Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - March

[bluidkiti]

March 29

Step by Step

Today, if I start my day with dread, I probably need to do a 10th Step or re-do my Fourth. Clearly something is wrong and I have not yet reaped benefits of sobriety or, worse, I am little more than a dry drunk. The Serenity Prayer tells me that I have no control over what this day might serve up, but it also tells me what I can change is me. The program gives me the tools to do it, from its first four words – “Admitted (I am) powerless” – to the 12th Step’s promise of a new me through a spiritual awakening and its command to practice all the steps “in all (my) affairs.” And if I take the attitude that the day ahead is something to just get through, I will likely make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Today, I am powerless over whatever this day has in store, but that my attitude toward it can make or break the peace of mind that recovery promises – and faith in my higher power will give me the courage to change me. Sobriety and life are not things to endure or just get through. Today, I will live, not just endure or get through. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

TOGETHERNESS

Nothing that is worth doing can be done alone, but has to be done with others.

~ Dr. Reinhold Niebulur ~

Countless troubled people have agonized and sometimes died, many by their own hand, because they were defeated loners. They never learned that they needed help in solving what seemed like overpowering problems. It’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help. It’s a sign of strength.

The more closely we identify with others today, the more certain we are that nobody can solve our problems for us. But caring friends can guide us by sharing their experiences. The secret behind the magical success of sharing is that sharing cannot be done without caring. To care is to experience, the most vital part of love.

Sharing problems is only a small part of giving. We must share strengths, successes, experiences and hopes.

Whenever I am practicing the principles of my Program, I am comforted by knowing that I never work alone. Sometimes, I am led. At other times, I can show the way.

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

The true name of eternity is today.

~ Philo ~

Today is the only focus for our recovery. When we look into the future, we worry. What if I slip when temptations mount at some future time? What if I get lost and confused and fall back into my codependency?

The only real truth is how we live today. The sun will come up tomorrow and we will live the new day as we do this day, in the present moment, staying true to ourselves. Tomorrow’s problems are only in our imagination. What are we doing today?

Eternity is beyond time. It is at hand.

Today I am mindful of my immediate moment.

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

Inside me is a stirring truth that is guided by my Higher Power. I am empowered by truth and joy.

~ Laurel Lewis ~

Remembering that our Higher Power’s wisdom and truth are as dose as our quiet moments offers us welcome relief in troubled times. However, we must guard against hearing the voice of our injured ego instead of the voice of God. Many of us have for decades been led by our disabled ego. When faced with fear and discouragement, we need profound willingness to follow God’s will rather than our own.

Having access to God’s truth every minute of our lives can make each decision less frightening. No experience, regardless how unfamiliar, can be too much for us if we remember to listen for our Higher Power’s direction.

As we strengthen our reliance on the Messenger within, we experience new levels of joy and inner peace. And we understand the real meaning of life.

I will listen to the still, small voice within and feel secure and joyful, knowing that my actions are God’s will.

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

I can make a commitment to recovery

I am coming to believe that there is nothing more important in my life than my dual recovery – in other words, abstaining from addictive substances and maintaining emotional stability. This is because I see myself now as a valuable person who has two illnesses and who deserves to be treated well.

One good way to value myself is to devote time each day to my dual recovery activities. The ones that help me the most are meetings, physical exercise, and spending time with supportive friends. If I do these, I believe that my higher power will take care of the rest.

I will make a commitment to recovery by making a commitment to my daily recovery plan

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

A friend is one who knows all about you and loves you just the same.

~ Elbert Hubbard ~

No one is perfect, but most of us want to be, especially in recovery. If we were still able to work or go to school or do housework when we were drinking or using, imagine what we can do in recovery. But this kind of thinking, sets us up for failure. Recovery does not mean becoming superhuman. It means returning to simply being human, with all our strengths and our weaknesses. It also means accepting a Power greater than ourselves.

Learning to accept or at least tolerate another’s faults and weaknesses, rather than passing judgment on them, is crucial to our own recovery and our ability to make real, lasting friends. First, of course, we must slowly learn to accept ourselves, stop judging ourselves, and replace the “bad parent” inside with the good parent — to become our own best friend.

As we keep trying to improve in certain areas, we can learn to love ourselves today even though we are not perfect and never will be.

Today help me care enough about me to be a good friend to myself.

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

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.

~ Mae West ~

Each time you run errands, you face a multitude of challenges to your recovery. Grocery store aisles with tasty junk foods and sugary treats tempt your desire to overeat. Liquor store displays with beverages in pretty bottles beckon you to drink. Shopping malls are filled with store displays trying to convince you to take out your credit card. Scratch tickets seem to reach out from their cases, teasing that you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

Those who are not in recovery are tempted just the same. However, their lives are not ruled by an addiction. They can easily turn away from unhealthy foods or purchase a single bottle of wine and make it last for a week. They can stick to their spending limits and avoid money games with nearly impossible odds of winning.

So how do you handle such temptations? Recovery teaches that it is not enough to simply stop an addiction. You also need to develop an understanding and acceptance of how your addiction caused you—and others— great harm. The more conscious you are of the power of your addiction, the greater your willpower can be to ignore the temptations around you.

My will to overcome my addiction is greater than any temptation I face.

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

I must slowly learn to lose control, to let go the petals when it is time . . . learn step by softly- treading step, that what I am, what we are, is this Power to move and be moved, to change and be changed.

