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10-01-2008, 06:08 PM
Wisdom for Today
Birthdays, holidays and anniversaries always seemed to be a time when I would get carried away. I didn't mean to get out of control; I just wanted to have a good time. It was a special day, and I deserved it. Invariably I would drink and use too much, and the special day was ruined. Even if I didn't embarrass myself too badly, I would have problems remembering the next day. The things that I could recall weren't always pretty. You would think that my behavior would have been the opposite. You would think I would have been on good behavior because these were special days. Yet this just was not the case.
Even in early recovery, I found that special days and holidays were sometimes difficult. I would once again get caught up in the euphoria that drugs and alcohol would promise. It became important for me to plan how I would deal with these special days ahead of time. Spending time with family that supported my recovery and spending time with my friends around the tables became an important component in my plans. Now I have learned how to really celebrate these special times in recovery, and am I grateful! Do I plan to take care of my recovery on special days?
Meditations for the Heart
Today I celebrate new anniversaries -- Anniversaries of Recovery! There is something truly amazing about speaking up at a meeting and saying, "Yes, I have three months." It is more incredible to say one year, two years, ten years or more. I've been to some conventions and seen people celebrate 20, 30, 40, 50 or more years of being clean and sober. When you talk with these people and ask them how they did it, all of them tell you it is the program and a solid relationship with their Higher Power. What are you doing to make these special days happen in your life?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Every day is special when it is lived clean and sober. Each day I receive is truly a gift from You. Let me treat this day as something special and enjoy the gift that it is. Help me daily recommit myself to the Twelve Steps and to a stronger relationship with You.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Keeping Faith
"We grasp the limitless strength provided for us through our daily prayer and surrender as long as we keep faith and renew it."
Basic Text p.44
There are two parts to recovery: getting clean, and staying clean. Getting clean is comparatively easy because we only have to do it once. Staying clean is more difficult, requiring attention every day of our lives. Yet both draw their power from faith.
We got clean on faith. We admitted that addiction was more powerful than we were, and we stopped trying to fight it on our own. We turned the battle over to a Power greater than ourselves, and that Higher Power got us clean. We stay clean each day the same way: on faith. Just for today, we surrender. Life may be too big for us to tackle on our own power. When it is, we seek a Power greater than ourselves. We pray, asking our Higher Power for direction and the strength to follow it. By exercising and renewing our faith on a daily basis, we tap the resources we need to live clean, full lives.
There is limitless strength available to us whenever we need it. To grasp it, all we need to do is keep faith in the Higher Power that got us clean and keeps us clean.
Just for today: Faith got me clean, and faith will keep me clean. Today, I will keep faith with my Higher Power. I will renew my surrender and pray for knowledge and strength.
pg. 288
-----
October 2 - Daily Feast
Sweet fragrance of the land, herbs and roots and medicines long lost to the general populace, are nonetheless as present as they always have been. We have been so taken with miracle cures, these things have been put away as folklore and not dependable. The simple people at one time had no other alternative - so runs the present-day popular notion. Hard-fought battles over who is to pay for the miracle medicines - and we are grateful for most of them - may turn a venturesome soul back to the soil and back to those things that heal a mind and body without being asked for proof of insurance. But one other thing far too ignored is the power of prayer. No Indian is remiss in blessing his body and soul and spirit because he knows they work together. His prayer is not now and again but regular and potent.
~ The lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. ~
LUTHER STANDING BEAR - LAKOTA
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 2
"Laughter - that is something very sacred especially for us Indians."
--John (Fire) Lame Deer, ROSEBUD LAKOTA
Laughter is mental, laughter is emotional, laughter is physical and laughter is spiritual. Laughter helps us find balance. If we get too angry, laughter will turn that emotion in a balanced direction. If we have a mental picture of someone who is too strong, laughter will help ease the tension. If the body is stressed, laughter will release natural relaxants into our muscles and our nervous system. Laughter often changes our attitude. We need to lighten up and laugh more.
Great Spirit, teach me to laugh.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
"THINK on THESE THINGS"
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Aim high, even though it seems at the moment you'll never reach that cherished dream. It is your duty to lift yourself above mediocrity. And if you're afraid your dream will sound foolish, then don't talk about it, work for it.
