Daily Recovery Readings - 12/19

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Daily Reflections

UNDERSTANDING THE MALADY

When dealing with an alcoholic, there may be a natural
annoyance that a man could be so weak, stupid and
irresponsible. Even when you understand the malady better,
you may feel this feeling rising.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 139

Having suffered from alcoholism, I should understand the
illness, but sometimes I feel annoyance, even contempt,
toward a person who cannot make it in A.A. When I feel
that way, I am satisfying my false sense of superiority
and I must remember, but for the grace of God, there go I.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The skeptic and the agnostic say it is impossible for us to
find the answer to life. Many have tried and failed. But
many have put aside intellectual pride and have said to
themselves: Who am I to say there is no God? Who am I to
say there is no purpose in life? The atheist makes a
declaration: "The world originated in a cipher and aimlessly
rushes nowhere." Others live for the moment and do not even
think about why they are here or where they are going. They
might as well be clams on the bottom of the ocean, protected
by their hard shells of indifference. They do not care. Do I care
where I am going?

Meditation For The Day

We may consider the material world as the clay which the
artist works with, to make of it something beautiful or ugly.
We need not fear material things, which are neither good nor
bad in the moral sense. There seems to be no active force for
evil--outside of human beings themselves. Humans alone can
have either evil intentions--resentments, malevolence, hate and
revenge--or good intentions--love and good will. They can make
something ugly or something beautiful out of the clay of their lives.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may make something beautiful out of my life.
I pray that I may be a good artisan of the materials which
I have been given to use.

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As Bill Sees It

Humility Brings Hope, p. 325

Now that we no longer patronize bars and bordellos, now that we bring
home the pay checks, now that we are so very active in A.A., and now
that people congratulate us on these signs of progress--well, we
naturally proceed to congratulate ourselves. Of course, we are not
yet within hailing distance of humility.

<< << << >> >> >>

We ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our
other shortcomings, just as we did when we admitted that we were
powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than
ourselves could restore us to sanity.

If humility could enable us to find the grace by which the deadly
alcohol obsession could be banished, then there must be hope of the
same result respecting any other problem we can possibly have.

1. Grapevine, June 1961
2. 12 & 12, p. 76

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Walk In Dry Places

Deadlines
Facing delays
The procrastination of our drinking years caused some of us to become compulsive and fearful about meeting deadlines. We fret and stew if we're unable to get things done when we think they should be completed.
Without being careless or irresponsible, we should remember that we're really living in a spiritual world on a spiritual basis. There are times when a delay even turns out to be beneficial because additional information or assistance turns up later on to ensure the success of a project.
It is part of mature living to keep promises and to meet the proper deadlines. Let's be sure, however, that we're not simply meeting unrealistic deadlines of our own making. We don't have to do this to atone for any failures of the past.
I'll look over my plans today to make sure that I haven't set any unrealistic deadlines for myself. I may be trying too much, too soon.

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Keep It Simple

The truth is more important than the facts. --Frank Lloyd Wright.
Before recovery, we relied on false facts about addiction. We said things like, "I can quit anytime I want." "If you had my family, you'd drink too." The truth is, we were out of control. We couldn't manage our lives. We were sick. We were scared. When others pointed out this truth to us, we denied it. Honesty, the backbone of our program, is about truth. We even start our meetings with the truth about who we are. "Hi, my name is ___________, and I'm an alcoholic," or "Hi, my name is _______________, and I'm a drug addict." The truth frees us from our addiction. The truth heals us and gives us comfort. It's like a blanket on a cold winter night.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be an honest person. I pray for the strength to face the truth and speak it.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list 3 ways I have used facts in a dishonest way.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

It Might Have Been Worse
Alcohol was a looming cloud in this banker's bright sky. With rare foresight he realized it could become a tornado.

