Daily Recovery Readings - 8/9

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Daily Reflections

". . .OF ALL PERSONS WE HAD HARMED"

"...and became willing to make amends to them all."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 77

One of the key words in the Eighth Step is the word all. I am not free
to select a few names for the list and to disregard others. It is a list of
all persons I have harmed. I can see immediately that this Step entails
forgiveness because if I'm not willing to forgive someone, there is little
chance I will place his name on the list. Before I placed the first name
on my list, I said a little prayer: "I forgive anyone and everyone who
has ever harmed me at any time and under any circumstances."
It is well for me to contemplate a small, but very significant, two-letter
word every time the Lord's Prayer is said. The word is as. I ask,
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against
us." In this case, as means, "in the same manner." I am asking to be
forgiven in the same manner that I forgive others. As I say this portion
of the prayer, if I am harboring hatred or resentment, I am inviting
more resentment, when I should be calling on the spirit of forgiveness.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"We have an allergy to alcohol. The action of alcohol on chronic
alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy. We allergic types can never
safely use alcohol in any form at all. We cannot be reconciled to a life
without alcohol, unless we can experience an entire psychic change.
Once this psychic change has occurred, we who seemed doomed, we
who had so many problems that we despaired of ever solving them,
find ourselves able to control our desire for alcohol." Have I had a
psychic change?

Meditation For The Day

Ask God in daily prayer to give you the strength to change. When you
ask God to change you, you must at the same time fully trust Him. If
you do not fully trust Him, God may answer your prayer as a
rescuer does that of a drowning person who is putting up too much
of a struggle. The rescuer must first render the person still more
helpless, until he or she is wholly at the rescuer's mercy. just so must
we be wholly at God's mercy before we can be rescued.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be daily willing to be changed. I pray that I may put
myself wholly at the mercy of God.

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As Bill Sees It

Freedom to Choose, p. 124

Looking back, we see that our freedom to choose badly was not,
after all, a very real freedom.

When we chose because we "must," this was not a free choice,
either. But it got us started in the right direction.

When we chose because we "ought to," we were really doing better.
This time we were earning some freedom, making ourselves ready
for more.

But when, now and then, we could gladly make right choices without
rebellion, hold-out, or conflict, then we had our first view of what
perfect freedom under God's will could be like.

Grapevine, May 1960

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Walk In Dry Places

Confidence In the next phase.
Assurance
"God has carried me this far. I will not be let down now." These are brave words of recovering people who find themselves facing new doubts and fears.
There's nothing unrealistic about this attitude. Those of us in 12 Step programs and beneficiaries of a miraculous chain of events that brought our movement into being. Our responsibility is to continue carrying the message by proving how the program works.
It's our success in dealing with life's problems that eventually attracts others to our fellow ship. The best proof of how our spiritual program works is showing how our Higher Power continues to solve problems in our lives.
We don't always know what the next phase in our lies will bring. We can only know that with God, all sorts of wonderful things continue to be possible.
Though I can't see around the corner, I'll know today that my Higher Power will guide me smoothly and safely through the next phase.

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Keep It Simple

If there is no wind, row.---Latin proverb
At times, staying sober will be easy; at other times, it will be hard. But we must do what is needed to stay sober. Having a hard week? Go to extra meetings. Feeling alone? Call a friend and ask if you can get together. Feel like drinking? Go to a safe place until the urge passes.
We have no choice. We must row when there's no wind. If not, we'll fall back into our addiction.
If we work hard, we'll stay sober. Plus we'll grow as spiritual people. Hard times test us and make better people. But this will only happen if we keep our Higher Power and our program close to our heart.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me remember that I grow during hard times. I pray that I'll accept and use what You've given me each day.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list five things I learned from my program in hard times.

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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.

Even though I was grateful not to be nuts, as I'd first supposed, I felt cheated. All the people I saw sitting around the tables of Alcoholics Anonymous had been granted many more years of drinking than I. It just wasn't fair! Someone pointed out to me that life was rarely fair. I wasn't amused, but extending my drinking career simply wasn't an option anymore.

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."

Yes, we of A.A. did dream those dreams. How natural that was, since most alcoholics are bankrupt idealists. Nearly every one of us had wished to do great good, perform great deeds, and embody great ideals. We are all perfectionists who, failing perfection, have gone to the other extreme and settled for the bottle and the blackout. Providence, through A.A., had brought us within reach of our highest expectations. So why shouldn't we share our way of life with everyone?

p. 156

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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

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do.
But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and
forgiving.
--Dale Carnegie

Never assume you know who I am or what I'm doing, ask me a
question instead.
--Carol Neilson

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn,
whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
--Helen Keller

"I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

ACCEPTANCE

"The man who has become a
thinking being feels a
compulsion to give to every
creature the same reverence for
life that he gives to his own."
-- Albert Schweitzer

Today I accept people. Even the people with who I do not agree, I
accept. My freedom is dependent upon my attitude towards others.
My respect is rooted in the respect I give to others. God is to be found
in my neighbor!

