More Recovery Readings - 12/28

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NA Just For Today
December 28
Depression

"We are no longer fighting fear anger guilt, self-pity, or depression."
Basic Text pg. 26

As addicts, many of us experience depression from time to time. When we feel depressed, we may be tempted to isolate ourselves. However, if we do this, our depression may turn to despair. We can't afford to let depression lead us back to using.

Instead, we try to go about the routine of our lives. We make meeting attendance and contact with our sponsor top priorities. Sharing with others about our feelings may let us know we aren't the only ones who have been depressed in recovery. Working with a newcomer can work wonders for our own state of mind. And, most importantly, prayer and meditation can help us tap the power we need to survive depression.

We practice acceptance and remember that feelings like depression will unquestionably pass in time. Rather than struggle with our feelings, we accept them and ask for the strength to walk through them.

Just for today: I accept that my feelings of depression won't last forever. I will talk openly about my feelings with my sponsor or another person who understands.

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Minimizing Temptation

There are things we can do to minimize the temptations that are around us. We are constantly exposed to food advertisements if we watch television and read magazines. Most of us need to spend a certain amount of time purchasing and preparing food. Social gatherings usually involve refreshments. All of this exposure to food can be uncomfortable for compulsive overeaters if we do not find ways to minimize it.

It is a good idea to skip the recipe sections in the magazines we read. Unnecessary thinking about food only intensifies our obsession. Moving away from the television set during a food commercial is a way to minimize that kind of temptation. Grocery shopping is expedited by not considering any items other than those on a prepared list and by spending as little time as possible in the grocery store. Meal preparation can be simplified so that less rather than more time is spent in the kitchen. At parties, we can concentrate on people and conversation instead of food.

The best way to handle temptation is by remembering that we are compulsive overeaters and that nothing is worth activating our disease.

Guide us as we avoid temptation.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I'll walk where my own nature would be leading--It vexes me to choose another guide. . . . --Emily Bronte
We journey across many intersections in our lives. Some may point in two directions, while others lead off in several. Our choice of direction can be difficult, especially when our friends choose a road we know to be dangerous. When this happens, we can choose to go our own way without them. If they begin to tease and taunt us about our decisions, may we remember that they are as scared as we were about their friends' reaction. We are not, after all, living for someone else. If we would be leaders, we can be assured that true leadership comes from following our own directions with confidence that it's right for us, not from fear of losing others' company.
We can let others live their own lives without us, if their direction is not for us. We can walk away with pride, satisfied in the knowledge that we refused to allow other people's fears change our decisions.
How have I gone my own way recently?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
He is a man whom it is impossible to please, because he is never pleased with himself. --Goethe
Many of us grew up trying to please our fathers and feeling we never got the approval we needed. Perhaps our fathers couldn't feel pleased with themselves. Now it is time to take stock of ourselves and ask whether we are perpetuating the pattern in our own lives. If we still feel unhappy with ourselves, we may never be satisfied with anyone else either. Spouses, children, bosses, even the parking lot attendant may receive the brunt of our self-disapproval. We don't totally change these patterns in an instant. We change them one day at a time.
Today, we have before us a small piece of the future. We can begin by treating ourselves decently. Maybe we can't feel a strong sense of personal approval yet, but we can give ourselves some basic respect. We can start by remembering we have the love of God. We can affirm at least one positive thing about ourselves. After some positive reflection, we will have more to give to others.
Today, I will give myself approval for at least one thing.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
The human heart dares not stay away too long from that which hurt it most. There is a return journey to anguish that few of us are released from making. --Lillian Smith
As the sore tooth draws our tongue, so do rejections, affronts, painful criticisms, both past and present draw our minds. We court self-pity, both loving and hating it. But we can change this pattern. First we must decide we are ready to do so. The program tells us we must become "entirely ready." And then we must ask to have this shortcoming removed.
The desire to dwell on the injustices of our lives becomes habitual. It takes hours of our time. It influences our perceptions of all other experiences. We have to be willing to replace that time-consuming activity with one that's good and healthy.
We must be prepared for all of life to change. Our overriding self-pity has so tarnished our perceptions that we may never have sensed all the good that life daily offers. How often we see the glass as half-empty rather than half-full!
A new set of experiences awaits me today. And I can perceive them unfettered by the memories of the painful past. Self-pity need not cage me, today.

You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Panic
Don't panic!
If panic strikes, we do not have to allow it to control our behaviors. Behaviors controlled by panic tend to be self-defeating. No matter what the situation or circumstance, panic is usually not a good foundation. No matter what the situation or circumstance, we usually have at least a moment to breathe deeply and restore our serenity and peace.
We don't have to do more than we can reasonably do - ever! We don't have to do something we absolutely cannot do or cannot learn to do!
This program, this healthy way of life we are seeking, is built on a foundation of peace and quiet confidence - in ourselves, in our Higher Power, in the recovery process.
Do not panic. That takes us away from the path. Relax. Breathe deeply. Let peace flow through our body and mind. From this base, our Source shall supply the necessary resources.
Today, I will treat panic as a separate issue that needs immediate attention. I will refuse to allow panicky thoughts and feelings to motivate me. Instead, I will let peace and trust motivate my feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.


Today I am slowing down my pace. I do not have to accomplish the entire world in this day. It is one day. Today I have time to stop and smell the flowers. --Ruth Fishel

God help me to stay sober and clean today!

