Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - December

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December 25

Step by Step

“If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.

“Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 4 (“We Agnostics”), pp 44-5.

Today, let me not blame my alcoholism on some moral failure on my part or a philosophy that did not apply to me and, instead, take it for what it is – a physical, emotional, and spiritual disease of my character. While I should not and cannot be blamed for becoming alcoholic, I can and should be responsible for my recovery. To this end, I must completely accept the First Step of absolute powerlessness over alcohol and, then, at least come to believe in something – a Power – greater and stronger than myself. But if I still grapple with this concept, perhaps my power can be my own experience of predictable behavior and outcomes, most of which carried increasingly heavier consequences. Today, I am an alcoholic not because of a moral or philosophical failure on my part, but because of a disease. It cannot be cured, but it can be arrested. The program’s first two steps are my beginning. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ A YEAR OF MIRACLES ~ (Meditations Written by Members of Nicotine Anonymous) ~

Time is the longest distance between two places.

~ TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ~

How many New Year’s resolutions came and went until I finally found Nicotine Anonymous? How many quit dates passed? Birthdays, holidays, Mondays, any days until I was ready to be willing, until I watched people who had what I wanted, freedom from nicotine, I could not get freed of this powerful addiction.

And what I heard at meetings was not about not giving up nicotine forever. Instead I heard about just not feeding my addiction “one day at a time.” This was a totally new approach for me, and it seemed much more attractive and manageable than forever. It still does after celebrating five years free. I am so grateful for this Program, “one day at a time.”

“Just for today,” I choose not to use nicotine. I will worry about tomorrow some other time.

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

PROMISES

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

~ Robert W. Service ~

We often hear about and read the Promises. As we finish reading the list of rewards, we come upon a sentence that asserts that all these promises will materialize if we, who are looking for spiritual growth, work for the rewards. We can direct our efforts carefully by knowing what is happening and by being among those who are making things happen.

Thus, we discover that none of the Promises bring us outright gifts. They must actually not even be anticipated or expected. We who are looking for promised things are actually our own solution. The rewards are accepted with humility and gratefulness. We must always believe that we have earned the promised results.

The natural growth I experience in all the events of life arrive with a focus on spiritual growth. Gifts come in their natural time and cannot be rushed or postponed, but I must always work for them.

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

The miracle is this—the more we share, the more we have.

~ Leonard Nimoy ~

Look around you at the happiest people you know. They are also the most generous and giving people. A generous spirit creates its own environment. In recovery we talk a lot about gratitude—and we have a lot to be grateful for. This feeling of gratitude inspires us to be generous toward others in many different ways. Most sharing is not of material things but a sharing of our spirit, our forgiveness, and our respect for others.

We can cultivate a generous spirit by reminding ourselves that we have enough. We have enough to live well, we are surrounded by love, we have been forgiven for many wrongs that we committed, and life is filled with interesting adventure. When we share from this sense of abundance, our feeling of well-being only grows.

Today I will be generous and sharing toward the other people I come into contact with.

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

I don’t have to believe in the same things that my loved ones believe in, in order to love them.

~ Karen Davis ~

One of the most valuable gifts we can receive from this program is learning how to let go of other people. Giving up our struggle to control how friends and family members think and behave and feel will bless us with an exhilarating freedom.

Most of us never realized we could let others live their own lives. We sincerely thought we needed to help others see life as we saw it. Certainty that we were right in all matters was part of our disease. Letting others be themselves meant we weren’t in control.

We’ve come to understand that, in fact, we aren’t in control and never were. But now we are glad for that understanding. Now we are free to spend our time on creative pursuits that please us rather than spinning our wheels trying to make people follow us. We each have a path to follow, and we are growing in our gratitude for that realization.

I may want my loved ones to think like me, but I will let them make their own choices today. Really loving them means really letting them go.

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

I have hope

Dealing with a psychiatric illness, my life felt painful, confused, and out of control. Dealing with an addiction at the same time was harder still: what I took for a solution to my mental pain only turned out to make things worse. In time I lost faith in myself.

But my friends did not. Eventually they helped me to see my serious problems and later to get treatment for them. Soon I felt I had a chance. Soon I believed I could change. With all the help I’d been given, I felt hope, and my faith began to return.

In my prayers today I will ask for the willingness to change and be changed.

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

We are always given exactly what we need according to a plan so grand and good that it is beyond our imagination.

~ Alice Muir ~

At some point in our recovery we turn our lives over to the care of a Power greater than ourselves. This does not come easy. We approach that point with fear and trepidation. Sometimes we turn our life over and then take it back when things get tough. We fight, endlessly it seems, to avoid letting go.

In the end we find we are not fighting anything or anyone other than ourselves. We find that our Higher Power has been with us all the time. All-knowing and all-forgiving, God never deserted us even when we were desperate to reject Him. Perhaps that is the beauty of the program: we discover that our Higher Power loves us unconditionally until we are ready to begin loving ourselves and others once again. And then, no matter what mistakes we make, He is ready to forgive us when we ask. This comfort was available to us all along. We just couldn’t see it, as we can’t see God’s plan for us — but we know it’s there.

Today I am grateful for my Higher Power and the spirituality of recovery.

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

Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.

~ Lenora Mattingly Weber ~

Spending time with family over the holidays can make you realize how powerful the messages and memories of your childhood are. Indeed, you may discover that how you define yourself today has a lot to do with your past—and not always in the best of ways.

