bluidkiti
06-25-2023, 06:28 AM
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.
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.
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AA Thought for the Day
June 26
Now
Now is the time, the only time there is.
And if we are not kind to ourselves right now, we certainly cannot rightfully expect respect
or consideration from others.
We have found we can enjoy, sober, every good thing we enjoyed while drinking -- and many, many more.
It takes a little practice, but the rewards more than make up for the effort. . .
Unless we cherish our own recovery, we cannot survive to become unselfish, ethical,
and socially responsible people.
- Living Sober, p. 42
Thought to Ponder . . .
Self-esteem doesn't need an audience.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
N O W = No Other Way.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Surrender
"We surrender to win.
On the face of it, surrendering certainly does not
seem like winning.
But it is in AA.
Only after we have come to the end of our rope,
hit a stone wall in some aspect of our lives
beyond which we can go no further;
only when we hit "bottom" in despair and surrender,
can we accomplish sobriety
which we could never accomplish before.
We must, and we do,
surrender in order to win."
1955AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd Edition, p. 341
Thought to Consider . . .
Acceptance is not submission;
it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation,
then deciding what you're going to do about it.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H O W = Honest, Open, and Willing
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Bottom
>From Medicine Looks at Alcoholics Anonymous":
"I heard of the need to hit bottom, of the necessity for accepting a higher Power, of the indispensability of humility.
These were ideas which had never crossed my professional horizon and certainly had never influenced my
nonprofessional thinking or attitudes. Revolutionary as they were, they nevertheless made sense, and I found myself
embarked on a tour of discovery.
"The individual alcoholic was always fighting an admission of being licked, of admitting that he was powerless. If and
when he surrendered, he quit fighting, admitted he was licked, and accepted the fact that he was powerless and
needed help. If he did not surrender, a thousand crises could hit him and nothing constructive would happen. The need
to induce surrender became a new therapeutic goal. The miracle of A.A. was now a little clearer, though the reason
was still obscure why the program and the fellowship of A.A. could induce a surrender which could in turn lead to a
period of no drinking." -- Dr. Harry Tiebout, 1955
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 247
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"I know that my errors of yesterday still have their effect; that my shortcomings of today may likewise affect our future.
So it is, with each and all of us."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1965
"Responsibility Is Our Theme"
The Language of the Heart
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to
Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give
freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the
Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you
trudge the Road of Happy Destiny."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 164~
"Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a
seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we
laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 132~
" The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house ."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 98 (Working With Others
"This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 31 (Step Two)
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
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.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, keep me out of my own will, and actively working to build my faith throughout my day.
Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.
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.
************************************************** *********
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.
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AA Thought for the Day
June 26
Now
Now is the time, the only time there is.
And if we are not kind to ourselves right now, we certainly cannot rightfully expect respect
or consideration from others.
We have found we can enjoy, sober, every good thing we enjoyed while drinking -- and many, many more.
It takes a little practice, but the rewards more than make up for the effort. . .
Unless we cherish our own recovery, we cannot survive to become unselfish, ethical,
and socially responsible people.
- Living Sober, p. 42
Thought to Ponder . . .
Self-esteem doesn't need an audience.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
N O W = No Other Way.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Surrender
"We surrender to win.
On the face of it, surrendering certainly does not
seem like winning.
But it is in AA.
Only after we have come to the end of our rope,
hit a stone wall in some aspect of our lives
beyond which we can go no further;
only when we hit "bottom" in despair and surrender,
can we accomplish sobriety
which we could never accomplish before.
We must, and we do,
surrender in order to win."
1955AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, 2nd Edition, p. 341
Thought to Consider . . .
Acceptance is not submission;
it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation,
then deciding what you're going to do about it.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H O W = Honest, Open, and Willing
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Bottom
>From Medicine Looks at Alcoholics Anonymous":
"I heard of the need to hit bottom, of the necessity for accepting a higher Power, of the indispensability of humility.
These were ideas which had never crossed my professional horizon and certainly had never influenced my
nonprofessional thinking or attitudes. Revolutionary as they were, they nevertheless made sense, and I found myself
embarked on a tour of discovery.
"The individual alcoholic was always fighting an admission of being licked, of admitting that he was powerless. If and
when he surrendered, he quit fighting, admitted he was licked, and accepted the fact that he was powerless and
needed help. If he did not surrender, a thousand crises could hit him and nothing constructive would happen. The need
to induce surrender became a new therapeutic goal. The miracle of A.A. was now a little clearer, though the reason
was still obscure why the program and the fellowship of A.A. could induce a surrender which could in turn lead to a
period of no drinking." -- Dr. Harry Tiebout, 1955
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 247
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"I know that my errors of yesterday still have their effect; that my shortcomings of today may likewise affect our future.
So it is, with each and all of us."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1965
"Responsibility Is Our Theme"
The Language of the Heart
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to
Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give
freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the
Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you
trudge the Road of Happy Destiny."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 164~
"Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a
seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we
laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 132~
" The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house ."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 98 (Working With Others
"This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 31 (Step Two)
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
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.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, keep me out of my own will, and actively working to build my faith throughout my day.
Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7