Daily Recovery Readings - 1/8

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Daily Reflections

DO I HAVE A CHOICE?

The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet
obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our
so-called willpower becomes practically nonexistent.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.24

My powerlessness over alcohol does not cease when I
quit drinking. In sobriety I still have no choice - I
can't drink. The choice I do have is to pick up and
use the "kit of spiritual tools" (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 25).
When I do that, my Higher Power relieves me of my lack
of choice - and keeps me sober one more day. If I could
choose not to pick up a drink today, where then would

be my need for A.A. or a Higher Power?

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Everyone who comes into A.A. knows from bitter experience
that he or she can't drink. I know that drinking has been
the cause of all my major troubles or has made them worse.
Now that I have found a way out, I will hang on to A.A.
with both hands. Saint Paul once said that nothing in the
world, neither powers nor principles, life nor death,
could separate him from the love of God. Once I have given
my drink problem to God, should anything in the world
separate me from my sobriety?

Meditation For The Day

I know that my new life will not be immune from
difficulties, but I will have peace even in difficulties.
I know that serenity is the result of faithful, trusting
acceptance of God's will, even in the midst of
difficulties. Saint Paul said: "Our light afflictions,
which are but for a moment, work for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may welcome difficulties. I pray that they
may test my strength and build my character.

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As Bill Sees It

From The Taproot, p. 305

The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first
admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole
Society has sprung and flowered.

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

Every newcomer is told, and soon realizes for himself, that his humble
admission of powerlessness over alcohol is his first step toward
liberation from its paralyzing grip.

So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest
beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of
being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true
freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as
something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time.
A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse
all at once.

12 & 12
1. pp. 21-22
2. pp. 72-73

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Walk in Dry Places

Finding New Values____Restoration
Recovering alcoholics sometimes waste time and energy brooding over lost opportunities, and we do have a record of many lost opportunities! Bill W., the co-founder of AA, once made it big on Wall Street before crashing in the 1929 cataclysm. He later drank away two wonderful chances for a comeback. Most of us can recall similar opportunities we lost by drinking. We can eliminate these regrets by practicing gratitude for the recovery we have made. Without rationalizing, we can remind ourselves that few opportunities would have benefited us if we had continued to drink.
We can take comfort, too, in the clear evidence that there's a wonderful restoration going on in our lives. While not every one gets aback a lost job or rebuilds a business, manly of us do find sufficient prosperity and productive work in our new lives. Some even find satisfying second careers or businesses after getting sober. Best of all, most recovering people discover that sobriety gives them the ability to appreciate their opportunities without worshipping material success.
I will make the best of my opportunities today and see them as stepping stones toward a more abundant life. I will not regret the past, because it brought necessary lessons.

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Keep It Simple

Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment you do not see...Bill W.
At times, we'll go through pain and hardship, At times, we'll have doubts. At times, we'll get angry and think we just don't care anymore. These things can spiritually blind us. But this normal. Hopefully, we'll be ready for those times. Hopefully, we will have friends who will be there for you. Thank God for these moments! Yes, hard times can make our spirits deep and strong. These moments tell us who we are as sober people. These moments help us grow and change. Spirituality is about choice. To be spiritual, we must turn ourselves over to the care of our Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: God, help me find You in my moments of blindness. This is when I really need You.
Action for the Day: Today I'll get ready for the hard times ahead. I will list my friends who will be there for me.

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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.

I did not fall in love with A.A. at first glance. The man who took me to my first meeting later became my first sponsor, and he had to put up with objections, arguments, questions, and doubts--everything a trained but very muddled legal mind could throw at him. He was gentle with me. He did not push his opinions on me. He had the sense to see that I was so afraid and so used to being alone that I could not face a "hard sell" approach. He listened to my questions, answered some, and suggested that I could best answer others myself. He refused to argue but was willing to explain and share his own experiences. I had asked him to be my sponsor before I knew what he did for a living and felt I could not back out of the relationship when I discovered he was a minister.

p. 365

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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

Also of importance for most alcoholics are the questions they must ask about their behavior respecting financial and emotional security. In these areas fear, greed, possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst. Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill me with conflict? Did I try to cover up those feelings of inadequacy by bluffing, cheating, lying, or evading responsibility? Or by griping that others failed to recognize my truly exceptional abilities? Did I overvalue myself and play the big shot? Did I have such unprincipled ambition that I double-crossed and undercut my associates? Was I extravagant? Did I recklessly borrow money, caring little whether it was repaid or not? Was I a pinch penny, refusing to support my family properly? Did I cut corners financially? What about the "quick money" deals, the stock market, and the races?