When I joined A.A., I did so for the sole purpose of getting sober and staying sober. I didn't realize I would find so much more, but a new and different outlook on life started opening up almost immediately. Each day seems to be so much more productive and satisfying. I get so much more enjoyment out of living. I find an inner pleasure in simple things. Living just for today is a pleasant adventure.

p. 358

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

Nor is the quest for security always expressed in terms of money. How frequently we see a frightened human being determined to depend completely upon a stronger person for guidance and protection. This weak one, failing to meet life's responsibilities with his own resources, never grows up. Disillusionment and helplessness are his lot. In time all his protectors either flee or die, and he is once more left alone and afraid.

p. 43

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"Keep your head and your heart going in the right direction and you will not have to
worry about your feet."
--Unknown

Reputation is what you are in the light; character is what you are in the dark.
--American Proverb

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past
misfortunes of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens

The mere sense of living is joy enough.
--Emily Dickinson

Learn to get in touch with silence within yourself, And know that everything in this
life has purpose. There are no mistakes, No coincidences, All events are blessings given
to us to learn from.
--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INDIVIDUALITY

"The People, though we think a
great entity when we use the word,
means nothing more than so many
--- millions of individual men (and
women)."
James Bryce

I am an individual. I am unique. I am special. Today I am able to enjoy my difference. I
do not need to hide in alcohol, food or drugs. I do not have to put energy into being the
same as friends or neighbors. I do not need to please people in order to feel good
about myself. Today I am my own person.

God made us varied and different in so many ways, and yet so many of us spend our
time trying to be the same. The effort exerted to achieve the lowest common
denominator is exactly that: the lowest. My spiritual program demands that I be
honest with who I am and what I feel. My self-worth is rooted in my individuality. In
my difference is my soul.

May I always remain true to my individuality.

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"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
Matthew 11:28-30

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:10

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

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Daily Inspiration

Through the power of God within me, I am stronger than any of my circumstances. Lord, I seek, I knock and I ask and You are always there and ready to give me the miracles that I need.

The first and most powerful commandment is love. Through love we unite ourselves together with God and with each other and bring ourselves closer to our desired goal. Lord, I love You with all my heart and soul and mind.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Open your mind and your heart to be still. --Shawn Phillips
In this time of international conflict and mistrust it is easy to despair. At times we may even feel hopeless as we hear about wars and weapons. But there is hope! Change can grow from within each of us.
The world is like a tree--if the tree is diseased and the leaves brown and brittle, the gardener does not treat the branches, but tends to the roots. Our world is made up of nations, in which there are states containing communities of neighborhoods where individual people live. We are the roots of our world tree. As attitudes change; as we accept and love ourselves honestly and learn, in turn, to accept and love others regardless of our differences, slowly, the branches that extend from us and cover the world will grow strong. The peace we can make within ourselves can be reflected everywhere.
Will I find the peace within myself today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
If I were given a change of life, I'd like to see how it would be to live as a mere six-footer. --Wilt Chamberlain
It's human nature for us to wonder what life would be like in another man's shoes. No matter how good or bad we've had it, we like to consider those possibilities sometimes. While we were still in the trap of living with an addict or being one, some of us used a fantasy world as an escape from our circumstances. Perhaps it was the only option we knew.
Now we are in a program, which liberates us and gives us hope. It's not an easy program, but it is simple. We're learning that when we have a relationship with our Higher Power and become accountable, we gain more options and can have hope. We can do interesting and rewarding things in our lives now that were closed to us before. Sobriety makes it possible for us to go forward into reality and leave fantasy for play.
Today, I am grateful for life in the real world that recovery has given me


