Daily Recovery Readings - 8/7

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Daily Reflections

A "DESIGN FOR LIVING"

We in our turn, sought the same escape with all the
desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a
flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful
hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you
prefer, "a design for living" that really works.
ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS , p. 28

I try each day to raise my heart and hands in thanks
to God for showing me a "design for living" that really
works through our beautiful Fellowship. But what,
exactly, is this "design for living" that "really
works"? For me, it is the practice of the Twelve Steps
to the best of my ability, the continued awareness of
a God who loves me unconditionally, and the hope that,
in each new day, there is a purpose for my being. I
am truly, truly blessed in the Fellowship.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We in A.A. are offering an intangible thing, a
psychological and spiritual program. It's a wonderful
program. When we learn to turn to a Higher Power, with
faith that that Power can give us the strength we need,
we find peace of mind. When we reeducate our minds by
learning to think differently, we find new interests that
make life worthwhile. We who have achieved sobriety
through faith in God and mental reeducation are modern
miracles. it is the function of our A.A. program to
produce modern miracles. Do I consider the change in my
life a modern miracle?

Meditation For The Day

You should never doubt that God's spirit is always with
you, wherever you are, to keep you on the right path.
God's keeping power is never at fault, only your
realization of it. You must try to believe in God's
nearness and availability of His grace. It is not a
question of whether God can provide a shelter from the
storm, but of whether or not you seek the security of
that shelter. Every fear, worry, or doubt is disloyalty
to God. You must endeavor to trust God wholly. Practice
saying: "All is going to be well." Say it to yourself
until you feel it deeply.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may feel deeply that all is well. I pray that nothing
will be able to move me from that deep conviction.

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As Bill Sees It

"Admitted to God . . .", p. 126

Provided you hold back nothing in taking the Fifth Step, your sense of
relief will mount from minute to minute. The dammed-up emotions of
years break out of their confinement, and miraculously vanish as soon
as they are exposed. As the pain subsides, a healing tranquillity takes
its place. And when humility and serenity are so combined, something
else of great moment is apt to occur.

Many an A.A., once agnostic or atheist, tells us that it was during this
stage of Step Five that he first actually felt the presence of God.
And even those who already had faith often become conscious of God
as they never were before.

12 & 12, p. 62

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Walk In Dry Places

Competing with others
Attitude
Some of us never liked close competition. We preferred to be clear winners or not to compete at all. We didn't like to have competitors breathing down our necks.
This attitude kept us from doing our best, and we made a mistake when we thought we were competing with others. We're actually competing with ourselves at all times, trying to do better than we did yesterday. The presence of other people only helps us to set performance standards and goals.
Once we accept the idea of self-improvement, we can delight in competition. We can take satisfaction in situations where, though we were not number one, we came in a close second instead of a sullen last.
I'll know today that I'm always working with others but only competing against myself.

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Keep It Simple

True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body.---Humboldt
In recovery, we work at taking better care of ourselves. We care for our mind and our body.
Often, during our drinking and drugging, we ignored our mind and body. We probably ate poorly, and we pushed our body to the limit.
But now, we are to recover. . .totally! We are to care for our mind and body as we care for our spirit. Our illness is an illness of mind, body, and spirit. So let's care for all three. In recovery, we learn to care for and love all of who we are.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me care for my mind and body as I recover. You love all of me. Help me to respect and care for all of me.
Action for the Day: I will write down how much time I've spent caring for my mind and body in the past two weeks. Is it enough?

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

My Chance To Live

A.A. gave this teenager the tools to climb out of her dark abyss of despair.

I attended the anniversary meeting the following week with no intention of ever going to another meeting. I wasn't an alcoholic. I had other problems that needed attention; then I would be okay. The next week a friend, who was admittedly an alcoholic, asked me if I was going to the meeting. My head went into hyper-speed. If this person thought I needed to go, perhaps I did. But I wasn't an alcoholic.

p. 314

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Six - "An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

Here are some of the things we dreamed. Hospitals didn't like alcoholics, so we thought we'd build a hospital chain of our own. People needed to be told what alcoholism was, so we'd educate the public, even rewrite school and medical textbooks. We'd gather up derelicts from skid rows, sort out those who could get well, and make it possible for the rest to earn their livelihood in a kind of quarantined confinement. Maybe these places would make large sums of money to carry on our other good works. We seriously thought of rewriting the laws of the land, and having it declared that alcoholics are sick people. No more would they be jailed; judges would parole them in our custody. We'd spill A.A. into the dark regions of dope addiction and criminality. We'd form groups of depressive and paranoid folks; the deeper the neurosis, the better we'd like it. It stood to reason that if alcoholism could be licked, so could any problem.

