Daily Recovery Readings - 12/27

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Daily Reflections

PROBLEM SOLVING

"Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual
principles would solve all my problems."
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 42

Through the recovery process described in the Big Book,
I have come to realize that the same instructions that
work on my alcoholism, work on much more. Whenever I
am angry or frustrated, I consider the matter a
manifestation of the main problem within me,
alcoholism. As I "walk" through the Steps, my
difficulty is usually dealt with long before I reach
the Twelfth "suggestion," and those difficulties that
persist are remedied when I make an effort to carry
the message to someone else. These principles do
solve my problems! I have not encountered an exception,
and I have been brought to a way of living which is
satisfying and useful.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I need the A.A. principles for the development of the
buried life within me, that good life, which I had
misplaced, but which I found again in this fellowship.
This life within me is developing slowly but surely,
with many set-backs, many mistakes, many failures, but
still developing. As long as I stick close to A.A., my
life will go on developing, and I cannot yet know what
it will be, but I know that it will be good. That's
all I want to know. It will be good. Am I thanking God for A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

Build your life on the firm foundation of true gratitude
to God for all His blessings and true humility because of
your unworthiness of these blessings. Build the frame of
your life out of self-discipline, never let yourself get
selfish or lazy or contented with yourself. Build the
walls of your life out of service to others,
helping others find the way to live. Build the roof of
your life out of prayer and quiet times, waiting for
God's guidance from above. Build a garden around your
life out of peace of mind and serenity and a sure faith.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may build my life on A.A. principles. I
pray that it may be a good building when my work is finished.

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As Bill Sees It

Vision Beyond Today, p. 317

Vision is, I think the ability to make good estimates, both for the
immediate and for the more distant future. Some might feel this sort
of striving to be heresy against "One day at a time." But that
valuable principle really refers to our mental and emotional lives and
means chiefly that we are not foolishly to repine over the past nor
wishfully to daydream about the future.

As individuals and as a fellowship, we shall surely suffer if we cast the
whole job of planning for tomorrow onto a fatuous idea of providence.
God's real providence has endowed us human beings with a
considerable capability for foresight, and He evidently expects us to
use it. Of course, we shall often miscalculate the future in whole or in
part, but that is better than to refuse to think at all.

Twelve Concepts, p. 40

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Walk In Dry Places

Limiting Gossip
No harm to others.
"When you've told me their names, do not tell me their faults," a person said at an AA meeting. She was explaining how careful we must be to keep gossip within tight limits. However, it is possible to identify people in gossip without actually speaking their names. We can give so many facts that the listener can identify whom we're discussing. This is no less malicious and thoughtless than actually naming the person.
We can avoid these dangers by giving up both the desire to gossip and the wish to listen to gossip. We will always have matters to gossip about; we can always find weaknesses in those we envy, faults in people we want to see taken down a notch or two. But if we persist in the program, we should find ourselves moving out of this limited way of thinking. We'll put severe limits on gossip at the same time.
I'll sidestep gossip if it starts to find a way into my life today. Under God's guidance, I have better things to do.

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Keep It Simple

Reading is to the Mind, what exercise is to the body.
Good ideas are the seeds that start our growth. We hear things at meetings. We listen to our sponsor.
Maybe we listen to program tapes. And we read. Reading is special because we do it when we're alone.
We read in quiet times, when we can think. We can read as fast or as slow as we want. We can mark special words and come back to them again and again. We'll figure things out in our way, but we need help to get started. That's why we read. It gives us good ideas to think about.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, speak to me through helpful readings and help me learn at my best pace.
Action for the Day: Reading is easier the more I do it. Today I'll feel proud that I've read program ideas to get my mind thinking in a healthy way.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

TIGHTROPE
Trying to separate worlds was a lonely charade that ended when this gay alcoholic finally landed in A.A.

For a while things seemed to be going well. But the slide toward active alcoholism was slowly accelerating. I had had my first blackout several years before. At that time I told myself that if it ever happened again, I would stop drinking. It happened again--and again and again--but I didn't stop. I was always able to come up with some explanation, excuse, or rationalization that justified my continued drinking. In time, personality changes began to occur with regularity when I drank. I had always had a sharp tongue; when drinking, I frequently became vitriolic. At other times I could be so charming and affectionate, sometimes too much so. People never knew just what I would do or say.

p. 361

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

The sponsors of those who feel they need no inventory are confronted with quite another problem. This is because people who are driven by pride of self unconsciously blind themselves to their liabilities. These newcomers scarcely need comforting. The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego has built, through which the light of reason can shine.

p. 46

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A person who possesses true peace is not one whose life is without problems and
turmoil but is rather a person who has peace in spite of it.
--unknown

"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns
have roses."
--Tom Wilson

