. We have spent thousands of dollars for examinations. We know but few instances where we have given these doctors a fair break. We have seldom told them the whole truth nor have we followed their advice. Unwilling to be honest with these sympathetic men, we were honest with no one else. Small wonder many in the medical profession have a low opinion of alcoholics and their chance for recovery! - Pg. 73 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Some addicts have returned to using mind-affecting chemicals because they tried to 'cope forever' and couldn't face never, ever using anything again. But you can maintain abstinence by just not picking up that first dose of anything NOW. Forget forever.

Give me the understanding that what I cannot do for a lifetime, I may easily do right now.

Healing Society

Today, I will light one candle and that candle is myself. I will keep my own flame burning. I turn my sight to light and love and goodness. For today, there is no need to be discouraged. So what if I see and identify all the ills of society and diagnose it as sick - what good will that do me or anyone else? I heal society by healing myself. Just as life is lived one day at a time, the world will heal one person at a time. Each time I think a positive, loving thought, it goes into the ether and vibrates. This is nothing particularly mystical; I have but to sit near someone and look at thier face to feel how their thoughts affect me. I take ownership of my owner inner workings and their effect on myself and others. I do my part to heal the world.
- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Love is less a feeling than a thousand tiny acts of kindness.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am willing to let go of all the resentments that I am holding. My now is so much more important than the burden that I have been carrying from the past.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If you're new, take off your pack and stay with us for a while. Because you are going to have a life that's beyond your wildest dreams. You will get closer to knowing yourself, you will be introduced to yourself in this programme. - Sharon B.

[bluidkiti]

June 27

Daily Reflections

CONFORMING TO THE A.A. WAY

We obey A.A.'s Steps and Traditions because we really want them for
ourselves. It is no longer a question of good or evil; we conform
because we genuinely want to conform. Such is our process of growth
in unity and function. Such is the evidence of God's grace and love
among us.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 106

It is fun to watch myself grow in A.A. I fought conformity to A.A.
principles from the moment I entered, but I learned from the pain of
my belligerence that, in choosing to live the A.A. way of life, I opened
myself to God's grace and love. Then I began to know the full
meaning of being a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

If you can take your troubles as they come, if you can maintain your
calm and composure amid pressing duties and unending engagements,
if you can rise above the distressing and disturbing circumstances in
which you are set down, you have discovered a priceless secret of
daily living. Even if you are forced to go through life weighed down by
some unescapable misfortune or handicap and yet live each day as it
comes with poise and peace of mind, you have succeeded where most
people have failed. You have wrought a greater achievement than a
person who rules a nation. Have I achieved poise and peace of mind?

Meditation For The Day

Take a blessing with you wherever you go. You have been blessed, so
bless others. Such stores of blessings are awaiting you in the months
and years that lie ahead. Pass on your blessings. Blessing can and does
go around the world, passed on from one person to another. Shed a
little blessing in the heart of one person. That person is cheered to
pass it on, and so, God's vitalizing, joy-giving message travels on. Be a
transmitter of God's blessings.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may pass on my blessings. I pray that they may flow into
the lives of others.

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As Bill Sees It

Down To Earth, p. 178

Those of us who have spent much time in the world of spiritual make-believe have
eventually seen the childishness of it. This dream world has been replaced by a great
sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness of the power of God in our
lives.

We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but
that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our work must be done.
These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful
spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.

Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 130

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Walk In Dry Places

Have I ever been helped?
Unselfishness.
Sometimes we hear hard luck stories by people who claim they never "had a single helping hand." Everybody was against them.
It's true that certain people have had more than their share of abuse and abandonment. But it's hard to believe that helping hands haven't been extended... acts of kindness, often made by selfless but ordinary people.
Our problem has been in recognizing such helping hands. Lost in self-pity, we could hardly have recognized help when it was given. Nor were we capable of giving constructive assistance to others.
Furthermore, if people were against us, we may have provoked it. Our task is to change our thinking about the past and to be grateful for the people who were kind to us.
I realize that there are kind and decent people who have helped me. There are many such people in the world, and I want to be one of them.

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Keep It Simple

Hell is not to love anymore.---Geogre Bernanos
Someone in an AA group said, "From the first day I started this program, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven." This person had walked into a room full of love. In recovery, we are spiritual people because we believe in love. We have faith in love.
Love is respect. Love is truth with kindness. Love is being willing to forgive and help others.
Love is thinking about how our Higher Power wants us to act. Love is what we do best. We have turned our will and our life over to love.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I may love all parts of life. Higher Power, help me seek out love, not material things.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll think about what I love about recovery. I will share this with a couple of friends and my Higher Power.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Often God shuts a door in our face, and then subsequently opens the door through which we need to go. --Catherine Marshall
We try and try to control the events of our lives. And not seldom the events in others' lives, too. The occasions are frequent when our will conflicts with God's. Then for a time we feel at a loss. Our direction is uncertain. But always, always, another door opens. A better way beckons. How stubborn we are! And how simple life would be were we to daily, fully, turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. God's help and direction in all things are always available. Turning a deaf ear is like trying to find a seat in a darkened movie theater unaided by the usher.
Every experience is softened when we face it accompanied by our higher power. Any past struggle, any present fear, is a testament to our attempts to do it alone. Too frequently we forge ahead, alone, only to have our way blocked. The detours need never be there. No door closes unless there is a better way. Divine order will prevail.
There is no need to struggle, today. I will breathe deeply and take my higher power with me, wherever I go. And the doors will be open for as far as I can see.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

The mind and body are marvelous mechanisms, for mine endured this agony two more years. Sometimes I stole from my wife's slender purse when the morning terror and madness were on me. Again I swayed dizzily before an open window, or the medicine cabinet where there was poison, cursing myself for a weakling. There were flights from city to country and back, as my wife and I sought escape. Then came the night when the physical and mental torture was so hellish I feared I would burst through my window, sash and all. Somehow I managed to drag my mattress to a lower floor, lest I suddenly leap. A doctor came with a heavy sedative. Next day found me drinking both gin and sedative. This combination soon landed me on the rocks. People feared for my sanity. So did I. I could eat little or nothing when drinking, and I was forty pounds under weight.

pp. 6-7

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE - Young when she joined, this A.A. believes her serious drinking was the result of even deeper defects. She here tells how she was free.

The mental twists that led up to my drinking began many years before I ever took a drink, for I am one of those whose history proves conclusively that my drinking was "a symptom of a deeper trouble."

p. 544

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

But alas, this bright scene was not long in darkening. Confusion replaced serenity. It was found that some drunks yearned for education, but doubted if they were alcoholics. The personality defects of others could be cured maybe with a loan. Some were club-minded, but it was just a question of taking care of the lonely heart. Sometimes the swarming applicants would go for all three floors. Some would start at the top and come through to the bottom, becoming club members; others started in the club, pitched a binge, were hospitalized, then graduated to education on the third floor. It was a beehive of activity, all right, but unlike a beehive, it was confusion compounded. An A.A. group, as such, simply couldn't handle this sort of project. All too late that was discovered. Then came the inevitable explosion - something like that day the boiler burst in Wombley's Clapboard Factory. A chill chokedamp of fear and frustration fell over the group.

pp. 148-149

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Set others free to achieve and experience the path that leads to their
highest good and you, too, will become free to find yours.
--Melody Beattie

Learn a lesson from the redwoods. Let them teach the power of
patience and calm. Life goes on. Things happen. People change.
Times move along. There are stories to live and stories to tell, but we
can be calm and know that, always, all is well.
--Melody Beattie

"Forgiving is not forgetting, it's letting go of the hurt."
--Mary McLeod Bethune

"Life holds so much--so much to be so happy about always. Most
people ask for happiness on condition. Happiness can be felt only if
you don't set conditions."
--Artur Robinstein

Applaud others when they run. Console them when they fall. And
cheer them when they recover.
As water is to a flower so is praise to the heart of another.
--Unknown

Abundance comes from your gifts of love.
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HYPOCRISY
"The devil can cite scripture for his
purpose."
--William Shakespeare

This quotation reminds me that the disease of alcoholism is "cunning,
baffling and powerful". I am aware of the need to walk like I talk, to
make the action fit the word, to live my program today rather than
talk about it for tomorrow. Why? Because the disease can talk
program! I have caught myself saying things that I do not practice in
my life. I catch myself saying things to others that I do not live out in
my own life. Today I am aware of my hypocrisy. Today I am aware of
the disease in my life.

I need to be aware of this aspect of the disease because I am such a
good talker, such a convincing talker, such a practiced manipulator!
Today I know that I am not perfect, but that should never be an
excuse to avoid dealing with my character defects. I must not "con"
myself into staying sick!

I pray that I may strive to live the message.

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If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:15-16

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices
with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

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Daily Inspiration

It is normal to make mistakes, but it is the better person who is able to grow from them. Lord, I am not perfect, but may each day bring me a little closer.

Not only must we know God's will, but we must do God's will to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Lord, I commit myself to obeying the will of my heavenly Father.

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NA Just For Today

Change And Growth

"When someone points out a shortcoming, our first reaction may be defensive. There will always be room for growth."
Basic Text, p. 35

Recovery is a process that brings about change in our lives. We need that change if we are to continue our growth toward freedom. It's important that we remain open-minded when others point out our shortcomings, for they are bringing to light opportunities for us to change and grow. Reacting defensively limits our ability to receive the help they are offering us; letting go of our defenses opens the door to change, growth, and new freedom.

Each day in the recovery process will bring an opportunity for further change and growth. The more we learn to greet change with an open mind and heart, the more we will grow and the more comfortable we will become with our recovery.

