[bluidkiti]

March 11

Step by Step

Today, should I be tempted to try “just one” and then “just one more night,” let me have the honesty to admit to myself that I have already premeditated a slip or relapse and to find the wisdom “to change the things I can.” And a temptation is something I CAN change. Grant me the courage to do what the program suggests when temptation calls – reach out to a sponsor, co-member, or even an online contact BEFORE I take the drink. Asking for help AFTER is too late. And if I don’t have the sense to seek help before the drink, let me remember the yesterdays of morning afters and their residue: hangovers, shakes, guilt, remorse, memory loss, fear, shame. Is any of that worth the instant gratification of a drink and, with all honesty, does my drinking history have even ONE drink? No! Today, if I am tempted, let me have the courage to muster the honesty to tell myself that I am premeditating a relapse, that a slip is a myth and that the consequence simply isn’t worth it. And, today, I’ll call help. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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~ EASY DOES IT ~ (A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations) ~

THE READY PUPIL

God gave us two ears, but only one mouth. Some say that’s because our Higher Power wanted us to spend twice as much time listening as we did talking.

~ Anonymous ~

One of the most valuable things we can do is to become a good listener. When we concentrate on absorbing what wiser and more experienced members say rather than thinking about what we imagine others want to hear from us, we will grow in our Program. We are aware that “when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Often, the teacher is an unlikely source. Some of the things we most need to hear may come from someone new to the Program. If we are highly educated, it may come from someone with no education at all. If we are materially successful, it may come from someone who has nothing. We are all teachers and all students in the Program. We constantly learn from each other, wherever or whoever we are.

I shall never stop learning as I will always be a pupil in my Program. Thankfully, I will never graduate. There are no diplomas, only revelations. I will be a good listener.

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~ WISDOM TO KNOW ~ (More Daily Meditations For Men) ~

Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world, for indeed, that’s all who ever have.

~ Margaret Mead ~

The pessimists and the naysayers believe that the future is bleak. Storm clouds are always present somewhere, they say, leading things inexorably to the worse. Yet our own recovery and our restored lives are living proof that growth and improvement are always possible. We know how bad things felt in our own lives and how much better they have now become. Our own experience is all we need to give us hope.

When a couple of guys in Ohio first got together to find a path out of alcoholism and despair, they started a Twelve Step recovery program that has brought hope and transformation to millions. When so many around them were hopelessly caught in the grip of alcoholism, these guys dared to hope that they could be restored to sanity. They changed the world.

On this day, perhaps we see danger looming. We may despair about a relationship, or worry about a friend or loved one. But if we care, and if we keep the faith, we know that things can change for the better.

Today I will carry the knowledge that a Power greater than ourselves can restore us.

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~ A WOMAN’S SPIRIT ~ (More Meditations For Women) ~

To experience a feeling is to open a window to our soul.

~ Sarah Desmond ~

Abstinence and recovery offer us the opportunity to really know ourselves. It surprises us, initially, to discover how unfamiliar we are with our feelings and our motivations. Alcohol and other drugs muffled most of what we felt and thought for much of our lives. Now meetings and the Steps are helping us foster an acquaintance with our true self. It’s both fun and a little scary.

We don’t necessarily like every aspect of who we are now. And most of us loathe who we used to be. But having the tools to peel away the layers of denial about the past and having the willingness to face our feelings are paramount to becoming who we’d rather be. What we’re getting to, what’s deep in our soul, is the person God has hoped would emerge all along. Having the chance to know our soul is a profoundly important gift. Let’s gently unwrap it.

I will respect all my feelings today. They tell me important things I need to know about myself.

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~ TODAY I WILL DO ONE THING ~ (Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope) ~

I can take the time I need to recover.

I tend to want things when I want them, and usually that means now. I want to be recovered now. I want to feel whole and healthy now. I am impulsive and impatient.

But my Twelve Step program is teaching me the truer meaning of now: with the help of my higher power I accept where I’m at in my recovery. To me this means I know I can’t just say Be well and then be well. Change is slow and methodical. To recover, I need to take small steps every day. I must work on each problematic symptom, habit, routine, thought pattern, or attitude one at a time and one day at a time.

