[bluidkiti]

March 19

Step by Step

Today, if some destructive emotion like self-pity or anger pops up and tells me I can’t do anything right, I can say with honesty that alcoholism is one thing I did very right and did to a tee – and take the energy I applied to get drunk and thrust it on my recovery. The energy I used to get drunk will be spent instead on AA’s first four words – “Admitted (I am) powerless …” – and on the willingness to surrender my will to a higher power, on the diligence and honesty needed for the subsequent steps, and on being in service to others instead of myself. Today, I can have hope that I can do something good, something right because, if I can do drinking to perfection, I need only take a 180-degree turn and do recovery – certainly not to perfection, but at least getting started. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

LAUGHTER

The most useless day of all is that which we have not laughed.

~ Sebastien R.N. Chamfort ~

When we wallowed in the self-pity of obsession, we were sure we’d never laugh again. How easy it was to weep, alone and secretly, inspired by sad music like “Born to Lose” or “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

What a shock it was to hear people laugh in our first few meetings! How could they laugh about something as serious as addiction? What an awakening when we were able to join the laughter!

We laughed with them as they laughed at the sad objects they once were. Today we can also laugh for pure joy at being free of restraints, and in gratitude for the resolve not to return to our old ways. We can laugh just for being alive.

Laughter is a source of growth for me. It keeps me thinking positively. It reduces the stress of problems. It tells me that any effort at progress is worthwhile. Laughter is progress.

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

Next time you’re feeling at odds with yourself make a list of your good qualities… things like generosity and patience and thrift. It will surprise you to discover how nice you really are.

~ Audrey Com ~

Some days we just feel out of sorts and down on our-selves. In this program, we place great importance on self-inventories. We confront our defects and our wrongs, and we make lists of them to hold ourselves responsible. Any good inventory counts both assets and liabilities. On a day when we feel burdened with guilt or weakness, we ought to remind ourselves of the best of who we are. Remember good deeds that we have done. Remember what we do well, and don’t minimize those assets. If we are going to build on our strengths, we have to see them for what they are.

Our attitude toward ourselves and toward life is partly a matter of mental discipline. It does no good for anyone if we sit passively in our negativity. We can learn to affirm that we are children of creation, and we have a right to be here. In spite of our imperfections, we are a force for good.

Today I will carry in my thoughts some of my good qualities.

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

With one foot in the past and the other in the future, how can we possibly know what new path we might follow today?

~ Jan Pishok ~

Now is all there is. But how often, really, are our minds in the present? Honestly, aren’t we much more focused on what just happened or what we fear will happen in the next hour or day or year? Being here, now, means giving up the past absolutely. It also means relinquishing all thoughts about the future. Occupying our minds with the experience of this instant only seems hard to do. We’re far more used to greater chaos than what we experience solely in the here and now.

We have a direction that’s right for us. Unfortunately, we miss the road signs because we are still looking over our shoulder at what we passed yesterday. The destiny we need, needs us too. Quietly focusing on our lives, one moment at a time, can assure us of fulfilling it.

Letting go of the noise I carry in my mind changes my life. I can feel and acknowledge what’s here when my mind is open.

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

I want to right my wrongs

I’ve done some things in my life that I know hurt other people. Many are minor, a few are major. From time to time, I’ve been troubled by these regrettable acts. Until recently, I didn’t know what I could do about them.

But in the Twelve Step program, there’s Step Nine to help me out. It tells me to acknowledge the harm I’ve done. Chances are that if I apologize and make things right, if I do whatever is necessary, I can feel more at peace with myself. While making amends can be hard at times, I realize now that I can no longer afford a burden of guilt. I can’t risk relapse to addiction or to my psychiatric illness. With the help of my higher power, I can do Step Nine.

I can practice making amends by apologizing the next time I offend someone.

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

Happy the man who could search out the causes of things.