p. 51

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Dig within.
There lies the wellspring of good:
Ever dig and it will ever flow.
--Marcus Aurelius

What are you going through in your life right now?
Don't feel you're the only one.
Open your eyes.
Open your heart to your connections with your larger family.
Let them share their stories with you.
Let them share their strengths, hopes, fears, and joys.
Stop looking for what's different and what makes you separate and apart.
Go on an adventure of discovering your common bonds.
--Melody Beattie

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile." --Mother Theresa

"Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don't miss it." --Leo Buscaglia

"Any fool can try to defend his mistakes--and most fools do--but it gives one a feeling of nobility to admit one's mistakes. By fighting, you never get enough, but by yielding, you get more than you expected." --Lawrence G. Lovasik

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

MUSIC

"I haven't understood a bar of
music in my life, but I have felt
it."
-- Igor Stravinsky

It is okay not to "understand".

A miracle is not to be understood but experienced. So much in life we will never
understand and there is growth in confusion. We are not perfect. We will never be
perfect. The mystery of life is exactly that --- a mystery.

As an alcoholic I often sought to appear "as God". I had to have an answer for
everything, even if I made up the answer! Not to know was humiliating for me
because it took away control, my need to be in charge, my hopeless and exhausting
quest for perfection. With the failure to be perfect came the guilt, shame and anger.

Today I am able to live with life's daily confusions --- and it's okay!

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The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving to all that He has made. Psalm 145:17

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:25

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Daily Inspiration

Smooth seas don't make skillful sailors. Lord, teach me as I am able to learn so that I may grow from my difficulites and become the person You intended.

Know that you can do even if things are not always easy. Lord, in You I have the support of an unlimited power source and can accomplish great things because You strengthen me.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light. --Theodore Roethke
All flowers begin with the potential to grow and blossom. Yet in winter, perennial flowers are buried under the snow. Inside the dark earth, they are patiently waiting for their time to bloom. For the flowers, faith is believing that spring will return. It is carrying the light of summer deep in their roots so that even in times of cold and dark, there is hope that they will bloom again. When spring does return, they shoot out of the ground and burst into blossom. In times of light, they drink it deep into their roots--deep enough to sustain them through the next season of darkness. We can do the same, keeping the memory of good times deep within us, so that when we're feeling low, it will keep our faith in the happy future strong.
What helps sustain my faith today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
In wildness is the preservation of the world. --Henry David. Thoreau
Nature confronts us with its beauty in a flower or a furry animal. The awesomeness of nature is in a lightning bolt or a majestic mountain. Every variety of tree has its own uniquely textured bark. Each annual ring in a tree trunk is a natural record of the growing conditions in each year it grew. These things remind us we are not in charge, and we are moved by the experience.
This wildness is everywhere around us, and we are renewed by it when we interact with it. At night, in the city, we look up and see the ancient moon. When we live with a pet, it reminds us we are creatures too. We are part of this larger whole. We don't just appreciate nature - we are nature. When we open our eyes and learn to be a part of it, it renews and lifts our spirits.
Today, I will notice my relationship with the sun and moon, with the plants and animals in my world.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When people make changes in their lives in a certain area, they may start by changing the way they talk bout that subject, how they act about it, their attitude toward it, or an underlying decision concerning it. --Jean Illsley Clarke
Acting "as if" is powerful. It leads the way to a changed attitude, a changed woman. If we are self-conscious in crowds and fearful about meeting new people and yet act poised and extend our hands in friendship, we'll not only behave in a new way, but feel good about it, too. Each act we take in this way brings us closer to the woman we are behaving like. Each positive change we make builds our self-esteem. Realizing that through our own actions we are becoming the kind of women we admire gives us the strength, in fact, encourages the excitement in us that's needed to keep changing. Making positive changes in our lives is the stuff that comprises self-esteem. Each gain makes the next one easier to attempt.
I will accept an opportunity today to act "as if" I can handle a situation I used to run from.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Vulnerability
Some of us may have made a decision that no one was ever going to hurt us again. We may automatically go on "feelings freeze mode" when faced with emotional pain. Or, we may terminate a relationship the first time we feel hurt. Hurt feelings are a part of life, relationships, and recovery. It is understandable that we don't want to feel any more pain. Many of us have had more than our share, hi fact, at some time in our life, we may have been overwhelmed, crushed, or stopped in our tracks by the amount of pain we felt. We may not have had the resources to cope with our pain or take care of ourselves.
That was yesterday. Today, we don't have to be so frightened of pain. It does not have to overwhelm us. We are becoming strong enough to deal with hurt feelings. And we don't have to become martyrs, claiming that hurt feelings and suffering are all there is to life.
We need only allow ourselves to feel vulnerable enough to feel hurt, when that's appropriate, and take responsibility for our feelings, behaviors, and what we need to do to take care of ourselves. We don't have to analyze or justify our feelings. We need to feel them, and try not to let them control our behavior.
Maybe our pain is showing us we need to set a boundary; maybe it's showing us we're going in a wrong direction; maybe it's triggering a deep healing process.
It's okay to feel hurt; it's okay to cry; it's okay to heal; it's okay to move on to the next feeling, when it's time. Our willingness and capacity to feel joy will eventually match our willingness and capacity to feel hurt.
Being in recovery does not mean immunity from pain; it means learning to take loving care of ourselves when we are in pain.
Today, I will not strike out at those who cause me pain. I will feel my emotions and take responsibility for them. I will accept hurt feelings as part of being in relationships. lam willing to surrender to the pain as well as the joy in life.