Some dreams have gossamer wings, too fragile to discuss. We can be so zealous about our plans that we talk away the mystery and lose interest in the things we've begun. Zeal can burn itself out in one, quick, bright flame, or it can be nurtured into strength that is the basis for greatness.
If dreams have substance, then they may well come true. And if they are in line with the law of good, then there will be someone who wants to help. To have the desire to do something that will benefit others, the desire to serve, is to have a dream with solid possibilities.
The aims, then, must be deserving as to become duties. It falls to certain individuals to develop a gift and to use it in helping other people. As German philosopher Immanuel Kant has written, "What are the aims which are at the same time duties? They are the perfecting of ourselves and the happiness of others."
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
When I feel anger or some other uncomfortable emotion over something my partner said or did, I might be tempted to say "they made me feel that way".
But how can my SO "force" me to feel such an emotion? Would I go to prison if I didn't, or suffer some other dire consequence? Highly unlikely.
What I may mistakenly believe is that I can't help but feel a certain way when my partner makes a particular choice. "It's only natural", I exclaim, as if it would be abnormal if I reacted differently. The truth is that I'm able to feel any number of emotions for a particular action, depending on how I view it.
For example, if my SO responds to a hug by ignoring me and continuing to watch TV, it's easy to get angry and blame my anger on their rejection. If I think about it though, I can see that they're the ones losing the most. I can choose to feel compassion for them, knowing that no matter what feelings lead them to such a choice, they can't be comfortable or feel loving, as much as they try to disguise them.
Just for Today
Unless my partner is using physical coercion, they can't "make" me feel anything, unless I let them. If I do let them, then I can also blame my feelings on anything I want - the phases of the moon, or how long the grass is today.
Today I'll accept responsibility for my feelings, and try to decide how I want to feel in a particular situation. I'll look for new ways of changing my views to achieve those results.
Life is a struggle, but not a warfare. - John Burroughs
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
The Power of Faith
A very small amount of faith is all that is required to begin the OA program. Hearing the stories of those who have changed and found new life gives us faith in the program. Coming to the limit of our resources makes us willing to try believing in a Higher Power, or at least acting as if we believed.
Sometimes we resist believing because deep down we do not want to change. When we honestly want to stop eating compulsively more than we want anything else, we will be given the necessary faith.
Faith grows as we work the program. As we see results, we are encouraged to keep trying in spite of setbacks. When we are able to stop eating compulsively through OA and our Higher Power, we come to believe that we can succeed in other areas of life, as well. Faith spreads to include other accomplishments, which before had seemed impossible. Through the power of faith, we are able to become all that God intends us to be.
May our faith grow daily.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Stars have always helped me to get things into perspective . . . I tried to let the starlight heal something deep in me that hurt. --Madeleine L'Engle
For a long time, people have used stars to find their way in the dark. Many a lost soul has been guided by the North Star or the Big Dipper.
If we watch the sky at night, we can see thousands of twinkling stars. They are our friends. They remind us how small we are. They remind us of the vastness of the universe, of the power and beauty that surround us.
Starlight in the sky, or reflected on a lake, can comfort us when we hurt. With safe and open arms, nature accepts our sorrow, no matter how we express it. Starlight, like all of nature, reflects a light that comes from way beyond us. It is that light that heals us in a deep and quiet way.
How has nature comforted me when I am troubled?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak, a few reasonable words. --Goethe
A spiritual man can nourish his growing spirit through enriching and beautiful experiences. Such experiences might be quiet meditation, reading something, which provides ideas to ponder, conversation with a friend, or listening to music. Men have been taught to focus on things more than on people, on goals and achievement, and we neglect to provide ourselves with nourishment for our minds and souls.
Life's experiences include joy and beauty and pain and grief. If we are uplifted every day by beauty in its many forms, we are strengthened and carried along to meet the tougher parts of our day. We may need to push some other things aside to have it. Perhaps some jobs can wait until tomorrow, and we can linger over a meal with our loved ones. Maybe mowing the lawn or fixing the car isn't as important as a half-hour of good music. Do we make space for nourishing moments in each day?
I am grateful for the beauty all around. Help me keep life more balanced so I can receive the spiritual nourishment it provides.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep. --Agnes Meyer
Deep roots offer strength and stability to an organism. They nourish it plentifully. They anchor it when the fierce winds blow. We each are offered the gifts of roots when we give ourselves fully to the program.
