Today's Thought - May

[bluidkiti]

May 1

Sometimes the things that frighten you the most can turn out to be the biggest sources of strength.

~Iris Timberlake

Not many things would send fear through us if we remembered to rely on our Higher Power at all times. Yet we try to handle circumstances ourselves first. It’s often only when we finally feel hopeless that we turn to our Higher Power for the help that awaited us all along.

We make our lives much more difficult than they need to be. Let’s quit thinking through our problems alone, no matter how foolish they seem. Let’s quit trying to handle tough people alone. Let’s trust that every circumstance, no matter how small, is a lesson offered by God. And let’s know that the outcome will be the right one for our particular growth at that moment.

Things that frighten us do so only because we have failed to remember the presence of our Higher Power. Let’s pray for the willingness to remember God’s presence. When we do, we will know a new strength.

Today I will let God help me handle every moment of my day.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 2

Living the Twelve Step way is a twenty?four?hour?a?day opportunity.

Twelve Step programs expose us to ideas that seem foreign. It takes time to embrace a new value system we can live by every day. Absorbing and using these principles for every decision and action removes the worry from our lives.

Changing how we’ve thought and acted doesn’t happen overnight. Changing one thing at a time is enough at first. Perhaps we’ll give up our feeling of hopelessness. The Second Step tells us that God can free us from our insanity, our hopelessness. All we need do is ask for help, and hope will come. Maybe we decide the urge to take over someone else’s life must end. Doing the First Step numerous times a day will help us remember that we are powerless over everyone else. If discomfort from an old relationship keeps haunting us, maybe it’s time to make amends and get on with life.

Our value system shapes every part of our lives. Twelve Step philosophy simplifies our lives, particularly when the baggage of the past has been cleared away.

This isn’t a part-time program for me. I want to live by these principles every minute. My life will reflect how successfully I do it.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

[bluidkiti]

May 3

Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep.

~Agnes Meyer

A tree’s roots seek water and minerals. Though the roots can’t be easily seen, they are there. The life of the tree depends on them. The stronger a tree’s roots, the higher a tree can grow.

We need to set deep roots into the soil of recovery. The soil of recovery is made up of the Twelve Steps, fellowship, and service to others. We’ll have to get through storms and high winds in our return to health. In so doing, we’ll become beautiful, strong, and spiritual. We’ll be able to live with both the gentle breezes and the heavy winds of life.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me believe in what I can’t see. Just as I believe that the roots of a tree are there because I can see the leaves, I believe in a Higher Power because I can see the results.
Action for the Day

I will ask myself, “Which Step do I need to work on the most right now?” I will volunteer to give a meeting on that Step.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 4

Come, Love! Sing On! Let me hear you sing this song—sing for joy and laugh, for I the creator am truly subject to all creatures.

~Mechthild of Magdeburg

Recovery without joy and song and playfulness is incomplete. The beauty of music uplifts our spirits and shows us the face of our Creator. For many men, music is their means of meditation and conscious contact with their Higher Power. When we experience the creativity of a musical piece, as it speaks to us, we take a step beyond the practical world into the profound level of creation.

Some people say, “How can you celebrate when there is so much suffering, so much to grieve about?” We have grieved, and we continue to grieve alongside our joy. But we need not pour all our energies into the painful and sad. Life is also wonderful. Music and dance and the joy of good fellowship enrich our lives and strengthen us to go on.

Praise the spirit of our Creator for all that is given to us!

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

[bluidkiti]

May 5

… it is a peaceful thing to be one succeeding.

~Gertrude Stein

Success is at hand. While we read these words, we are experiencing it. At this very instant, our commitment to recovery is a sign of success, and we feel peace each time we let go of our struggle, turning to another for help, for direction. Because we strive only for perfection, we recognize nothing less; we block our awareness of the ordinary successes that are ours again and again. Thus, the serenity the program promises us eludes us. But we are succeeding. Every day that we are abstinent, we succeed.

We can think of the times—perhaps only yesterday—when we listened to a friend in need, or finished a task that was nagging at us. Maybe we made an appointment to begin a project we've been putting off. Success is taking positive action, nothing more.

Many of us, in our youth, were taught that success only came in certain shapes and sizes. And we felt like failures. We need new definitions; it's time to discard the old. Luckily for us, the program offers us new ones.

Every person, every situation, can add to my success today. My attitude can help someone else succeed, too.

Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning: Daily meditations for Women*

[bluidkiti]

May 6

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…

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

[bluidkiti]

May 7

Reflection for the Day

So many of us suffer from despair. Yet we don’t realize that despair is purely the absence of faith. As long as we’re willing to turn to a Higher Power for help in our difficulties, we cannot despair. When we’re troubled and can’t see a way out, it’s only because we imagine that all solutions depend on us. The program teaches us to let go of overwhelming problems and let God handle them for us. When I consciously surrender, do I see faith at work in my life?
Today I Pray

May I, as a recovering person, be free of despair and depression, those two “down Ds” that are the result of feelings of helplessness. May I know that I am never without my Higher Power’s help, and that I am never helpless when my Higher Power is with me. If I have faith, I need never be “helpless and hopeless.”
Today I Will Remember

Despair is the absence of faith.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 8

The human brain forgets ninety percent of what goes on.

~Jan Milner

There were two women who shared a house and raised their daughters, two toddlers, together. Then one of the women got transferred to another city and moved with her daughter.

Ten years later, they had a reunion. The mothers asked their kids what they remembered about living together. Did they remember all the books? No. Did they remember a mom in the kitchen every morning, fixing eggs and toast? No.

What they remembered was playing in the pink bathtub for hours, pulling the pink shower curtain shut for privacy. And the morning the mothers sneaked in, turned off the lights, threw plastic cups and spoons over the curtain and cried, "It's raining spoons!" They laughed and laughed.

We are lucky in this life—our minds think laughter is what's worth remembering.

What laughter from yesterday can I remember today?

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

[bluidkiti]

May 9

I suppose I began to drink heavily after I realized that the things I wanted most in life for myself and my writing were simply not going to happen.

~Raymond Carver

We may have a picture in our minds of what, for us, would be failure. When we surrender to the idea of failure, we’re putting things we can’t control in charge of our happiness.

There’s nothing wrong with setting goals; goals contribute to our success by firing the imagination, giving us a vision of what we’re working for. But when our goals depend on people and events over which we’re powerless, we may be setting ourselves up for unnecessary and unrealistic feelings of failure.

For today, our goal can be simply to show up, do the best we can, and turn the results over to a Power greater than ourselves. We can take more pleasure in the moment-to-moment experiences of a process when we’re not focused on judging the outcome. We can congratulate ourselves for having the courage to take risks and follow through.

Today, I honor myself for working toward my goals to the best of my ability.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day: Daily Meditations for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People*

[bluidkiti]

May 10

Directness

We feel safe around direct, honest people. They speak their minds, and we know where we stand with them.

Indirect people, people who are afraid to say who they are, what they want, and what they’re feeling, cannot be trusted. They will somehow act out their truth even though they do not speak it. And it may catch everyone by surprise.

Directness saves time and energy. It removes us as victims. It dispenses with martyrdom and games. It helps us own our power. It creates respectful relationships.

It feels safe to be around direct, honest people. Be one.

Today, I will own my power to be direct. I do not have to be passive, nor do I need to be aggressive. I will become comfortable with my own truth, so those around me can become comfortable with me.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 11

I spent twenty years before someone told me I could cut my losses.

~Michael K.

If we were thinking about spending a huge amount of money on a big house, you can bet we’d check first to see if the roof leaked or the basement flooded. We tend to be very careful about making major investments—and with good reason. Most of us just can’t afford to make a big mistake. Why, then, do so many of us jump so carelessly into relationships?

Before committing ourselves to a large emotional investment, we can examine the total “package.” We have every right to look very closely at a prospective relationship, to check it out, and to make a clear-eyed determination. Is the big draw that they “need” us? Beware. Is the person free, in fact, to make a relationship? Can the person function as a responsible adult? Is the person as committed to personal growth as we are?

If the relationship is healthy and growth-oriented, we need hesitate no longer. We can enter it knowing our optimism comes from positive, not negative, motives.

Today, I will think about my time and energy as my “capital.” I will ask my Higher Power to help me spend it wisely.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 12

Happiness is the sense that one matters.

~Sarah Trimmer

Often during our active addiction, we acted as if nothing mattered. We often treated people as if they didn’t matter unless they could be of some use to us. We acted as if we didn’t need others because we had our alcohol or drugs. Slowly we were choking off happiness. We didn’t see that when we acted as if nothing mattered, we were calling ourselves nothing. Void of happiness, filled with doubts, fears, anger, and self-pity, we found our way into recovery.

From the first day we entered, people have been telling us that we matter, to keep coming back. Over time we found ourselves laughing with people instead of at people. We could see that things mattered and that we mattered. As we did this, we found happiness returning. We smiled more. We laughed more—even at ourselves. We discovered that the world needs us.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, fill me with happiness. Help me to smile, laugh, and see that I matter. Help me live a life of joy.
Today's Action

Today I will try to see if I can make someone who is down smile and realize that he or she matters.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 13

We have too many high sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them.