Nowhere is this more true for me as a religious person than in my
attitude to people of other creeds --- and those who have none! The
spiritual life that unites me to God and the world requires not only
acceptance of "difference" but my personal need for it.

But more than this; even those who hurt, abuse and destroy need to be
accepted from within my spiritual self --- because something of their
life exists in mine. In this accepting love is the daily healing of my
disease.

May my acceptance of the tyrant lead to the forgiveness of the self.

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Whatever you do or say; let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus.
Colossians 3:17

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will
make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

"The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a
sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like
a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
Isaiah 58:11

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Daily Inspiration

A thoughtful gesture can accomplish so much and can even be the beginning of a miracle. Lord, help me to warm the heart of just one person today.

Keep your feet firmly planted in your faith and your eyes raised to the heavens. Lord, You are my strength, my encouragement and my source of all that is good.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
What is without periods of rest will not endure. --Ovid
When we are tired, we need to stop and give ourselves time to rest. Sometimes we think we can't spare the time. But without rest, all our activity soon becomes a burden and there is no joy in it. Animals know it is necessary to take time to rest. This is part of the rhythm of life: activity and rest, effort and relaxation.
Our bad moods are often our body's way of telling us we need rest. When we were little, we needed naps. Somehow, we forget to allow ourselves this right when we are older. We are wise to remember we never outgrow this need for rest to make the day go better.
When we return to our day refreshed, we have given ourselves and all those around us the gift of ourselves at our best.
What can I do better when I am rested?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
We must embrace the absurd and go beyond everything we have ever known. --Janie Gustafson
We have stepped beyond the limits of our former life and accepted the possibility of the unknown. Many of us have always tried to be rational, to trust only what we could understand or reason through. That attempt served the part of us that lusted for control and power, but it kept us from unknown possibilities and dreams.
When we decide to be less controlling, we begin to believe in possibilities we didn't allow before. That is how we let God influence our lives. Perhaps we don't see a reasonable way to a more satisfying job, but we can be open to surprising possibilities. We may see nothing we can do to overcome our compulsions, but we pray for God to remove our shortcomings in God's way, and already we have a new attitude.
God, give me the courage to step into the unknown, the absurd, and experience the awakening of my spirit.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
For me, stopping smoking wasn't a matter of will power, but being will-less. --Joan Gilbertson
Most of us have struggled, willfully, with untold numbers of addictions; liquor, uppers, downers, sugar, chocolate, cigarettes, men. The more we became determined to control our use or to abstain, the greater the compulsion felt for one drink, one bite, one puff. Giving in completely was the turning point.
This recovery program helps each of us find relief from our primary addiction once we humble ourselves, accept our powerlessness, and ask for help. It can help us equally effectively, every day, with any problem we are willfully trying to control. Is a family member causing us grief? Is a co-worker creating anxiety? Has a close friend pulled away? We expend so much energy trying to manage outcomes! In most cases, our attempt to control will invite even more resistance.
The program offers the way out of any frustrating situation. We can be mindful of our powerlessness and cherish the opportunities offered by our higher power. We can turn over whatever our problem to God and quietly, trustingly, anticipate the resolution. It's guaranteed.
How much easier I will find life's experiences if I will let go of my willful ways. The right outcome in all cases will more quickly surface.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Asking for What We Need
Decide what it is you want and need, then go to the person you need it from and ask for it.
Sometimes, it takes hard work and much energy to get what we want and need. We have to go through the pains of identifying what we want, then struggle to believe that we deserve it. Then, we may have to experience the disappointment of asking someone, having the person refuse us, and figuring out what to do next.
Sometimes in life, getting what we want and need is not so difficult. Sometimes, all we need to do is ask.
We can go to another person, or our Higher Power, and ask for what we need.
But because of how difficult it can be, at times, to get what we want and need, we may get trapped in the mind set of believing it will always be that difficult. Sometimes, not wanting to go through the hassle, dreading the struggle, or out of fear, we may make getting what we want and need much more difficult than it needs to be.
We may get angry before we ask, deciding that we'll never get what we want, or anticipating the "fight" we'll have to endure. By the time we talk to someone about what we want, we may be so angry that we're demanding, not asking; thus our anger triggers a power play that didn't exist except in our mind.
Or we may get so worked up that we don't ask--or we waste far more energy than necessary fighting with ourselves, only to find out that the other person, or our Higher Power, is happy to give us what we want.
Sometimes, we have to fight and work and wait for what we want and need. Sometimes, we can get it just by asking or stating that this is what we want. Ask. If the answer is no, or not what we want, then we can decide what to do next.
Today, I will not set up a difficult situation that doesn't exist with other people, or my Higher Power, about getting what I want and need. If there is something I need from someone, I will ask first, before I struggle.