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
My singing is very therapeutic. For three hours I have no troubles--I know how it's all going to come out. --Beverly Sills
Have we each found an activity that takes us outside of ourselves? An activity that gives us a place to focus our attention? Being self-centered and focused on ourselves accompanies the illness we're struggling to recover from. The decision to quit preoccupying on ourselves, our own struggles with life, is not easy to maintain. But when we have an activity that excites us, on which we periodically concentrate our attention, we are strengthened. And the more we get outside of ourselves, the more aware we become that "all is well."
It seems our struggles are intensified as women. So often we face difficult situations at work and with children, alone. The preoccupation with our problems exaggerates them. And the vicious cycle entraps us. However, we don't have to stay trapped. We can pursue a hobby. We can take a class, join a health club. We can dare to follow whatever our desire--to try something new. We need to experience freedom from the inner turmoil in order to know that we deserve even more freedom.
Emotional health is just around the corner. I will turn my attention to the world outside myself.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Work Roles
How easy it is to dive into roles at work. How easy it is to place other people in roles. Sometimes, this is necessary, appropriate, and expedient.
But we can also let our self-shine through our role.
There is joy in giving our gift of skill at work, at giving ourselves to the task at hand so thoroughly that we experience an intimate relationship with our work. There is joy when we create or accomplish a task and can say, "Well done!"
There is also joy when we are our self at work, and when we discover and appreciate those around us.
The most unpleasant, mundane task can be breezed through when we stop thinking of ourselves as a robot and allow ourselves to be a person.
Those around us will respond warmly when we treat them as individuals and not job defined roles.
This does not mean we need to become inappropriately entangled with others. It means that, whether we are an employer or an employee, when people are allowed to be people who perform tasks instead of task performers, we are happier and more content people.
Today, I will let myself shine through my task at work. I will try to see others and let them shine through too - instead of looking only at their tasks. God, help me be open to the beauty of others and myself at work. Help me maintain healthy relationships with people at work.


In quiet meditation I find emotional balance. I feel myself growing closer and closer to my Higher Power and I find love.
--Ruth Fishel

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Climbing

Eating compulsively was a downhill skid into despair. Recovering is an uphill climb all the way. It is not easy. The line of least resistance is the habit pattern we have built up over past years. Forming new habits is hard work.

We do not stand still. Either we are climbing up step by step into recovery or we are slipping further down into disease. Each decision we make to abstain from the first compulsive bite takes us another rung up the ladder to health. Each time we refrain from anger, worry, or false pride, we grow emotionally. In every instance where we are able to turn our will over to our Higher Power, we gain spiritual strength.

The climb is what makes life challenging and exciting. To retreat into food is to give up and lose the satisfaction of having reached a higher point in our journey. Realizing that we are and always will be compulsive overeaters makes us aware of our continual need to climb out of illness into recovery.

We are climbing, with Your aid.

[admin]

Wisdom for Today
One thing that surprised me with regards to completing my Fourth Step was the fact that I strengthened my faith. In Step Three, I had made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understood Him. I trusted and had faith that my Higher Power would be able to walk me through the process of completing an inventory of myself. I did not expect that this process would actually strengthen my faith in God. I am certain that without my Higher Power leading me through the process, my fears would have taken over; and I would have been only willing to clean house superficially.

As a child I loved to climb trees. I would climb higher and higher until the branches were too thin to support my weight. Each time I would go higher in the tree, I trusted that the branches would support me, but eventually I would reach a point when I was unsure if the next branch would hold me. I found the opposite was true in doing my Fourth Step. It was as if the tree branches never got thinner. In fact the deeper I got into uncovering the truth, the more stable the branches became. I am not saying it was easy to uncover some of the secrets in my life, I just knew I was safe in doing so. Do I have faith that God is with me to support me in completing my Fourth Step?
Meditations for the Heart
Early in my recovery process, it was important for me to feel safe. I knew there were places and people I needed to avoid because my safety would be compromised. I also knew there were places and people I could associate with because it was safe. Meetings and recovering people helped make me feel safe, at least from the external pressures I felt. As I surrendered my life to the care of Higher Power and walked through the steps, I found that I began to feel safe on the inside as well. This did not mean that I was immune to relapse or that I had been cured. It just meant that as long as I did what God wanted for me, my safety would not be compromised. It is important to find safety in the recovery process, but even more important to keep it once it is found. Do I seek safety in meetings and with others in recovery? Do I seek safety in a spiritual way?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,

Thank You for keeping me safe as I walk through the steps. I know that the support I receive from others is a gift from You. Thank You for leading me to these people. You have taken me from a place of insecurity to a place of safety. Let me trust that as long as I walk with You, I will remain safe.

Amen.