~ Virgil ~

Honesty is the foundation of recovery. In active addiction we lied to everyone, most of all to ourselves. Dishonesty was a way of life for us, as natural as breathing. To recover, we must eliminate it. But first we must learn what it means to be honest. We must eliminate the lies, cover-ups, minimizing, and rationalizations that kept us in active addiction. We must surrender to the truth of what we did and who we were.

Honesty asks that we be alert to the gray areas of dishonesty, the hidden lies. Are we easing up on the serious work of recovery because we’re too tired or too busy? We need to examine our behavior and feelings for the real truth: “Am I really too tired, or am I looking for an excuse to relapse? Have I accepted my Higher Power, or am I still trying to do it alone?”

It takes time to understand ourselves, to recognize the everyday dishonesty that can hurt our recovery. But as we learned to be dishonest, we can learn to be honest. Now we have the comfort and support of the fellowship and our Higher Power to help us.

Today help me be honest with myself and others. Help me recognize my dishonest behavior even when it’s disguised as truth.

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

I am an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.

~ Carl Sandburg ~

To paraphrase the Big Book, when you focus on what is bad in a day, you may view your day as a bad one. But when you focus on what is good in a day, you can view your day as a good one. It is all in how you look at things and how you will interpret what you have been given: good or bad.

The program teaches that in order to be clean and sober, you need to conquer negativity and negative phrases. Recovery is not focused on such advisories as “You should not drink or drug.” Instead, recovery is focused on a simple statement: “Just for today, I will not use or abuse.” That statement allows you to make a choice and shift your perspective from what you cannot do to what you can and will do.

When you make choices based on optimism, you empower yourself in ways that enable you to see your life as one that is filled with opportunities and growth.

Today I will change my interpretation of what I have been given from the negative to the positive. I will begin each day with a positive outlook, and I will bring positive energy into all that I do and say.

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

Like the body that is made up of different limbs and organs, all mortal creatures exist depending upon one another.

~ Hindu proverb ~

We may have believed only we could solve our problems and satisfy our needs. Or we may have been super-responsible about caring for others, yet negligent in caring for ourselves. “I’ll take care of it,” may have been our most-used phrase.

There are some things only we can do for our emotional, physical, and spiritual health: eat right, exercise, get plenty of rest, pray and meditate on a daily basis. Yet there are needs we cannot take care of alone: solving all our problems, comforting ourselves, developing intimacy with others, feeling loved and cared for. Those things need to come from others.

Imagine how dependent we would be on others if we lost our eyesight or hearing or mobility. We don’t need a physical handicap to ask for help. We have in-visible handicaps that are linked to our emotional and spiritual needs. To mend them, we must ask others for help and guidance. We cannot do it alone.

Tonight instead of saying, “I’ll take care of it,” I can ask, “Will you help me?”

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

Removing defects

Through working the Steps we can discover which of our character traits are valuable and which no longer work for us. And very, very gradually, as we grow in the program, we can let go of the traits that aren’t working.

We have suffered much because of our imperfections. When we are ready to quit suffering, we will be willing to ask that these defects of character be removed, one at a time. When we are willing to work at them a day at a time, we will discover miraculous changes beginning to take place in ourselves.

Am I letting go of all my defects?

Higher Power, I am entirely ready and willing to have my defects of character removed.

The defect I will work on letting go of today is

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

I still have my days when I have trouble, and I have to sit down and think about how far I’ve come.

~ WOMAN IN RECOVERY ~

Newcomer

I’m overwhelmed again. There’s so much that I should get done today, so much ahead that scares me. I feel sick and Indecisive, I’ve heard the slogan “First things first,” but I don’t know where to begin.

Sponsor

First, I suggest that you give yourself some credit for what you’ve already accomplished today. Yes, you have accomplished something. Here you are, awake: you’ve started an-other day of your new life in recovery. You know that no matter what happens today, you don’t have to use an addictive substance. You’re identifying some feelings and reaching out for help. All this is significantly different from old patterns of behavior.