We are never going to face, alone, any difficult situation after discovering recovery. Never again need we make any decision in isolation. Help is constant. Guidance through companionship with others and our contacts with God will always be as close as our requests. The program anchors us; every prayer we make, every step we take, nourishes the roots we are developing.
Becoming rooted in the program, with daily attention to the nourishment we need, offers us sanity and hope. We discover that all things can be handled; no situation is too much for us. Strength, confidence, freedoms from fear are the benefits of our deepening roots. We will be anchored if we do what needs to be done by us. The program's gifts are ours, only if we work the program.
I won't neglect my roots today. I will nourish them so they in turn can fill me up with confidence when my need is there.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Coping with Families
There are many paths to self-care with families. Some people choose to sever connections with family members for a period of time. Some people choose to stay connected with family members and learn different behaviors. Some disconnect for a time, and then return slowly on a different basis.
There is no one or perfect way to deal with members of our family in recovery. It is up to each of us to choose a path that suits us and our needs at each point in time.
The idea that is new to us in recovery is that we can choose. We can set the boundaries we need to set with family members. We can choose a path that works for us, without guilt and obligation or undue influence from any source, including recovery professionals.
Our goal is to detach in love with family members. Our goal is to be able to take care of ourselves, love ourselves, and live healthy lives despite what family members do or don't do. We decide what boundaries or decisions are necessary to do this.
It's okay to say no to our families when that is what we want. It's okay to say yes to our families if that feels right. It's okay to call time out and it's okay to go back as a different person.
God, help me choose the path that is right for me with family. Help me understand there is no right or wrong in this process. Help me strive for forgiveness and learn to detach with love, whenever possible. I understand that this never implies that I have to forfeit self-care and health for the good of the system.
As I am learning to see the world through the eyes of love and compassion, I am becoming more and more full of love and compassion for myself and others. I deserve to feel good about myself today and I am learning how. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!
Birthdays, holidays and anniversaries always seemed to be a time when I would get carried away. I didn't mean to get out of control; I just wanted to have a good time. It was a special day, and I deserved it. Invariably I would drink and use too much, and the special day was ruined. Even if I didn't embarrass myself too badly, I would have problems remembering the next day. The things that I could recall weren't always pretty. You would think that my behavior would have been the opposite. You would think I would have been on good behavior because these were special days. Yet this just was not the case.
Even in early recovery, I found that special days and holidays were sometimes difficult. I would once again get caught up in the euphoria that drugs and alcohol would promise. It became important for me to plan how I would deal with these special days ahead of time. Spending time with family that supported my recovery and spending time with my friends around the tables became an important component in my plans. Now I have learned how to really celebrate these special times in recovery, and am I grateful! Do I plan to take care of my recovery on special days?
Meditations for the Heart
Today I celebrate new anniversaries -- Anniversaries of Recovery! There is something truly amazing about speaking up at a meeting and saying, "Yes, I have three months." It is more incredible to say one year, two years, ten years or more. I've been to some conventions and seen people celebrate 20, 30, 40, 50 or more years of being clean and sober. When you talk with these people and ask them how they did it, all of them tell you it is the program and a solid relationship with their Higher Power. What are you doing to make these special days happen in your life?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Every day is special when it is lived clean and sober. Each day I receive is truly a gift from You. Let me treat this day as something special and enjoy the gift that it is. Help me daily recommit myself to the Twelve Steps and to a stronger relationship with You.
Amen.
-----
NA Just For Today
Keeping Faith
"We grasp the limitless strength provided for us through our daily prayer and surrender as long as we keep faith and renew it."
Basic Text p.44
There are two parts to recovery: getting clean, and staying clean. Getting clean is comparatively easy because we only have to do it once. Staying clean is more difficult, requiring attention every day of our lives. Yet both draw their power from faith.
We got clean on faith. We admitted that addiction was more powerful than we were, and we stopped trying to fight it on our own. We turned the battle over to a Power greater than ourselves, and that Higher Power got us clean. We stay clean each day the same way: on faith. Just for today, we surrender. Life may be too big for us to tackle on our own power. When it is, we seek a Power greater than ourselves. We pray, asking our Higher Power for direction and the strength to follow it. By exercising and renewing our faith on a daily basis, we tap the resources we need to live clean, full lives.