[francie21805]

Wisdom for Today
“At some of these we balked.” This line in the AA Big Book certainly described my feelings about doing a Fifth Step. I was like many addicts and alcoholics; I just wanted to find an easier, softer way. I mean after all, God already knew everything I had done wrong. Why did I have to talk to another human being about all the “yuk” in my Fourth Step? I was reluctant to discuss my shortcomings with someone else. I figured that as long as I was clean and sober and pointed my life in a new direction, I really didn’t have to talk with anyone else.
But when I got honest with myself about the reason why I was balking about completing this step, it became clearer to me why I indeed needed to follow through. The reality was that I was guilt-ridden, ashamed and afraid. I was depressed. I knew these feelings would not go away on their own. I also knew enough about the program to know that I probably wasn’t the first addict or alcoholic to feel this way. I needed to trust that this step was a part of the process for a reason. I needed to trust that somehow this step would help me. I began to realize my need for others and that I would never get out of the isolation without carrying out this step, nor would I ever be able forever to hide the secrets. I knew the burdens I felt would never be lifted without completing this step. Do I trust the program works to relieve burdens?

Meditations for the Heart
Life certainly has its ups and downs; sometimes it can even spin around. I have learned the only healthy way to deal with this is to stay calm in the storm. Not something I was particularly good at when I was drinking and using! But the spiritual aspects and principles of the program can teach you to find this inner calm. I find that I can find that inner calm best when I spend time, even a few minutes, in quiet communion with my Higher Power. When I walk through the storms of life with this inner calm, I find I can get more accomplished. I find that worry does not enter into the picture. I find it easier to “stay in today.” I am no good to others or myself when I get agitated, stressed out, angry or overwhelmed. I need to seek this inner calm in all that I do. Do I seek an inner calmness and things that are true and good for me?

Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
I know that I need to bring my burdens to You. Help me to be free to share these burdens with others also, so that I do not have to shoulder the load by myself. Teach me to seek after an inner calmness and to be true and good in all that I do this day. Give me courage to weather the storms of life, and help me to know that the sunny days of life do follow.
Amen.

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December 28 - Daily Feast

A very long time ago, among the pages of words written by ancient men is a phrase so potent it still works today. It says, "Call the things that be not as though they were." So life is hard and scary and you have messed up miserably. Then change it by saying what you do want - by calling into being the way you want things and circumstances to be. Your words have power. They create. They shape. They call into being what you want. You have been digging in your heels and declaring that nothing can be saved. Don't you know you are doing it? Cancel everything negative you have ever said - be truly sorry for it. And then take hold of your tongue and demand it speak right.

~ You propose to give us land where we can live in quiet. I accept your proposal. ~

LITTLE RAVEN - ARAPAHO

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - December 28

"I believe that being a medicine man, more than anything else, is a state of mind, a way of looking at and understanding this earth, a sense of what it is all about."

--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

The Medicine Wheel explains different ways of looking at the world. The four directions are the East, the South, the West and the North. In the East is the view of the eagle - the eagle flies high and sees the earth from that point of view. The South is the direction of the mouse. Moving on the earth, the mouse will not see what the eagle sees. Both the eagle and the mouse see the truth. The West is the direction of the bear - the bear will see different from the mouse and the eagle. From the North comes the point of view of the bison. To be a Medicine Man you must journey through all points of view and develop the mind to see the interconnectedness of all four directions. This takes time, patience and an open mind. Eventually, you understand there is only love.

Great Spirit, today, allow my mind to stay open.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Is there ever a perfect time? A wise mother says there isn't. She advises us to take life by the hand and march right into the middle, and then start digging out the corners. She says not to wait for a perfect time to do anything, because a perfect time never quite makes it. We simply have to go ahead and make it as near perfect as possible.

A perfectionist is usually someone who can never find the perfect way, and gives up in futility. But the one who aims at perfection and does not wait for it, is at least moving and there's nothing useless about that. Unless we are moving, we resemble Tennyson's description: "Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null, dead perfection; no more."

We have to face life, not under the pressure of perfection, but by pure faith. We have to go on accepting and rejecting as we come to each phase.

"For perfection does not exist," said eighteenth century writer Alfred de Musset. "To understand it is the triumph of human intelligence; to expect to possess it is the most dangerous kind of madness."

In the rush of too much to do, we stack up for ourselves things we are going to do, things we ought to do, and things we intend to do. We do first the things of necessity, we take time to think a little about what we ought to do, and the rest is left to good intentions.

Frequently the good intentions hold the key to our happiness. While we bog down in the necessities of living, the things that mean so much slip away unnoticed.

We always expect other people to know that we intended to do this or that, but we must realize that they cannot read our good intentions. Good intentions have the same look as nothing at all. And we have to draw our own conclusions as to what our thoughts and feelings are. Only if we express them can we ever hope for others to know what we would like to do, even though circumstances may hinder us.

It has been written that intelligent beings have what it takes to surpass themselves. By sensible thought we can actively express our good intentions and this opens the way for fulfillment.

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Daily Relationship Reading
Am I being a doormat? Sometimes it's hard to know when I'm letting my partner walk all over me, and when I'm giving them healthy freedom to be themselves.
For example, my SO asks me to do a favor, but the next time I ask them for something, they act put out. Or I end up slaving over some household chore, while they take off to enjoy themself.
A doormat doesn't have the choice of being walked on, but I do. I have the choice, and the right, to talk about my feelings when I feel taken advantage of. If my SO doesn't feel like listening, I can talk to a friend instead. I can also decide whether or not to do a particular thing.
For example, if the dishes pile up because my partner is unwilling to share washing them, the world won't end. I can take care of my dishes, and leave my SO's to them; I can buy paper plates; or I can do them, and find some way of having fun at the same time!
The choices are mine, to do with as I wish. I can choose to feel like a doormat, or search for better ways of handling things that give me more calmness and peace of mind.

Just for Today
Today, I'll look at a few things that I feel trodden down over, and see if I can find more clues as to why I let this happen. I'll make just a few small changes that help restore my faith in my right to make good choices for me.

A chip on the shoulder is too heavy a piece of baggage to carry through life. - John Hancock