Just for today: I will greet each opportunity for growth with an open mind.
Pg. 185

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one, which has been opened for us. --Helen Keller
In the game of musical chairs, everyone walks around a circle of chairs. When the music stops, they scramble for the nearest open chair. If we were playing this game and found the nearest chairs taken, wouldn't we quickly look around for the next open one? To remain immobilized, angry that the chair we wanted was taken, would undoubtedly lose our place in the game.
Sometimes in life, we set our sights on a particular chair. Perhaps there is an award we want to win, or we want to be the high scorer on our team. Perhaps there is a promotion or a job we would like to get. When we do not get what we want, it is easy to keep looking at what we didn't get instead of seeing all we have.
It is important to be grateful for what we have--for the open doors and empty chairs waiting and inviting our attention. Loss and disappointment are a part of life--but the music will play again and our lives can move on.
What is available to me today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The tremor of awe is the best in man. --Goethe
We have a spiritual experience in knowing and being touched by something much larger than us, something beyond what we understand, something of mysterious dimensions. It can happen as we stand on the banks of an ageless river, listen to beautiful music, read scripture, or say a prayer with a friend. When we set aside defiance, willfulness, and our demands to subdue whatever we meet, we become receptive to a larger reality. The experience of awe brings out the best in a man because it instills a spirit of respect and gratitude. It inspires humility and expands our minds into realms we can't express in words.
The sense of awe is a kind of reverence. After we learn where our personal awe is inspired, we can return to it again and again. As we feel it more, we become more open to it in the mundane parts of our daily lives. Today we might feel the spirit in the visit of a wild bird on a branch, the spontaneous "Hi" from a small child, or the stillness before prayer at the dinner table.
Today, I will look for moments of awe in my life.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Often God shuts a door in our face, and then subsequently opens the door through which we need to go. --Catherine Marshall
We try and try to control the events of our lives. And not seldom the events in others' lives, too. The occasions are frequent when our will conflicts with God's. Then for a time we feel at a loss. Our direction is uncertain. But always, always, another door opens. A better way beckons. How stubborn we are! And how simple life would be were we to daily, fully, turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. God's help and direction in all things are always available. Turning a deaf ear is like trying to find a seat in a darkened movie theater unaided by the usher.
Every experience is softened when we face it accompanied by our higher power. Any past struggle, any present fear, is a testament to our attempts to do it alone. Too frequently we forge ahead, alone, only to have our way blocked. The detours need never be there. No door closes unless there is a better way. Divine order will prevail.
There is no need to struggle, today. I will breathe deeply and take my higher power with me, wherever I go. And the doors will be open for as far as I can see.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Achieving Harmony
When a pianist learns a new piece of music, he or she does not sit down and instantly play it perfectly. A pianist often needs to practice each hand's work separately to learn the feel, to learn the sound. One hand picks out a part until there is a rhythm and ease in playing what is difficult. Then, the musician practices with the other hand, picking through the notes, one by one, until that hand learns its tasks. When each hand has learned its part - the sound, the feel, the rhythm, and the tones - then both hands can play together.
During the time of practice, the music may not sound like much. It may sound disconnected, not particularly beautiful. But when both hands are ready to play together, music is created - a whole piece comes together in harmony and beauty.
When we begin recovery, it may feel like we spend months, even years, practicing individual, seemingly disconnected behaviors in the separate parts of our life.
We take our new skills into our work, our career, and begin to apply them slowly, making our work relationships healthier for us. We take our skills into our relationships, sometimes one relationship at a time. We struggle through our new behaviors in our love relationships.
One part at a time, we practice our new music note by note.
We work on our relationship with our Higher Power - our spirituality. We work at loving ourselves. We work at believing we deserve the best. We work on our finances. On our recreation. Sometimes on our appearance. Sometimes on our home.
We work on feelings. On beliefs. On behaviors. Letting go of the old, acquiring the new. We work and work and work. We practice. We struggle through. We go from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back through the course again. We make a little progress, go backward, and then go forward again.
It may all seem disconnected. It may not sound like a harmonious, beautiful piece of music - just isolated notes. Then one day, something happens. We become ready to play with both hands, to put the music together.
What we have been working toward, note by note, becomes a song. That song is a whole life, a complete life, and a life in harmony.
The music will come together in our life if we keep practicing the parts.
Today, I will practice my recovery behaviors through the individual parts of my life. I trust that, one day, things will come together in a full, complete song.


I have all the power I need today to say no to negative choices. The personal choices I make today are positive and healthy. I take responsibility for my life today. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart
Learn to Be Calm

I felt strained and tense when I began the drive along the Redwood Highway in northern California.. I had wanted to take another road, one quicker but less scenic, to get to my destination. At the last moment, I decided to drive through the trees.

Thousands of redwoods grew hundreds of feet into the air. Some stood tall and proud. Some seemed to have their necks craned, so they could peer down onto the highway. Some grew with roots connected, like families. Some stood alone. Mile after mile after mile, for as far as I could see in any direction, thousands of trees surrounded me. Their power and message became inescapable. It was one of calmness, patience, and growth.

For hundreds of years they have been here, patiently seeing things through. Little ruffled them. They just kept on growing for all those years-- steadily, patiently, peacefully, calmly. They have been through enough, seen enough, to know not to worry. Things work out. Change happens. Life continues to evolve.

I didn't see one tree hurrying or worrying. They have been here long enough to learn life's lessons well.


Learn a lesson from the redwoods. Let them teach the power of patience and calm. Life goes on. Things happen. People change. Times move along. There are stories to live and stories to tell, but we can be calm and know that, always, all is well.

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The Language of Letting Go

Achieving Harmony

When a pianist learns a new piece of music, he or she does not sit down and instantly play it perfectly. A pianist often needs to practice each hand’s work separately to learn the feel, to learn the sound. One hand picks out a part until there is a rhythm and ease in playing what is difficult. Then, the musician practices with the other hand, picking through the notes, one by one, until that hand learns its tasks. When each hand has learned its part – the sound, the feel, the rhythm, and the tones – then both hands can play together.

During the time of practice, the music may not sound like much. It may sound disconnected, not particularly beautiful. But when both hands are ready to play together, music is created – a whole piece comes together in harmony and beauty.

When we begin recovery, it may feel like we spend months, even years, practicing individual, seemingly disconnected behaviors in the separate parts of our life.

We take our new skills into our work, our career, and begin to apply them slowly, making our work relationships healthier for us. We take our skills into our relationships, sometimes one relationship at a time. We struggle through our new behaviors in our love relationships.

One part at a time, we practice our new music note by note.

We work on our relationship with our Higher Power – our spirituality. We work at loving ourselves. We work at believing we deserve the best. We work on our finances. On our recreation. Sometimes on our appearance. Sometimes on our home.

We work on feelings. On beliefs. On behaviors. Letting go of the old, acquiring the new. We work and work and work. We practice. We struggle through. We go from one extreme to the other, and sometimes back through the course again. We make a little progress, go backward, and then go forward again.

It may all seem disconnected. It may not sound like a harmonious, beautiful piece of music – just isolated notes. Then one day, something happens. We become ready to play with both hands, to put the music together.

What we have been working toward, note by note, becomes a song. That song is a whole life, a complete life, and a life in harmony.

The music will come together in our life if we keep practicing the parts.

Today, I will practice my recovery behaviors through the individual parts of my life. I trust that, one day, things will come together in a full, complete song.

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People Who Don’t Get It
Living with It by Madisyn Taylor

When dealing with people who seem very unaware, remember that everyone must find their own way to awakening.

You may be someone who understands the true nature of reality, perceiving deeply that we all emanate from the same source, that we are all essentially one, and that we are here on earth to love one another. To understand this is to be awakened to the true nature of the self, and it is a blessing. Nevertheless, people who just don’t get it are seemingly everywhere and, often, in positions of power. It can be frustrating and painful to watch them behave unconsciously. We all encounter individuals of this bent in our families, at work, and in all areas of public life. It is easy to find ourselves feeling intolerant of these people, wishing we could be free of them even though we know that separation from them is an illusion.

It helps sometimes to think of us all as different parts of one psyche. Just as within our own hearts and minds we have dark places that need healing, the heart and mind of the world has its dark places. The health of the whole organism depends upon the relative health of the individuals within it. We increase harmony when we hold onto the light, not allowing it to be darkened by judgment, anger, and fear about those who behave unconsciously. It’s easier to accomplish this if we don’t focus on the negative qualities of individuals and instead focus on how increasing our own light will increase the light of the overall picture.

When dealing with people who seem very unconscious, it helps to remember that every one must find their own way to awakening and that the experiences they are having are an essential part of their process. Holding them in the light of our own energy may be the best way to awaken theirs. At the same time, we are inspired by their example to look within and shed light on our own unconscious places, sacrificing the urge to judge and surrendering instead to humble self-inquiry. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day at a Time

Reflection for the Day
Little by little, I'm getting over my tendency to procrastinate. I always used to put things off till tomorrow and, of course, they never got done. Instead of, "Do it now," my motto was, "Tomorrow's another day." When I was loaded, I had grandiose plans; when I came down, I was too busy getting "well" to start anything. I've learned in The Program that it's far better to make a mistake once in a while than to never do anything at all.

Am I learning to do it now?

Today I Pray
May God help me cure my habitual tardiness and "get me to the church on time." May I free myself of the self-imposed chaos of life-long procrastination; library books overdue, appointments half-missed, assignments turned in late, schedules unmet, meals half-cooked. May I be sure if I, as an addict, led a disordered life, I, as a recovering addict, need order. May God give me the serenity to restore order and organization to my daily living.

Today I Will Remember
I will not be put off by my tendency to put off.

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One More Day

Quote: The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it.
– Danish Proverb

Each day we make our choices anew. We can choose to believe that pain and disappointment are the bitter fruits of living, or we can trust in our ability to build harmony, enthusiasm, and gratefulness from our day’s experiences. We can hear the music of children’s voices at play or be irritated at the disruption. We can pray, or we can chew on our anger.

We choose how we will see the world. If we feel anger or despair, if we hear only noise, if we see only dark, threatening clouds — that is our reality. But our negative choices don’t change the world. Birds’ songs and childrens’s voices still fill the air. People still reach out to each other through love and caring. And the bright splash of sky is as blue as ever.

Today, my reality will be based on the positive things around me.

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In God’s Care

Our contempt says we matter if we can look down on another person or life itself.
~~Ellen Reiss

Putting someone down might have been the only way many of us could feel important. We went along telling ourselves how bad things were and how superior we were to everyone else – our family, teachers, friends, or people of different color or culture. We had a crick in our neck from looking down on others.

But our spiritual self knows that contempt is wrong and can see what a destructive attitude it is. We are all the same in the eyes of God, all loved equally. When we put others down, we bring ourselves down too. At the same time, we are short-circuiting the connection with our Higher Power.

Today I will try to raise, rather than lower, someone’s self-esteem.

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Day By Day

Dropping biases

Addiction is not biased, nor should we be biased in the program. Whatever our beliefs before we found this solution, it helps if we avoid letting them interfere with our Step Twelve work. There are few enough places where people are accepted regardless of status, religion, nationality, or appearance.

Each of us needs everyone else in the fellowship. Whether laborer or judge, white or black, addict or alcoholic, if she or he can carry the message of recovery, he or she can save your life. Am I letting go of all bias?

Higher Power, help me let go of my biases so that I can better help save lives.

Today I will take an inventory of my biases and practice letting them go by…

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Food for Thought

You Can Do It

If you really want what OA has to offer; there is nothing that can stop you from succeeding with the program. The program works if we work it. OA does not pass out recovery on a platter, but the tools for recovery are available and proven effective if we are willing to use them.

Go to a meeting today. Re-read your literature. Call another member. Call several members. Get a sponsor, if you do not already have one. Write out what is troubling you. Find a way to be of service to someone else. Abstain now.

Most important, take time to listen to your Higher Power. Ask for the spiritual insight, which you need. Remember that you are now committed to following God’s will for your life, not your own way. Seek the inspiration that comes from the people and the books, which lift up your spirit and show you the way. Then follow.

Lead me, Lord.

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One Day At A Time

EFFICIENCY AND FUNCTION
“In God's economy, nothing is wasted.
Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility
which is probably needed, painful though it is.”
Bill W., Letter of 1942

I have spent a lot of time cultivating perfectionism in the vain attempt to make up for being a "failure" -- or what I have now come to understand is compulsive eating and an illness. I was trying to make up with efficiency for that feeling of not being good enough ~ and that feeling seems to be a hallmark of our illness.

By my past behaviors, I wanted you to notice how efficient and functional I was despite my obese body that belied I had a problem. If I could somehow convince you that I was "normal" and "ok," I would not have to admit my powerlessness. This is the single greatest obsession of every compulsive eater: that we are "normal" eaters. But we are not!

