Daily Recovery Readings - 8/18

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Daily Reflections

GETTING WELL, p.239

Very deep, sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emotional
conflicts persist below the level of consciousness.
12 & 12, pp. 79-80

Only through positive action can I remove the remains of guilt and
shame brought on by alcohol. Throughout my misadventures when
I drank, my friends would say, "Why are you doing this? You're
only hurting yourself." Little did I know how true were those
words. Although I harmed others, some of my behavior caused
grave wounds to my soul. Step Eight provides me with a way of
forgiving myself. I alleviate much of the hidden damage when I
make my list of those I have hurt. In making amends, I free
myself of burdens, thus contributing to my healing.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"We of agnostic temperament have found that as soon as we were
able to lay aside prejudice and express a willingness to believe in a
Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even
though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or
comprehend that Power, which we call God. As soon as you can
say that you do believe or are willing to believe, you are on your
way. Upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective
spiritual structure can be built." Am I willing to depend on a Power
that I cannot fully define or comprehend?

Meditation For The Day

We seek God's presence and "they who seek shall find." It is not
a question of searching so much as an inner consciousness of the
Divine spirit in your heart. To realize God's presence you must
surrender to His will in the small as well as in the big things of life.
This makes God's guidance possible. Some things separate you
from God--a false word, a fear-inspired failure, a harsh criticism, a
stubborn resentment. These are the things that put a distance
between your mind and God. A word of love, a selfless
reconciliation, a kind act of helpfulness--these bring God closer.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may think and say and do the things that bring God
closer to me. I pray that I may find Him in sincere prayer, a kind
word, or an unselfish deed.

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As Bill Sees It

Essence of Growth, p. 115

Let us never fear needed change. Certainly we have to discriminate
between changes for better. But once a need becomes clearly apparent
in an individual, in a group, or in A.A. as a whole, it has long since been
found out that we cannot stand still and look the other way.

The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and
then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this
entails.

Grapevine, July 1965

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Walk In Dry Places

Handle Today's Problem
Living Today
Many of us face seemingly insurmountable
difficulties, perhaps because of our compulsion or simply through
misfortune. Whatever the scale of our problems,One Day at a
Time and First things First, are keys to handling them.
Today, we can deal only with today's problems. One of today's problems, of course,
may be worrying about the future. A good method of handling that problem
is to turn our concern about it over to our Higher Power. But when
we do have work that clearly should be done today, we must carry through
with it. It's neither reasonable nor sensible to put off things that we
can and should do today.
There are certain tasks and responsibilities that must be dealt with
today. I will not put them off.

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Keep It Simple

The Master doesn't talk, she acts. When her work is done, the people say, "Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!"
Our Higher Power works like the Master. Quietly. In fact, we usually take the credit ourselves!
We're like the child who bakes cookies for the first time. Mother found the recipe, bought the ingredients, and got out the bowl and pans and spoons. She told us what to do, and finished when we got tired. Then she cleaned up after us. We proudly served our cookies, saying, "I made them all by my self!"
In recovery, our Higher Power helps and teaches us every step of the way, just like a loving parent.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thank-you ---for my life, for my recovery, for love, for hope, and for faith. Thank-you for teaching me how to live in a better way.
Action for the Day: I'll list five ways my Higher Power has acted in my life.

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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.

If I asked what the two most important things in recovery are, I would have to say willingness and action. I was willing to believe that A.A. was telling me the truth. I wanted to believe it was true in a way I cannot relate in words. I wanted this thing to work. Then I began to take the course of action prescribed.

p. 317

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Seven - "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

Probably no A.A. Tradition had the labor pains this one did. In early times, we were all broke. When you add to this the habitual supposition that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money. What great things A.A. would be able to do with it! But oddly enough, people who had money thought otherwise. They figured that it was high time we now--sober--paid our own way. So our Fellowship stayed poor because it had to.

p. 160

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The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes but in having new eyes.
--Marcel Proust

"The first recipe for happiness is: Avoid too lengthy meditations on
the past."
--André Maurois

"Act so as to elicit the best in others and thereby in thyself."
--Felix Adler

"The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching
the egg - not by smashing it."
--Arnold Glasow

"Patience and perseverance at length / Accomplish more than anger
or brute strength."
--Jean de La Fontaine

Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets
dark sometimes but morning comes... Keep hope alive.
--Jesse Jackson

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

ABILITY

"Man's ability is derived from
God and does not have to be
acquired."
-- James H. McReynolds

I woke this morning and remembered that sobriety and serenity are
gifts from God that are freely given. I need only discover them within
my capacity to be honest. I need only seek them in my new attitudes. I
need only discover them in the spiritual program from my life.

