Daily Recovery Readings - 8/12

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Daily Reflections

A LOOK BACKWARD

First, we take a look backward and try to discover where we have
been at fault; next we make a vigorous attempt to repair the damage
we have done; . . .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 77

As a traveler on a fresh and exciting A.A. journey of recovery, I
experienced a newfound peace of mind and the horizon appeared clear
and bright, rather than obscure and dim. Reviewing my life to
discover where I had been at fault seemed to be such an arduous and
dangerous task. It was painful to pause and look backward. I was
afraid I might stumble! Couldn't I put the past out of my mind and
just live in my new golden present? I realized that those in the past
whom I had harmed stood between me and my desire to continue my
movement toward serenity. I had to ask for courage to face those
persons from my life who still lived in my conscience, to recognize and
deal with the guilt that their presence produced in me. I had to look at
the damage I had done, and become willing to make amends. Only
then could my journey of the spirit resume.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"There was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual
tools laid at our feet by Alcoholics Anonymous. By doing so, we have
a spiritual experience which revolutionizes our whole attitude
toward life, toward others, and toward God's universe. The central
fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has
entered into our hearts and lives there in a way that is indeed
miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us that
we could never do for ourselves." Have I let God come into my life?

Meditation For The Day

The moment a thing seems wrong to you or a person's actions to be
not what you think they should be, at that moment begins your
obligation and responsibility to pray for those wrongs to be righted
or that person to be changed. What is wrong in your surroundings or in
the people you know? Think about these things and make these
matters your responsibility. Not to interfere or be a busybody, but to
pray that a change may come through your influence. You may see
lives altered and evils banished in time. You can become a force for
good wherever you are.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be a co-worker with God. I pray that I may help
people by my example.

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As Bill Sees It

We Are Not Fighting, p. 121

We have ceased fighting anything or anyone--even alcohol. For by this
time sanity has returned. We can now react sanely and normally, and
we find that this has happened almost automatically. We see that this
new attitude toward liquor is really a gift of God.

That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding
temptation. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has
been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor
afraid.

That is how we react--so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 84-85

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Walk In Dry Places

Things I can't fix
Acceptance.
One of the sad realities of life is that we're awash in disorder that we can't fix. All around us, the world seethes and festers with aliments and injustices that are beyond our control.
We can react by becoming angry or by making quixotic efforts to solve some of these problems. Our best course, however, is to apply our 12 Step program to life in this world. The Serenity Prayer suggests we accept what we can't change. A slogan reminds us to set priorities ("First things First.") The Eleventh Step remind us to always seek God's will.
This will enable me to live effectively while doing my best to serve others. In time, I may even discover that I can fix a few of the seemingly insoluble problems around me.
I'll realize today that I have the ability only to do certain things within my sphere of experience. I'll see to it, however, that I do these things well.

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Keep It Simple

Fairness is what justice really is. ---The last Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart
Some of us get hung up on what's fair. We might feel, because we've worked hard to stay sober, we should be rewarded. We might keep score of what we get and what others get. And we complain if it's "not fair."
Maybe we should be glad life isn't fair. Why? Most of us caused a lot of trouble we've never had to pay for. And we've hurt a lot of people who haven't gotten even. Would we really want life to be fair?
Our Higher Power isn't fair either. That is, our Higher Power doesn't keep score. Our Higher Power doesn't try to get even. Our Higher Power is loving and forgiving, no matter what. Our Higher Power has the same love and help for everyone.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, give me the wisdom to stop keeping score. Help me want the best for everyone.
Action for the Day: I'll list five times I've been unfair to others. Do I need to make amends?

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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 did stay sober. One summer with people who enjoyed life sober was all it took for me to want sobriety more than I wanted to drink. I will not tell you I did everything as I was told, when I was told, how I was told, because I didn't. Like most people new to the program I set out to find an easier, softer way. As the Big Book suggests, I could not.

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."