“First things first” is a reminder that we can set priorities. The first priority for every single one of us in recovery is not picking up an addictive substance. Without recovery, none of the other things in our lives will have much chance to come to fruition. We have to save our lives first. If we need meetings, phone calls, or prayer to keep from losing recovery, we put those needs at the top of our list. Then we can sort out the rest and list things in order of importance.

Today, I celebrate how far I’ve come. I set priorities and keep recovery at the top of my list. I take small actions that get me closer to my goals.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

No man ever lived without a God of some kind. If it was not the God of Abraham or the Christian conception, it was the sun, or Nature or thunder or mythical gods. It was golden images or idols of wood, and to some it was money, or position or fame. We all had a God even if it was no more than a bottle.

No man, however brave, would have the temerity to face the forces of Nature and a hostile world unless he had recourse to something beyond his own puny strength.

Every time I hear an atheist sounding off I always think of the days when I denied the fact that I was an alcoholic, knowing, deep down inside, that I was kidding myself.

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

1) HALT: Happy, Appreciative, Lovable, Teachable.

2) When in doubt, leave it out.

3) Alcohol: It provokes the desire but takes away the performance.

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

I Promise Myself!

Today I pray:

To promise myself to be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet. 
To make all of my friends feel that there is some-thing in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

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

THE PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE

Externally, the Bible is a collection of inspired documents written by men of all kinds, in all sorts of circumstances, and over hundreds of years of time. The documents are seldom original, but redactions and compilation of older fragments; and the names of the actual writers are seldom known for certain. This, however, does not affect the spiritual purpose of the Bible. The book, as we have it, is an inexhaustible reservoir of spiritual Truth, compiled under divine inspiration, and the actual route by which it reached its present form does not matter.

History, biography, lyrical and other poetic forms are various mediums through which the spiritual message is given in the Bible; and above all, the parable is used to convey spiritual and metaphysical truth. In some cases what was never intended to be more than a parable was, at one time, taken for literal statement of fact; and this often made the Bible seem to teach things that are opposed to common sense.

The spiritual key to the Bible rescues us from these difficulties, dilemmas, and seeming inconsistencies. And the Truth turns out to be nothing less than the amazing but undeniable fact that the whole outer world—whether it be the physical body the common things of life, the winds and the rain, the clouds, the earth itself—is amenable to man’s thought, and that he has dominion over it when he knows it.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet (Psalm 8:6).

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

The Holiest Orange

From you I receive, to you I give. Together we share, from this we live.

~ Rabbis Joseph and Nathan Siegel ~

On the Jewish holiday of Purim, it is the custom for neighbors to visit each others’ houses with gifts of fruit. One Purim, three men on a business trip found themselves miles from civilization with but one orange between them. One man took the orange in his hands, held it close to his heart, turned to another man and told him, “My dear Chaim, with this orange I give you all my love, and I pray that God grants you a life of peace and plenty.”

Chaim appreciatively accepted the orange and faced the third man, telling him, “My brother Yosef, this is a symbol of my deepest thanks for your friendship in my life. I wish you all the happiness your heart desires.”

Yosef, nearly in tears, received the fruit and turned to the first man. “Beloved Jacob, you are a true man of God. May the angels of mercy walk by your side and return to you a thousandfold all the good you give.”

Jacob received the orange and, brimming with ecstasy, gave it to Yosef again with an additional blessing. So the three men went on all night, adding more and more love to the orange until their souls were filled beyond measure.

The only gifts we truly have to offer one another are the gifts of spirit. Physical objects are but cups we fill with love. A gift, no matter how expensive, is not a gift unless it is given with sincerity and kindness. Even if our physical means are meager, if we imbue a gift with intention, it will bless the receiver in the deepest way.

Let my words and actions be filled only with love. Let me use all the means of this world to magnify the divine presence.

I give from my heart, and I am filled in the giving.