More Recovery Readings - October

[bluidkiti]

October 31

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
The only sense that is common in the long run is the sense of change--and we all instinctively avoid it. --E. B. White
Nature reveals to us a world that is always changing. No two sunsets are alike. Winter brings invigorating days while spring brings new buds and blossoms every day. Summer brings lazy warmth and star-filled evenings while fall brings crisp afternoons and a sense of nostalgia.
Even though nature shows us a constantly changing world, we often resist the changes in our own lives. Changes can be both hard and sad, yet they are a part of life. Perhaps we are moving on to a new school or a new neighborhood, or perhaps we are feeling the changes that come with a divorce in the family.
With every change we say a sad goodbye to something old, something familiar--in the same way we feel sadness for summer's end when the first leaves begin to fall. Yet every change also offers us the excitement and potential of a new season--with its own opportunity for new smells, special gifts, and invigorating days.
How have I changed today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. --Richard J. Foster
As we have reached for instant cures, one-minute answers, and quick highs, we have developed lifestyles that foreclosed deeper possibilities. For instance, when we fail to stay and resolve conflicts in a relationship, we miss the joys of a renewed understanding. Our spiritual development comes in steps, small but meaningful increments that build over a period of time. Many of us have not been patient men and our newfound spiritual life is teaching us that the quickest, most efficient answer isn't always best.
Today, our greatest temptation may be to grab for the fast solutions rather than allowing time for small but important steps to occur. When we are frustrated, it will help to remember the difficulty may lie in our insistence on a quick answer. Sometimes simply being true to ourselves and standing as a witness while the answer develops are all that is asked of us.
I will have faith that time is on my side and it will teach me valuable things.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
It's a simple formula; do your best and somebody might like it. --Dorothy Baker
We're never guaranteed success by others' standards. However, if we do our best according to the standards we think God has in mind, we'll be successful. And from God we'll always receive unconditional love and acceptance.
In the past many of us were haunted by fears that our best wasn't good enough. And not infrequently those fears hindered our performance, thus validating our fears. We can slip back into those immobilizing fears if we don't attend, with vigilance, to the program and its suggestions.
Our higher power will help us do whatever task lies before us. And no task will be ours except those for which we've been readied. Our job is simply to go forth, taking God as our partner, and set about completing the task. We will not falter if we remember where our strength rests, where the guidance lies.
Self-esteem is one of the byproducts of a job done with God's help. An additional byproduct is that we learn more quickly to rely on God's direction and strength the next time, thus reducing the time we give to fear.
I can be successful today, in every endeavor, if I let God manage my moves.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
All Our Needs
And my God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory... --Phil. 4:19
This verse has helped me many times. It has helped me when I have wondered where my next friend bit of wisdom, insight, or meal was coming from.
Everything I need today shall be supplied to me.
People, jobs, what we have to our immediate disposal, are not our source.
We have tapped into a Greater Source, a source of infinite and immediate supply: God and His Universe.
Our task is to allow ourselves to come into harmony with our Source. Our task is to believe in, and look to, our true Source. Our task is to release fear; negative thinking, limitations, and short supply thinking.
Everything we need shall be provided to us. Let it become a natural response to all situations, and all situations of need.
Reject fear. Reject short supply and limited thinking notions. Be open to abundance.
Cherish need because it is part of our relationship to God and His Universe. God has planned to meet our every need, has created the need within us, so God can supply.
No need is too small or too great. If we care and value our need, God will too.
Our part is taking responsibility for owning the need. Our part is giving the need to the Universe. Our part is letting go, in faith. Our part is giving God permission to meet our needs by believing we deserve to have our needs - and wants - met.
Our part is healthy giving, not out of caretaking, guilt, obligation, and codependency, but out of a healthy relationship with ourselves, God, and all of God's creations.
Our part is simply to be who we are, and love being that.
Today, I will practice the belief that all my needs today shall be met. I will step into harmony with God and His Universe, knowing that I count.


Today I reach out and touch. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart
October 31
Something Important Is Happening Now

There’s never a time when nothing is happening.

Something is always taking place. Growth is occurring. We’re evolving, transforming, working things out, incorporating our last lesson, preparing for our next. Something is happening. We just don’t always see it. And that’s how it’s meant to be.

When we see, when we know too much too soon, it’s easy to let our heads get in the way. We think we have to control, have to force, have to make it happen, have to do something.

In a gentle but wise way, the universe takes into account our fears and our natures. It doesn’t let us know too much too soon. It doesn’t spoil the surprise. It doesn’t want us to spoil it either.

