Daily Recovery Readings - 8/11

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Daily Reflections

REMOVING "THE GROUND GLASS"

The moral inventory is a cool examination of the damages that
occurred to us during life and a sincere effort to look at them in a true
perspective. This has the effect of taking the ground glass out of us,
the emotional substance that still cuts and inhibits.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 140

My Eighth Step list used to drag me into a whirlpool of resentment.
After four years of sobriety, I was blocked by denial connected with
an ongoing abusive relationship. The argument between fear and
pride eased as the words of the Step moved from my head to my
heart. For the first time in years I opened my box of paints and poured
out an honest rage, an explosion of reds and blacks and yellows. As I
looked at the drawing, tears of joy and relief flowed down my cheeks.
In my disease, I had given up my art, a self-inflicted punishment far
greater than any imposed from outside. In my recovery, I learned that
the pain of my defects is the very substance God uses to cleanse my
character and to set me free.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"While alcoholics keep strictly away from drink, they react to life
much like other people. But the first drink sets the terrible cycle in
motion. Alcoholics usually have no idea why they take the first drink.
Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied, but in their
hearts they really do not know why they do it. The truth is that at
some point in their drinking they have passed into a state where the most
powerful desire to stop drinking is of no avail." Am I satisfied that I
have passed my tolerance point for alcohol?

Meditation For The Day

He who made the ordered world out of chaos and set the stars in their
courses and made each plant to know its season, He can bring peace
and order out of your private chaos if you will let Him. God is
watching over you, too, to bless you and care for you. Out of the
darkness He is leading you to light, out of unrest to rest, out of
disorder to order, out of faults and failure to success. You belong to
God and your affairs are His affairs and can be ordered by Him if you
are willing.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be led out of disorder into order. I pray that I may be
led out of failure into success.

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As Bill Sees It

Willingness Is The Key, p. 122

No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can he turn his
own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks
there is?

A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have
placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so
slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.

Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will
always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.

12 & 12, p. 35

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Walk In Dry Places

What is real Open-mindedness?
New Ideas
When we're urged to be open-minded, what's really involved? Open-mindedness certainly can't mean accepting every idea that comes down the road, because some of them are worthless or harmful.
Open-mindedness really means a readiness to put our deeply held opinions aside long enough to consider new ideas. If we simply refuse to listen to anything new, we'll avoid the bad ideas, but we'll also miss out on the ideas that can help us.
If we're really honest, we can look back to see many ideas that helped us after we reluctantly agreed to consider them. It's important to screen ideas as they come to us, but we can't block them out completely. All a good idea needs to help us is a fair chance.
I'll work at being more open-minded today. It's possible I've been blocking out ideas that could help me.

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Keep It Simple

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat.--- Lily Tomlin
Alcoholism is rat race. Drug addiction is a rat race. We were always trying to keep one or two steps ahead of the cat. We were always sneaking around, and everyone was disgusted with us.
Our goal in recovery is stop acting like a rat and join the human race again. Recovery teaches us sayings like Easy Does It and One Day At a Time. Our sayings remind us to pace ourselves. Our sayings remind us that healing takes time.
We live by human values: honesty, respect from others, fairness, openness, self-respect. We work at just being ourselves. We learn that this is enough. We are enough.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me accept my humanness. I am part of the human race, not the rat race.
Action for the Day: Just for today, I'll pace myself. I'll list ways I often go to fast for my own good. I'll ask friends how they pace themselves.

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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.

At this point I surrendered. I admitted I was an alcoholic without a clue what to do about it. Many of the people around me wanted to go to treatment, but I resisted. I didn't want the kids at school to know what was going on. If I went to treatment, they'd all know within a week. More importantly, I was afraid. I was afraid the treatment center would test me and say, "You're not an alcoholic. You're just crazy." My heart knew this wasn't true. My head took a bit more convincing. The thought of having A.A. taken away from me was terrifying. A.A. was my anchor in a sea of confusion. Anything that might pose a threat to my sense of security was quickly thrust away. I didn't have anything against treatment centers then, nor do I now. I simply didn't want to go, and I didn't.

p. 315

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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."