Everyone has a gift for something, even if it is the gift of being a good friend.
--Marian Anderson

Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret.
--Mary Kay Ash

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and
beginning the work of becoming yourself.
--Anna Quindlen

It's never too late — in fiction or in life — to revise.
--Nancy Thayer

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

LIES

"Sin has many tools, but a lie is
the handle that fits them all."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

To lie is to rob life of meaning. In my addiction I was a liar, not just by what I said but
by what I did, what I left unsaid and by my manipulation with half-truths. All lies shut
out truth making us prisoners of fantasy and illusion. The world becomes what we
want it to be rather than what it is and reality is lost. The liar is forced into the
prison of loneliness, despair and isolation because nobody can know him, nobody can
understand him. His language and communication are ego-centered. The liar is not living
in the real world. He is living in his own world, with his own rules and definitions. The lies
are the killing wounds, and they are self-inflicted.

Today I prefer the pain of truth to the passing satisfaction of the lie and the habit of
telling the truth is growing in me!

God of Truth, may You ever be reflected in the life I seek to live.

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Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:2

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:14

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this
kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict
with the law.
Galatians 5:22-23

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Daily Inspiration

When we become aware that we possess all the spiritual treasures necessary for a productive and happy life, we will never want for anything. Lord, You are a limitless source of abundance and love.

There is not one moment that we are separated from God's care unless we choose to be. Lord, You provide for my daily needs and deliver me from evil. You are my refuge.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all, and it often comes with bitter agony. Perfect relief is not possible except with time. --Abraham Lincoln
Time may or may not heal all wounds. It depends on how we use the time. If we deny our sorrow, or runaway from it, or hope it will just go away by itself, we will be miserable. But if we turn and face it, and express our sadness in healthy ways, somehow we are transformed by the sorrow itself. While the loss is still there, it begins not to hurt so much.
We can express our sadness in many ways. Crying is probably the healthiest means of expressing grief. It's good to cry, even for men, because it releases tension and stress, and we find a little peace afterwards. It is true that tears are healing.
Getting angry and expressing our anger in appropriate, healthy ways also helps to heal wounds of loss, strange as it may seem. Yes, in time and with the courage to express our feelings, our wounds are indeed healed.
What is a healthy way to express my anger at a loss?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.
--Albert Einstein
The marketplace and fashion entice us in countless ways to indulge our individual pleasures. Some say that success will be with the man who follows those seductive beckonings. Even sacrificing long hours by working two jobs to become a financial success or to achieve high career goals can be self-centered activity. It may be time and energy spent seeking power and glory at the cost of time with our family and friends - time for enjoying each other and growing. Sadly, external success leads to superficial pleasure but never to peace within ourselves.
However, when we pursue the values of honesty, humility, and service, we will find enduring self-respect and close friendships. This path provides a genuine experience of life's greatest rewards rather than the glitter of passing excitement.
Today, I will strive toward the greater values rather than superficial successes.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have wholehearted enthusiasm. --Hannah Senesh
Life offers little, if we sit passively in the midst of activity. Involvement is a prerequisite if we are to grow. For our lives' purposes we need enthusiasm; we need enthusiasm in order to greet the day expectantly. When we look toward the day with anticipation, we are open to all the possibilities for action.
We must respond to our possibilities if we are to mature emotionally and recover spiritually. Idly observing life from the sidelines guarantees no development beyond our present level. We begin to change once we start living up to our commitment to the program, its possibilities and our purpose, and it's that change, many days over, that moves us beyond the negative, passive outlook of days gone by.
The program has offered us something to believe in. We are no longer the women we were. So much more have we become! Each day's worth of recovery carries us closer to fulfilling our purpose in life.
I believe in recovery, my own; when I believe in success, I'll find it. There is magic in believing.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Near the Top
I know you're tired. I know you feel overwhelmed. You may feel as though this crisis, this problem, this hard time will last forever.
It won't. You are almost through.
You don't just think it has been hard; it has been hard. You have been tested, tried, and retested on what you have learned.
Your beliefs and your faith have been tried in fire. You have believed, then doubted, then worked at believing some more. You have had to have faith even when you could not see or imagine what you were asked to believe. Others around you may have tried to convince you not to believe in what you were hoping you could believe.
You have had opposition. You have not gotten to this place with total support and joy. You have had to work hard, in spite of what was happening around you. Sometimes, what motivated you was anger; sometimes fear.
Things went wrong - more problems occurred than you anticipated. There were obstacles, frustrations, and annoyances en route. You did not plan on this being the way it would evolve. Much of this has been a surprise; some of it has not been at all what you desired.
Yet, it has been good. Part of you, the deepest part that knows truth, has sensed this all along, even when your head told you that things were out of whack and crazy; that there was no plan or purpose, that God had forgotten you.
So much has happened, and each incident - the most painful, the most troubling, and the most surprising - has a connection. You are beginning to see and sense that.
You never dreamt things would happen this way, did you? But they did. Now you are learning the secret - they were meant to happen this way, and this way is good, better than what you expected.
You didn't believe it would take this long, either - did you? But it did. You have learned patience.
You never thought you could have it, but now you know you do.
You have been led. Many were the moments when you thought you were forgotten, when you were convinced you had been abandoned. Now you know you have been guided.
Now things are coming into place. You are almost at the end of this phase, this difficult portion of the journey. The lesson is almost complete. You know - the lesson you fought, resisted, and insisted you could not learn. Yes, that one. You have almost mastered it.
You have been changed from the inside out. You have been moved to a different level, a higher level, a better level.
You have been climbing a mountain. It has not been easy, but mountain climbing is never easy. Now, you are near the top. A moment longer, and the victory shall be yours.
Steady your shoulders. Breathe deeply. Move forward in confidence and peace. The time is coming to relish and enjoy all, which you have fought for. That time is drawing near, finally.
I know you have thought before that the time was drawing near, only to learn that it wasn't. But now, the reward is coming. You know that too. You can feel it.
Your struggle has not been in vain. For every struggle on this journey, there is a climax, a resolution.
Peace, joy, abundant blessings, and reward are yours here on earth. Enjoy.
There will be more mountains, but now you know how to climb them. And you have learned the secret of what is at the top.
Today, I will accept where I am and continue pushing forward. If I am in the midst of a learning experience, I will allow myself to continue on with the faith that the day of mastery and reward will come. Help me, God; understand that despite my best efforts to live in peaceful serenity, there are times of mountain climbing. Help me stop creating chaos and crisis, and help me meet the challenges that will move me upward and forward.