There is limitless strength available to us whenever we need it. To grasp it, all we need to do is keep faith in the Higher Power that got us clean and keeps us clean.
Just for today: Faith got me clean, and faith will keep me clean. Today, I will keep faith with my Higher Power. I will renew my surrender and pray for knowledge and strength.
pg. 288
-----
October 2 - Daily Feast
Sweet fragrance of the land, herbs and roots and medicines long lost to the general populace, are nonetheless as present as they always have been. We have been so taken with miracle cures, these things have been put away as folklore and not dependable. The simple people at one time had no other alternative - so runs the present-day popular notion. Hard-fought battles over who is to pay for the miracle medicines - and we are grateful for most of them - may turn a venturesome soul back to the soil and back to those things that heal a mind and body without being asked for proof of insurance. But one other thing far too ignored is the power of prayer. No Indian is remiss in blessing his body and soul and spirit because he knows they work together. His prayer is not now and again but regular and potent.
~ The lack of respect for growing, living things soon led to lack of respect for humans too. ~
LUTHER STANDING BEAR - LAKOTA
'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
Elder's Meditation of the Day - October 2
"Laughter - that is something very sacred especially for us Indians."
--John (Fire) Lame Deer, ROSEBUD LAKOTA
Laughter is mental, laughter is emotional, laughter is physical and laughter is spiritual. Laughter helps us find balance. If we get too angry, laughter will turn that emotion in a balanced direction. If we have a mental picture of someone who is too strong, laughter will help ease the tension. If the body is stressed, laughter will release natural relaxants into our muscles and our nervous system. Laughter often changes our attitude. We need to lighten up and laugh more.
Great Spirit, teach me to laugh.
*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*<<<=-=>>>*
"THINK on THESE THINGS"
By Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Aim high, even though it seems at the moment you'll never reach that cherished dream. It is your duty to lift yourself above mediocrity. And if you're afraid your dream will sound foolish, then don't talk about it, work for it.
Some dreams have gossamer wings, too fragile to discuss. We can be so zealous about our plans that we talk away the mystery and lose interest in the things we've begun. Zeal can burn itself out in one, quick, bright flame, or it can be nurtured into strength that is the basis for greatness.
If dreams have substance, then they may well come true. And if they are in line with the law of good, then there will be someone who wants to help. To have the desire to do something that will benefit others, the desire to serve, is to have a dream with solid possibilities.
The aims, then, must be deserving as to become duties. It falls to certain individuals to develop a gift and to use it in helping other people. As German philosopher Immanuel Kant has written, "What are the aims which are at the same time duties? They are the perfecting of ourselves and the happiness of others."
-----
Daily Relationship Reading
When I feel anger or some other uncomfortable emotion over something my partner said or did, I might be tempted to say "they made me feel that way".
But how can my SO "force" me to feel such an emotion? Would I go to prison if I didn't, or suffer some other dire consequence? Highly unlikely.
What I may mistakenly believe is that I can't help but feel a certain way when my partner makes a particular choice. "It's only natural", I exclaim, as if it would be abnormal if I reacted differently. The truth is that I'm able to feel any number of emotions for a particular action, depending on how I view it.
For example, if my SO responds to a hug by ignoring me and continuing to watch TV, it's easy to get angry and blame my anger on their rejection. If I think about it though, I can see that they're the ones losing the most. I can choose to feel compassion for them, knowing that no matter what feelings lead them to such a choice, they can't be comfortable or feel loving, as much as they try to disguise them.
Just for Today
Unless my partner is using physical coercion, they can't "make" me feel anything, unless I let them. If I do let them, then I can also blame my feelings on anything I want - the phases of the moon, or how long the grass is today.
Today I'll accept responsibility for my feelings, and try to decide how I want to feel in a particular situation. I'll look for new ways of changing my views to achieve those results.
Life is a struggle, but not a warfare. - John Burroughs
-----
You are reading from the book Food for Thought.
The Power of Faith
A very small amount of faith is all that is required to begin the OA program. Hearing the stories of those who have changed and found new life gives us faith in the program. Coming to the limit of our resources makes us willing to try believing in a Higher Power, or at least acting as if we believed.