I built a lifetime around efficiency and function trying to show you how normal I was. Thank God I was brought to my compulsive eating knees time and time again until I could finally make that admission of failure as a normal eater and admit that I was powerless. The humility brought about by that admission afforded me an open-mindedness and willingness I had hitherto not known. I became teachable.

One day at a time...
I pray to remain teachable.
~ Lanaya

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. - Pg. 48 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If you have one hand in the program and one hand in your Higher Power's, you won't have a hand to pick up with.

Take my hand God, as I understand You, and never let me let go.

Leaving Abuse Behind

Today, I see my life as my life. If I do not take care of it, make plans and dream dreams, who will? I am not second in my own heart - there has to be a place on this Earth where I come first, so that the little child inside me feels loved and held. I will come first with me. In the same way that I will protect my children from harm, I will protect myself. Chaos is a part of a dysfunctional family system. I hardly saw it as unusual - it was just what was, a painful way of life - the only one I knew. I do not need to recreate problem situations in my life today in order to feel stable or as if I have a home. I can live a calm and pleasant life.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

I People often protest when they don't get their prayers answered as if the Divine Source is not listening. What they fail to understand is that prayer is not intended to change the situation you are praying about; it is intended to change you.

Life is fragile; I 'Handle with Prayer.'

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

An old-timer makes his time count; he doesn't count his time.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am learning to be gentle with myself. Today I can look in the mirror and smile and know that I am okay just as I am. I am treating myself softly today.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Drinking 'Near Beer' is like going to a house of prostitution to listen to the piano player. - Steve B.

[bluidkiti]

June 28

Daily Reflections

THE DETERMINATION OF OUR FOUNDERS

A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven
more.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159

If it had not been for the fierce determination of our founders, A.A.
would have quickly faded like so many other so-called good causes. I
look at the hundreds of meetings weekly in the city where I live and I
know A.A. is available twenty-four hours a day. If I had had to hang on
with nothing but hope and a desire not to drink, experiencing rejection
wherever I went, I would have sought the easier, softer way and
returned to my previous way of life.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

You can prove to yourself that life is basically and fundamentally an
inner attitude. Just try to remember what troubled you most a week
ago. You probably will find it difficult to remember. Why then should
you unduly worry or fret over the problems that arise today? Your
attitude toward them can be changed by putting yourself and your
problems in God's hands and trusting Him to see that everything will
turn out all right, provided you are trying to do the right thing. Your
changed mental attitude toward your problems relieves you of their
burden and you can face them without fear. Has my mental attitude
changed?

Meditation For The Day

You cannot see the future. It's a blessing that you cannot. You could
not bear to know all the future. That is why God only reveals it to you
day by day. The first step is to lay your will before God as an
offering, ready for God to do what is best for you. Be sure that, if
you trust God, what He does for you will be for the best. The second
step is to be confident that God is powerful enough to do anything He
wills, and that no miracle in human lives is impossible with Him. Then
leave the future to God.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may gladly leave my future in God's hands. I pray that I
may be confident that good things will happen, as long as I am on the
right path.

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As Bill Sees It

Coping With Anger, p. 179

Few people have been more victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. A burst
of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably
ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As
we saw it, our wrath was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced
people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These "dry benders' often led
straight to the bottle.

<< << << >> >> >>

Nothing pays off like restraint of tongue and pen. We must avoid quick-tempered
criticism, furious power-driven argument, sulking, and silent scorn. These are emotional
booby traps baited with pride and vengefulness. When we are tempted by the bait, we
should train ourselves to step back and think. We can neither think nor act to good
purpose until the habit of self-restraint has become automatic.

12 & 12
1. p. 90
2. p. 91

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Walk In Dry Places

Why it works.
Confidence.
Twelve Step meetings often begin with a reading from a famous Fifth chapter, "How it works." We know that the program does work, but why? Is there a secret or magic to it?
The real reason the program works is neither secret nor magic. The program actually relies on ancient principles that always amaze people when they are employed: Help Others, and you help yourself. Clean up your own house. Put your trust in God, not frail human beings or shaky institutions. Remove false gods, such as alcohol and other drugs.
There may be additional reasons for the program's success, but these are enough for a start. The Twelve Step program does work.
I'll take comfort today in knowing that I'm walking in a way that has been tested and proven. The program works if I let it work.

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Keep It Simple

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form. --Stanley J. Randall
Trying to be perfect get us into trouble. Trying to be perfect means we're trying to control things.
We may be trying to cover up something. Maybe we aren't facing our pain. Maybe we've hurt
someone and we need to make amends.
We need to practice being human. Humans aren't perfect. In Steps Six and Seven, we face our human limits and our shortcomings. We then start the lifelong job of letting them go. To accept our human limits leads us to our Higher Power. We see how we need a guide in life. Our Higher Power makes a perfect guide.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me accept that I can't be perfect. Help me be a good human being.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list my shortcoming. I'll talk with a friend about them. I'll ask my friend to tell me what my good qualities are.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Joy fixes us to eternity and pain fixes us to time. But desire and fear hold us in bondage to time, and detachment breaks the bond. --Simone Weil
We live both in the material realm and the spiritual. In our material dimension we seek material pleasures, inherent in which is pain. Our human emotions are tied to our material attachments, and joy, at its fullest, is never found here. Real joy lies outside of the material dimension while living fully within us too, in the secret, small place inside where we always know that all is well.
We are on a trip in this life. And our journey is bringing us closer to full understanding of joy with every sorrowful circumstance. When you or I are one with God, have aligned our will with the will of God, we know joy. We know this, fully, that all is well. No harm can befall us.
Each circumstance in the material realm is an opportunity for us to rely on the spiritual realm for direction, security, and understanding. As we turn within, to our spiritual nature, we will know joy.
Every day in every situation I have an opportunity to discover real joy. It's so close and so ready for my invitation.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS

BILL'S STORY

My brother-in-law is a physician, and through his kindness and that of my mother I was placed in a nationally-known hospital for the mental and physical rehabilitation of alcoholics. Under the so-called belladonna treatment my brain cleared. Hydrotherapy and mild exercise helped much. Best of all, I met a kind doctor who explained that though certainly selfish and foolish, I had been seriously ill, bodily and mentally.

p. 7

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE - Young when she joined, this A.A. believes her serious drinking was the result of even deeper defects. She here tells how she was free.

Through my efforts to get down to "causes and conditions," I stand convinced that my emotional illness has been present from my earliest recollection. I never did react normally to any emotional situation.

p. 544

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

When that lifted, a wonderful thing had happened. The head promoter wrote the Foundation office. He said he wished he'd paid some attention to A.A. experience. Then he did something else that was to become an A.A. classic. It all went on a little card about golf-score size. The cover read: "Middleton Group #1. Rule #62." Once the card was unfolded, a single pungent sentence leaped to the eye: "Don't take yourself too dam* seriously."

p. 149

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I can get more out of God by believing Him for one minute than
by shouting at Him all night.
--Smith Wigglesworth

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming
conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.
--Abraham Lincoln

LORD, Let me want what I have.
--Anonymous

"A positive attitude is like a fire - Unless you continue to add fuel, it
goes out."
--Alexander Lockhart

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
--John Lubbock

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not
seen.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When life seems just a dreary grind; and things seem fated to annoy;
say something nice to someone else and watch the world light up with
joy.
--Unknown

Appreciative words are the most powerful force for good on earth!
--George W. Crane

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

WINE

"One of the disadvantages of wine
is that it makes a man mistake
words for thoughts."
--Samuel Johnson

Alcohol produced problems in my life. I was unable to control my
drinking and the result was catastrophe. I hurt people. I
endangered my health. I ruin my productivity. I became lonely. I
felt isolated. I was forever getting into arguments. The police were
often involved. People who loved me had to walk away from me
for their own sanity. Alcohol made my life a mess!

Today I can see this and I am glad I made the spiritual decision to
refuse the first drink. Today I am getting my life together. I am
becoming a productive citizen. I have friends and relationships again.
But I need to remember what I must never forget:

Alcohol + Me = Problems.

Lord, alcohol is a gift I can refuse.

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"I assure you, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life."
John 5:24

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will
set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon
Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver
him and honor him.
Psalm 91:14-15

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Proverbs 25:11
And your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk
in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Isaiah 30:21

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Daily Inspiration

Be easier on yourself and more forgiving so that you can begin to recognize the depth of the wisdom you already possess. Lord, help me look beyond my shortcomings so that I am better able to get through my difficult moments and am able to spend more time enjoying who I am.

One of life's greatest rewards is not what we get, but what we become. Lord, teach me as I am able to learn and give me the courage to be all that I can.

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NA Just For Today

Group Conscience

"Working with others is only the beginning of service work."
Basic Text, p.56

Service work calls for a selfless devotion to carrying the message to the still-suffering addict. But our attitude of service cannot stop there. Service also requires that we look at ourselves and our motives. Our efforts at service make us highly visible to the fellowship. In NA, it is easy to become a "big fish in a small pond." Our controlling attitude can easily drive away the newcomer.

Group conscience is one of the most important principles in service. It is vital to remember that the group conscience is what counts, not just our individual beliefs and desires. We lend our thoughts and beliefs to the development of a group conscience. Then when that conscience arises, we accept its guidance. The key is working with others, not against them. If we remember that we strive together to develop a collective conscience, we will see that all sides have equal merit. When all the discussions are over, all sides will come back to carry a unified message.

It is often tempting to think that we know what is best for the group. If we remember that it doesn't matter if we get our way, then it is easier to allow service to be the vehicle it is intended to be - a way to carry the message to the addict who still suffers.