Years ago this principle of "no endorsement" was put to a vital test. Some of the great distilling companies proposed to go into the field of alcohol education. It would be a good thing, they believed, for the liquor trade to show a sense of public responsibility. They wanted to say that liquor should be enjoyed, not misused; hard drinkers ought to slow down, and problem drinkers--alcoholics--should not drink at all.

p. 157

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I have been given a new day to live, to grow, to give love and to feel love.
--Ruth Fishel

Love is living in the spiritual heart.
--John-Roger

Today I choose to forgive instead of holding on to resentments.
Today I choose to let go of all feelings that block me from feeling love.
Today I choose to see everyone through the eyes of love.
--Ruth Fishel

"We must keep in mind that where the road is crooked, God makes it
straight, and where our hearts are wounded, God makes us whole.
As we open our hearts in purity and simplicity, admitting to God that
we are completely powerless in the area of our problem, His
illumination redeems us."
--Marianne Williamson

Today I know I'm just wasting my energy to try to change people,
places and things. By looking within I can really discover what needs
to be changed and then turn it over to my Higher Power to be
released.
--Ruth Fishel

"The expression of praise as thanksgiving, gratitude, and joy is among
the most powerful forms of affirmation."
--Catherine Ponder

Far too many people spend their lives reading the menu instead of
enjoying the banquet.
--unknown

You can pray for a good crop, but don't forget your hoe!
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LIFE

"The tragedy of life is what dies
in man while he lives."
-- Albert Schweitzer

Addiction progressively takes away the vitality of life. It robs life of
meaning. Addiction isolates; it kills by atrophy. People, places and
things lose meaning; everything becomes a chore and God is lost. We
say to compensate that we are having "fun" --- we say this a lot and at
times we believe it, but in the silence of the night we know it to be a
lie.

We lie to others and to ourselves. Sometimes we believe the lie! At
this point we begin to die unless we take courage and confront "the
lie" in order to live. Today I live because I confronted my lie. I have
discovered the spiritual power that was buried deep beneath the
progressive addiction. And I am finding it easier and less painful to
live.

May I continue to breathe a daily "yes" in my life so that I might live.

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"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with
God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
Romans 12:12-13

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the
will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:17

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I
have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,
whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can
do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:12-13

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Daily Inspiration

If you are over committed, things begin to fall apart. Lord, help me be reasonable in the expectations I place on myself so that I can efficiently use my time and still have enough time to relax and enjoy the day.

Choose to be worthy to yourself and never confuse self worth with behavior. Lord, help me to be less critical of my past and see that this moment right now is all that I can do anything about.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains. --Anne Frank
We don't find the rewards of today by searching through our misfortunes. Pausing to seek out something good for everything we find bad is a step in the right direction. We may find the good outweighs the bad.
But how much more chance we will have of living a happy day if we skip over our setbacks and concentrate as much as we can on what is going well. It is smarter to look for diamonds in a diamond mine than in a garbage dump.
Let us discard our failures, using only what we have learned from them to achieve success. Looking back at missed opportunities will make it impossible for us to recognize new chances to enjoy life to the fullest. Looking only for beauty is a beautiful thing in itself.
What beauty can I see around me right now?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
It is a terrible, an inexorable law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own: in the face of one's victim, one sees oneself. --James Baldwin
Acting totally in our self-interest is shortsighted and foolishly simple. Attacking another person or another nation reflects upon us like a mirror. When any person is undermined, the human race is diminished in some measure. And humanity is our family.
Sometimes we see a reflection of ourselves in someone else and fail to recognize it. What we hate most in another may well be what we hate in ourselves. Knowing this can be useful. Perhaps our teeth are set on edge when we think about an ex wife, or father, or former friend, or a religious or racial group. How are we like that person or group? What do they cause us to face within ourselves? When we stop diminishing the other person we may still not like him or her, but we can come to terms with ourselves. We learn to live and let live.
God, help me engage in the brotherhood of my own family and with all people - and to see my own face, even in my enemy.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When a woman has love, she is no longer at the mercy of forces greater than herself, for she, herself, becomes the powerful force. --Veronica Casey
The need for love is universal. Each of us longs for the affirmation that assures us we are needed, appreciated, desired. We are strengthened by the strokes others give us, and when no strokes are forthcoming, we sometimes falter.
With emotional and spiritual maturity comes the understanding that we are loved, unconditionally, by God. And the awareness of that love, the realization of its abiding presence, will buoy us up when no other love signals to us. Most of us still lose our connection to the omnipresent God, however. Thus, our buoyancy is tentative.
Until that time when we are certain about our value, about the presence of God's love, we'll need to practice self-affirmation. But learning how to nurture ourselves, how to be gentle and caressing to the woman within, may be painstaking. Patience will ease the process. Unconditionally loving ourselves will become natural in time. In fact, we'll sense our inner person growing, changing. Our wholeness will become apparent to others as well as to ourselves.
Love breeds love. I will shower it upon others and myself and relish the growing sense of self that emerges.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Directness
Direct people are a joy to be around.
We never have to guess what they're really thinking or feeling, because they're honest about their thoughts and openly express their feelings.
We never have to wonder if they're with us because they want to be, or if they're there out of guilt and obligation.
When they do something for us, we don't have to worry whether they'll end up resenting us because direct people generally do things that please themselves.
We don't have to fuss about the status of our relationship because if we ask, they'll tell us.
We don't have to worry if they're angry because they deal openly with their anger and resolve it quickly.
We don't have to ponder whether they are talking about us behind our backs because if they have something to say, it will be said to us directly.
We don't have to wonder if we can rely on them because direct people are trustworthy.
Wouldn't it be nice if we were all direct?
Today, I will let go of my notions that it is somehow good or desirable to be indirect. Instead, I will strive for honesty, directness, and clarity in my communication. I will let directness in my relationships begin with me.


