Daily Recovery Readings - 6/20

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Daily Reflections

RELEASE FROM FEAR

The problem of resolving fear has two aspects. We shall
have to try for all the freedom from fear that is possible
for us to attain. Then we shall need to find both the
courage and grace to deal constructively with whatever
fears remain.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 61

Most of my decisions were based on fear. Alcohol made life
easier to face, but the time came when alcohol was no
longer an alternative to fear. One of the greatest gifts
in A.A. for me has been the courage to take action, which
I can do with God's help. After five years of sobriety I
had to deal with a heavy dose of fear. God put the people
in my life to help me do that and, through my working the
Twelve Steps, I am becoming the whole person I wish to be
and, for that, I am deeply grateful.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

You should be ready and willing to carry the A.A. message
when called upon to do so. Live for some purpose greater
than yourself. Each day you will have something to work for.
You have received so much from this program that you should
have a vision that gives your life a direction and a
purpose that gives meaning to each new day. Let us not
slide along through life. Let us have a purpose for each
day and let us make that purpose for something greater than
just ourselves. What is my purpose for today?

Meditation For The Day

To see God with eyes of faith is to cause God's power to
manifest itself in the material world. God cannot do His
work because of unbelief. In response to your belief, God
can work a miracle in your personality. All miracles happen
in the realm of personality and all are caused by and based
on belief in God's never-failing power. But God's power
cannot manifest itself in personalities unless those
personalities make His power available by their faith.
We can only see God with the eyes of faith, but this kind
of seeing produces a great change in our way of living.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may see God with the eyes of faith. I pray
that this seeing will produce a change in my personality.

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As Bill Sees It

Roots of Reality, p. 173

We started upon a personal inventory, Step Four. A business which takes no regular
inventory usually goes broke. Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a
fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock in trade. One
object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and
without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool
himself about values.

We had to do exactly the same thing with our lives. We had to take stock honestly.

<< << << >> >> >>

"Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual serenity, as I have
excellent reason to know. Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will
hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy us, or which we would
use to destroy ourselves."

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 64
2. Letter, 1949

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Keep It Simple

Order is heaven's first law.---Alexander Pope
We need order in our lives. It makes life simpler for us. Life without order would be like driving in a large city without traffic signals. Our lives as addicts were like this. We lived with no plan, no order.
Now that we're sober, we can put some order in our lives. We can get up every morning. We can make our beds and be on time for work. These things make life so much easier and nicer. we need this order. It allows us to depend on ourselves.
We now look at the Twelve Steps to bring order to our lives. The Steps follow each other as summer follows spring. Do I allow myself to follow the natural order or do I fight it?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You've put order in this world. Please put order in my life. Let me flow within this order instead of being on my own.
Action for the Day: The Twelve Steps have a natural order. Today I'll take time to read each Step and think about the order found in them.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

The Housewife Who Drank At Home

She hid her bottles in clothes hampers and dresser drawers. In A.A., she discovered she had lost nothing and had found everything.

Nevertheless, I began to try to live without alcohol. But I only succeeded in fighting it. And believe me, an alcoholic cannot fight alcohol. I said to husband, "I'm going to try to get interested in something outside, get myself out of this rut I'm in." I thought I was going out of my mind. If i didn't have a drink, I had to do something.

p. 298

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Two - "For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience."

The founder and his friends channel spirituality to newcomers, hire halls, make hospital arrangements, and entreat their wives to brew gallons of coffee. Being on the human side, the founder and his friends may bask a little in glory. They say to one another, "Perhaps it would be a good idea if we continue to keep a firm hand on A.A. in this town. After all, we are experienced. Besides, look at all the good we've done these drunks. They should be grateful!" True, founders and their friends are sometimes wiser and more humble than this. But more often at this stage they are not.

p. 133

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Let me tell thee, time is a very precious gift of God; so precious that it's only given to us moment by moment.
--Amelia Barr

"Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone
else to die."
--unknown

Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.
--Anonymous

The human contribution is the essential ingredient. It is only in the
giving of oneself to others that we truly live.
-- Ethel Percy Andrus

A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was
yesterday.
--Jonathan Swift

"You can't fly a kite unless you go against the wind and have a weight
to keep it from turning somersaults. The same with man. No man will
succeed unless he is ready to face and overcome difficulties and is
prepared to assume responsibilities."
--William J. H. Boetcker

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

THOUGHT

"Write down the thoughts of the
moment. Those that come
unsought are commonly the most
valuable."
--Francis Bacon

My mind sometimes races with ideas: What should I do? What should I
write? Where should I go? Phrases that could prove useful in an
article. People I need to get in contact with, etc., etc. Many of these
ideas come late at night and so today I have a note pad and a pencil at
the side of my bed so that I can write down the thought and then go
back to sleep.