Sometimes we resist believing because deep down we do not want to change. When we honestly want to stop eating compulsively more than we want anything else, we will be given the necessary faith.
Faith grows as we work the program. As we see results, we are encouraged to keep trying in spite of setbacks. When we are able to stop eating compulsively through OA and our Higher Power, we come to believe that we can succeed in other areas of life, as well. Faith spreads to include other accomplishments, which before had seemed impossible. Through the power of faith, we are able to become all that God intends us to be.
May our faith grow daily.
-----
You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Stars have always helped me to get things into perspective . . . I tried to let the starlight heal something deep in me that hurt. --Madeleine L'Engle
For a long time, people have used stars to find their way in the dark. Many a lost soul has been guided by the North Star or the Big Dipper.
If we watch the sky at night, we can see thousands of twinkling stars. They are our friends. They remind us how small we are. They remind us of the vastness of the universe, of the power and beauty that surround us.
Starlight in the sky, or reflected on a lake, can comfort us when we hurt. With safe and open arms, nature accepts our sorrow, no matter how we express it. Starlight, like all of nature, reflects a light that comes from way beyond us. It is that light that heals us in a deep and quiet way.
How has nature comforted me when I am troubled?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
One ought, each day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if possible, speak, a few reasonable words. --Goethe
A spiritual man can nourish his growing spirit through enriching and beautiful experiences. Such experiences might be quiet meditation, reading something, which provides ideas to ponder, conversation with a friend, or listening to music. Men have been taught to focus on things more than on people, on goals and achievement, and we neglect to provide ourselves with nourishment for our minds and souls.
Life's experiences include joy and beauty and pain and grief. If we are uplifted every day by beauty in its many forms, we are strengthened and carried along to meet the tougher parts of our day. We may need to push some other things aside to have it. Perhaps some jobs can wait until tomorrow, and we can linger over a meal with our loved ones. Maybe mowing the lawn or fixing the car isn't as important as a half-hour of good music. Do we make space for nourishing moments in each day?
I am grateful for the beauty all around. Help me keep life more balanced so I can receive the spiritual nourishment it provides.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep. --Agnes Meyer
Deep roots offer strength and stability to an organism. They nourish it plentifully. They anchor it when the fierce winds blow. We each are offered the gifts of roots when we give ourselves fully to the program.
We are never going to face, alone, any difficult situation after discovering recovery. Never again need we make any decision in isolation. Help is constant. Guidance through companionship with others and our contacts with God will always be as close as our requests. The program anchors us; every prayer we make, every step we take, nourishes the roots we are developing.
Becoming rooted in the program, with daily attention to the nourishment we need, offers us sanity and hope. We discover that all things can be handled; no situation is too much for us. Strength, confidence, freedoms from fear are the benefits of our deepening roots. We will be anchored if we do what needs to be done by us. The program's gifts are ours, only if we work the program.
I won't neglect my roots today. I will nourish them so they in turn can fill me up with confidence when my need is there.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Coping with Families
There are many paths to self-care with families. Some people choose to sever connections with family members for a period of time. Some people choose to stay connected with family members and learn different behaviors. Some disconnect for a time, and then return slowly on a different basis.
There is no one or perfect way to deal with members of our family in recovery. It is up to each of us to choose a path that suits us and our needs at each point in time.
The idea that is new to us in recovery is that we can choose. We can set the boundaries we need to set with family members. We can choose a path that works for us, without guilt and obligation or undue influence from any source, including recovery professionals.
Our goal is to detach in love with family members. Our goal is to be able to take care of ourselves, love ourselves, and live healthy lives despite what family members do or don't do. We decide what boundaries or decisions are necessary to do this.
It's okay to say no to our families when that is what we want. It's okay to say yes to our families if that feels right. It's okay to call time out and it's okay to go back as a different person.
God, help me choose the path that is right for me with family. Help me understand there is no right or wrong in this process. Help me strive for forgiveness and learn to detach with love, whenever possible. I understand that this never implies that I have to forfeit self-care and health for the good of the system.
As I am learning to see the world through the eyes of love and compassion, I am becoming more and more full of love and compassion for myself and others. I deserve to feel good about myself today and I am learning how. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean today!