Today I am letting go of all judgments. I am releasing all negative emotions. I am quietly going within and trusting my inner spirit and I will know what is right for me. --Ruth Fishel

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Enough!

"Something inside cries out, 'Enough, enough, I've had enough; and then they are ready to take that first and often most difficult step toward dealing with their disease."
Basic Text, p.203

Have we really had enough? This is the crucial question we must ask ourselves as we prepare to work the First Step in Narcotics Anonymous. It doesn't matter whether or not we arrived in NA with our families intact, our careers still working for us, and all the outward appearances of wholeness. All that matters is that we have reached an emotional and spiritual bottom that precludes our return to active addiction. If we have, we will be truly ready to go to any lengths to quit using.

When we inventory our powerlessness, we ask ourselves some simple questions. Can I control my use of drugs in any form? What incidents have occurred as a result of my drug use that I didn't want to happen? How is my life unmanageable? Do I believe in my heart that I am an addict?

If the answers to these questions lead us to the doors of Narcotics Anonymous, then we are ready to move on to the next step toward a life free from active addiction. If we have truly had enough, then we will be willing to go to any lengths to find recovery.

Just for today: I admit that I have had enough. I am ready to work my First Step.
pg. 234

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Wisdom for Today
When I look back at the life I had when I was drinking and using, it was not a pretty picture. There were the repeated failures, the letting people down, the lies, the time in jail and hospitals. None of these things made my addiction pretty. Sure there were the good times; but when I look back honestly, I wonder how I ever could have wanted this life. I know now that it was not the life I truly wanted. I just wanted a good time.
But I am different. I cannot process alcohol or drugs in my system the same way other people do. I know people that drink normally, and I did not drink like they do. In the program of AA I have learned that nothing I could do could change the way I respond to alcohol or drugs. Physically, psychologically and emotionally I respond differently and negatively to my drugs of choice. I am an addict, and I now have a choice to make. Will I choose recovery?
Meditations for the Heart
My spiritual life depends on two things. One is God Himself. I surely can have no spiritual life without a Higher Power. The second thing my spiritual life depends on is maintaining a conscious awareness of God, as I understand Him. All roads I travel must lead me back to this inner consciousness of God. Every decision I make needs to be with His help and guidance. Every breath I take should lead me to gratitude for the chance at recovery He has given me. It is here in this inner consciousness that I will find peace. It is here that I will find serenity. It is here I will find strength. Am I doing all that I can to maintain this inner consciousness?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
So I am made differently than others. I can accept this. Help me also to accept that this difference does not mean that I am inferior or damaged products. Let me find the peace and serenity that the program promises in a relationship with You. Keep me conscious of Your presence in my life.
Amen.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

The Beacon

There are times when we get tired and depressed or elated and confused. We are mentally uncomfortable, knowing that something is wrong but unable to pinpoint the trouble. Our first thought may be to reach for food, but we know that way leads to disaster.

We compulsive overeaters have a beacon light for our dark and confused moments. It is our commitment to abstinence. No matter how confused we may be, we can remember that abstinence is the most important thing in our life without exception. Whatever happens, we will not be lost if we hold fast to our abstinence. From the commitment, everything else follows. As long as we do not overeat, we will be able to find our way out of a difficult situation.

Our Higher Power gives us the beacon light of abstinence, and with it He gives guidance out of our perplexities. Patiently waiting until we clearly see His will keeps us from getting lost in the darkness of self-will.

Thank You for the beacon light of abstinence.