I am not God. I know that if I say I will remember the thought
tomorrow, it would be unrealistic. As an imperfect human being I take
any help I can get. The pad at the side of the bed is invaluable!

Let me employ discipline as an aid to joyful and creative living.

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Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what
you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I
forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I
will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Remember your leaders,
who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way
of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever.
Hebrews 13:5-8

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Daily Inspiration

Don't allow yourself to live in constant anticipation because the time for your happiness is right now. Lord, help me to see that no matter what, there is no better time for me than right now.

Everywhere we turn, there is so much need and so little time. Lord, give me the desire to reach out to just one person in Your name and share my blessings.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of a room, not to try to do or be anything whatsoever. --May Sarton
A whole world can be seen through even the smallest window. Knowing this can help us slow down and enjoy everyday events. We can listen to the regular rhythms of letter carriers and school children, dogs and delivery trucks, city buses and song birds playing out a piece of their daily lives outside the window.
We can greet the letter carrier who comes up the walk, feed the robin who lands on the sill, wave to the kids who've found a shortcut through our backyards on their way home from school.
It is not necessary, today, for us to fill our lives with important meetings, gala parties, expensive treats, toys, or outings to be happy. There is a whole world to be discovered just outside the nearest window.
What worlds lie on the other side of my window today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
"Wait'll next year!" is the favorite cry of baseball fans, football fans, hockey fans, and gardeners. --Robert Orben
Hope was a casualty for many of us in our life of chaos and extremes. Some of us said to ourselves, "Life is just drab, I'd better get used to it." We may have slowly changed our definition of normal to mean a hopeless existence. Others of us held onto some shred of hope that said "Better times are just around the comer," but it only kept us from confronting how disastrous our lives had become. We are brothers in that we truly have been men on a dead-end path.
Our new lives have seen the dawning of true hope that has a solid base upon reality. We have the reality of friendships with our brothers and sisters. They provide comfort and support which are reliable and durable. We have the reality of our clearer thinking and our amended lives. We may not have everything we could desire, but we are actually on the road and progressing in directions we wish to go. We are engaged in the adventure of increasing our conscious contact with God. Our hope is founded in what we already feel in our lives.
Today, nothing is perfect, but hope underlies everything. With the return of hope, I have my life back again.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
There were deep secrets, hidden in my heart, never said for fear others would scoff or sneer. At last I can reveal my sufferings, for the strength I once felt in silence has lost all its power. --Deidra Sarault
There is magic in sharing ourselves with someone else. We learn from Steps Four and Five that what we thought were heinous acts are not unusual. Our shameful acts are not unique, and this discovery is our gift when we risk exposure.
Realizing how much we are like others gives us strength, and the program paves the way for us to capture that strength whenever and wherever we sense our need. Secrets block us from others and thus from God too. The messages we need to hear, the guidance offered by God, can't be received when we close ourselves off from the caring persons in our lives. They are the carriers of God's message.
How freeing to know we share the same fears, the same worries. Offering our story to someone else may be the very encouragement she needs at this time. Each of us profits from the sharing of a story. We need to recognize and celebrate our "sameness." When we share ourselves, we are bonded. Bonding combines our strength.
Silence divides us. It diminishes our strength. Yet all the strength we need awaits us. I will let someone else know me today.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Relationship Martyrs
Many of us have gone so numb and discounted our feelings so completely that we have gotten out of touch with our needs in relationships.
We can learn to distinguish whose company we enjoy, whether we're talking about friends, business acquaintances, dates, or spouses. We all need to interact with people we might prefer to avoid, but we don't have to force ourselves through long term or intimate relationships with these people.
We are free to choose friends, dates, and spouses. We are free to choose how much time we spend with those people we can't always choose to be around, such as relatives. This is our life. This is it. We can decide how we want to spend our days and hours. We're not enslaved. We're not trapped. And not one of us is without options. We may not see our options clearly. Although we may have to struggle through shame and learn to own our power, we can learn to spend our valuable hours and days with the people we enjoy and choose to be with.
God, help me value my time and life. Help me place value on how I feel being around certain people. Guide me as I learn to develop healthy, intimate, sharing relationships with people. Help me give myself the freedom to experiment, explore, and learn who I am and who I can be in my relationships.