Following my Step Ten inventory, I will select something I want to change and work on changing it today.

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~ BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT ~ (Inspiration and Support for Recovery) ~

Moderation in all things.

~ Terence ~

During active addiction, our lives went from one extreme to the other. Depending on our level of intoxication, we believed we were all bad or all good; angels or devils. We abused ourselves terribly, then went on frantic health kicks to make up for it. We made friends — and enemies — in an instant. We quit jobs, left spouses, alienated our loved ones, all on the whim of a moment.

But life doesn’t have to be that way. In recovery, we have a chance to learn a moderate, balanced approach to living. With our new healthy mind and body, we can think things through and make decisions based on our long-term good instead of reacting to the feelings of the moment. If we stay up too late one night, we can choose to have an early evening the next. If we’re stressed out, we can choose a few days of quiet and exercise, which will help us recuperate. When we’ve taken on too heavy a load at work, we can find rational ways to rearrange our schedule.

Now we can look to the future and assess our needs based on what we know is good for us. No longer motivated by distorted thinking and impulsive reactions, we can think and plan ahead. Once we took pride in our hell-bent lifestyle. Now we can relax and enjoy the serenity of moderation.

Today help me avoid impulsive decisions and appreciate balance.

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~ MORNING LIGHT ~ (Meditations to Begin Your Day) ~

Imagine how little good music there would be if, for example, a conductor refused to play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on the ground that his audience may have heard it before.

~ A.P. Herbert ~

From time to time you may feel bored with the meetings you attend. You may hear the same stories and slogans. You may interact with the same people. So you may come to the decision that since you are not drinking or using, you have your addiction under control and no longer need to attend meetings.

Rather than step away from meetings, consider ways to give meetings greater meaning. Perhaps you are bored with the stories people tell because you are only half listening. Strive to listen more closely. Maybe you are tired of the same slogans because you have not fully appreciated their meaning. Choose a slogan and break it down, word by word, so you understand its purpose in your recovery. Maybe your disinterest in others is due to your lack of effort in getting to know them better. Engage with them so you can learn more about who they are.

Approach your next meeting with a renewed effort and change your way of thinking. A greater perspective will be your reward.

Today I will truly listen to the stories of others and seek new meaning in the experiences they are sharing with me.

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~ NIGHT LIGHT ~ (A Book Of Nighttime Meditations) ~

For it is not physical solitude that actually separates one from other men, not physical isolation, but spiritual isolation.

~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh ~

We’ve discovered that our growth today depends on our mental, physical, and spiritual health. If we picture these as the three legs of a stool, we can see that shortchanging the importance of one or taking one of them away will upset the balance.

We can be at a meeting, for example, yet be unwilling to listen and learn. Or we can bow our heads in prayer at the end of the meeting, yet be unwilling to feel the spiritual strength flowing through the circle of joined hands. By blocking the flow of any aspect of our growth, we are isolating ourselves without even being physically alone.

The remedy to physical isolation is being with others. The remedy to spiritual isolation is opening ourselves to the spirit of life and love that exists everywhere. We can be open to that spirit whether we are alone or with others.

How can I end my spiritual isolation tonight?

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~ DAY BY DAY ~ (Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts) ~

Seeking happiness

Happiness is not a goal for us, it is the result of following the Twelve Steps. If we make happiness an object of pursuit, it will only lead us on a wild goose chase. We know this because whenever we sought happiness out of a bottle, needle, or pill, it always eluded us.

When we are following our true purpose, we often find the happiness we never dreamed possible staring us in the face. When we work the Steps, help others, and go to meetings, we can’t help but have happiness presented to us. It is a result.

The sooner we stop seeking happiness for itself, the sooner we realize that it’s the by-product of our new life.

Have I stopped chasing rainbows?

Higher Power, help me see happiness as the result of the way I live.

I will practice the program today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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~ IF YOU WANT WHAT WE HAVE ~ (Sponsorship Meditations) ~

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?