These adventures implanted a deep-rooted conviction that in no circumstances could we endorse any related enterprise, no matter how good. We of Alcoholics Anonymous could not be all things to all men, nor should we try.

p. 157

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If what you are doing is not working, take a moment to stop and take a
look at what you are doing and, if necessary, take another path.
--Jan Ruhe

"Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising
every time we fall."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

When it is time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.
--Henry David Thoreau

I can get more out of God by believing Him for one minute than by
shouting at Him all night.
--Smith Wigglesworth

"I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of
my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most
precious gift I have - life itself."
--Walter Anderson

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INDIVIDUALITY

"The race advances only by the
extra achievements of the
individual. You are the
individual."
-- Charles Towne

The spiritual program that involves a "love of self" has made me get
in touch with my individuality. Although we can identify with other
people's feelings and situations, we are also not exactly the same. Our
dreams and aspirations are different, our gifts and achievements vary,
our personal individuality adds to the variety of life.

My "difference" needs to be nurtured alongside my spiritual growth,
especially since being a recovering alcoholic I am tempted to "please"
the crowd. Today my personal inventory revolves around my needs,
hopes and dreams that are realistic. Spirituality is reality.

In helping myself to the abundant richness that is within me, I am
contributing to society and the world.

Thank You for making the world with such creative difference; may I
continue to risk in this knowledge.

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"Even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed, the Lord answered,
you could say to this mulberry tree, May God uproot you and throw
you into the sea, and it would obey you!"
Luke 17:6

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do
not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Galatians 5:1

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Daily Inspiration

Thoughts of the past can not hurt you without your consent. Lord, help me to learn from my past, not live there by continually bringing it into the present.

The heart cannot both doubt and have faith, hate and give love, worry and trust in God for one will soon crowd out the other. Lord, I commit myself to Your way and Your will and open my heart to Your peace.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Friends are people who help you be more yourself, more the person you are intended to be. --Merle Shain
Sometimes a teacher, sometimes a neighbor, almost always our moms and dads encourage us to try new activities or to improve our schoolwork, sports, drawing, or gardening. Because they are our friends, they want us to be the best we can be.
Not everyone knows how to be a friend. Some people only criticize, and never praise. People who never encourage or praise us are usually unhappy with their own achievements. They don't mean us harm. Perhaps they just need a friend, too. Not only do we each need friends to help us grow, we need to be friends to others. To encourage and praise those who need it will help us in return.
Whose friend can I be today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile and then come back to it and begin again. --Robert Frost
Do we think it's weak to need a break? Do we ignore the need to recharge our batteries? Responsibility for our own lives requires us to recognize the need to restore our energy. Maybe our former escape from the world was by using food, or drugs, or spending money, or sexual release, or preoccupation with another person.
Now, since we are developing the ability to be with ourselves, we can take a break from the world and come back restored. This meditation time generates more energy for our lives. Recreation with friends, a walk, a movie, or a concert does the same. Taking responsibility to get away is a good cure for self-pity and exhaustion.
Today, I will be aware of my need to restore my energy.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Imagination has always had powers of resurrection that no science can match. --Ingrid Bengis
In the imagination are transmitted messages, from God to us. Inspiration is born there. So are dreams. Both give rise to the goals that urge us forward, that invite us to honor this life we've been given with a contribution, one like no other contribution.
Our imagination offers us ideas to ponder, ideas specific to our development. It encourages us to take steps unique to our time, our place, our intended gifts to the world. We can be alert to this special "inner voice" and let it guide our decisions; we can trust its urgings. It's charged with serving us, but only we can decide to "listen."
The imagination gives us another tool: belief in ourselves. And the magic of believing offers us strength and capabilities even beyond our fondest hopes. It prepares us for the effort we need to make and for handling whatever outcome God has intended.
My imagination will serve me today. It will offer me the ideas and the courage I need to go forth.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Healing
Let healing energy flow through your body.
The healing energy of God, the Universe, life, and recovery surrounds us. It is available, waiting for us to draw on it, waiting for us to draw it in. It's waiting at our meetings or groups, on the words of a whispered prayer, in a gentle touch, a positive word, a positive thought. Healing energy is in the sun, the wind, and the rain, in all that is good.
Let healing energy come. Attract it. Accept it. Let it soak in. Breathe in the golden light. Exhale. Let go of fear, anger, hurt, and doubt. Let healing energy flow to you, through you.
It is yours for the asking, for the believing.
Today, I will ask for, and accept, the healing energy from God and the Universe. I will let it flow to me, through me, and back out to others. I am part of, and at one with, the continuous cycle of healing.