Today I am unveiling my layers and layers of self-doubt and letting them go. Today I am taking back all the power I have given to others by discovering the courage that comes from my own wisdom. --Ruth Fishel

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You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Courage

We pray for the courage to change the things we can. We cannot change the fact that we are compulsive overeaters, but we can change our actions so that we are not destroyed by our disease. Making changes requires the courage to start out on a new, unknown course. Courage does not mean the elimination of fear. Courage means acting in spite of the fact that we are afraid.

It takes courage to learn to affirm one's rights as an individual, especially if the old way was to say yes to all demands and requests, reasonable and unreasonable. It takes courage to face the truth instead of continuing to live with comfortable illusions. Courage is necessary for working the steps of the OA program.

Sometimes courage comes when we are pressed to a wall of failure. There is nothing to do but turn around and step out in a new direction, even though we are afraid. The courage born of desperation can produce remarkable results.

Grant us the courage to move in Your direction.

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Wisdom for Today
While forgiveness does indeed wipe the slate clean, it cannot undo the consequences of our actions. In completing my Fifth Step, I had to accept the fact that my actions while under the influence had certainly hurt a lot of different people including myself. Most of this hurt was not intentional. It simply was a consequence of my disease. When the drugs and alcohol were making my decisions for me, I said and did things I wish I hadn’t. Even during the brief periods of time when I was not using, I said and did things of which I was not proud. I would have to pick up the pieces of my brokenness.
I had indeed made a lot of mistakes and wronged many people. My Higher Power knew this. I knew this, and now another person also knew this. It is God who in His grace provides grace and forgiveness. I also needed to learn how to forgive myself. This began with working on accepting myself – the good, the bad and the ugly. It also was made possible by accepting that much of what occurred in my life was not by conscious choice. My addiction had made choices for me, choices that I would not have made if I were in my right mind. I also began to do repair work on the damage done. Perhaps what helped me most was to seek permission to forgive myself through prayer and meditation. Self-forgiveness is a process and not an event; it takes time. Have I forgiven myself?
Meditations for the Heart
There is an ancient myth about a bird of fire that rises from the ashes. The Phoenix was given new life. I likewise was given a new life in recovery. If I was going to rise from the ashes of my life, I needed to learn to forgive myself. The days of self-hatred, disgust and shame had to end. These attitudes needed to die. I needed to arise from the ashes of my life with a willingness to be obedient to my Higher Power’s will and live a life of service and integrity. While I do not do this perfectly, and none of us can, I do strive for progress. Much like the Phoenix , I have experienced a resurrection and been given a new chance on life. Am I using this new chance on life to serve others and seek integrity in all that I do?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Help me this day to seek after Your will and be willing to do that which is the right thing. Let me seek to follow Your direction in all that do. Let me this day find acceptance of who I am, Your forgiven child. Let me reach out to others in humble service.
Amen.