Today I will take the time and quiet I need to find that place of peace and happiness within me. Whatever happens outside of me will never replace that which I can find within me wherever I am. --Ruth Fishel

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The Power Of Love

"We begin to see that God's love has been present all the time, just waiting for us to accept it."
Basic Text, p.46

God's love is the transforming power that drives our recovery. With that love, we find freedom from the hopeless, desperate cycle of using, self-hatred, and more using. With that love, we gain a sense of reason and purpose in our once purposeless lives. With that love, we are given the inner direction and strength we need to begin a new way of life: the NA way. With that love, we begin to see things differently, as if with new eyes.

As we examine our lives through the eyes of love, we make what may be a startling discovery: The loving God we've so recently come to understand has always been with us and has always loved us. We recall the times when we asked for the aid of a Higher Power and were given it. We even recall times when we didn't ask for such help, yet were given it anyway. We realize that a loving Higher Power has cared for us all along, preserving our lives till the day when we could accept that love for ourselves.

The Power of love has been with us all along. Today, we are grateful to have survived long enough to become consciously aware of that love's presence in our world and our lives. Its vitality floods our very being, guiding our recovery and showing us how to live.

Just for today: I accept the love of a Higher Power in my life. I am conscious of that Power's guidance and strength within me. Today, I claim it for my own.
pg. 231

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Wisdom for Today

When things got their worst, I really felt hopeless. I spent time in worry about my future. Was I going to end up locked up somewhere? Would I end up in some mental hospital? Would I end up dead? Worry was such terrible mental torment. What was going to happen to me if I couldn't find a way out of the madness of addiction? I knew there was nothing I could do to find a way out on my own. It was a scary but simple choice. I could end it all in suicide, or I could ask for help.

In desperation I reached out for help and found what I was looking for. In the program a new hope was born, and I actually began to believe that my life could turn out okay. The thing that still baffles me is the fact that I still find it difficult at times to ask for help. After years of evidence that asking for help works, I still find myself at times backing myself into a corner. Why is asking for help so hard? I think the answer to that question is different for each of us. Sometimes it is pride or arrogance. Sometimes it is simply foolishness or lack of commonsense. Sometimes it is fear of letting someone else know. Regardless of the reason, it is only when we come back to a place of surrender and honestly and humbly reach out that we find help. My goal is to remember this one day at a time. Do I still find it hard to ask for help?
Meditations for the Heart

One act in surrender is the act of obedience. When I walk though my day and ignore the directions that my Higher Power provides, I end up in trouble. When I follow the guidance I am given, I find that life goes much easier. In my addiction I always wanted to break the rules or at least bend them. I pretended that they did not apply to me. This is something I can't afford to do in recovery. It is too easy to get off the path of recovery if I do not obey the rules. Yes, I know that in the program you are told that there are no rules, only suggestions. But these suggestions are a matter of life and death. So whether you see them as rules or only suggestions, surrender involves the act of obedience. Sometimes I do not always like the suggestions I am given, yet in surrender I still need to be willing to follow the guidance I am given. Do I practice obedience, or do I want to still bend the rules?
Petitions to my Higher Power

God,

Help me stay open to all the suggestions I am given and recognize that Your direction comes to me though many different channels. Let me hear the words of Your guidance and be willing to obey and follow where You lead. Let me not forget that You care about me and will lead me to a good place.

Amen.

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Daily Inventory

When we are not functioning up to par, we need to find out where the problem is. If the day begins to fall apart and we feel overwhelmed and unable to cope, it may be a good idea to stop and take inventory.

Examining the quality of our abstinence is a good place to begin. Have we permitted thoughts of making a small exception here and there? Are we dwelling too much on what we will have for the next meal? Did we make a substitution, which gave us more carbohydrates than we could handle?

If the problem is not with abstinence, then it must be in our emotional or spiritual life. Are we harboring resentments, which are poisoning our outlook? Have we made a mistake, which we are unwilling to admit? Is there something we need to do for a family member that we are procrastinating about doing? Are we denying a legitimate need of our own?

Grant me the honesty to confront my weaknesses.