[bluidkiti]

March 24

Step by Step

Today, no looking beyond the current 24 Hours about the length of my sobriety, be it one day, one week, one month, one year, one decade or longer. Alcoholism is chronic and incurable but can be in arrested by abstinence, and all the 24 Hours of clean time we accrue are gone if we buy into the myth that we can get away with “just one.” And “just one” set in motion the basis for relapse. Even if we have racked up a significant number of 24 Hours and we “slip,” we am no more sober than the alcoholic who woke up this morning with a hangover. Remember the yesterdays when we awoke to the harsh reality that the 24 Hours we had before then were gone, and know that our yesterdays are the best predictor of our todays and tomorrows – and learn from yesterday to avoid repeating its mistakes today. Keep the ego in check – the other alcoholic who woke up hung over yesterday but is sober this morning is no less clean than we. Today, when it comes to being and staying sober, take it literally just for today. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

PEACE

Peace is when time doesn’t matter as it passes by.

~ Maria Schell ~

We came into the Program with very little peace in our lives. Somebody or something was always coming by and tipping over our apple cart. Everywhere we turned we found nothing but turmoil. All our relationships seem loaded with pain and anxiety. There were days we cursed God for bringing such chaos into our lives.

The Steps have revealed that we have been the author of turmoil. We have seen how are addiction created war with everything it touched. The energy was within us, and it could not be satisfied until it destroyed everything, including our own lives. The Steps have slain the dragon, quieted the turmoil, won the war. There is now a gentle quality to our relationships, and the attitude of “live and let live” prevails in our lives.

The need to turn my apple cart over to generate excitement has become a distant memory. I have finally found my sought-for peace of mind.

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

Getting angry can sometimes be like leaping into a wonderfully responsive sports car, gunning the motor, taking off at high speed and then discovering the brakes are out of order.

~ Maggie Scarf ~

Anger can multiply our difficulties in many situations. All of us can look back and remember times when we only made our problems worse because we stepped on the gas and lost all ability to use the brakes. Our masculine roles sometimes glorify aggression for its own sake. We are proud of how aggressive we can be, and we may confuse it with anger.

Now we are growing into more adult manhood. We are learning to manage our feelings and use them well. This doesn’t happen overnight. We would do well to recall how energized we have felt when we let our anger fly and how much we loved that energy at the moment. Only later did we face the damage we caused. Saying we are sorry isn’t enough; we must also be willing to take on the harder task of changing our behavior. When we accept that we love the power and the energy of our anger and aggression, we can begin to rein it in and take charge of it rather than be ruled by it.

Today I will not indulge in the pleasure of anger allowed to run wild.

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

My children have a Higher Power, and it’s not me.

~ Carolyn White ~

We all have certain people in our lives, whether they are adults or children, who we think would fare better if they followed our will. Discovering that everyone has a Higher Power, one of the first lessons of recovery, relieves us of a heavy burden. It means we aren’t to blame for what anyone else chooses to do. Of course, we can’t take credit for their successes either.

What would make us want to assume responsibility for how others live? Surely we all have enough to do in our own lives. Perhaps our insecurity drives us to try to control others. We fear their actions won’t include consideration of us unless we interfere. Fortunately, our interference is seldom successful. If it were, our lives would be far more complicated. Crises would be far more prevalent.

I will focus on my life and my Higher Power today. Others’ actions are not my responsibility.

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

I stay strong by “carrying the message”

One way I maintain my duo recovery is to carry the message of recovery to others who still suffer. When I share my experience, strength, and hope with someone who wants help, I recall my own struggles. I remember what has worked for me before and recognize what is working for me today. I stay close to the truth about dual disorders and so stay grateful and humble and strong.

In my dual recovery I am finding out that the more I give, the more I get; the more I help others, the more I help myself.

I will introduce myself at meetings to newcomers and make sure my name is on phone lists.

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

People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.

~ Abigail Van Buren ~

How did we get so convinced that our way is usually best? That surely didn’t come from a lifetime of constant success. How did we get fixed in our thinking on a given issue? Not from a track record of first exploring all other alternatives.

This rigidity probably helped us survive childhood. But now it’s a wall that isolates us. It closes our minds off from ideas that are more in keeping with where we want to be. And it closes us off from people who we would like to be with.

In recovery, we are noticing others who are not so fixed in their thinking. They don’t pass judgment or criticize quickly. Their tranquility is obvious, and we want more of it. Their openness lets them hear more from others, and that is the way to knowledge, change, and growth.

We find that listening to others is now a blessing, not a burden.

Today help me be open to the example of others.

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

The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

~ Eric Hoffer ~

Think about all of the components that go into creating a glowing campfire. There is the pit that must be dug in order to contain the fire. There are the sticks of varying sizes that must be gathered together and organized in the pit. And then there is the spark from a match that is needed to ignite the sticks. From this creation of a camp-fire are many by-products: something that cooks food, something that warms the body, something that produces an exquisite aroma, and something that provides light in the darkness.

Happiness can be seen in much the same way. It is a by-product of all of the positive and enjoyable things you gather together each day. It is the effort you exert into seeking the treasures of life. And it is the spark you add to your day-to-day existence.
Happiness is an outcome of the effort you put into life. It exists in the harmonious relationships you create, in the sense of purpose that awakens you in the morning, and in the feeling of connection to all of life.