Just for today: I will take part in the development of group conscience. I will remember that the world won't end just because I don't get my way. I will think about our p[primary purpose in all my service efforts. I will reach out to a newcomer.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
It's the deepest channel that runs most true. --Kate Wolf
The greatest rivers spread themselves out wide and lazy over the earth. They roll over on themselves like great turtles turning in the warm sun. A river flows, drawn to the oceans, carving ever-deepening channels, nestling snug in the earth's welcoming lap. The current is strongest in the deepest channel. Boat navigators know that finding that channel means finding the swiftest current and the safest voyage home.
When we look at a river, or at another person, we see only the surface. What keeps our attention is usually some movement or activity on the surface. But there is more than meets the eye, especially to people. When we overlook someone because that person is quiet or simple, we may be robbing ourselves of an eye-opening discovery.
Which deeper things can I look for in my day?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
We fear our highest possibility (as well as our lowest one). We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments. --Abraham Maslow
In our daily lives, we may dream of success and achievement. We strive and compete in the workplace. We go to meetings and do our part on each Step in the program searching for better lives. When success comes, we are faced with a new problem we could not have expected. It comes as an outcome of some hard work, some good luck, and some help from our friends. It is frightening to have a good thing in our lives and not be in control of it.
We are just as powerless over our successes as we are over the worst of our behaviors. We can only be faithful to our duties and ourselves. The successes, which flow from our work come and go. Since we can't nail them down, they may make us feel insecure. Many a man has destroyed his moment of success because he couldn't stand the powerless feeling. We must return to our program and allow success to rise and fall, as it will.
Today, I turn to my Higher Power for help in accepting success.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Joy fixes us to eternity and pain fixes us to time. But desire and fear hold us in bondage to time, and detachment breaks the bond. --Simone Weil
We live both in the material realm and the spiritual. In our material dimension we seek material pleasures, inherent in which is pain. Our human emotions are tied to our material attachments, and joy, at its fullest, is never found here. Real joy lies outside of the material dimension while living fully within us too, in the secret, small place inside where we always know that all is well.
We are on a trip in this life. And our journey is bringing us closer to full understanding of joy with every sorrowful circumstance. When you or I are one with God, have aligned our will with the will of God, we know joy. We know this, fully, that all is well. No harm can befall us.
Each circumstance in the material realm is an opportunity for us to rely on the spiritual realm for direction, security, and understanding. As we turn within, to our spiritual nature, we will know joy.
Every day in every situation I have an opportunity to discover real joy. It's so close and so ready for my invitation.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
When Things Don't Work
Frequently, when faced with a problem, we may attempt to solve it in a particular way. When that way doesn't work, we may continue trying to solve the problem in that same way.
We may get frustrated, try harder, get more frustrated, and then exert more energy and influence into forcing the same solution that we have already tried and that didn't work.
That approach makes us crazy. It tends to get us stuck and trapped. It is the stuff that unmanageability is made of.
We can get caught in this same difficult pattern in relationships, in tasks, in any area of our life. We initiate something, it doesn't work, doesn't flow, we feel badly, then try the same approach harder, even though it's not working and flowing.
Sometimes, it's appropriate not to give up and to try harder. Sometimes, it's more appropriate to let go, detach, and stop trying so hard.
If it doesn't work, if it doesn't flow, maybe life is trying to tell us something. Life is a gentle teacher. She doesn't always send neon road signs to guide us. Sometimes, the signs are more subtle. Something not working may be a sign!
Let go. If we have become frustrated by repeated efforts that aren't producing desired results, we may be trying to force ourselves down the wrong path. Sometimes, a different solution is appropriate. Sometimes, a different path opens up. Often, the answer will emerge more clearly in the quietness of letting go than it will in the urgency, frustration, and desperation of pushing harder.
Learn to recognize when something isn't working or isn't flowing. Step back and wait for clear guidance.
Today, I will not make myself crazy by repeatedly trying solutions that have proven themselves unsuccessful. If something isn't working, I will step back and wait for guidance.


My quiet sitting meditation time helps me to develop new quiet times during the rest of the day. Today I can look at any problem I have and release its energy so that I can be free to allow harmony to unfold. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart
Feel Your Feelings

You don't have to do anything about your feelings. Understand that. Believe that. They are only feelings. Emotional energy is important. It's important not to block it, stop it, deny it, or repress it. It's important to discharge it. To value it. To value ourselves.

But you don't have to do anything. You don't have to act on every feeling. You don't need to control every emotion or let your emotions control you. Doing something is the old way, the way of control. Simply feel whatever you need to feel. Become fully and completely conscious of what you feel. Take responsibility for the way you choose to express your feelings. Then let your feelings go. Release the emotional energy.

Soon you will know what to do next, know what lesson is under way. You will naturally take the action that's right for you to take.

All you have to do about your feelings is feel them.

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more language of letting go
Relax now

"Only two more weeks until vacation," we say. "Two more weeks until I can relax." Then we return to our stressful lives of running here, hurrying there, and scrambling to get this or that done.

Why wait? Why not relax today? Part of living fully in the moment is taking a break when you need it. If you are tired, take a nap. Plan an afternoon away from work. Go to the park on a Saturday morning by yourself. Take a bubble bath; order dinner out; take the kids to the zoo.

So often we feel that we are running, running, just trying to keep up with the rest of the world. It's an illusion. Much of the time we're running in place. Stop. The only one keeping you on the treadmill is you. Yes, we all have responsibilities. But taking time to take care of ourselves is one of our responsibilities,too.

God, grant me the peace and grace to listen to my own needs.

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Healthful Slumber
The Importance of Sleep by Madisyn Taylor

Regular periods of sleep are key to a healthy body and a clear mind as it is during sleep that your body renews itself.

When life gets busy, sleep is often the first activity that we sacrifice. Considered a luxury by many busy people, sleep is actually as vital to sustaining a balanced life as are breathing, eating, and drinking. Getting sufficient sleep can be a potent energizer, just as not getting enough sleep can leave you feeling drained and sluggish. While eight hours is the average amount of sleep most adults should generally aim for, the right amount of sleep varies for each person. Some people may thrive on just four hours, while others don’t feel well rested unless they’ve slept for ten hours. How much we sleep also varies, depending upon where we are in life. Young people often need more sleep, while older people may need less. The benefits of sleep always stay the same. Regular and consistent periods of wakefulness and sleep are key ingredients to fostering a healthy body and a clear mind. It is during sleep that your body renews itself.

The ability to forgo sleep is considered by some to be an asset. But while it may seem that the nighttime hours can be better used for more productive activities, sleep in itself is extremely productive. During sleep, your body and psyche are both regaining their strength for the coming day. You may even have the unique opportunity to explore the hidden recesses of your personality while you dream. Meanwhile, your long-term memories are reinforced.

Many cultures engage in an afternoon siesta. Taking a nap is refreshing and can increase both productivity and creativity. Author Lewis Carroll is said to have conceived his idea for Alice in Wonderland while dreaming. A good night’s sleep also has been known to bring with it the gifts of clarity, wisdom, and a fresh perspective. Even the ancient Greeks thought of sleep as a gift from the gods. Give yourself the gift of peaceful slumber and you will likely find yourself feeling alert, refreshed, and ready for life’s challenges. You may also find yourself feeling more centered, thoughtful, and aware throughout the day so you can live your full potential. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day at a Time

Reflection for the Day
Almost daily, I hear of seemingly mysterious coincidences in the lives of my friends in The Program. From time to time, I've experienced such "coincidences" myself: showing up at the right place at exactly the right time; phoning a friend who, unbeknownst to me, desperately needed that particular phone call at that precise moment; hearing "my story" at an unfamiliar meeting in a strange town. These days, I choose to believe that many of life's so-called "coincidences" are actually small miracles of God, who prefers to remain anonymous.

Am I continuingly grateful for the miracle of my recovery?

Today I Pray
May my awareness of a Higher Power working in our lives grow in sensitivity as I learn, each day, of "coincidences" that defy statistics, illnesses that reverse their prognoses, hair-breadth escapes that defy death, chance meetings that change the course of a life. When the un-understandable happens, may I perceive it as just another of God's frequent miracles. My own death-defying miracle is witness enough for me.

Today I Will Remember
My life is a miracle.

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One More Day

Believe and remember this: every saint and every sinner affects those whom he will never see, because his words and deeds stamp themselves upon the soft clay of human nature everywhere.
– Joshua Loth Liebman

In a world of billions of people, it’s easy to feel insignificant. As a result, we might excuse ourselves for not acting upon our sense of rightness. After all, we might reason, what difference does it make? At those times, we’ve forgotten about the ripple effect.

Occasionally we’ve even seen our words and actions rippling from one person to another, but more often we see nothing at all. Then we must choose — whether to bitterly reject the idea of making a difference or to trust that someone, somewhere, is being comforted by a ripple of the wave we dared to make.

My presence is felt by people I know — and by people I’ll never know.

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In God’s Care

Each handicap is like a hurdle in a steeple chase, and when you ride up to it, if you throw your heart over, the horse will go along, too.
~~Lawrence Bixby

Too often we let our fears prevent us from taking advantage of the opportunities God is sending our way. Part of our recovery is developing the trust that our experiences – both the painful and the joyful ones – are part of God’s design for our growth. The paradox is that trust can come only when we plunge headlong into the opportunity that’s beckoning, in spite of our fear and mistrust. This is the continual leap of faith we must make if we are to discover the full measure of joy that is meant for each of us.

Trusting others may seem difficult because of hurtful experiences in our past. But as we come to see the people who’ve hurt us as fallible, we can better accept our own handicaps and learn from them. Forgiving ourselves and others frees us to eventually trust God in every step we take, no matter how faltering.

Today I will use each obstacle as a reminder to trust God. My fallibility will teach me both courage and humility.

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Day By Day

Practicing

To recover, we must change; it doesn’t happen by itself. Change requires practice. If we get lazy about our recovery, if we get smug or self-satisfied, we may stop practicing. If so, we may lose what we have gained, risk a slip, or even relapse.

In recovery, practice is all-important. Staying clean and sober takes practice. For starters, we must practice carrying the message to others who still suffer.

Higher Power, help me practice the program so that I can keep growing and recovering.

Today I will work on…

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Food for Thought

Spiritual Awakening

Many of us remember back to a vague time in childhood when our world seemed right and we were full of enthusiasm. Somehow, somewhere along the way, we lost that feeling of rightness and security.

For some of us who experience a spiritual awakening through the OA program, childhood faith is rediscovered and takes on new meaning. We may have lost sight of our real selves and abandoned our original faith in a Higher Power. When we have a spiritual awakening as a result of the Twelve Steps, everything falls into place, and what was lost is recovered, plus much more.

This spiritual awakening continues as we continue to work the program. It gives new meaning to our present lives and new hope for the future. We see that spiritual growth is “where it’s at” and that nothing else will satisfy our needs and our longing.

May I continue to awaken.

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One Day At A Time

ISOLATION
”Solitude vivifies; isolation kills.”
Joseph Roux

As an introvert and an agoraphobic I relate to both sides of this quote. From an introverted point of view, I need solitude to regroup, renew, and refresh. It's part of my process in life to have quiet time alone in order to "get it together". When I'm alone and I read my OA literature and meditate on what I'm reading and learning, I'm able to gain new insight and a renewed sense of direction in my program.

From an agoraphobic point of view, isolation kills my ability to stick to my program. When my social anxiety cycles and it becomes difficult to get to meetings or make phone calls, I hide from the world ~ and from my friends and other OA members who can help me maintain my abstinence.

Solitude and Isolation are both active decisions. Both require some forethought. If solitude is what I need to in order to regroup, I have to make time for it. I have to take a walk, read a book, putter around my house. On the flip side, if I'm having a hard time with Program and my social anxiety is becoming unmanageable, I can either isolate and spiral down, or I can choose to take action and get to a meeting, make a phone call, or ask my sponsor to meet me for coffee. I don't have to be alone in this program.

One day at a time...
I remember that I have control over my actions. Although I need solitude to heal, I don't have to be alone in my disease.
~ Deb B.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. - Pg. 37 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

We merge in bonds of fellowship powerful enough to withstand the calls of our addiction. Our addiction is strong but not as strong as our new bonds of fellowship strengthened daily by the God of our understanding.

May my bonds of fellowship grow stronger with each hour of recovery by practicing these principles.

Being in the Moment

Today, I see that the only real point of power is in the present, which is to say that life cannot be lived backward or forward, but only in the context of today. If I truly let myself have this moment and all that it contains, I will be in quiet possession of great eternal wealth. All that is, is in this moment where all the waters meet and all the wisdom of the ages lies; it is the now that calls me to it with open arms. I work out my past, not because it is right or good or proper, but because it allows me to be in fuller possession of my present. By releasing and returning to me those parts of me that remain prisoner in my own psychic and emotional jail, I can have access to the now. I allow myself this moment.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

As you work to solve different dilemmas that arise in your life, don't stay so focused on your troubles that you miss discovering the solutions. Give your attention to your Spiritual Source in prayer, meditation, or service to others. By taking your focus off the situation, soulutions have a way of finding you.