God is alive in my life and His acceptance of me is guaranteed.

May I continue to discover more of Your beauty in my life.

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"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath."
James 1:19

"The Father and I are one."
John 10:30

"But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from
the evil one."
2 Thessalonians 3:3

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Daily Inspiration

The more frantic we feel on the inside, the more compulsive we try to organize the outside. Lord, help me bring peace and order to my inner spirit by letting go of the past, bring resolution to the issues that are pressing and making a commitment to enjoy my life right now.

Do not be afraid to ask everything of God. He is always present and always loving us. Lord, I trust in You and ask for Your help in all that I do and need and want. I also ask for Your help in accepting Your answers when they are different than I would want or expect.

[admin]

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Large streams from little fountains flow. --David Everett
Somewhere nearby, no matter where we are, runs a creek. We've seen plenty of them, narrow and rocky. In summer it's hardly a creek at all, but in the spring, it feeds a mighty river.
Each of us is like that creek, a trickle contributing to some greater plan. Sometimes we feel dried up, contributing nothing. Often we feel small, rocky, not up to the task--when we can understand what the task is.
Sometimes the task seems too simple--get up each morning, love and work and live the day as honestly as we can. What kind of contribution is that? Sometimes it seems too complicated. How much more we could contribute if we could see the whole river--where it begins and ends--if we knew what would happen tomorrow.
So we ebb and flow. And in our moments of contentment, we know we are doing the best we can each day.
What contribution, however small, can I offer the world today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The years forever fashion new dreams when old ones go. God pity the one dream man. --Robert Goddard
A painful loss can seem like the end of hope for us. It is true that the place a loved one had in our lives will never be filled. The loss of a job may dash a dream that will not come true - at least not as we thought it would. The aging of our body ends physical strength, and we lose options that will not come around a second time. Yet, change is a basic fact of life. We must empty a glass before we can fill it with something else. Our spiritual task is to become less rigid in our attachments and more accepting of the flow of life.
When we look straight at our losses and allow ourselves to cry and grieve over them, we are saying good-bye and letting go. Grief cleanses the soul and frees us to move on to new dreams. The loss of a job may put us in a position to discover undreamed of possibilities. In time, the loss of a love heals, and it deepens our relationship with our Higher Power and with our other friends. The other side of grief is freedom, and we are learning to have many new dreams in our lives.
I pray for the freedom that comes with having dreams in my life.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Today was like a shadow. It lurked behind me. It's now gone forever. Why is it that time is such a difficult thing to befriend?
--Mary Casey
Each passing minute is all that we are certain of having. The choice is ever present to relish the moment, reaping fully whatever its benefits, knowing that we are being given just what we need each day of our lives. We must not pass up what is offered today.
Time accompanies us like a friend, though often a friend denied or ignored. We can't recapture what was offered yesterday. It's gone. All that stands before us is here, now.
We can nurture the moment and know that the pain and pleasures offered us with each moment are our friends, the teachers our inner selves await. And we can be mindful that this time, this combination of events and people, won't come again. They are the gift of the present. We can be grateful.
We miss the opportunities the day offers because we don't recognize the experiences as the lesson designed for the next stage of our development. The moment's offerings are just, necessary, and friendly to our spiritual growth.
I will take today in my arms and love it. I will love all it offers; it is a friend bearing gifts galore.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Valuing this Moment
Detachment involves present moment living - living in the here and now. We allow life to happen instead of forcing and trying to control it. We relinquish regrets over the past and fears about the future. We make the most of each day. --Codependent No More
This moment, we are right where we need to be, right where we are meant to be.
How often we waste our time and energy wishing we were someone else, were doing something else, or were someplace else. We may wish our present circumstances were different.
We needlessly confuse ourselves and divert our energy by thinking that our present moment is a mistake. But we are right where we need to be for now. Our feelings, thoughts, circumstances, challenges, and tasks - all of it is on schedule.
We spoil the beauty of the present moment by wishing for something else.
Come back home to yourself. Come back home to the present moment. We will not change things by escaping or leaving the moment. We will change things by surrendering to and accepting the moment.
Some moments are easier to accept than others.
To trust the process, to trust all of it, without hanging on to the past or peering too far into the future, requires a great deal of faith. Surrender to the moment. If you're feeling angry, get mad. If you're setting a boundary, dive into that. If you're grieving, grieve. Get into it. Step where instinct leads. If you're waiting, wait. If you have a task, throw yourself into the work. Get into the moment; the moment is right.
We are where we are, and it is okay. It is right where we're meant to be to get where we're going tomorrow. And that place will be good.
It has been planned in love for us.
God, help me let go of my need to be someone other than who I am today. Help me dive fully into the present moment. I will accept and surrender to my present moments - the difficult ones and the easy ones, trusting the whole process. I will stop trying to control the process; instead, I will relax and let myself experience it.