Today I will remember that happiness is not something to strive for; rather, it is something I create. It is the outcome of purposeful living.

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

We cannot swing up a rope that is attached only to our own belt

~ William Ernest Hocking ~

Imagine a drowning person waving for help. A passerby picks up a bundle of rope, tosses it all to the victim, then walks away. That drowning person has no way of reaching safety without another’s help. To many of us, that may be a scene from our childhood, where we reached out and asked for help many times, to no avail. Who do we depend on today?

We may not want to place any dependency on any-one but ourselves. But do we truly believe we can provide all the guidance, strength, and hope we need? Even if it is difficult to trust others, we can trust in a Higher Power. That Higher Power doesn’t have to be a god; it can be a belief that all is well, that we are doing just what we need to, that we are safe.

By making a connection with someone or some-thing, we can learn to depend on something other than ourselves. When we call for help, we can be rescued only if we believe we can trust another to answer our call.

I can believe I cannot save myself without help. I need to depend upon something or somebody else.

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

Forming new habits

We form habits and then these habits begin to form us. For so long we had such self-destructive ways of being: We were self- centered, angry, and critical people, and so we behaved selfishly, angrily, and judg- mentally in the world

To stay clean and sober we must develop new habits, new patterns of living. We must give up old hangouts, old friends, old atti-tudes, and ideas. It seems this is the only way to form new habits—for example, kindness, love, and honesty—on which our program is based

What habits do I want to develop?

Higher Power, help me to form new habits to replace the old ones that nearly destroyed my life.

The new habit I will work on today is

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

This is a simple program for complicated people.

~ SAYING HEARD AT MEETINGS ~

Newcomer

I heard a speaker with years in recovery share that she’d al-ways done it her own way—that she met friends at bars if she felt like it, had never had a sponsor, and sometimes went for months without a meeting. I know newcomers who’ve done similar things. What’s the big deal?

Sponsor

Some people in recovery cling to rebellion. While they don’t want to return to the horrors of active addiction, they aren’t willing to surrender what they think of as individualism. They “get away with” skipping Steps and ignoring suggestions. One helps out at meetings, but keeps booze in the house. One gives advice to newcomers, but goes unsponsored.

The program doesn’t ask that we give up what truly makes each of us an individual. It offers us clear guidelines, and promises that if we follow them, we won’t have to risk a relapse. The program works for us, if we work it. Testing our recovery by trying to see what we can “get away with” is like playing a game of Russian roulette.

Today, I feel safety and strength as I follow the principles of this program. I know that true individuality comes from the self-knowledge that recovery affords me.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Lie is not a succession of days on earth but rather it is an accumulation of experiences. Days are simply time locations where experiences transpired. The day on which no event occurred is a day lost out of life, for it had nothing in it to justify its memory.

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

1) We’ll love you until you learn to love yourself.

2) It says in the Big Book: ‘We insist on being happy.”

3) HALTS: Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired and Serious

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

Recovery Prayer

Today and every day, I pray to be ever mindful that recovery is the most important thing in my life, without exception. I may believe my job, or my home life, or one of many other things, comes first. But if I don’t stay with the Program, chances are I won’t have a job, a family, sanity, or even life. If I am convinced that everything in life depends on my recovery, I have a much better chance of improving my life. If I put other things first, I am only hurting my chances.

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

GREAT POSSESSIONS

One of the saddest passages in all literature is the story of the Rich Young Man who missed one of the great opportunities of history, and … went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:23).

This is really the story of mankind in general. We reject the salvation that Jesus offers us—our chance of finding God—because we “have great possessions”; not so much that we are very rich in terms of money, for indeed most people are not, but because we have great possession in the way of preconceived ideas—confidence in our own judgment, and in the ideas with which we happen to be familiar. We have pride, born of academic distinction; sentimental or material attachment to institutions and organization; habits of life that we have no desire to renounce; concern for human respect; or perhaps fear of public ridicule. And these possession keep us chained to the rock of suffering that is our exile from God.

The poor in spirit suffer from none of these embarrassments, either because they never had them, or because they have risen above them on the tide of spiritual understanding.

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

Golden Moments

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

~ Jean Paul Richter ~

The phone blared at 6.45 A.M. I rolled over in the hotel bed, picked up the receiver, and heard the music for my wake-up call. Awkwardly, I pulled myself together and wandered toward the bathroom. Five minutes later, the phone rang again. Who could be calling at this hour?

“Good morning Mr. Cohen,” a pleasant voice resonated. “This is your wake-up call. Have a wonderful day.” After she hung up, 1 stood for a moment and looked at the receiver. The key word was wonderful’, she offered it quite sincerely, and I felt it. I tried to reason why a human being would call me after the automatic call, but I gave up and decided to just enjoy the gift. I went on to have a wonderful day.

It is not through world-shaking triumphs that we build our life, but in the common daily interactions. The tone of our voice can win or lose a business deal, and a thoughtful hello can change a stranger’s attitude. We never really know how far a little blessing will go. Go beyond the norm of expected kindness by even a little bit, and you will become a miracle worker.

Never underestimate the power of a kind word or act. Even if your gift does not seem to be received, your heart will soar. Love is always received in the heart of God, where we all live.

Today I will walk the path of kindness. I will take the little moments of life and weave them into gold.

My simplest words and acts change the world, beginning with my own.