~Abigail Adams

It is easier to talk about what we are going to do than to actually do it. We make good resolutions and can use fine phrases to express our intentions. But when it comes right down to it, we often fail to deliver.

Of course it is important to want to do good and to talk about it. But if we get lost in our addiction, we will find that the outside world tends to become shadowy and insubstantial compared to our obsessions. I want to help him with that task; I’d like to give her a surprise on her birthday—but in the meantime, it’s fantasy as usual. In our addiction we don’t have time or energy for other people. Obsession takes time; compulsion costs money. So the world must wait a while…

In recovery we grow tired of living this way, so isolated and self-absorbed. It takes time, patience, and support to break out and start to live again, but we can do it. We owe it to ourselves to turn good intentions into results in the real world.

I’m turning thoughts into actions and connecting with real, live people.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart: Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction*

[bluidkiti]

May 14

Accepting Ourselves

Wherever you go, there you are.

~Anonymous

There was once a time when we thought the grass was greener on the other side of the road. We knew people with whom we would trade lives in a minute. We even searched out new identities in new towns and cities. We thought we were looking for life when we changed our geography. The truth was different: we were really trying to escape our lives.

Somebody once said the only problem with taking a trip is having to take ourselves. How true this was for us before we found the program. Our biggest fear in finding who we really were was that we’d discover we were no different than we appeared to be.

Our challenge in recovery has been to learn to love ourselves. We have had to be forgiven for the shabby way we’ve treated ourselves.

I am a person with faults to be sure, but I am basically good and getting better, one day at a time. Wherever I go, I’m happy to find that there l am.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 15

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

~Pliny the Elder

Since we’ve begun working our Twelve Step program, we’ve become certain of some very important things: The present moment is all we need to concern ourselves with; God is taking care of us; prayer and meditation are how we know this. Thus we have the tools for handling any situation.

We can also be fairly certain that God’s guidance will influence us to choose acts of love and forgiveness in any given encounter with another person. But we can’t control and can never be certain how another person will respond in any situation, no matter how loving our actions. There’s no certainty that our relationships will remain constant. We can’t prevent rejection and abandonment by others if that is their decision. But we can be certain that God will still be there to help us, and that if we remain open to God’s guidance, God will lead us safely through each moment’s experience.

Today I will enjoy the certainties that having God as my companion bring.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 16

AA Thought for the Day

In AA we find fellowship and release and strength. And having found these things, the real reasons for our drinking are taken away. Then drinking has no more justification in our minds. We no longer need to fight against drink. Drink just naturally leaves us. At first, we are sorry that we can’t drink, but we get so that we are glad that we don’t have to drink. Am I glad that I don’t have to drink?
Meditation for the Day

Try never to judge. The human mind is so delicate and so complex that only its Maker can know it wholly. Each mind is so different—led to act by such different motives, controlled by such different circumstances, influenced by such different suffering—you cannot know all the influences that have gone to make up a personality. Therefore, it is impossible for you to judge wholly that personality. But God knows that person wholly and He can change it. Leave to God the unraveling of the puzzles of personality. And leave it to God to teach you the proper understanding.
Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may not judge other people. I pray that I may be certain that God can set right what is wrong in every personality.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 17

Life is for enjoying. It is not a race to see how much you can get done.

~Jill Clark

Before we quit using alcohol and other drugs, we wasted precious hours, days, maybe years. Consequently, we feel we must make up for lost time. We make promises and commitments we don’t have the time or the energy to fulfill. This is a normal response to hindsight. After all, we missed many wonderful opportunities when our focus was on getting and staying high.

Making up for the past is different from making the most of each twenty-four hours. It’s not how much we accomplish in life but how we treat others along the way that counts. We can accomplish our daily tasks while being kind to other people. But choosing the latter as the more important action will bring a far greater sense of well-being than trying to move mountains.

I will get done everything I really need to do today if I focus on being kind to those who cross my path.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 18

Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies…

~Erich Fromm

A robin comes alive by breaking out of its shell. The small bird struggles to break out of the safety of the blue egg. Once out, it struggles to grow, slowly learning how to eat, walk, and fly.

We, too, struggle as we grow. There is brokenness in all of our lives—broken hearts and broken dreams. Yet these experiences open our way to a world of growing. We find comfort in the presence of a Power greater than ourselves, in the same way a baby bird finds warmth near the body of its mother. We, too, can grow stronger every day, learning to take in nourishment and trying out our new wings.