I do not need to know anything about this day beyond this moment. This moment is perfect....... just as it is I can handle anything in this moment. My Higher Power gives me all the strength I need today to handle whatever comes up in this moment. --Ruth Fishel

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

The Bottom Line

For everything worthwhile in life, there is a price to pay. The price is the bottom line. There is no free lunch. While we have learned that we cannot overcome compulsive eating without the support of our Higher Power and the OA group, we also know that OA is not a free ride to ideal weight maintenance. Each of us must look at the bottom line.

The price of freedom from compulsive overeating is the avoidance of all personal binge foods. It is the discipline of measured meals every day. We cannot have a new life of freedom from compulsion if we continue to cling to our old excesses. We cannot be free and overeat at the same time. We must be willing to pay the price.

As we move along each day in abstinence, we form new habits and we become accustomed to living without extra, unnecessary food. We begin to change in positive, constructive ways. One day at a time, in small installments, we pay the price of our new growth and progress. What we gain is infinitely more than worth the cost!

May I be willing to pay the price today.

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Wisdom for Today
One thing that completing my Fifth Step helped me with was in becoming humble. There was no more room for grandiosity or arrogance. There was no way to stand before my Higher Power and admit my wrongs with an arrogant heart. There was no way to stand before another person and tell my story and what I had done with my life and to the people I hurt and remain grandiose. Sharing my life history openly and honestly could only be done from a place of humility. At first glance, this does not exactly sound like a good thing.
But in retrospect, I personally believe that this was perhaps the best thing that could have happened to me. In this place of humility, I first discovered my inner most self. Even more importantly, I first discovered God, as I understand Him. What I mean is that I really moved from a place of simple faith that perhaps God could help me to a place where I had a personal relationship with God. My conversation with God and the other person listening to my Fifth Step was indeed a turning point. I became humble and really owned that I could not run the show. It was not just my drinking and using drugs, but I understood that I could not run my life. I could not change myself. I now had real help. Have I developed a humble heart?
Meditations for the Heart
Out of the ashes of selfishness I crawled, and I slowly learned how to sit up. I then learned to stand up. When I put my hand into God's hand, I learned to walk. In the Fifth Step it was as if I could step into a shower and wash off all the ashes of my life. Yesterday was over, and I could not change what had happened. I could only ask my Higher Power to forgive me and honestly and humbly try to follow His will for me. Today is here; and it provides me with a new start, a chance at renewal. I must start each day I am given in this place of a humble heart, and in complete faith and trust in God I will walk forward. I have learned that I cannot yet run, but my steps today are much better than crawling through the ashes of my life. Do I start my day with complete trust and faith that God will lead my way?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God,
Today I pray that I can do Your will and that I will work to make the world a better place to live in. Help me to bring goodness into all that I do, and let me give back what I have been given.
Amen.