I will take time today to stop and give a gift to someone needy, smile at a stranger or help a small child. I will take the time to do at least one thing that I usually find myself too busy to do, and I will inwardly smile at myself, taking the time to experience the feelings of my own kindness. --Ruth Fishel

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Active Listening

"Through active listening, we hear things that work for us."
Basic Text, p.102

Most of us arrived in Narcotics Anonymous with a very poor ability to listen. But to take full advantage of "the therapeutic value of one addict helping another" we must learn to listen actively.

What is active listening for us? In meetings, it means we concentrate on what the speaker is sharing, while the speaker is sharing. We set aside our own thoughts and opinions until the meeting is over. That's when we sort through what we've heard to decide which ideas we want to use and which we want to explore further.

We can apply our active listening skills in sponsorship, too. Newcomers often talk with us about some "major event" in their lives. While such events may not seem significant to us, they are to the newcomer who has little experience living life on life's terms. Our active listening helps us empathize with the feelings such events trigger in our sponsee's life. With that understanding, we have a better idea of what to share with them.

The ability to listen actively was unknown to us in the isolation of our addiction. Today, this ability helps us actively engage with our recovery. Through active listening, we receive everything being offered us in NA, and we share fully with others the love and care we've been given.

Just for today: I will strive to be an active listener. I will practice active listening when others share and when I share with others.
pg. 233

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Wisdom for Today
When I first walked through the doors of AA, I really could not imagine wanting anything more than I wanted alcohol and drugs. I felt completely empty on the inside, and I didn't know what I could fill this emptiness with. Even though I knew I had to stop, abstinence really didn't seem like a viable option. I recall thinking that maybe the program could teach me how to drink again and soon learned this was not the case.
I had to trust what I was being told. "Don't drink, and don't use, and your life will get better." It came down to simple faith – faith that somehow my life would get better, faith that the emptiness I carried around could be filled. I didn't start to even think about happiness for a while. I just wanted the pain to go away. I still wanted to escape. I didn't like the reality of my world. It was this faith that carried me for a while. I needed to find a new reality, and this is exactly what I found in the program. Am I finding a new reality?
Meditations for the Heart
I struggled a lot in the beginning. Staying sober did get easier, but I continued to struggle. I was not good at waiting, and yet this was exactly what I was being asked to do. There were no easy answers. There only were the Twelve Steps and the people I met at meetings. Waiting for the answers to my problems was not easy, but God did help me to find the answers I sought. This Higher Power not only helped me in those early days, but He continues to guide me to the answers I need today. I still have to wait for this guidance, but I have learned that God will only give me the answers when I am ready for them. Am I willing to wait for the answers I seek?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
I still have to look to simple faith to guide me through my days. I am grateful that this faith works for me as I walk though my days. Help me to be patient and to listen for the answers that are provided to me in all that I do. Give me a willingness to do the next right thing throughout my day.
Amen.

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Sloppy Thinking

If we begin to entertain thoughts of slight deviations from our food plan, thoughts of former binge foods, thoughts that maybe once in a while we could eat "normally," we put ourselves on shaky ground. Our disease is never cured, and sloppy thinking can lead to a weakening or loss of control.

"Normal" eating for us is abstinence. Our food plan is what saves us from bizarre eating behavior. There is no such thing as taking a vacation from abstinence.

The less we think about food, the better off we are. To remember the so-called pleasure we once associated with certain foods may cause us to forget the inevitable pain and anguish which eating them eventually produced. We do not want to ever return to the misery of compulsive overeating.

Giving our minds to our Higher Power ensures positive, healthy thinking.

Take my thoughts, Lord, and straighten them out.