[bluidkiti]

January 18

Step by Step

“Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” – Step Six

Today, depending on the honesty in our Fourth Step, this is an extension of that step and in which we become ready to have our character defects removed. And, incredibly, maybe one of the program’s “easiest” steps because to continue harboring our defects risks significant and possibly insurmountable roadblocks to recovery. Serenity cannot be fully realized if we hold onto selfishness, egoism, fear, regret, resentment. Becoming willing to let go of our defects is simple; the work comes in Step Seven. But, today, I am not only ready but willing and eager to unload the garbage of my soul. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

GOALS OF GREATNESS

Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

~ Shakespeare ~

In our 12 Step Program, greatness comes through humility and gratitude. It is simply a matter of becoming willing and able to work with others toward a goal where each person can be happy in the freedom from addiction. Greatness is becoming a winner instead of a loser in the competition between addiction and making our lives manageable. It all comes from concentration on spiritual progress.

Greatness can be ours in many different ways. We can measure the amount of greatness by our own ability and willingness to take the vital Steps in our Program. We can measure the amount of greatness we either are born with, have thrust upon us, or rise to when we surrender to the reality that we have no power over our addiction or obsession.

The true measure of greatness lies in my ability to understand just where I am at any point in my recovery.

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

The way we see the problem is the problem.

~ Stephen R. Covey ~

Many of us have a mind-set that keeps us on a treadmill. It’s not for lack of effort that our lives reel out of control. We struggle to move forward. We work hard to manage the unmanageable. But with all our busy efforts, we can’t see that we are continuously recycling the same problem over and over.

The solution we need may be right before our eyes. Our denial is confusing us; we don’t even know we are denying anything. We cannot solve our problems alone—or even see the problems clearly from the inside. That’s what friends do for us. They reflect back to us what we are missing. That’s why we need to have good talks with others who have walked the same path that we are on. The strongest, most powerful men have wise advisers who show them things they don’t know. They accept the role of seeker and learner because that is the way they enhance themselves.

Today I will be open to seeing my problems in ways I couldn’t imagine on my own.

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

The expression of praise as thanksgiving, gratitude, and joy is among the most powerful forms of affirmation.

~ Catherine Ponder ~

Praise inevitably has a multiple effect. It positively acknowledges another human being, enhancing his or her well-being, while making us feel good. This offering of love, which is the substance of praise, heals all who share in its circle.

We can see the effects of affirmation in the women we admire. We can discern its absence too, particularly among those who struggle. How difficult is it to give small acknowledgments to those we care about? Making a habit of this heals our own inner wounds too.

Affirming a friend or ourselves connects us to the spirit residing within. That bond fills in our empty spaces, making us whole and healed. Our security as women grows as we praise one another.

I will freely offer my love in the form of praise to the wonderful friends on my path today.

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

I need to be aware of my symptoms

I need to be aware of my psychiatric symptoms (I’ve certainly had them often enough). For example, I start to feel irritable, drive too fast, and spend more money than I can afford. In a few days, I’m staying up all night reading or cleaning or writing long letters to people I hardly know.

Until recently, I couldn’t see what was happening to me (in fact, a manic phase) until I was looking up from the bottom of a well (a depressed phase). Of course, by then it was too late. But now that I am learning more about my illnesses, I believe I’ll be able to see the warning signs sooner and prevent a relapse.

I will keep a log of thoughts and feelings that usually precede a psychiatric episode.

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

Recovery for me has been almost a rebirth.
I’m born again as the curious, trusting, honest child I was so long ago —
The child I thought la lost forever.

~ Paul D. ~

For many of us that child was just waiting for a chance to find us again. It was only waiting until we could maintain honesty, integrity, and decency. We had to relearn how to live so we wouldn’t hurt that child. We had to learn to choose people more carefully so the child’s trust wouldn’t be betrayed. We had to embark on a new life to protect that child.