Through conscious contact, I allow soulutions to find me.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Suicide is such a long term decision. While living has so many more variables.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

My quiet sitting meditation time helps me to develop new quiet times during the rest of the day. Today I can look at any problem I have and release its energy so that I can be free to allow harmony to unfold.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I don't have a drinking problem, except when I can't get a drink. - Tom Waits. 'Bad Liver and a Broken Heart.'

[bluidkiti]

June 29

Daily Reflections

A RIPPLING EFFECT

Having learned to live so happily, we'd show everyone else how. . .Yes,
we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most
alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. . .So why shouldn't we share our way
of life with everyone?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 156

The great discovery of sobriety led me to feel the need to spread the
"good news" to the world around me. The grandiose thoughts of my
drinking days returned. Later, I learned that concentrating on my own
recovery was a full-time process. As I became a sober citizen in
this world, I observed a rippling effect which, without any
conscious effort on my part, reached any "related facility or outside
enterprise," without diverting me from my primary purpose of staying
sober and helping other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The program of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a continuous striving
for improvement. There can be no long resting period. We must try to
work at it all the time. We must continually keep in mind that it is a
program not to be measured in years, because we never fully reach
our goals nor are we ever cured. Our alcoholism is only kept in
abeyance by daily living of the program. It is a timeless program in
every sense. We live it day by day, or more precisely, moment by
moment - now. Am I always striving for improvement?

Meditation For The Day

Life is all a preparation for something better to come. God has a plan
for your life and it will work out, if you try to do His will. God has
things planned for you, far beyond what you can imagine now. But you
must prepare yourself so that you will be ready for the better things to
come. Now is the time for discipline and prayer. The time of
expression will come later. Life can be flooded through and through
with joy and gladness. So prepare yourself for those better things to
come.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may prepare myself for better things that God has in
store for me. I pray that I may trust God for the future.

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As Bill Sees It

Community Problem, p. 180

The answer to the problem of alcoholism seems to be in education--education in
schoolrooms, in medical colleges, among clergymen and employers, in families, and in the
public at large. From cradle to grave, the drunk and the potential alcoholic will have to
be completely surrounded by a true and deep understanding and by a continuous barrage
of information.

This means factual education, properly presented. Heretofore, much of this education
has attacked the immortality of drinking rather than the illness of alcoholism.

Now who is going to do all this education? Obviously, it is both a community job and a job
for specialists. Individually, we A.A.'s can help, but A.A. as such cannot, and should not,
get directly into this field. Therefore, we must rely on other agencies, on outside friends
and their willingness to supply great amounts of money and effort.

Grapevine, March 1958

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Walk In Dry Places

Willingness is the Key
Strong Desire
Although willpower alone does not work in overcoming alcoholism, there is a place for the will, or willingness, in the search for a happy sobriety. Things can happen if we are willing to let them happen. More important, progress often depends on our willingness to give up what stands in our way. It also requires our willingness to take the actions necessary for success.
This same willingness, so vital to finding sobriety, is also applicable in other areas of our lives. The pioneers of AA suggested that getting sober required being willing to go to any lengths. This is the key to other achievements and to the overcoming of problems besides alcohol.
We often have to put up with unpleasant conditions simply because we do not want to change them badly enough. For example, we may dislike the unpleasant coughing and risks of smoking, but lack the willingness to quit. We may brood over lost opportunities, but be unwilling to take advantage of the opportunities we have now.

The key to constructive change in our lives is willingness...... and that applies to other matters as well as to alcohol...............I'll try to be honest today about what I really want. I will remind myself that if I want something badly enough, willingness is the key to action and to success.

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Keep It Simple

I don't believe in the life afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.---Woody Allen
Most of us have many questions about a Higher Power. Sometimes we have more questions than answers. No matter how much we believe about God, there are always questions. Why do bad things happen if God is good? Does God punish people?
Is God called Jesus, Buddha, the Great Spirit? Perhaps we've chosen a name for our Higher Power, or maybe we haven’t. Yet, we know there is some Power great than ourselves that's helping us in recovery.
We know what we need to know about God for today. We know how to ask for help, and how to accept help.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to know You more clearly. There's much I'm not sure about. For now, I will act as if the help I get comes from You.
Action for the Day: I'll think of three ways my Higher Power has done just the right thing for me.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I am convinced, the longer I live, that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed (as) when we are suffering greatly we are so inclined to suppose. --Mary Todd Lincoln
Self-pity is a parasite that feeds on itself. Many of us are inclined toward self-pity, not allowing for the balance of life's natural tragedies. We will face good and bad times--and they will pass. With certainty they will pass.
The attitude, "Why me?" hints at the little compassion we generally feel for others' suffering. Our empathy with others, even our awareness of their suffering, is generally minimal. We are much too involved in our own. Were we less self-centered, we'd see that blessings and tragedies visit us all, in equal amounts. Some people respond to their blessings with equanimity, and they quietly remove the sting from their tragedies. We can learn to do both.
Recovery is learning new responses, feeling and behaving in healthier ways. Self-pity need not catch us. We can always feel it coming on. And we can let it go.
Self-pity may beckon, today. Fortunately, I have learned I have other choices.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

It relieved me somewhat to learn that in alcoholics the will is amazingly weakened when it comes to combating liquor, though it often remains strong in other respects. My incredible behavior in the face of a desperate desire to stop was explained. Understanding myself now, I fared forth in high hope. For three or four months the goose hung high. I went to town regularly and even made a little money. Surely this was the answer-self-knowledge.

p. 7

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE - Young when she joined, this A.A. believes her serious drinking was the result of even deeper defects. She here tells how she was free.

The medical profession would probably tell me I was conditioned for alcoholism by the things that happened to me in my childhood. And I am sure they would be right as far as they go, but A.A. has taught me I am the result of the way I reacted to what happened to me as a child. What is much more important to me, A.A. has taught me that through this simple program I may experience a change in this reaction pattern that will indeed allow me to "match calamity with serenity."

p. 544

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole."

Thus it was that under Tradition Four an A.A. group had exercised its right to be wrong. Moreover, it had performed a great service for Alcoholics Anonymous, because it had been humbly willing to apply the lessons it learned. It had picked itself up with a laugh and gone on to better things. Even the chief architect, standing in the ruins of his dream, could laugh at himself - and that is the very acme of humility.

p. 149

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A hug is a great gift. One size fits all, it can be given for any occasion
and it's easy to exchange.
--Anon

"When you've got one foot in yesterday and the other in tomorrow,
you can only piss on today."
--unknown

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look
so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been
opened for us.
--Helen Keller

Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while you might miss it.
--unknown

The butterfly often forgets it was a caterpillar.
--Swedish Proverb

Don't reckon your eggs before they are laid.
--Italian Proverb

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

RISK

"We should be careful to get out of
an experience only the wisdom
that is in it."
--Mark Twain

I need to risk in life. I need to try again. I need to face life and not
run from it. Early in my sobriety I was scared to try new things
because I was afraid I might get hurt. I was afraid to express my
feelings. I hid in the idea of simply "not drinking".

Spirituality is about being willing to reach out into new areas, engage
in new and different relationships, enjoy the richness of God's world.
As I grow in sobriety I develop the capacity to react differently to
painful situations and overcome them. I learn that mistakes can make
for new conquests. That lasting joys and achievements are born in the
risk.

Teach me to overcome yesterday's sorrows with today's optimism.

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And the LORD restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Job 42:10

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith."
2 Timothy 4:7

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in
me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9

"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live."
Romans 8:13

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your
heart."
Psalm 37:4

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Daily Inspiration

Spend less time trying to understand the behaviors of others and more time on the reasons you do things. Lord, help me to know myself better because then it will become possible to change the habits I don't like and improve on the ones I do.

Many of God's gifts are in the form of opportunities that we must recognize and then act upon. Lord, I will never say that You don't answer my prayers, but I will pray that I will recognize Your answers.

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NA Just For Today

Keeping Recovery Fresh

"Complacency is the enemy of members with substantial clean time. If we remain complacent for long, the recovery process ceases."
Basic Text, p.80

After the first couple of years in recovery, most of us start to feel like there are no more big deals. If we've been diligent in working the steps, the past is largely resolved and we have a solid foundation on which to build our future. We've learned to take life pretty much as it comes. Familiarity with the steps allows us to resolve problems almost as quickly as they arise.

Once we discover this level of comfort, we may tend to treat it as a "rest stop" on the recovery path. Doing so, however, discounts the nature of our disease. Addiction is patient, subtle, progressive, and incurable. It's also fatal-we can die from this disease, unless we continue to treat it. And the treatment for addiction is a vital, ongoing program of recovery.

The Twelve Steps are a process, a path we take to stay a step ahead of our disease. Meetings, sponsorship, service, and the steps always remain essential to ongoing recovery. Though we may practice our program somewhat differently with five years clean than with five months, this doesn't mean the program has changed or become less important, only that our practical understanding has changed and grown. To keep our recovery fresh and vital, we need to stay alert for opportunities to practice our program.

Just for today: As I keep growing in my recovery, I will search for new ways to practice my program.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Let us open our natures, throw wide the doors of our hearts and let in the sunshine of good will and kindness. --O. S. Marden
Kindness is among the gifts we can most easily spread among others. The more we give of kind words and deeds, the more we discover that kindness is like a burning candle which lights many other candles without losing a trace of its own brightness. Our kindnesses are assets, which return unexpected dividends when we invest them in the happiness of others. Kindness is the very basis of love. It softens the most severe anger and gladdens the hardest hearts.
No kindness is too small to win and hold the affection of others because it is made up of gentleness, love, generosity, unselfishness, and caring.
What kindness do I have to offer today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
A good indignation brings out all one's powers. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
Anger is a human emotion that gets us in touch with our energy and our vitality. But like any good thing, it can also be used in hurtful ways. When we examine the role anger has played in our lives, some of us can see where we used it to intimidate and dominate others. Maybe we can recall being terrified by someone else's anger or even by our own. Some of us denied our anger and covered it with excessive helpfulness.
Examining the place anger has had in our lives Is one of the doorways we must pass through to regain our full masculine spirit. We learn to set aside the anger we used to cover fear or hurt. We express it respectfully and honestly when we feel it in a relationship. Expressing anger does not have to be abusive or rejecting. It can mean we care enough to be fully involved and we will not leave after we express it. We can learn to hear others in their anger rather than K attempt to control or evade their message. In the process we are invigorated and feel healthier because we are claiming a larger part of ourselves.
Today, I will first be honest with myself about angry feelings. Then I will find respectful ways to express them.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
I am convinced, the longer I live, that life and its blessings are not so entirely unjustly distributed (as) when we are suffering greatly we are so inclined to suppose. --Mary Todd Lincoln
Self-pity is a parasite that feeds on itself. Many of us are inclined toward self-pity, not allowing for the balance of life's natural tragedies. We will face good and bad times--and they will pass. With certainty they will pass.
The attitude, "Why me?" hints at the little compassion we generally feel for others' suffering. Our empathy with others, even our awareness of their suffering, is generally minimal. We are much too involved in our own. Were we less self-centered, we'd see that blessings and tragedies visit us all, in equal amounts. Some people respond to their blessings with equanimity, and they quietly remove the sting from their tragedies. We can learn to do both.
Recovery is learning new responses, feeling and behaving in healthier ways. Self-pity need not catch us. We can always feel it coming on. And we can let it go.
Self-pity may beckon, today. Fortunately, I have learned I have other choices.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
God's Will
God's will most often happens in spite of us, not because of us.
We may try to second guess what God has in mind for us, looking, searching, hyper vigilant to seek God's will as though it were buried treasure, hidden beyond our reach. If we find it, we win the prize. But if we're not careful, we miss out.
That's not how it works.
We may believe that we have to walk on eggshells, saying, thinking, and feeling the right thing, while forcing ourselves somehow to be in the right place at the right time to find God's will. But that's not true.
God's will for us is not hidden like a buried treasure. We do not have to control or force it. We do not have to walk on eggshells in order to have it happen.
It is right there inside and around us. It is happening, right now. Sometimes, it is quiet and uneventful and includes the daily disciplines of responsibility and learning to take care of ourselves. Sometimes, it is healing us when we're in circumstances that trigger old grieving and unfinished business.
Sometimes, it is grand.
We do have a part. We have responsibilities, including caring for ourselves. But we do not have to control God's will for us. We are being taken care of. We are protected. And the Power caring for and protecting us loves us very much.
If it is a quiet day, trust the stillness. If it is a day of action, trust the activity. If it is time to wait, trust the pause. If it is time to receive that which we have been waiting for, trust that it will happen clearly and with power, and receive the gift in joy.
Today, I will trust that God's will is happening, as it needs to in my life. I will not make myself anxious and upset by searching vigorously for God's will, taking unnecessary actions to control the course of my destiny or wandering if God's will has passed me by and I have missed it.