What struggles have made me as strong as I am today?

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

[bluidkiti]

May 19

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 on 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.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 20

Often the wisdom of the body clarifies the despair of the spirit.

~Marion Woodman

The unity of body and spirit becomes more real for us as we learn to listen to the messages our bodies give. Perhaps if we are frequently ill with a cold we are hiding from the fact that we are discouraged and in need of something for our spirit. We all face the problems at times of sleeplessness or backaches or allergies. These are not moral problems but problems that go with being human. When we are open to the spirit dimension, we look for the part that may express a message from our spiritual selves.

As we notice our physical selves today, we perhaps feel a tension in a muscle or a sensation somewhere that can speak to us about our deeper feelings. The message may not be clear at first. Spiritual messages are not quick answers, but if we listen to our questions a while, the answers may gradually become clear. Simply being open to the messages strengthens us for our tasks and deepens our spiritual self-awareness.

Today, I am learning to listen to the wisdom of my own body.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 21

From early infancy onward we all incorporate into our lives the message we receive concerning our self-worth, or lack of self-worth, and this sense of value is to be found beneath our actions and feelings as a tangled network of self-perception.

~Christina Baldwin

Lifting our self-esteem is not a particularly easy task for most of us. It's probable that again and again our confidence wavered before we sought help from the program. It's also probable that our confidence still wanes on occasion. The old fears don't disappear without effort.

But each day we can do some one thing that will help us to feel better about ourselves. All it takes is one small act or decision, each day. The program can give us the strength we need each day to move forward one step.

Today, I will do one thing I've been putting off. A whole collection of "one days" will lay the groundwork for the person I'm building within.

Today's reading is from the book Each Day a New Beginning: Daily meditations for Women*

[bluidkiti]

May 22

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, we gradually dissolve the walls we built around ourselves.

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…

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

[bluidkiti]

May 23

Reflection for the Day

I know today that I no longer have to proceed on my own. I’ve learned that it’s safer, more sensible, and surer to move forward with friends who are going in the same direction as I am. None of us needs to feel shame at using help, since we all help each other. It’s no more a sign of weakness to use help in recovering from my addiction than it is to use a crutch if I have a broken leg. To those who need it, and to those who see its usefulness, a crutch is a beautiful thing. Do I sometimes still refuse to accept easily obtained assistance?
Today I Pray

Higher Power, make me see that it is not a sign of weakness to ask for help, that the camaraderie of the group is what makes it work for each of us. Like a vaccine for diphtheria or polio, the program and the strength of the group have proved themselves as preventives for slips and backsliding. For the tools of recovery, I praise my Higher Power.
Today I Will Remember

Help is as near as my phone.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 24

Trying to manage too much makes our lives unmanageable.

Efficiency is great! Accomplishments are, too. Being responsible and accountable are notable qualities. But demanding too much responsibility, accountability and efficiency of ourselves puts us on an activity treadmill that steals our peace of mind. When we try to manage everything, we soon feel overwhelmed, and our self-esteem plummets.

Getting well in this program means discovering that we don’t have to do anything to be okay. We don’t have to be good managers to be worthy. Taking responsibility for our actions is still necessary, but our Higher Power loves us regardless of how much we get done today. Our only real “assignment” is to love and be thoughtful of other people all day long.

If I can manage my actions toward others today, I will have done enough. That assignment I can handle.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

[bluidkiti]

May 25

What panic makes you want to die?

~James Baldwin

The presence in our lives of love, success, growth, abundance, and recovery may disturb us. Such positive change may contradict what we once expected for ourselves.

Doubt, fear, and the urge for self-sabotage aren’t unusual when we begin experiencing profound changes for the good. It’s tempting to lapse into old thinking and old behavior patterns that, although they’re uncomfortable, are at least familiar to us.

But we needn’t surrender to self-destructive impulses. At such moments we can slow down and take deep breaths. We can acknowledge the darkness we’ve put behind us, affirming that our Higher Power does not wish us to return to it. Rather than acting on fear and doubt, we can talk with others who’ve been there and who remind us to believe in ourselves and in our Higher Power’s unconditional love for us. We can remain still for a time and absorb the sense of how far we’ve come. We can then continue moving forward on our chosen path.

Today, I needn’t let fear or doubt take charge of my thinking. I keep breathing and look toward the light.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day: Daily Meditations for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People*

[bluidkiti]

May 26

Intimacy

We can let ourselves be close to people.