Little by little we did change our lives. Little by little that child was reborn. As the child learned to trust us it became more a part of our daily lives. We learned to look to that child for the source of our pain and with the help of our inner child. We’re now beginning to heal. In learning to love our child within we are learning to accept ourselves as lovable, forgivable human beings who are ready to step out into the world and take our place in a loving community of others who are also healing.

Today help me remember the child within me, and to protect that part of myself in every action I take.

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

We must learn to accept… life and to accept ourselves, not blindly and not with conceit, but with a shrug and a smile.

~ Harvey Mindess ~

A Taoist story tells of an old farmer whose livelihood depended upon his one horse. One morning the farmer woke to discover the horse had run away. When his neighbors learned of his misfortune, they asked him what he would do. The farmer said, “I will wait.” The next morning, the farmer heard a great commotion and saw that his horse had returned with two wild horses.

A few days later, the farmer’s son was training the wild horses to work on the farm when he was bucked off and broke his leg. Neighbors asked the farmer what he would do without his son’s help, and he replied, “I will wait.” Shortly afterwards, war broke out and the army needed men. But the son could not go off to war because of his broken leg.

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and things do not go as you planned. More often than not, things will resolve over time. View everything that comes your way— lilt’ good as well as the challenging—with acceptance of whatever you are given.

Today I will adopt a wait-and-see attitude with everything that comes my way.

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

Children do not know how their parents love them, and they never will till the grave doses over those parents, or till they have children of their own.

~ Edmund Vance Cooke ~

As adults, we may feel we were cheated out of a “normal” childhood because of our parents’ emotional, physical, or spiritual failings. We may think they should never be forgiven for their actions or in-actions when we were young.

Yet imagine what our lives would be like today if we did not forgive. We would be bitter, stomping angrily through life with a clipboard in hand, ready to write down the name of the next person who crosses us. It’s time to throw away the clipboard and the names on it—including the names of our parents.

The program teaches us to love those who come into our lives, even if we don’t like them. It teaches us forgiveness through our Higher Power. We do not have to like our parents, but we can love them. By the same token, we need to realize our parents love us in their special way. They aren’t perfect—and neither are we.

Help me remember my parents did the best they could with what they had. That’s all anyone can really do.

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

Listening well

Learning to really listen to another human being—beyond just his or her words—is critical to good communication. Valuable exchanges between human beings can occur only when each listens carefully to the other and tries sincerely to understand the other person’s meaning. Much anger and frustration with others could be avoided if we truly understood one another.

Constant thoughts running through our minds is a form of talking, and we can’t listen to another (including our Higher Power) if we are still talking.

Do I really listen?

Higher Power, help me be quiet enough within to listen to others today. By trying to understand another, let me learn something about myself.

Today I will quiet my mind and really listen to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something

~ WILSON MIZNER ~

Newcomer

I feel impatient. What am I doing at this meeting? The speaker’s concerns are entirely different from mine. He has cancer, and his doctor has told him that he has eighteen months to live. He says that he is not afraid of dying and he wants to die sober. I am impatient; my health is not a problem right now, and I don’t feel like I’m dying. I hate to say it, but what good is this going to do me?

Sponsor

When I am at a meeting, for the brief space of an hour I have nowhere I have to go, nothing I have to do. I can choose to relax, breathe, still my racing mind, listen. Sometimes a speaker addresses exactly what is on my mind. Other times, I have to listen hard for a feeling I can identify with or a principle I can practice. If I listen intending to hear something that I can take away with me, even if it’s just one thing, I always find that it is there. After listening to someone who is facing illness and possible death, for example, I take away with me the new knowledge that there are recovering people who do not look at personal tragedy as an excuse for using again. Their priorities have changed. Are you willing to reconsider your priorities?

Today, I listen without judging. I take responsibility for hearing one thing that relates to my own recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We admit that for US—whiskey is bad; but whether it is bad for someone else is simply a matter for them to decide.