Today I am becoming more and more aware that I can choose how I feel in the moment. Today I choose to let go of thoughts that are negative and destructive. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Stay Clear

Sometimes we don’t tell other people what we’re feeling. Sometimes we don’t tell ourselves.

Often on this journey, provocative events happen. We may become resentful. Angry. Or frightened. Emotional energy builds up within. If we don’t take the time to work it out, the emotion becomes a block. It blocks the channel to ourselves, it can block our connections to others and to God.

We may think we’re being polite and appropriate by not saying what we feel. We may think that most thoughts and emotions are so minor it would be a waste of time to acknowledge and express each and every one of them. It’s true that some aren’t worth mentioning, but many are. We need to take the time to feel and release the thoughts and beliefs that are important to us.

Is a relationship blocked? Are we feeling something we’re unable to discuss? The feeling won’t disappear. The energy of the unexpressed feeling will be present, blocking our connection until we take the time to get it out. We may not tell the other person what we’re feeling, but all of us are wiser than we think. And our bodies and emotions will begin reacting to what’s denied, despite what we say.

Many of us experiment with the technique of using affirmations to try to further our growth. The same principle applies. If we say we love ourselves, but we’ve got a chunk of self-reproach tucked down deep inside, we’ll continue to act as if we dislike ourselves until we clear the other energy out.

What are you feeling? No, what are you really feeling? Ask yourself as often as you need to. Then take the time to feel and release the emotion, thought, or belief.

You’ve connected to yourself. You’re connected to the world around you. Now, keep your connections clear.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Meditate

A mind too active is no mind at all.
–Theodore Roethke

It’s possible to learn to relax into the ordinary aspects in your life. Be aware of those normal moments; relax; allow your mind to be quiet. Allow your spirit to speak to you in those moments.

Look at the family sitting at breakfast, the birds gathered around the feeder, the dew on the grass when you step outside to pick up the morning paper, the pattern of the shadows on the walk in the moonlight.Be aware of the beauty of the ordinary. Be aware of these soothing moments and make the most of them. When you learn to be aware and relax into the ordinary, it will be easier to relax in the stressful moments when you need clarity and focus.

The practice of meditation is a practice of mindfulness. It is a practice of becoming aware of and in tune with our bodies, our spirit, and the spirit of God. One of the goals of meditation is to reach a point when we can carry this mindfulness with us throughout the day. When we can still the noise of our chattering minds, we can see the path with heart that we are to follow.

God, help me quiet my noisy, worrisome mind in my ordinary world. Help me to relax in the familiar and to be aware of and appreciate it.

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Moving Our Body
Poetry in Motion by Madisyn Taylor

Human bodies love flow and movement and respond in kind when used in this way.

Our bodies love movement. When we stretch or dance, our bodies adjust, realign and start to become fluid with the rhythm of life. Our mood lifts and we feel more connected with the world around us. If you are feeling stuck, ready to release old energy, or eager to feel more alive, try moving your body. By giving your muscles a chance to do what they were created for, you may find that all areas of your body and your life benefit as well.

Many times we can be so busy that we forget moving our body is even an option. Some of us remain seated at our computer for hours every day or rush from task to task with robotic precision. When we are caught up in crossing items off our to-do lists, we tend to neglect all the opportunities there are to enjoy our bodies in the process of living. If this is true for you, begin looking for opportunities to move. You might try dancing or moving about freely as you clean your home, tend your garden or care for your children. If you are able to devote a set amount of time to self-care, practices such as yoga, dance, tai chi and walking are all great ways to keep your body in motion.

Imagine how freeing it would feel to trust your body’s movements completely, knowing it has a perfect strength and rhythm of its own. See if you can sense your bones providing graceful support, your muscles and tendons expanding and contracting in just the right measure, your lungs changing pace to fill deeply with fresh air. Movement is a vital celebration of life. It is a way to proclaim your own existence and relish in the joy of being alive. Today, and into the future, give yourself the gift of your body in motion. Published with permission from Daily OM

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In God’s Care

The very best and utmost of attainment in this life is to remain still and let God act and speak in thee.
~~Meister Eckhart

Many of us find it hard to meditate because our mind is going at a furious pace. It’s not easy to quiet our thoughts; we have so much to say. We are so occupied with this mental chatter that we can’t hear God. God cannot get through to us in all the noise. We have to learn to be still.

This takes practice. We can’t just sit down and command silence; our mind is too accustomed to doing as it pleases. Our first step in meditation, therefore, is to be patient. Our mind will gradually quiet down as we wait, praying for silence, and putting ourselves in God’s presence. Focusing on that, we give God an opening. Guidance will follow.

I will take time today to be still and hear God.

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Day By Day

Living the “today” approach

We must understand from the very beginning that in the program, we learn to live one day at a time. We learn, for example, not to take that first fix, pill, or drink “today.” This is easier for us to do than to think of abstaining for years or a lifetime.

But many of us miss the fact that the “today” approach can be applied to all areas of our life, not just abstinence. It helps if we can deal with issues such as love, sex, death, honesty, and resentments one day at a time. God expects no more of us than to do what we can do today.

Am I living “today” today?

God, help me live the “today” approach in all areas of my life.

Today I will apply the “today” approach to…

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Food for Thought

The Joy of Abstaining

For someone who has suffered the physical, emotional, and spiritual anguish of compulsive overeating, abstaining is not a restriction but a release. We are released from indigestion, lethargy, fat, and the torment of never-satisfied craving.

If we dwell on the negative aspects of abstaining, such as the foods we are not eating, we will be unhappy. If we continue to concentrate on food, rather than on life and the spirit, we will find it difficult to abstain. The OA program gives us a new set of priorities and opens the door to new life if we are willing to leave our preoccupation with food outside and walk in.

It is good to feel full of energy rather than full of food. It is satisfying to discover new ways to give. There is deep joy in day-by-day spiritual growth. All of these joys become ours through abstaining.

We give thanks for the joy of abstaining.

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Once we surrendered and came to The Program, many of us wondered what we could do with all the time on our hands. All the hours we’d previously spent planning, hiding, alibiing, getting loaded, coming down, getting “well,” juggling our accounts — and all the rest — threatened to turn into empty chunks of time that somehow had to be filled. We needed new energy previously absorbed by our addictions. We soon realized that substituting a new and different activity is far easier than just stopping the old activity and putting nothing in its place. Am I redirecting my mind and energy?

Today I Pray

I pray that, once free of the encumbrance of my addiction. I may turn to my Higher Power to discover for me how to fill my time constructively and creatively. May that same Power that makes human paths cross and links certain people to specific situations, lead me along good new roads into good new places.

Today I Will Remember

Happenstance may be more than chance.

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One More Day

Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity; for pain that teaches you courage – and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery still — the veil that hides you from the infinite, which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see.
– Robert Nathan

We cannot run away from problems. Tremendous problems — like a spouse with a chronic illness — must be confronted and resolved. Fears can be overwhelming. Tasks se4em endless, and the challenge seems to great. It is comforting to realize we face nothing alone.

We can’t always be courageous, but fear is dispelled by our inner strength, by our trust that we will overcome problems and do as well as is possible. We can talk to ourselves in positive ways.

I will not allow fear and panic to overtake me today. Courage will open the door to wisdom and peace of mind.

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One Day At A Time

RESENTMENT
”When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound
to that person or condition by an emotional link that is
stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to
dissolve that link and get free.”
Catherine Ponder

I once had a situation in which someone I was acquainted with said unkind things about my weight and verbally attacked my spouse in front of my daughter. I worried and revisited the situation over and over for many years until the anger turned to resentment and became a major, entrenched grudge. Because so many of my eating issues stem from emotional ones, this would drive me to eat in an effort to dull, numb and forget my anger. That didn't work ~ the eating didn't stop that anger from turning into resentment.

When I would complain about this situation to a friend, she told me that I had to stop allowing that person to "rent space in my mind." I came to realize that I had allowed -- and even nurtured -- a negative energetic link to that person and situation. I couldn't let go of resentment until I was willing to take the needed steps in program and to forgive. Forgiving doesn't mean I didn't learn anything from the situation, and I haven't forgotten the unkind words. But I learned that I needed to be more cautious in my dealings with this type of individual. I learned I can't surround myself with people who are overly-negative and say poisonous things without accepting any accountability for their actions. I have learned that I can be accountable for mine, and that I no longer have to allow myself to be bound by an emotional link to the situation.

One day at a time...
I will ask my Higher Power to help me to learn to forgive and forget. With the help of my Higher Power, I will let go of unnecessary baggage that causes resentment.
~ Deb B.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When the broker returned to New York in the fall of 1935, the first A.A. group had actually been formed, though no one realized it at the time.
A second small group promptly took shape at New York, to be followed in 1937 with the start of a third at Cleveland. Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akron or New York who were trying to form groups in other cities. By late 1937, the number of members having substantial sobriety time behind them was sufficient to convince the membership that a new light had entered the dark world of the alcoholic.
It was now time, the struggling groups thought, to place their message and unique experience before the world. This determination bore fruit in the spring of 1939 by the publication of this volume. The membership had then reached about 100 men and women. The fledgling society, which had been nameless, now began to be called Alcoholics Anonymous, from the title of its own book. The flying-blind period ended and A.A. entered a new phase of its pioneering time. - Pg. xvii - 4th. Edition - Forward To Second Edition

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Whatever your problem now, think of your ideal. Is it to be clean and whole? If so, ask yourself: What sort of neighbor is a clean and sober person? What sort of family member is a clean and sober person? What sort of 12-step program will a clean and sober person work?