Open your heart to the universe. Trust that something is always happening. And often, it’s much different and better than you think.

*****

more language of letting go
Practice awareness of God

I can remember the moment when I was willing to be truly vulnerable with life again. I was walking around in a beach town,talking to my friend. I was talking about my safe little life back in Stillwater, Minnesota, where I though I had everything under control. I had avoided living in big cities and thought small town living would be safe. In that small town, working for its daily newspaper, I had found all the potential held in life. I got that big break that put me, an unknown author, on the New York Times best-seller list. And my son had died. Small town life wasn't as limiting as I feared or as safe as I had hoped.

I told my friend about the time, many years later, I was wandering around the Middle East. I was talking to my daughter on a cell phone. She was on her cell,too, driving through the heart of Los Angeles.

"Aren't you scared over there?" she asked. "Isn't your life in danger?"

Just then a man honked at her. I heard him scream through her window, "If you don't get that car out of the way, I'm going to have you killed."

"Complete safety is an illusion," I said to my friend. "Maybe the only time we're really safe is when we're willing to acknowledge how vulnerable we really are, no matter what we're doing, and be okay with that."

"Ask God to be with me," I said to an older woman who was my mentor at the time.

"Foolish child," she said. "You don't have to ask God to be with you. He's already there, wherever you are."

God, help me feel safe, comfortable, and in your presence wherever I am today.

*****

Five Things
A Self-Esteem Exercise

by Madisyn Taylor

Having low self-esteem is a common issue and with some introspection you can start to loosen the grip of this negative thought pattern.


Our primary relationship in life is with our selves. No one else goes through every experience in life with us. We are our one permanent companion, yet we are often our worst critic. To remind ourselves of our magnificence, we can do this exercise: “Five Things I Like About Myself.”

Begin by writing down at least five things that you like about yourself. This is not the time to be modest. If you are having trouble coming up with a total of five items, you know that this exercise can really benefit you. Be sure to include more than your physical attributes on your list, since our bodies are only part of who we are. If you are still struggling with what to include on your list, think of what you like about your favorite people, because these traits are probably qualities that you possess too. Another way to complete your list is to think of five things you don’t like about yourself and find something about these traits that you can like.

Continue this process for a week, thinking of five new things you like about yourself everyday. At the end of the week, read the list aloud to yourself while standing in front of a mirror. Instead of looking for flaws to fix, allow the mirror to reflect your magnificence. You may feel silly about standing in front of a mirror and reading aloud a list of your admirable attributes, but it might just bring a smile to your face and change the way you see yourself. Remember, it is when you feel the most resistant that this exercise can benefit you the most. Because we are constantly looking at the world, instead of looking at ourselves, we don’t often see what’s magnificent about ourselves that others do. When we take the time to experience ourselves the way we would experience someone we love and admire, we become our best companion and supporter on life’s journey.

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A Day At A Time
October 31
Reflection For The Day

If I’m to continue growing in The Program, I must literally “get wise to myself.” I must remember that for most of my life I’ve been terribly self-deceived. The sin of pride has been at the root of most of my self-deception, usually masquerading under the guise of some virtue. I must work continually to uncover pride in all its subtle forms, lest it stop me in my tracks and push me backward once again to the brink of disaster. When it comes to pride, do I believe, in Emerson’s words, that “it is impossible for a man to be cheated by anyone but himself…?”

Today I Pray

May I know that button-popping pride is inappropriate for me as a recovering addict. It hides my faults for me. It turns people off and gets in the way of my helping others. It halts my progress because it makes me think I’ve done enough self-searching and I’m “cured.” I pray to my Higher Power that I may be realistic enough to accept my success in The Program without giving in to pride.

Today I Will Remember

Pride halts progress.

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One More Day
October 31

The human body is the best picture of the human soul.
– Ludwig Wittgenstein

As people walk down the street, we can usually spot those with a sense of pride in themselves. How people look is often an indicator of their self-esteem. The changes in our lives challenge us to continue feeling good about ourselves despite stress or diminished health. Any change can be frightening. Unfortunately, sometimes we let problems overtake us, and we begin to look and act like people who feel unwell.

We can take stock of our lives at this time and remember how much we can still do well. We are capable individuals; we can make our own decisions about how we want to conduct our lives. This renewed awareness strengthens our self esteem, and the image we convey to others is one of pride.

There are some things I just cannot change. Today, I will dwell on what I can do for myself.