More Recovery Readings - 12/19

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NA Just For Today
December 19
Walking The Way We Talk

"Words mean nothing until we put them into action."
Basic Text pg. 56

The Twelfth Step reminds us "to practice these principles in all our affairs." In NA, we see living examples of this suggestion all around us. The more experienced members, who seem to have an aura of peace surrounding them, demonstrate the rewards of applying this bit of wisdom in their lives.

To receive the rewards of the Twelfth Step, it is vital that we practice the spiritual principles of recovery even when no one is looking. If we talk about recovery at meetings but continue to live as we did in active addiction, our fellow members may suspect that we are doing nothing more than quoting bumper stickers.

What we pass on to newer members comes more from how we live than what we say. If we advise someone to "turn it over" without having experienced the miracle of the Third Step, chances are the message will fail to reach the ears of the newcomer for whom it's intended. On the other hand, if we "walk what we talk" and share our genuine experience in recovery, the message will surely be evident to all.

Just for today: I will practice the principles of recovery, even when I'm the only one who knows.

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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.

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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

God help me to stay sober and clean today!

[francie21805]

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.



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December 19 - Daily Feast

The road winds along the edge of the woodland and down over a steep hill until it reaches a gradual decline to the river bottom. The land is rich with wildlife – turkeys, rockchucks, squirrels – and in the nighttime this is a meeting place for singing coyotes. Herds of whitetail feed on rich bottom grass, and mountain lions stalk their prey. A little country school was once nestled in the glen and its storm cellar and spring still jut from the overgrown soil. Nearby a wagon road dug deep by many wheels goes on down to cross the river to join community with community. Who were these people, what were their dreams, and how did they overcome all the obstacles? They knew nothing of television or nuclear plants or miracle medicines. Some of them handled life with faith – and so can we.

~ We thank thee that thy wisdom has always provided. ~

SOSE-HA-WA - SENECA, 1851

'A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume II' by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

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Elder's Meditation of the Day - December 19

"Flexible strength is better than inflexible. Let the storm flow over you, and then pop back up."
--Michael Kabotie, HOPI

Flexibility is taught by nature. You will see the trees bend in the wind. You will see that tree branches are flexible. To be rigid is to break. When we have life problems it is good for us to be flexible. Sometimes we need to flow with what is going on. If we resist, it becomes more painful. We need to be on the path of least resistance. Water flows down the mountain through the path of least resistance. Electricity flows through the path of least resistance. Power flows through the path of least resistance. As Indian people our strength has always been our flexibility.

Creator, I will be flexible today because I know You are with me.

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'THINK on THESE THINGS'
by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

If we could but read it, all human beings carry the marks of their character in the lines of their faces. The very expressions are etched there by habitual thought. The most beautiful features my be blank by expression, lacking depth of thought or understanding, while the plainest face may be lighted with a radiance only sincerity and inner beauty can produce.

Alexander Smith was a Scottish poet who wrote, “On your features the fine chisels of thought and emotion are eternally at work.”

No pretense can hide the thoughts and feelings. The narrowed eyes of suspicion and discontent tattle, while serenity and devotion to others can reveal such beauty of spirit that the shape of the face is forgotten.

“In thy face I see the map of honor, truth, and loyalty,” wrote Shakespeare, and it is safe to say that being able to see those things in another's face is an assurance that he also had such a face. To see only avarice and selfishness in every expression turned to us is to know that our own expressions lack something to be desired.

Life does not have to be full of ease to reflect beauty. Some of the most beautiful faces in history have not had eyes to see nor voices to move their lips, but have possessed peace and serenity that only faith could render.

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Daily Relationship Reading
I want a satisfying career, good kids, a home of our own, a sense of financial security, intimacy, mutual respect, love, freedom to be me, and fun together times. Sound like a close-to-ideal relationship?
In reality though, I may be finding that "freedom to be me" to my SO means that they drink as much as they want, or spend time out with "other" friends, leaving me alone.
Or a "satisfying career" translates into uprooting everyone with transfers, or working long hours.
I feel frustrated when my partner's sense of priorities doesn't match mine, and I end up feeling more and more resentment over lost dreams and hopes.
Are my priorities as clear as they could be though? Do I ask my SO to spend less time at work - but then talk hours later about how the bills seem to keep piling up? Or do I tell them I want more intimacy, and then spend the evening playing cards with friends?
If I list what's most important to me, likely I'll see that the things at the top of the list are those money can't buy.

Just for Today
Today, I'll take some time and write down my thoughts about what I want most in this relationship. I'll look at how things lower on the list take away from the more important things at times. If I can't have it all, at least I can make better choices that will help me get more of what I want most.

Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem. - Kahlil Gibran

[francie21805]

Daily Inspiration for women

http://www.meditationsforwomen.com/dailys/135899.htm

[francie21805]

Daily OM
December 19, 2008

The Great Transformer
Loving What You Hate
Hatred can be irrational, and it has a greater impact on the individual who hates than the person or object being hated. Yet overcoming hatred is difficult because hatred reinforces itself and causes greater enmity to come into being. The most powerful tool one can use to combat hatred is love. Deciding to love what you hate, whether this is a person, situation, or a part of yourself, can create a profound change in your feelings and your experience. There is little room for anger, dislike, bitterness, or resentment when you are busy loving what you hate. The practice of loving what you hate can transform and shift your emotions from hatred to love, because there is no room for hatred in a space occupied by love.

Granted, it is difficult to forgo judging someone, love your enemy, and seek the good in situations that seem orchestrated to cause you pain or anger. But in deciding to love what you hate, you become one less person adding negativity to the universe. On a simple level, loving what you hate can help you enjoy your life more. On a more complex level, loving what you hate sets you free because you disengage yourself from the hatred that can weigh down the soul. Responding with love to people radiating hatred transmutes their negative energy. You also empower yourself by not letting their negativity enter your personal space. Rather than lowering yourself to the level of their hatred, you give the other person an opportunity to rise above their feelings and meet you on the field of love.

Gandhi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Loving what you hate sends a positive, beautiful energy to people while spreading peace and harmony throughout the planet. Instead of reinforcing hatred, you become an advocate for love. Hatred responds to hate by causing anguish. But hatred responds to love by transforming into blissful peace.

Published with permission from Daily OM