~ Linda Roach ~

Letting go doesn’t mean releasing our grip on life and falling into the abyss below. Letting go is a gentle process of easing the grip on some facet of our lives: an obsession, a character defect, or negative feelings toward someone.

We can think of ourselves as pilots flying a plane full of passengers. As we take off and begin our flying pattern, we need to gradually ease the plane into the right coordinates. We can’t make a sudden turn, or our passengers will be tossed about. Instead, we need to gently shift directions, bearing in mind the wind as we work our way into the correct path.

We must guide ourselves gradually. We cannot re-solve that tomorrow morning we’re going to totally eliminate a character defect. But what we can do is be-come willing to let go. We need to prepare ourselves to change gently, step by step.

I need to remember letting go is a gradual process. With the help of my Higher Power, I can begin to let go.

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

Smiling

It is not uncommon for people addicted to chemicals to want to get back at those who rejected them or hurt them. For many years we probably operated on the law of revenge, and there was no bad situation that we couldn’t make worse. Now what is our guide?

Have we tried the law of kindness to see how it could affect our neighbor? A smile can raise hope, and hope is a haven for us all. Let us smile to bring hope.

Am I willing to smile?

Higher Power, help me accept myself and others—and help me smile.

Today, I will give a smile to all I meet, and especially to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

The best things in life are not things.

~ ANN LANDERS ~

Newcomer

Style has always mattered to me. When I was active, I felt scorn for people who had no taste or flair. I know there’s arrogance in that, but some part of me still loves glamour and doesn’t want to give it up.

Sponsor

I used to think my addiction had something to do with being cool. I thought my use of addictive substances and behaviors made me stylish and sophisticated. Meanwhile, I didn’t know how to live my life.

Romanticizing addiction and its trappings is a form of denial many of us have to address. Certain drinks, drugs, or behaviors may have seemed to us like instant power or sophistication-less boring and regular than the alternatives. Some of the rituals and accoutrements of addiction continue to be glamorized by advertising, films, and popular images and myths. We may tell ourselves that creative people have always been involved with drugs. We may feel a pang: is recovery going to strip us of our originality, our flair for the unusual?

We’re who we are in spite of, not because of, addictive substances and behaviors. The originality and flair that you associate with addiction come from a deeper part of you. We can be true originals in recovery, through coming to know ourselves.

Today, I let go of any illusions about my addiction.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Do you want to be happy? Then go buy that strange kid on the corner a bag of candy. It may help cause his teeth to decay but what’s a tooth between glad hearts.

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

1) Our program takes the “M” in “Me” and “turns it over” to create “We.” This is a “We” program.

2) HELP: Hope, Encouragement, Love, Patience

3) Act as if…

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

To Be Honest

Higher Power, help me to be honest with myself. It is so easy to alibi, to make excuses for my shortcomings. It is so easy to blame others and circumstances as a child does. Help me to see myself honestly, a human being who needs You this day and every day. Help me to surrender my weak will to Your strength.

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

HUNGER FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteouness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6)

Righteousness is another of the key words of the Bible, one of those keys that the reader must have in his possession if he is to get at the true meaning of the book. Like earth and meek and comfort, it is used in a special and definite sense. Righteousness means not merely right conduct, but right thinking. In the Sermon on the Mount, every clause reiterates the truth that outer things are but consequences. As within, so without.

When people awaken to a knowledge of these truths, they naturally begin to apply them in their own lives. Realizing at last the vital importance of “righteousness” they begin immediately to try to put their house in order. The principle involved is simple, but unfortunately the exemplifying of it is anything but easy. Now, why could this be so? The answer lies in the potency of habit; and habits of thinking are at once the most subtle and the most difficult to break.

Perhaps failure to achieve righteousness is the failure of halfheartedness; you long but not too deeply. Your hunger and thirst do not rise from a sense of total need. Have a mental stocktaking or a review of your life. It could not happen that a wholehearted search for truth and righteousness, if persevered in, should not be crowned with success. God is not mocked, nor does He mock His children.

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

The Answer Is You

I have good news and I have bad news: The bad news is that we have lost the key to the door behind which the secret of life is hidden. The good news is that it was never locked.

~ Swami Beyondananda ~

When human beings appeared on the planet, a group of gods got together and decided to play a game. “Let’s hide the secret of life!” one suggested.

“Great idea!” another agreed. “Where shall we hide it?”

“Let’s plant it at the top of the highest mountain,” one proposed. “No,” responded another, “people will even climb to Mount Everest.” “How about at the bottom of the ocean?” asked another.

“No, they will invent submarines.”

On and on the gods pondered, trying to find a suitable hiding place. Finally, one god had a bright idea: “I know!” he exclaimed. “Let’s hide the secret of life inside each person—they’ll never think to look there!” We remain in darkness when we seek external solutions for internal needs. We believe our problems exist because of causes outside ourselves, and then seek to rearrange the outer world. Even when we succeed, we feel empty because the external situation was not the cause of our pain. To truly be healed we must deal with our experience at its source—our own beliefs, attitudes, and actions.

In their important book, Conscious Loving, Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks put forth the core principle that each partner must take 100 percent responsibility for everything that happens in their relationship and their world. Empower yourself by identifying yourself not as a victim of circumstances, but as the source of your experience. The whole game changes when you realize the answer is within you.

Give me the strength to release anyone else as the source of my experience and to own my responsibility for creating the life I choose.

I am the answer.