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March 21

Step by Step

Today, the Seventh Step and asking a higher power, in willingness and humility, for the knowledge to let go of our character defects, chief among them anger and resentment. But Step Six warns that we must be “entirely ready” to release those defects. So how do I become “entirely ready?” If we find ourselves obsessed with anger or resentment against someone or something, even justifiably – to the extent that anger and resentment can be justified – and we play out in tje mind a scenario of “revenge,” we are thwarting a potential higher quality of sobriety than we might otherwise have. And, if for no other reason, we empower the person or situation that we resent to the extent that they actually control us. Then it’s time to let go of the anger and resentment and leave to a higher power whoever or whatever angers me us. Today, entirely ready, ask a higher power to take the emotions we cannot handle and for the discipline not to take them back. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

FRIENDSHIP

The only reward for virtue, the only way to have a friend is to be one.

~ Emerson ~

Friendship is not a one-word motto to be hung on a wall. Friends are not statues to decorate a mantle. Friendships are as real to us as love and gratitude, and friends are as much a part of all our lives as the air we breathe.

Without friends we could not enjoy the full benefits of recovery. All the truths we follow daily we receive from friends through hearing and reading their messages but mostly by watching them in action. Our primary goal is to add to our wisdom by giving. Without friendships, our caring and sharing would be empty gestures.

None of us needs ever to be alone again, because each of us in our own way works for the good in others. We are bound together with a common problem and work together on a solution.

If I permit myself to become incapable of friendship, I will find that I will be unable to reveal myself to others and to my inner self.

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

Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!’’

~ Robin Williams ~

Our lives are always enriched when we get closer to nature. In springtime, just going for a walk around the block can lift our spirits. Sometimes we feel blue, or we are overwhelmed with emotions that are painful or frightening. Even when our feelings are based on real concerns, we need to manage them in order to confront difficult situations. One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to get outside.

Putting ourselves under the open sky, feeling the weather against our skin, and moving our muscles in a walk or a run changes our emotions and relieves tension. During the worst of times we may have a hard time making ourselves go out and move. But when we do, we always feel better. Spring is nature’s promise that nothing is forever. Change and new life are sure to come.

Today I welcome spring as the metaphor that life is constantly being renewed and refreshed.

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

The willingness and courage to trust and accept our feelings brings peace of mind and the knowledge that all is well.

~ Abby Warman ~

There is no shame in whatever we feel. Our feelings are products of our thoughts. If our feelings are uncomfortable, perhaps we should consider monitoring our thoughts. We can always change them if they’re causing us pain. It’s important to remember that our feelings serve as signals of who we are at the moment and what we think about others. They serve us like friends, even when we don’t like what they tell us.

We came to this program for help to stop using chemicals. But that’s only the beginning of the help we are receiving. The other women at meetings and the literature suggested as resources for growth help us understand how lucky we are to have an illness we can recover from and a program that guarantees our well-being.

I will appreciate my feelings today. Whatever they are, I know that all is well.

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

It will help if I don’t compare

I see my friends with houses and cars. They’re raising families, advancing their careers. I want what they have. I deserve what they have. They’re not better than I am. This is not fair.

When I get feeling like this, I know that I’m not accepting myself. It’s difficult to do with addiction and psychiatric illness, but I find I need to do it again and again. No, my friends are not better than I am. No, it’s is not fair. But I am who I am: a good person in recovery from two no-fault illnesses. And I am doing the best I can.

Today I will acknowledge my grief and focus on today’s recovery.

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

Being fearless isn’t courage; courage is doing the right thing even though you are afraid.

~ Jean L. ~

Every frightening situation offers us a chance to grow. Some of us thought that in recovery all roads would be paved with gold, that all problems would be instantly, magically solved. We soon discovered, though, that things weren’t that easy; life just doesn’t work that way. But as we met and solved problems, as we conquered our fears and faced life on its own terms, we learned we’re richer for every challenge that comes our way.

An easy ride can’t teach us how to handle a bumpy road. Strength and character come from experiencing and overcoming our fears, not running away from them. Working through our problems teaches us how to deal with a similar problem next time, how to capitalize on our strengths, and how to shore up our weaknesses. Adversity shows us our limits, how much stress and anger we can handle, how to take care of ourselves, and how to be truly independent. Now, in frightening situations, we still feel afraid, our hearts pound, our knees knock, and our hands shake. But we’ve learned that the flip side of fear is self-confidence and self-love.

Today grant me the help 1 need to solve the problems I might encounter.

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

The difficult things of this world must once have been easy; the great things of this world must once have been small. Set about difficult things while they are still easy; do great things while they are still small.

~ Taoism ~

Before you entered the program, your life was likely filled with chaos and disruption. Because your top priority was your addiction, everything else became secondary. Today you are free from your addiction, but you may still live with chaos and disruption. You may not pay attention to things until they reach a crisis stage.

Handling events before they get out of hand is like practicing preventive medicine. Rather than be rushed to the hospital with a heart attack, it is better to eat right every day and exercise. Taking such action can avert future trouble or keep a bad situation from growing worse.

Today resolve to be a troubleshooter rather than a troublemaker. Think of those things you usually put off until the last minute. Consider what tasks you have not yet completed. Pay attention to those who need your attention. Ask, “What needs to be taken care of today?” Then step up and face your responsibilities.

I would rather handle things effectively than move from one crisis to the next. Today I will take care of my personal and professional responsibilities while they are still manageable.