Rather than stay entrenched in the negative influences from your childhood, you can let go of your attachment to the past by changing your outlook today. Even if you choose to obsess about your past, punish yourself for it, or feel extreme guilt or remorse over it, there is nothing you can do about it now It is over. Tell yourself this repeatedly.

Rather than hold onto regrets about the past—what you did or did not do, what was right or wrong, or what could have been or might have been better—forgive yourself and focus on what you can do now. Most people cling to people, places, or things not because such things are good for them, but because they are most familiar. You can become comfortable with new people, places, and things when you give them a chance.

Today I will release the hold the past has upon my present,

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

When you feel grateful for something others have done for you, why not tell them about it?

~ Anonymous ~

It’s one thing to express gratitude for the many wonderful things in our lives, whether we do so in our prayers or to our group. But to go one step further and express gratitude directly to the people who help us feel grateful is one of the best ways to show love and kindness.

Our direct contacts with others don’t always need to be in making amends. Recognition of the gifts we receive builds a strong bridge that can continually transport positive, loving feelings.

We can enlarge the one-way avenue toward us into a two-lane road that returns to the ones who show us so much patience, kindness, and love. Once we do, we’ll find we want to travel this road often, both to receive and to give thanks for what we receive.

Is there someone to whom I can express my gratitude? I need to take time for a prayer of gratitude for the wonderful gifts I have received. 

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

Accepting gifts

Giving is part of the holiday spirit. We need not lament because we don’t understand the nature of giving. Many of us suffer on this day for reasons a little more subtle than usual. Though we don’t realize it, many of us feel inadequate to the holiday spirit, which is so incredibly magnificent. We need to allow ourselves to dwell in this magnificence.

We are all children of our Higher Power. We can joyfully accept its gifts of love, peace, fellowship, sobriety, and cleanness. We will learn how to give in turn.

Do I feel the spirit of the holidays?

Thank you, Higher Power, for your gifts to me today and every day.

Today I will share in the holiday spirit by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

What is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place.

~ T. S. ELIOT ~

Newcomer

I spoke at a meeting last night, but I don’t feel as if I said much of anything. I feel depressed about it today.

Sponsor

Whatever took place at that meeting, it’s now part of the past. In the Serenity Prayer we ask our Higher Power to help us accept the things we can’t change. Among the things we can’t change are events that have already taken place, whether twenty years ago or just yesterday.

You’ll have many more opportunities to speak at meetings as recovery continues. My own experience is that each time I speak is a little different. Sometimes I feel fluent, confident, and in control of my words; sometimes I feel forgetful and shy, or even a bit blank. I’ve learned to try not to judge my talk as if it were a performance, but to regard it as an offering. My speaking provided a necessary ingredient that kept the meeting going for others (in addition to getting me there).
Whatever I say, something will have relevance for someone in the room; it always happens. That’s something I can’t plan or control; it’s part of the flow of things.

Today, I let go of the habit of rating my past performance.

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

1) Optimist/pessimist: The pessimist sees only the tunnel. The optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

2) Simple: Keep it Simple. Breath in; breath out; don’t drink or drug in between breaths.

3) Working with Others: Get it, give it, grow in it

by Shelly Marshall

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

The Four Absolutes

Absolute Honesty

Both with ourselves and with others, in word, deed, and thought.

Absolute Unselfishness

To be willing, wherever possible, to help others who need our help.

Absolute Love

You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And . . . you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Absolute Purity

Purity of mind, of body, and of purpose.

~ by the Oxford Group; used by early AAs before the Twelve Steps were written ~

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

BLESSING AND CURSING

Life is a reflex of mental states. As far as you are concerned, the character that things will bear will be the character that you first impress upon them. Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you. If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you. If you bless any situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time it will gradually fade out.

Bless your body. If there is anything wrong with a particular organ, bless that organ. Bless your home. Bless your business. Bless your associates. Turn any seeming enemies into friends by blessing them. Bless the climate. Bless the town, and the state, and the country.

Bless a thing and it will bless you.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper m the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:11). 

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

The Light Has Come

Christ’s eyes are open, and He will look on whatever you see with love if you accept His vision as yours.

~ A Course in Miracles ~

Today is a precious and holy day on Planet Earth. It is a day when the world calls a halt to insanity and acknowledges the presence of divinity. It is a day of joy and appreciation and celebration. It is a day to be happy.

The birth of the Christ as a human being bears tremendous metaphysical import. It means that humanity is ready to accept its own divinity. Jesus brought God to Earth; he discovered his divine identity, he had the courage to live it, and the world has never been the same.

The image of Christ being born in a manger symbolizes that God comes forth in a place of humility. Spirit seeks not fanfare, human riches, or accolades, but the simplicity of an open heart.

The most important message of Christmas is that the Christ is born in you, through you, as you. When interpreting a dream, we must recognize ourselves as all the characters; the same is true for events that occur in the outer dream we call life. The birth of Christ is the emergence of a new consciousness of your own holiness.

Today is your birthday, and every day is Christmas. Thank God that you have remembered your divine nature. Throw off the cloak of smallness, and claim the truth about you: You are an expression of a perfect God, and everything God is, you are. You are the holy one. Jesus seeks not our worship, but our equality. He is our elder brother who came to remind us who we really are. We are one with the son of God.

Thank You for bringing Jesus to life, that I may walk the path of divinity with him.

Christ is born in me today.