We have no fight with alcohol itself, its brewers, distillers, distributors or retailers. We say its abuse is bad but we do not curse the darkness; rather we tend to positive, constructive efforts to help that individual who is groping in the darkness. For him we light a candle of Hope which becomes a beacon upon which he may set a new course to a peaceful harbor where the weary alcoholic may find peace and rest.

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

1) If anyone speaks badly of you, live so no one will believe it.

2) Never mistake activity for achievement.

3) An alcoholic only knows one note on the scale: Me, Me, Me.

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

The Twelve Steps Prayer

Power, greater than myself, as I understand You, I willingly admit that without Your help I am powerless over alcohol and my life has become unmanageable. I believe You can restore me to sanity. I turn my life and my will over to You. I have made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself and I admit to You, to myself, and to another the exact nature of my wrongs. I am entirely ready to have You remove these defects of character. I humbly ask You to remove my shortcomings. I have made direct amends to all persons I have harmed, except when to do so would injure them or others. I will continue to take personal inventory and when I am wrong I will promptly admit it. I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with You and pray only for knowledge of Your will for me and the power to carry it out.
Grant me the grace to carry the message of Your help unto others and to practice the principles of the Twelve Steps in all my affairs.

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

The seventh main aspect of God is Principle, and this is probably the one that is least understood. What does the word “principle” mean?

Consider a few generally accepted principles. “Water seeks its own level”. This is a principle. It is not only the course taken by a particular drop of water in a particular locality. It is true of all water everywhere. “The angles of any triangle always add up to 180 degrees”. It makes no matter what kind of triangle one may consider: as long as it is a triangle, this principle holds. These principles were true a billion years ago and they will be true a billion years hence.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Prayer is answered because God is principle, eternally manifest in the same way. When we pray rightly we bring ourselves into harmony with His law of Being. Prayer does not ask God to change the laws for our temporary convenience, but it tunes us in, so to speak, with divine Principle: If God were to make exceptions because we were in great difficulties, (which, because of His nature, He could never do) we should never know where we stood. If the law of gravity were occasionally suspended without notice, say, because a very important man had fallen off a roof, you know what would happen to the world.

Each of the seven main aspects is a distinct quality like the elements in chemistry. A chemical element, as you know, is just itself and nothing else. Oxygen is an element because there is nothing in it but oxygen. Water on the other hand is a compound, a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. There are many attributes of God, such as Wisdom, for example, is the perfect balance of Intelligence and Love.

Beauty is the perfect balance of Life, Truth and Love. In any true work of art, you will find that these three aspects are balanced. There are many such relationships and interdependencies—”Thou canst not pluck a flower without the trembling of a star.”

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

For Whom?

To have, give all to all.

~ A Course in Miracles ~

Several years ago, I presented a seminar at which attendance was low Although we had planned for a huge turnout, only a fraction of those expected showed up. Disappointed, I complained to my musician friend Michael, “It’s a drag that we only have this number; I’ll just force myself to get through the evening.”

“The same thing happened to me once,” Michael answered. “Then I asked myself, ‘Who are you going to give the program for—the people who showed up, or those who didn’t?’” Michael had a point. Why concentrate on the empty seats instead of the full ones? The people who attended believed in me and expected to receive something wonderful. I could not penalize them because others had not met my expectations.

At another sparsely attended program, I was preceded by a musical duo who dashed on stage and gave a fabulous, dynamic performance. You would have thought they were performing for 5,000 people in Las Vegas! They did not compromise their presentation because of the numbers; they determined their energy level, not the audience. From them I learned that I need to give 100 percent; what I give to the audience I give to myself. If I give less than all, I steal from myself.

It is not the numbers that make a life; it is the content. It is more valuable to touch a small number of people in a quality way than to amass fame or fortune. Give your full presence and integrity to everyone you meet, and your heart will be full.

I pray to place quality before quantity. Let me live and act for essence before form.

I give all to all, and receive all as I give it.