pp. 155-156

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There is no try. There is either do or don't do.
--unknown

I wake each morning with the thrill of expectation and the joy of being
truly alive. And I'm thankful for this day.
--Angela L. Woznick

How I relate to my inner self influences my relationships with all
others. My satisfaction with myself and my satisfaction with other
people are directly proportional.
--Sue Atchley Ebaugh

My relationships with others are as healthy and fulfilling as my
communication with God.
--unknown

Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up.
--unknown

"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they
merely determine where you start."
--Nido Qubein

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PREJUDICE

"There is no more evil thing in
the world than race prejudice . .
. it justifies and holds together
more baseness, cruelty and
abomination than any other sort
of error in the world."
-- H. G. Wells

Something about me fears racism because I know that I am at risk. If a
group of people can be persecuted or ridiculed for being "different"
from others, then why shouldn't it eventually happen to me? With
racism the whole world is at risk.

Also racism is the opposite of spirituality. Spirituality always seeks to
include, bring together and unite. The world that God has made is
ONE. All people and races are "a family" that must learn to co-exist
together if we are to be productive and creative. In the variety is the
strength. With the unusual and peculiar comes divinity. God is to be
found in the confusions of life.

Teacher, let me have the courage to expose the inadequacies in my
life.

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Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak!
Matthew 26:41

"Make me know Thy ways, O LORD; teach me Thy paths."
Psalm 25:4

"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is
seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him."
John 7:18

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as
braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead,
it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and
quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
I Peter 3:3-4

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Daily Inspiration

It is always possible to pray no matter what you are doing. Lord, You are with me, guiding and caring for me. It takes but a brief moment to turn my thoughts to You.

God sends us His message, but we must be willing to receive it and then live it. Lord, when I yield to You, I become free and full of the richness of life.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. --Rainer Maria Rilke
For a relationship to be healthy and fulfilling, each of us must respect the other. "Two solitudes" is exactly what we are, and we will never be one, no matter how close we become. It may feel like that at times, but we always remain separate persons with our own thoughts, feelings, dreams, and interests.
When we love one another, we allow each other to be who we are, to have our own lives, for it is out of those separate lives that we bring strength and energy and life into our relationships.
We are meant to honor the differences between us. Often these differences lead to squabbles, but when we recognize that each of us is necessary to the union we have created, we create a better one, far superior to the sum of its parts.
What differences between us make our lives together better?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
We love because it's the only true adventure. --Nikki Giovanni
In loving, we meet ourselves. As we have become more honest, we no longer make excuses about our relationship problems. We can't blame our troubles on our partner. Our problems with love were often because we didn't know how to be close or we didn't dare to be.
When we let ourselves engage in this adventure, we meet many obstacles - things we can't control, and sometimes we want to quit right there. We have arguments and disappointments as well as good feelings. But what adventure is without difficulty or surprises? Part of the reason for choosing new experiences is to confront forces outside our control. A relationship is a dialogue. Only if we stay with it through the frustrations, express our deepest feelings openly, and listen to our partner, do we achieve a new level of understanding and confidence in the relationship. Then deeper levels also open within ourselves.
Today, I will let honesty guide me in this adventure of my love dialogue.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
To have one's individuality completely ignored is like being pushed quite out of life. Like being blown out as one blows out a light. --Evelyn Scott
We need to know that we matter in this life. We need evidence that others are aware of our presence. And thus, we can be certain that others need the same attention from us. When we give it, we get it. So the giving of attention to another searching soul meets our own need for attention as well.
Respectful recognition of another's presence blesses her, God, and ourselves. And we help one another grow, in important ways, each time we pay the compliment of acknowledgment.
We're not sure, on occasion, just what we have to offer our friends, families, co-workers. Why we are in certain circumstances may have us baffled, but it's quite probably that the people we associate with regularly need something we can give them; the reverse is just as likely. So we can begin with close attention to people in our path. It takes careful listening and close observation to sense the message another soul may be sending to our own.
I will be conscious of the people around me. I shall acknowledge them and be thankful for all they are offering me.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Saying No
For many of us, the most difficult word to say is one of the shortest and easiest in the vocabulary: No. Go ahead, say it aloud: No.
No - simple to pronounce, hard to say. We're afraid people won't like us, or we feel guilty. We may believe that a "good" employee, child, parent, spouse, or Christian never says no.
The problem is, if we don't learn to say no, we stop liking ourselves and the people we always try to please. We may even punish others out of resentment.
When do we say no? When no is what we really mean.
When we learn to say no, we stop lying. People can trust us, and we can trust ourselves. All sorts of good things happen when we start saying what we mean.
If we're scared to say no, we can buy some times. We can take a break, rehearse the word, and go back and say no. We don't have to offer long explanations for our decisions.
When we can say no, we can say yes to the good. Our no's and our yes's begin to be taken seriously. We gain control of ourselves. And we learn a secret: "No" isn't really that hard to say.
Today, I will say no if that is what I mean.