Please guide me to the consciousness of a clean and sober person.

Having Fun

Today I will have fun. What's the point of all the work I do in recovery if my life doesn't become lighter and happier? Even though I am working through deep issues, there is no reason why I can't have some enjoyment in the process. Fun is when I relax and let things happen--when I can laugh at myself and other people--when I don't take everything in life so seriously. It is when I can enjoy a seemingly meaningless conversation just for its own sake. Fun is when it doesn't have to be all my way--when the heavy load is removed, when my meter is turned off and I just goof around in the moment. Fun is something I don't have enough of for a number of silly reasons. Today I see that there is no reason not to enjoy myself.
I can let go and have fun.
On with the dance, let joy be unconfined is my motto, whether there's any dance to dance or not.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'It works,' is the shortest sentence in the AA Big Book and pretty much sums up what the book can do for you. But there's a catch. Keep in mind, the program does not work. The program does not work. Just like alcohol doesn't get you drunk. You have to drink alcohol in order to get drunk. You have to work the program in order for it to work.

It works if I work it.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

There are no chemical solutions to spiritual problems.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am becoming more and more aware that I can choose how I feel in the moment. Today I choose to let go of thoughts that are negative and destructive. Today I choose to FEEEEEL good.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I can't control and enjoy my drinking. If I control it, I'm not enjoying it and vice versa. - Liz J.

[bluidkiti]

June 30

Daily Reflections

SACRIFICE = UNITY = SURVIVAL

The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of A. A.
will always depend upon our continued willingness to give
up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the
common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival
for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice means unity
and survival for the group and for A. A.'s entire Fellowship.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 220

I have learned that I must sacrifice some of my personality
traits for the good of A. A. and, as a result, I have been
rewarded with many gifts. False pride can be inflated through
prestige but, by living Tradition Six, I receive the gift of
humility instead. Cooperation without affiliation is often
deceiving. If I remain unrelated to outside interest, I am
free to keep A. A. autonomous. Then the Fellowship will be
here, healthy and strong for generations to come.

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

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Alcoholics are unable or unwilling, during their addiction
to alcohol, to live in the present. The result is that they
live in a constant state of remorse and fear because of
their unholy past and its morbid attraction, or the uncertain
future and its vague foreboding. So the only real hope for
the alcoholic is to face the present. Now is the time. Now is
ours. The past is beyond recall. The future is as uncertain
as life itself. Only the now belongs to us. Am I living in
the now?

Meditation For The Day

I must forget the past as much as possible. The past is over
and gone forever. Nothing can be done about the past, except
to make what restitution I can. I must not carry the burden of
my past failures. I must go on in faith. The clouds will clear
and the way will lighten. The path will become less stony with
every forward step I take. God has no reproach for anything
that He has healed. I can be made whole and free, even though
I have wrecked my life in the past. Remember the saying:
"Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more."

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not carry the burden of the past. I pray that
I may cast it off and press on in faith.

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

As Bill Sees It

Imaginary Perfection, p. 181

When we early A.A.'s got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we
coined this expression: "Don't try to be a saint by Thursday!"

That oldtime admonition may look like another of those handy alibis that can excuse us
from trying for our best. Yet a closer view reveals just the contrary. This is our A.A. way
of warning against pride-blindness, and the imaginary perfections that we do not possess.

<< << << >> >> >>

Only Step One, where we made the 100 per cent admission that we were powerless over
alcohol, can be practiced with absolute perfection. The remaining eleven Steps state
perfect ideals. They are goals toward which we look, and the measuring sticks by which
we estimate our progress.

1. Grapevine, June 1961
2. 12 & 12, p. 68

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Walk In Dry Places

Making all things new
Releasing the Past
A 12 Step program should give us a new way of life, our friends often say. We should have new attitudes, new experiences, new opportunities.
If we're to grasp this new way of life, we must let go of the old habits of the past. No alcoholic can recover, for example, by choosing to remain in the old drinking environment. We must also "recover" from other relationships and patterns that were destructive or kept us from our highest good.
"Behold, I make all things new," is the ancient promise. As our thoughts and beliefs change, the old patterns drop away and the new life reveals itself to us.
Today I'll drop the negative or outworn relics from the past and press on to find the things that are for my greatest good.

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

Keep It Simple

If you don't know where you are going, You'll probably end up somewhere else.---
Lawrence J. Peter
The Twelve Steps are our plan of living. We must have a plan. Without one, we waste our energy.
We react instead of think. This is what we did as an addict. We lived our lives as out-of-control people. This caused a lot of pain for us and those around us.
Recovery brings us the Twelve Steps, and each Step gives us direction and wisdom. Each Step builds on the progress we made from the Step before it. Sometimes we follow the plan well. Sometimes we think we can do better on our own. Do I believe the Twelve Steps are a good plan of living?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have shown me a new way of life, a plan for living. Thank you for leading me to the Twelve Steps. Help me follow them.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll take time out to read the Twelve Steps. Then I'll list three reasons why the Steps are a good plan for living.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

. . . in silence might be the privilege of the strong, but it was certainly a danger to the weak. For the things I was prompted to keep silent about were nearly always the things I was ashamed of, which would have been far better aired . . . --Joanna Field
It has been said, "We are only as sick as the secrets we keep." Our emotional health as recovering women is hindered, perhaps even jeopardized, each time we hold something within that we need to talk over with others.
Sharing our fears, our hurts, our anger, keeps open our channel to God. Secrets clutter our mind, preventing the stillness within where our prayers find answers. Secrets keep us stuck. Our health, emotional and spiritual, depends on our commitment to shared experiences.
Every secret we have and tell someone, frees that person also to be herself and to grow. Sharing experiences relieves us of our shame and invites the forgiveness we must allow ourselves.
Steps Four and Five facilitate the process of sharing those secrets that block our path to God and to one another. Never can we be fully at peace with secrets left untold. Self-revelation cleanses the soul and offers us life.
I will be alert to the opportunities to share myself and cherish the freedom offered.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

BILL'S STORY

But it was not, for the frightful day came when I drank once more. The curve of my declining moral and bodily health fell off like a ski-jump. After a time I returned to the hospital. This was the finish, the curtain, it seemed to me. My weary and despairing wife was informed that it would all end with heart failure during delirium tremens, or I would soon have to give me over to the undertaker or the asylum.

p. 7

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE - Young when she joined, this A.A. believes her serious drinking was the result of even deeper defects. She here tells how she was free.

I am an only child and when I was seven years old, my parents separated very abruptly. With no explanation at all, I was taken from my home in Florida to my grandparents' home in the Midwest. My mother went to a nearby city to go to work, and my father, being an alcoholic, simply went. My grandparents were strangers to me, and I remember being lonely, terrified, and hurt.

pp. 544-545

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Five - "Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry it's message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

"Shoemaker, stick to thy last!" ... better do one thing supremely well than many badly. That is the central theme of this Tradition. Around it our Society gathers in unity. The very life of our Fellowship requires the preservation of this principle.

p. 150

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

God, help me to lower my defenses today, to be open to the good in
the people around me and to the good that I have to offer them.
--Melody Beattie

If you desire to align yourself with God's love, take an honest
assessment of where love is lacking in your life. Do you embrace the
difficult people in your family, work or neighborhood? Do you hold
grudges or do you forgive those who betray you? The only way to
keep in alignment is to practice choosing love, again and again, even
when it's difficult.
--Mary Manin Morrissey

"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."
--John Wooden

Forget your old ideas. Forget the lies they told you.
Forget them all, and you will begin to remember.
--Marianne Williamson

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will
ever regret.
--Ambrose Bierce

Our outward behavior is just a reflection of our inner balance or our
out of balance.
--John-Roger

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

HUMOR

"The one serious conviction that
a man should have is that
nothing is to be taken
seriously."
--Nicholas Murray Butler

For years I used to take myself too seriously. I thought that everything
depended upon my thoughts, actions and decisions. Life was a series of
agendas that had to be met; life was too serious to be joked about. I
knew that I was not God, but I took responsibility for the whole
universe. I had opinions on everything and everybody and I was, of
course, always right.

As the years passed it grew painful being so responsible -- my control
produced stress, tension and loneliness. Then a friend said to me, "Let
go and let God." I began to detach and laugh at my insane behavior. I
laughed more as I began to accept my humanness. I discovered
spirituality in the joke. God must have a sense of humor -- after all,
He made me.

Help me to laugh at myself in my search for the Kingdom.

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

Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find nothing; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. Psalms 17:3

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalms 19:14

The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks
what is just.
Psalms 37:30

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

Daily Inspiration

Avoid distraction by concentrating on the task in which you are presently involved. Lord, much that bothers me is useless to my well-being. Help me identify when this happens and replace these thoughts with thoughts that treat me kindly.

God will give you strength because He will give of Himself. Lord, thank You for the many gifts of which You always bless me.

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

NA Just For Today

Maintaining The Foundation

"Our newly found faith serves as a firm foundation for courage in the future."
Basic Text p. 93

The foundation of our lives is what the rest of our lives is built upon. When we were using, that foundation affected everything we did. When we decided that recovery was important, that's where we began to put our energy. As a result, our whole lives changed. In order to maintain those new lives, we must maintain the foundation of those lives: our recovery program.

As we stay clean and our lifestyles change, our priorities will also change. Work and school may become important because they improve the quality of our lives. And new relationships may bring excitement and mutual support. But we need to remember that our recovery program is the foundation upon which our new lives are built. Each day, we must renew our commitment to recovery, maintaining that as our top priority.