My past experience no longer take up room and live in my mind and body. I am free to live in today. --Ruth Fishel

[admin]

Meditation For Beginners

"For some, prayer is asking for God's help; meditation is listening for God's answer. Quieting the mind through meditation brings an inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us."
Basic Text, pp.44-45

"Be patient when you're learning to meditate," many of us were told. "It takes practice to know what to 'listen' for."

We're glad someone told us that, or many of us would have quit after a week or two of meditating. For the first few weeks, we may have sat each morning, stilled our thoughts, and "listened", just as the Basic Text said-but "heard" nothing. It may have taken a few more weeks before anything really happened. Even then, what happened was often barely noticeable. We were rising from our morning meditations feeling just a little better about our lives, a little more empathy for those we encountered during the day, and a little more in touch with our Higher Power.

For most of us, there was nothing dramatic in that awareness - no bolts of lightning or claps of thunder. Instead, it was something quietly powerful. We were taking time to get our egos and our ideas out of the way. In that clear space, we were improving our conscious contact with the source of our daily recovery, the God of our understanding. Meditation was new, and it took time and practice. But, like all the steps, it worked - when we worked it.

Just for today: I will practice "listening" for knowledge of God's will for me, even if I don't know what to "listen" for yet.
pg. 178

[admin]

Wisdom for Today

Moving on to the principle of personal inventory: Looking at ourselves honestly is an
absolute must in recovery. Steps four, five, six, seven and ten point us in this direction.
The truth is that for many of us, we have spent years running from the truth. Not just
about our addiction, but also the truth of who we are. Facing the reality of our defects,
our wrongs, our secrets, and ourselves is vital to maintaining recovery. We need to turn
over every rock and find out if there is dirt under it. This is not easy, but if we refuse
to be searching in this process, we are simply setting ourselves up to drink or use again.

It is not enough to simply locate the dirt in our lives; we must also do what we can to
clean up our act. We need to work at correcting our faults; we look for where we have been
dishonest, self-centered, and fearful. We look at how our attitudes, behavior and beliefs
have set us on a path of destruction; and we do what is necessary to change our direction.
We do not do this only once, but we do this every day. Each day we fall short in some way,
and we look at what we must do to live the program. These steps are more that just
identifying our shortcomings, but looking at and making the changes we need to make to live
happily in recovery. Am I dealing with reality in my inventory?
Meditations for the Heart

The changes we all must face in ourselves are not something we need to do alone. Each of us
has help through a Power outside of ourselves. This Power is accessed through faith. All of
us must come to believe that this help is available to us. Not one of us has been
successful in changing our faults on our own. These defects resist change, and unless we
turn our will over and humbly ask for the help that is available to us all, our chance for
successfully making change in our lives and who we are is nil. All we need do is look
around at the countless faces of those who have completed these steps, and we have ample
evidence that this Power lives among us. He is the one who will author our change. It is in
His light that we are shown the path of needed change. The proof is in millions of changed
lives. Do I have faith that God can and will show me how to change what I need to change?
Petitions to my Higher Power

God,

Looking at myself in the mirror of honesty is not always easy. I do not always like what I
see. But You reflect not only who I am but also who I can be. Let me not fear change, for I
know that any change You encourage me to make will be for my own good. Let me embrace these changes of personal growth as an opportunity to become the person You want me to be.

Amen

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Head Hunger

Those of us who overeat are responding to distorted signals. When we consume food that harms rather than helps our bodies, we are eating in response to some irrational demand in our head rather than because of legitimate physical hunger. The mental obsession with food is an illusion, but one to which we cling with great tenacity.

When we feel "hungry," we need to stop and evaluate the signal. Is it coming from our stomach or from our head? Often, it is after a meal that we most strongly crave something more to eat. This is either because we ate so fast that our stomach has not had time to register satisfaction or because eating has awakened a giant, insatiable appetite for more. It is frequently our mind that wants more, even after our body has had quite enough.

Emotions such as fear, anger, and anxiety can trigger "head hunger." We need perception and insight to know whether the hunger comes from our body or our mind.

May I learn to respond to the legitimate needs of my body.