I have all the time in the world to do God's Will for me today I trust that my Higher Power is filling me with all the energy that I need for these 24 hours. --Ruth Fishel

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How Long Do I Have To Go?

"The way to remain a productive, responsible member of society is to put our recovery first."
Basic Text, p. 102

The meetings have been great! Each night we've attended, we've gathered with other addicts to share experience, strength, and hope. And each day, we've used what we've learned in the meetings to continue in our recovery.

Meanwhile, life goes on. Work, family, friends, school, sport, entertainment, community activities, civic obligations-all call out for our time. The demands of everyday living sometimes make us ask ourselves, "How long do I have to go to these meetings?"

Let's think about this. Before coming to Narcotics Anonymous, could we stay clean on our own? What makes us think we can now? Then there's the disease itself to consider - the chronic self-centeredness, the obsessiveness, the compulsive behavior patterns that express themselves in so many areas of our lives. Can we live and enjoy life without effective treatment for our disease? No.
"Ordinary" people may not have to worry about such things, but we're not "0rdinary" people - we're addicts. We can't pretend we don't have a fatal, progressive illness, because we do. Without our program, we may not survive to worry about the demands of work, school, family, or anything else. NA meetings give us the support and direction we need to recover from our addiction, allowing us to live the fullest lives possible.

Just for today: I want to live and enjoy life. To do that, I will put my recovery first.
pg. 240

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Wisdom for Today
Very early in the program I started to receive gifts from others. Gifts of hope, a sense of relief, direction; I fit in. I began to hear slogans like, “It works if you work it.” It took me a while to begin to understand what that meant. I don’t know if it was because my brain was so cloudy from years of alcohol and drug abuse or it was because I simply wanted an easier, softer way; but it took some time before I became willing to use the tools I was being given. I could see that it worked for others who were willing, yet I resisted.

Finally, it began to sink in. Acceptance and surrender to a Power outside of myself is what I had to do. So I got to work and began to use the tools. Have I been using the tools the way I have been shown? Have I surrendered to a Higher Power?
Meditations for the Heart
The program provides us with seeds of hope, and truth, and faith. We are given the tools. Yet, we must use the tools to nurture the seeds and keep the weeds out of our garden. There are sunny days and other days that are filled with rain. Both are needed
to grow the seeds of sobriety. Am I using the tools or am I waiting for someone else to do the work for me?
Petitions to my Higher Power
God, I don’t know whether today will be filled with sunshine or rain, but I can trust that you will walk this path with me. Give me the wisdom and strength I need to use the tools so that I may reap a bountiful harvest.

Amen

[admin]

You are reading from the book Food for Thought.

Self-Respect

When we were overeating, we did not have much self-respect. Because we felt guilty about the quantity of food we were consuming and the way we looked, we had a very poor self-image. Since we did not respect ourselves, we did not act in a way, which evoked respect from others. We put ourselves down and allowed other people to use us.

Abstinence and the OA program produce a change, which is often astonishing. Our self-respect grows in direct proportion to the control we acquire. When we stop overeating and begin to live in accordance with the will of our Higher Power, we can accept and respect ourselves. Those around us respond to us differently as our own attitude improves.

What we realize is that self-respect and inner acceptance are more important than any external approval or disapproval. Instead of living for the admiration of others, we seek each day to follow the will of our Higher Power.

I am grateful for the self-respect OA has given me.