Today I will do all that I am capable of doing at this time of my life to free myself of past mistakes. And then I will let go and live in my now... fully enjoying today. --Ruth Fishel

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The Gratitude List

"We focus on anything that isn't going our way and ignore all the beauty in our lives."
Basic Text, p.77

It's easy to be grateful when everything runs smoothly. If we get a raise at work, we're grateful. If we get married, we're grateful. If someone surprises us with a nice present or an unasked favor, we're grateful. But if we get fired, divorced, or disappointed, gratitude flies out the window. We find ourselves becoming obsessed with the things that are wrong, even though everything else may be wonderful.

This is where we can use a gratitude list. We sit down with a pen and paper and list the people for whom we are grateful. We all have people who've supported us through life's upheavals. We list the spiritual assets we have attained, for we know we could never make it through our present circumstances without them. Last, but not least, we list our recovery itself. Whatever we have that we are grateful for goes on the list.

We're sure to find that we have literally hundreds of things in our lives that inspire our gratitude. Even those of us who are suffering from an illness or who have lost all material wealth will find blessings of a spiritual nature for which we can be thankful. An awakening of the spirit is the most valuable gift an addict can receive.

Just for today: I will write a list of things, both material and spiritual, for which I am grateful.
pg. 229

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Wisdom for Today
No longer do I wake up in the morning with my head feeling two sizes too big. Can't say I jump out of bed like I did in my youth, but I no longer awaken with feelings of regret and emptiness. Now there is something new. There is an inner feeling of calm and knowing that I can find happiness in my day. I used to turn to alcohol and drugs to find happiness but was continually disappointed. Sure, there were good times; but as time went on, I had fewer and fewer of these experiences. I began to see trouble and grief.
Somewhere I crossed the line and became addicted. Somewhere I lost my ability to control my use, and it began to control me. Somewhere I began to use just to feel normal. I no longer sought happiness and found myself searching for escape. Time after time I was given opportunities to change my ways but kept looking for the magic again. This magic never returned. Have I stopped looking for the magic?
Meditations for the Heart
Learning to wait for God's guidance can be difficult. I was used to the immediate gratification that alcohol and drugs gave me. In recovery I have had to learn to wait. I needed to wait for direction before making any important decision. I needed to wait for His guidance before I made any significant changes. I needed to wait with hope, and I needed to wait with trust that the answers would indeed come. Indeed the answers have come, and I am sure there are still others for which I must wait. Parts of recovery require action, and parts of recovery require us to wait. Yet neither action nor waiting can be accomplished without His grace. It is this grace that allows us to find our way. Am I willing to wait for the answers I seek?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
It is with gratitude that I wake this morning. I may never fully understand Your grace in this lifetime, but I now can see that it is only through Your help and guidance that I am able to wait for the answers I seek. Help me this day to seek Your guidance in all that I do. Let me put away any wishes for a magic fix. Instead, teach me the next right thing to do.
Amen.

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Keep It Simple

Complicated food plans and complicated lives work against us in this program. We compulsive overeaters have a hard time making decisions about food, and the more simple our menus, the better. We also tend to overextend ourselves in other areas, dissipating energy, which we need for working our program.

Our three meals a day can be nourishing and attractive without being elaborate. If we spend too much time and energy planning and preparing our food, we run the risk of reactivating our obsession. Too much thinking about food usually leads to overeating and invariably produces mental turmoil.

For our peace of mind and emotional serenity, we need to keep the mechanics of our lives as simple as possible. If the spirit is to be free, it cannot be shackled by over concern with material things.

May I keep life simple today and use my energies for working the program.