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

Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

~ Saint Francis de Sales ~

Today may have been filled with tense people, hectic schedules, or confusion and anger from those around us. We live and interact with a variety of situations that can range from slightly stressful to very stressful. How we handle ourselves in those situations can determine our inner peace. We can be like an amoeba and suck up the surrounding mood and con-form to it, or we can remain detached from the situation and be in touch with ourselves.

Just because the environment around us is like a battlefield or is so uncomfortable we want to squirm, that doesn’t mean we have to prepare for battle or move about restlessly. Whatever is happening outside of us is somebody else’s issue. Our most important is-sue is us and our own inner peace. The only way our inner peace can change is if we allow it. We are in control of our inner selves—not the world around us.

I can remain calm and serene in the face of any crises because of my strong faith. I believe all is well with me.

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

Nurturing new growth

Spring is a time of new and beautiful growth. There can be growth for us, too. We have spent too long in the fall and winter of our lives, the mind-altering chemicals filtering the sunshine and fading the flowers. Finally, our lives appeared empty and dead.

But like earth at the end of winter, there is still life within us. And when we make the conditions suitable, using abstinence, pa-tience, and love, our lives will again bring forth new growth.

Am I returning or preparing for new growth?

Higher Power, may I feel your love shine down on me to help me grow.

I will prepare for new growth today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

We feel and know that we are eternal

~ BARUCH SPINOZA ~

Newcomer

I’m feeling anxious and overwhelmed. My mind is tormenting me. I could hardly sit still at the meeting I went to. How am I going to get through the rest of the day?

Sponsor

When I’m anxious, I seem to forget to breathe properly, so let’s bring our attention to our breathing, and inhale and exhale gently but deeply. Let’s breathe in a way that feels natural, not holding our breath at any point, so that the inhalation continues naturally into the exhalation. Let’s visualize bringing breath into the belly, as if we were breathing in and out through the navel.

As thoughts and distractions come into the mind, we notice that they’re there, but we don’t worry about them. We let them keep flowing out gently and easily, like the breath.

For these moments, there is nowhere else we have to be, nothing at all that we have to do. The past no longer exists. The future hasn’t been born yet. We are here in this moment. Our bodies are breathing for us. Body and mind are one. There is only the present moment.

After our brief meditation, we feel centered and energized. We can use this technique to lower our stress levels whenever we wish.

Today, I gently bring myself into the present moment.
I remember to breathe.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Jobs are as good or as bad as the mental attitude we have toward them. No man holds a job but what some other man is envious of him on its account and every job has its good and bad points.

Too often we hear the excuse that the job was the cause of the drinking, when most frequently it was the drinking that made the job obnoxious.

One man swinging a pick is digging a hole in the ground and his fellow workman beside him is doing his part in the erection of a Temple.

Maybe it’s not the job at fault, maybe it’s your attitude toward it.

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

1) Reason to be grateful: you learn to wake up instead of coming to.

2) It’s a shame that booze doesn’t turn off one’s mouth at the same time it turns off the brain.

3) To thine own self be true!

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

Right Living

Higher Power, deliver me:
From the cowardice that dare not face new truth;
From the laziness that is contented with half-truth;
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth;
These things, good Lord, that I pray for,
Give me the strength to work for.

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

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

The setting forth of the Sermon on the Mount is an almost perfect codification of the religion of Jesus Christ. It covers the essentials. It is practical and personal. It is definite, specific, and yet widely illuminating. Once the true meaning of the instruction has been grasped, it is only necessary to begin putting them into practice to get immediate results. The magnitude and extent of these results will depend solely upon the sincerity and thoroughness with which they are applied. That is a matter which each individual has to settle for himself.

If you really do wish to become a different person altogether in the sight of God and man, then Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, has clearly shown you how it is to be done.

If you are prepared to break with the old man, an start upon the creation of the new one, then the study of the great Sermon will indeed be to you the Mountain of Liberation.

…But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22).

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

Life Beginning

Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.

~ John Henry Cardinal Newman ~

I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 17, I was sure my life had come to an end,” Edward told the seminar audience. “I hated the chemotherapy, all the medicalese, and the whole arena of sickness I seemed to enter. Sure, my body didn’t feel good, but my Spirit was dying in all those morbid thoughts. Then, one day I was scheduled for chemotherapy when I discovered that there was a Grateful Dead concert the same night. The concert was much more attractive than the chemo, and I struggled with the decision over what to do. I realized that I had lived my whole life trying to please my parents and make everyone happy. I decided that this was my chance to make myself happy, and I went to the concert. Soon my condition reversed, and I have been cancer free for years. I believe that it was my choice to be kind to myself that made all the difference.”

It is not the years in our life that count, but the life in our years. We may live a long time in a small shell of fear, or a short time in a blaze of celebration. When we follow our spirit and live from joy rather than self-protection, the whole world opens up to us, and we have the power to make our dreams come true.

Cheri Huber declared, “I don’t want to tiptoe through life just to arrive safely at death.” What dreams have you been postponing? What steps could you take now to make them a reality? Do you live from fear or delight? What gift could you give yourself that would remind you that life is beautiful and worth living? Answer these questions honestly, and the road to freedom will be illumined for you.

I want to live today. I want to put my dreams into action.

I want to leave behind all that is not me and fully celebrate my gifts. Thank you for showing me the way to freedom.
Today I begin my life anew. I take my life in my hands and celebrate every wonderful opportunity to soar.