Many of us have deeply ingrained patterns for sabotaging relationships. Some of us may instinctively terminate a relationship once it moves to a certain level of closeness and intimacy.

When we start to feel close to someone, we may zero in on one of the person’s character defects, then make it so big it’s all we can see. We may withdraw, or push the person away to create distance. We may start criticizing the other person, a behavior sure to create distance.

We may start trying to control the person, a behavior that prevents intimacy.

We may tell ourselves we don’t want or need another person, or smother the person with our needs.

Sometimes, we defeat ourselves by trying to be close to people who aren’t available for intimacy—people with active addictions, or people who don’t choose to be close to us. Sometimes, we choose people with particular faults so that when it comes time to be close, we have an escape hatch.

We’re afraid, and we fear losing ourselves. We’re afraid that closeness means we won’t be able to own our power to take care of ourselves.

In recovery, we’re learning that it’s okay to let ourselves be close to people. We’re choosing to relate to safe, healthy people, so closeness is a possibility. Closeness doesn’t mean we have to lose ourselves, or our life. As one man said, we’re learning that we can own our power with people, even when we’re close, even when the other person has something we need.

Today, I will be available for closeness and intimacy with people, when that’s appropriate. Whenever possible, I will let myself be who I am, let others be who they are, and enjoy the bond and good feelings between us.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 27

Prayer

Who comes from prayer a better man, his prayer is answered.

~George Meredith

We learn that prayer is only a wish away. When we wished for recovery more than anything in the world, we found it. Thus our wishes became our prayers. It was that simple.

We discover in recovery that prayer is best when it is a conversation with a Higher Power. It isn’t just a one-way speech where we tell God what we expect to have happen. It isn’t a time to try to bargain with God. We listen as well as ask. Then meditation joins with prayer.

When life beats us to our knees, our only recourse is to stay on our knees and start praying.

When my prayers aren’t answered right away, that doesn’t mean that God is denying them. The answers will come in God’s time, not mine. The answers will be God’s answers, not mine.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 28

It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day?to?day basis.

~Margaret Bonnano

It is said, “The moment is our link to eternity, to the Divine.” Recovery gives us many messages about living in the moment: “Easy does it,” “One day at a time,” and “Just for today.”

As active addicts, we used chemicals to alter our relationship with the present. By getting high, we lived disconnected from the moment. Now we are learning that the present moment is our best point of influence. In this moment, we can choose to act from our values or to betray our values. By living in the moment, we stay connected to our Higher Power and our values. With each new day of staying sober and living a life of principles before personality, we increase our chances of doing the same in the future.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, you are found in every moment. Help me seek you out in my everyday life, not in the past or in the future, but now.
Today's Action

Today I will practice living in the moment. If I find myself drifting into the past or the future, I will come back to the moment.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 29

I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.

~Michel de Montaigne

One of our tools of recovery is reading. Most of our groups have daily meditation books from which we read aloud, and many of us read a meditation each day at home. We find that the writing, short and compressed, helps us to collect our thoughts, and then our minds and feelings expand outward beyond our reading.

Reading is not only entertainment; it is a kind of silent conversation with ourselves. And as we browse through our favorite books, we carry on a dialogue with old friends. We are taken out of ourselves and moved more deeply into the process of living.

As addicts, we need this dialogue. Most of us are often locked away in our worlds of fantasy and fear. We need the kind of intimacy that can come from reading, and we need the interaction and stimulus that inspiring books give us. We can move out and talk about them with our friends and enlarge our circle of knowledge and experience.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to read, which takes me out of myself.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart: Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction*

[bluidkiti]

May 30

The sweet remembrance of the just
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust.

~Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady

Memorial Day is a time for solemn reflection on those who gave the ultimate gift—life itself—for our freedom. Depending on our own or our loved ones’ wartime experiences, this day comes and goes with much or little observance.

Recovering adult children can find meaning in this day by thinking of those who have gone before them—both those who died without knowing that recovery was possible and those who paid dearly for the opportunities we now have. The meetings we attend were started somewhere by someone who was, no doubt, hesitant and uncertain. The first people who identified themselves as adult children and struggled to tell their story may or may not still be alive. Most certainly they are little remembered, if they were ever known at all.

We have many blessings available to us today because someone was willing to pay the price yesterday. Let us gratefully remember those who cleared the path that we now walk.

Today, I feel at one with all adult children. I am grateful for the opportunities they created for me.

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

[bluidkiti]

May 31

The crucial task of old age is balance.

~Florida Scott-Maxwell

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 everything 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.

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