Just for today: I want to continue enjoying the life I've found in recovery. Today, I will take steps to maintain my foundation.
pg. 188

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


You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Cultivate your garden. Let it take root in you until your thousand eyes open like violets to morning light. --Nancy Paddock
In our imaginations we can mix images and ideas from all over the world--imagine the thousand eyes of a peacock growing among the purple violets, or babies that grow on trees! In our imaginations we can also nurture feelings of love, affection, self-esteem.
All of us--not just writers--can learn to see the images in our own minds. We can do this by breathing slowly, relaxing, and looking at the movie in our minds. We may see a field of wildflowers, or find ourselves wading across a stream in the mountains. We might see happiness as wildflowers and grass coming up through the sidewalk, breaking the concrete into chunks and sand, growing so slowly yet with such great power. It may help us appreciate our growth today to look at it this way.
Can I visualize my happiness right now? What does it look like?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
There is nothing as easy as denouncing. It don't take much to see that something is wrong, but it takes some eyesight to see what will put it right again. --Will Rogers
We come to this day with a choice of whether to be for something or against it. Shall we put energy into what we seek and admire or shall we give our energy to opposition and resistance of what we dislike? If someone asks a favor, we have a choice to resent and resist the intrusion or to engage with the person and see where it might lead. If a project we are working on is frustrating, we can wallow in criticizing it or try to get a clearer picture of what will work and what we want.
Criticizing may be a helpful first stage in learning, but it is seductive because it holds little risk and we feel safe doing it. In that comfort we forget to go for ward to create what we really want. Our negative energy, when we are seduced by it, creates negative results. When we look back upon today, we will admire those choices that risked creating something positive.
Today, I will not give my energy to denouncing but to creating what I believe is worthwhile.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
. . . in silence might be the privilege of the strong, but it was certainly a danger to the weak. For the things I was prompted to keep silent about were nearly always the things I was ashamed of, which would have been far better aired . . . --Joanna Field
It has been said, "We are only as sick as the secrets we keep." Our emotional health as recovering women is hindered, perhaps even jeopardized, each time we hold something within that we need to talk over with others.
Sharing our fears, our hurts, our anger, keeps open our channel to God. Secrets clutter our mind, preventing the stillness within where our prayers find answers. Secrets keep us stuck. Our health, emotional and spiritual, depends on our commitment to shared experiences.
Every secret we have and tell someone, frees that person also to be herself and to grow. Sharing experiences relieves us of our shame and invites the forgiveness we must allow ourselves.
Steps Four and Five facilitate the process of sharing those secrets that block our path to God and to one another. Never can we be fully at peace with secrets left untold. Self-revelation cleanses the soul and offers us life.
I will be alert to the opportunities to share myself and cherish the freedom offered.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Accepting Change
One day, my mother and I were working together in the garden. We were transplanting some plant for the third time. Grown from seed in a small container, the plants had been transferred to a larger container; then transplanted into the garden. Now, because I was moving, we were transplanting them again.
Inexperienced as a gardener, I turned to my green thumbed mother. "Isn't this bad for them?" I asked, as we dug them up and shook the dirt from their roots. "Won't it hurt these plants, being uprooted and transplanted so many times?"
"Oh, no," my mother replied. "Transplanting doesn't hurt them. In fact, it's good for the ones that survive. That's how their roots grow strong. Their roots will grow deep, and they'll make strong plants."
Often, I've felt like those small plants - uprooted and turned upside down. Sometimes, I've endured the change willingly, sometimes reluctantly, but usually my reaction has been a combination.
Won't this be hard on me? I ask. Wouldn't it be better if things remained the same? That's when I remember my mother's words: That's how the roots grow deep and strong.
Today, God, help me remember that during times of transition, my faith and my self are being strengthened.


Today I trust my instincts. Today I trust I will know at the right time the right answer. Today I have the faith to know that God guides me in my choices. --Ruth Fishel

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

Journey To The Heart

Cherish Your Connection to the Universe

My relationship with the universe used to be different. I felt separate, apart, disconnected from the rest of the world. My vision of God used to be different,too. I used to see God as sitting on a throne, separate and apart from this world. I still see God as the supreme creative force, but the separateness is melting, changing, transforming into something new. Now I see God, the energy of God, and Divine love as a part of all that is, the breath of life in every living thing.

I used to see the world as made up of individual and separate components. I used to see people as disconnected and essentially powerless in a world separated from God. Each thing, person, and action a distinctly different operation or event from any other, from the whole. Now I see a planet full of people connected to the Divine. Now I see a universe connected by a Divine thread that weaves throughout all that is, was, and will be. A living universe that is alive, magical, connected by universal love. Connected by Divine love.

Enter into a relationship with the universe, a relationship as alive, as active, as vital as any other relationship. Then know that you are connected to the world and everything in it. Know that universal love, Divine love, is real and you are an important part of it.

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

more language of letting go
Make yourself at home

It was night, only a few months after I'd begun my skydiving adventure. It was too cold to stay in my tent; I had rented a cabin near the drop zone. Now I'd come back to hang out for a while, before retiring for the night.

One of the sky divers I'd met recently was sitting in a lawn chair, under the tarped area between the rows of trailors that had been turned into team rooms and student training areas. The evening lights had been turned on. He was wrapped up in a sleeping bag, reading a book under the hazy glow. He was one of the full-time sky divers, who had been attracted to the gypsy lifestyle of the skydiving community as much as the sport itself.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm in my living room, reading a book," he replied. "Do you like the view of the backyard?" he asked, making a gesture toward the rolling hills that cascaded gently in the background. "That's my patio," he said, pointing to a small area just around the corner. "The morning sun hits there. It's a warm place to sit and eat breakfast. Sometimes I sleep in that tent," he said, pointing off to the side. "And sometimes I take my sleeping bag and curl up under the stars in the landing area, over there."

I looked around, almost envious of his freedom.

Sometimes, we get so busy and involved creating a "home" for ourselves that we create a structure that's too safe, limiting, and confined. We forget about our real home, the planet earth. It's good to sleep indoors. It's nice to make ourselves comfortable in our home. But don't let your cozy nest become a locked, confining box.

Stretch your arms. Push the lid off the box. Get out into the world. Walk around. Move about. See the hills, the lakes, the forests, the mountain peaks, the valleys, the rivers.

See how big your world can be. See how connected everything is. See how connected you are,too-- to all that is. Make yourself comfortable, wherever you are. Make yourself a home and be at home in the world.

God, help me relax and make myself at home in your beautiful world.

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

Food for Thought

Praise God!

We did not create this program on our own, and we did not achieve abstinence by ourselves. Our recovery is a gift, just as life is a gift. Light, the natural world, our nourishment, talents, love, and fellowship – all come from our Higher Power. Our role is to receive, use wisely, share, and enjoy the blessings God has showered upon us.

When we get over the idea that we can do everything by ourselves, we become receptive to the moving force that creates and sustains us. As we stop looking at life from our own egotistical point of view, we begin to see God’s glory. No longer a slave to our appetites and desires for material things, we are able to rejoice in our Higher Power and to share our joy with those around us.

Our recovery from compulsive overeating makes us examples of God’s power to heal and renew. For all of His miracles, we praise Him.

In You, there is great joy.

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

Focused Value
Quality vs. Quantity

It is not the quantity of time that matters, but the quality that you experience during each moment.

We live in an age of quantity. The media shapes us with the notion that larger, faster, and more are often synonymous with better. We are told that we need to find more time, more possessions, and more love to be truly happy. A smaller quantity of anything that is high in quality will almost always be more satisfying. A single piece of our favorite chocolate or a thin spread of freshly made preserves can satisfy us more than a full bucket of a product that we aren’t very fond of. Similarly, one fulfilling experience can eclipse many empty moments strung together. It is not the quantity of time that matters, but the quality that you experience during each moment. Every minute is an opportunity to love yourself and others, develop confidence and self-respect, and exhibit courage.

Ultimately, quality can make life sweeter. When you focus on quality, all your life experiences can be meaningful. A modest portion of good, healthy food can nourish and satisfy you on multiple levels and, when organically grown, nourish the earth as well. Likewise, a few hours of deep, restful slumber will leave you feeling more refreshed than a night’s worth of frequently interrupted sleep. A few minutes spent with a loved one catching up on the important details about family, work, or community can carry more meaning than two hours spent watching television together.

Often, in the pursuit of quantity we cheat ourselves of quality. Then again, quantity also plays a significant role in our lives. Certain elements, such as hugs, kisses, abundance, and love, are best had in copious amounts that are high in quality. But faced with the choice between a single, heartfelt grin and a lifetime of empty smiles, most would, no doubt, choose the former. Ultimately, it is not how much you live or have or do but what you make of each moment that counts. Published with permission from Daily OM

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

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

I’ve learned in The Program that the trick, for me, is not stopping drinking, but staying stopped and learning how not to start again. It was always relatively easy to stop, if only by sheer incapacity alone; God knows, I stopped literally thousands of times. To stay stopped, I’ve had to develop a positive program of action. I’ve had to learn to live sober, cultivating new habit patterns, new interests and new attitudes. Am I remaining flexible in my new life? Am I exercising my freedom to abandon limited objectives?

Today I Pray

I pray that my new life will be filled with new patterns, new friends, new activities, new ways of looking at things. I need God’s help to overhaul my lifestyle to include all the newness it must hold. I also need a few ideas of my own. May my independence from chemicals or compulsive behavior help me make my choices with an open mind and a clear; appraising eye.

Today I Will Remember

Stopping is starting.

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

One More Day

The lame man who keeps the right road outstrips the runner who takes a wrong one. Nay, it is obvious that the more active and swift the latter is the further he will go astray.
– Francis Bacon

As we travel through life, distractions keep us from reaching our destination. Sometimes a wonderful, happy circumstance changes our direction, or a goal may be changed by the intrusion of a serious medical condition.

Regardless of altered courses, we want to keep our goals in sight. We must set goals which, whatever our circumstances, we know are attainable. To feel successful and proud of ourselves, we must be able to attain our new goals. And we can if we aim forward ideals that provide dreams, challenges, and the possibility of success.

I know the path that is best for me and follow my own road map.

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

One Day At A Time

PROCRASTINATION
“How does a project get to be a year behind schedule?
One day at a time.”
Fred Brooks

I have been given many talents, and I count them as gifts from my Maker. Throughout life I have discovered that there was virtually nothing that I could not make, bake, say or do with the help of my Higher Power. At the age of three years I learned to crochet and read. I learned to draw, paint, write poetry and quilt. The fact that I was not afraid of failing had a great influence on my ability to tackle any task.

Surprisingly, when I felt that I was "grown" and needed to leave home and start a life of my own, I found that finishing anything was almost impossible. I could start anything -- but I seemed to complete nothing. Much to my dismay I had developed the art of procrastination. Just waiting to finish anything tomorrow puts me one day behind. Day by day, the project gets put on the back burner and forgotten. One day at a time I eventually find that I am years into finishing some things.

Thanks to this program and its wonderful steps and tools, I have found that by working "one day at a time" I can be -- and am -- a person who starts and finishes things. This is who God created me to be...not the person who continually puts things off. It took a lot of reading and prayer and meditating on God's Word for me to get where I am today...a person who takes action on the tasks before me. I am far from perfect, but I am making progress.

One day at a time...
Just for today I will take action and not put off until tomorrow what I can do today.
~ Annie K.

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

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as ex-problem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account. - Pg. xxvi - 4th. Edition - The Doctor's Opinion

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If by now, we don't have a sponsor, now is the time. We must choose one and use one. A sponsor is not a tyrant. In the beginning we don't have a program, so we use our sponsor's program until we clear up enough to create our own.

Higher Power, as I understand You, may You show me this day who is to be my sponsor.

A Return to Living

Today, I keep my house clean and let go of the rest - some of the ways that I wish to live as a recovered person will not be readily understood by others. I will keep my own scorecard clean and not worry about the results. I will act in a way that makes it easier for me to live with myself - that keeps my own conscience clear. Other people's negative projections of me no longer run me. I am the one who makes the decisions about who I want to be. I need not defend and explain myself again and again. I need not ask permission to be who I am. I allow myself to be happy in my own skin today. I think well of myself, no matter what others think of me.

I create my own self.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Sitting at a meeting and sharing how much you love everyone in the room is meaningless if you fail to help cleanup, talk to the newcomer, inquire after the old-timer, and make sure everyone has a ride home.

My well done is better than my well said.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Relapse is NOT a requirement.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will listen to the messages that go on in my head and decide for myself if they are healthy. Today I will choose to follow positive messages that I tell myself or create new messages that are positive and healthy.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

The highest rank in AA: Chief Servant. - Danny T.