~ GEORGE ELIOT ~

Newcomer

When I hear, in Step Three, “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God,” my hackles go up. I want to lead a free, independent life. I don’t want to give up my ability to think and to make my own decisions.

Sponsor

Step Three doesn’t ask us to give up our ability to think or to make choices, but rather to trust in the existence of love and caring. When we were active in our addictions, we tried to care for ourselves with a substance or behavior that may have helped us at first, but eventually failed us. What seemed to feed us, in time starved us. In recovery, we become open to choosing more dependable ways of loving and caring for ourselves. To prepare for Step Three, it’s useful to make a list of some of the many things that support and nurture us each day.

We find love and nourishment in helping and accepting help from other recovering addicts, in the dependability of meetings and program principles, in the people we meet on our path who put more light in our day. Music, exercise, creativity, laughter, meditation, prayer, tuning in to nature’s rhythms, noticing the miracle of our own breathing and our bodies’ capacity to heal—there is food for our spirits everywhere, if we are willing to be fed. In recovery, we come to know ourselves as whole human beings, better able to think for ourselves and make our own decisions, while sensing the loving support of something greater than our separate selves.

Today, I am willing to open myself to the abundance of love and care that recovery offers me.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

In our early days of sobriety, when our minds were still full of cobwebs, when we were unable to concentrate on what was being told us, when we were actually antagonistic to any spiritual help, many thousands of us were held on by the great bond of understanding, sympathy and friendliness of the Group.

We will dwell together in peace and harmony only so long as we are united in our one and only purpose of “carrying the message to other alcoholics.”

We are organized for no other purpose, we have prospered in fulfilling that purpose, and we shall lose our sobriety and die as an organization when we depart from that purpose.

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~ WALK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG BOOK ~ (Official & Unofficial Sloganeering From the 12 Step Programs) ~

1) You need all the help you can give.

2) GUILT: God Understands I Lack Trust

3) Rule 62: Never take yourself too seriously!

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~ The 12 STEP PRAYER BOOK ~ (A Collection of Favorite 12 Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings) ~

Do It Now

Dear God,

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any fellow traveler, let me do it now.

Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

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~ AROUND THE YEAR WITH EMMET FOX ~ (A Book of Daily Readings) ~

PRAYER AS TREATMENT

Treatment is a psycho-spiritual term that means knowing the spiritual truth about any person or situation.

If, like most people, you believe that appearances are realities and that they cannot be changed, then you cannot give a treatment. But if you believe that the Bible is right when it says,

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he . . . (Proverbs 23:7).

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment (John 7:24).

Then it is in your power to change anything for the better and to heal most things.

Begin every treatment (No matter how many you may give) by saying:

I can overcome this difficulty.

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~ A DEEP BREATH OF LIFE ~ (365 Daily Inspirations for Heart-Centered Living) ~

One Link at a Time

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.

~ Winston Churchill ~

Author and Unity minister Eric Butterworth gave a 15-minute radio talk every day for over 30 years, during which he inspired countless millions with illuminating ideas. When someone asked Dr. Butterworth how he was able to come up with a unique address for such a long time, he answered, “I just do one at a time. Sometimes I sit down to write a week’s worth of talks, and the prospect seems overwhelming. Then I remember that I just have to write one. So I write what is most alive within me at that moment, and when I am done, I ask myself what is stimulating to me now. Before I know it, they are all done.”

I have written a dozen books in 15 years. If at the outset someone had told me I would do that, or asked me to take on such a project, there is no way I would have agreed. But each book showed up in its own time, along with the energy and enthusiasm to make it happen. Somehow they add up.

If you feel overwhelmed with projects or responsibilities, ask yourself, “What do I really need to attend to right now?” Then handle the project at hand as if it is the only one. You will have a lot more fun thinking of it in that way, and you will be amazed at how the bowling pins fall one after another if you focus on what can be done in the moment. God never requires anything of us that is beyond our capacity to perform. The secret is to forge the chain one link at a time.

Show me how to live one day at a time. I will do what I can with joy and enthusiasm, and trust You to do what I cannot.

Now is my moment. I do my best and leave the rest to God.