[bluidkiti]

November 29

Step by Step

Today, if my candle is burning at both ends with responsibilities, obligations and expectations, I will not complain or seek adulation and, instead, will practice gratitude and humility that I now am trusted to carry out what is asked and expected of me. But if I feel overwhelmed at times, I can fall back on the an edict “First Things First.” The first thing is sobriety. Without it, there is nothing; with it, there is everything. The benefits sobriety bring include service to the sufferer who needs and wants to hear the message, and I should not shirk or complain about being in service. Not only does what I contribute to another soul strengthen my own against a possible slip or relapse, I need only to remember the days when I was drunk literally 24/7 and ask if those days were better than now. Today, my yesterdays are nowhere better than today, and today is where I will stay without complaining, without seeking recognition and instead ask in humility for His will and the power to carry it out. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

BRIDGES

People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.

~ Joseph Newton ~

We discovered — and hardly believed it at first— that we were not alone. We were really not that different from everybody else in the Program. We began to sense that we did belong somewhere and our loneliness began to leave us. Our addiction encouraged us to build walls around ourselves, to keep out reality and to keep in the awful person we thought we were. When we began recovery, we started to tear down those walls, brick by brick. On the foundation that was left, we have started to build a new life.

That new life is connected to the real world, to other people, and to the Program by the bridges we've built with our positive actions. We've learned that with honesty and sharing, we no longer need walls to protect us.

I am learning to tear down the walls I have built and have begun to build bridges.

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

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem more afraid of life than death.

~ James F. Byrnes ~

Life is never fully secure, and those of us who grew up in stressful households learned early that security was a precious thing. What we didn’t learn was how to reach out from our security to seek and grasp opportunity. One problem we may develop in our recovery is overcautiousness, which comes out of our frightening memories of being out of control in our addiction and codependency.

Life is always a risk. Walking up to the plate to take a swing at the next pitch is a risk, but life is so much richer for doing so. Part of our recovery is learning to accept opportunity when it appears and allow for the possibility of mistake. We don’t need to condemn ourselves for having tried; we can learn from every at-tempt. We are much more alive for the risks we take and the opportunities we accept.

Today my life is richer for the possibilities that I am moving toward.

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

As I grow older I feel so much freer to be me.
This is a real blessing that I never anticipated.

~ Marie Gubbels ~

Many of us didn’t know who we were when we first got into recovery. We may have mimicked other people’s actions and beliefs with no forethought, only with the desire to fit in. One of our worst fears was that we didn’t belong. Trying to look like, act like, and think like other women— these actions made us feel safe, inconspicuous. That we were trapped by our fear never dawned on us.

Doing an inventory, as suggested by the program, helps us know who we honestly are. We can see our personal traits; we can evaluate what we want to do about qualities that cause us grief. And we can feel gratitude about others. But, most important, we can see who we actually are, not who we tried to be for years. The program makes this possible. And the reward will be a peacefulness more gratifying than any we have ever known.

No longer do we need to try someone else’s behavior on for size. What fits us, fits only us. And that is good.

Being myself today means not watching others for clues about what to think or say. I will listen to my inner voice and with her help be true to me.

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

I am slowing down

When I was using and having symptoms, I had little patience or tolerance. I couldn't wait for a red light to change or a deposit to clear the bank. I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it. I reacted sharply and quickly. I was headstrong.

With some time in recovery, I have more patience. I can think things through. I am less irritable and fearful. Getting clean and sober has helped a lot. So has taking my medication. I am finding out that there are no quick fixes, and that it helps when I take my time.

Today I will practice walking slower and driving slower.

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

Stress has its own siren.
The first step in stress reduction
is removing our earplugs
in order to learn what needs to be changed.

~ Joe Montgomery ~

Stress can work for us if we learn to listen to its messages. If we listen, stress can lead us to healing. Many of us have become numb to our own stress and pain. We may have become so conditioned to overdoing and rushing around frantically that a kind of emotional paralysis has captured our senses. But learning to listen to our overtired bodies and spirits takes time, and time may be the one thing we’re not willing to give up.

Listening to stress messages in our lives helps us stop in our tracks and give priority attention to ourselves. At first we may feel uncomfortable with the notion of sitting still and listening to our bodies and emotions. We’re new at paying close attention to ourselves, at caring for our own needs. But if we have patience and give ourselves time to slow down, we will learn to hear the internal music that tells us what we need to know. This part of our recovery is getting to know our body again, listening carefully to it the way we do to a loved one. After all, our first loved one must be ourselves.

Today let me realize that I can begin to heal my stress if I am willing to stop, rest, and listen.

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

You must pay the price if you wish to secure the blessings.

~ Andrew Jackson ~

Although the program teaches to live and recover “One day at a time,” that does not mean you cannot dream about who you would like to become or what you would like to be doing at a future time in your life. Being able to live and recover in the present as well as being able to look ahead and envision a future path can give you something to look forward to, something to work toward, and something to help keep your present feelings focused on the path ahead.

Too, dreaming about things you would like to come true can add a positive perspective to your present life. Rather than wallow in despair or self-pity, having something to look forward to can minimize negative feelings. Those things you are facing in the present will eventually pass, and at some future time you will have moved on to a better way of living.

When you have hopes and visions for the future, you can still the demons of the present. You can feel less troubled and more energized for your future. Dreams give you the promise of another day, another way, and a better life.

I will create dreams for the future that will infuse energy into my recovery today.

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

The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your gains. Any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your losses.

~ William Bolitho ~

It is easy to see the profit in what we gain, but it is not so easy to see the profit in what we lose. Projects that take shape and collections that expand show the gains we have made. But how can we see profits from the end of a relationship, the loss of a job, or the estrangement from family?

Each loss represents a step we need to take toward maturity and growth. Throughout our lifetimes we will walk up many steps. Sometimes it may seem like we have a never-ending stairway in front of us. Our gains are the level parts of each stair, but the real progress is made when we climb the stairs of our losses.

Although we may feel as though we have nothing when we go through a loss, what we do have is the experience of the loss. We learn to deal with a different lesson. Our profits from a loss may not show up immediately, but we will discover the rich rewards as we learn to accept life on its terms—not on ours.

Tonight I can learn to look at today's losses as gains. What have I learned? How have I grown?

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

Finding friendship

We have friends we dance with or play sports with. This is friendship on a pleasure plane. Then we have friends in our professions and jobs. These friendships are on a different plane of common interests. Next is the identity and intellectual plane where we discuss favorite topics. But the highest and most beautiful plane of friendship is one in which we share the same spiritual quest.

We have the glory, through this fellow-ship, of experiencing immediate communion and intimacy with our people wherever we go. Such friendships last as long as the solution, which is our common bond.

Have I found a multitude of friends?

Higher Power, thank you for blessing me with a world full of friends who share my spiritual quest.

Today I will offer my friendship to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.

~ EDITH WHARTON ~

Newcomer

What is it about me? A while ago, I finally figured out that I really did feel better on the days I meditated. When I meditate, I like the feeling of being refreshed and alive. But I get impatient with it, and I rebel against doing it consistently.

Sponsor

I've often heard it said at meetings that the definition of in-sanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting that things will turn out differently. The same kind of logic applies here: I try something, I experience good results—so I quit doing it! It makes no sense, unless you're an addict.

The results of regular meditation are subtle but powerful. Over time, a transformation takes place not only in our minds and feelings, but also in the cells of our bodies. It's well established that people who meditate have better-regulated blood pressure, a high level of efficiency and competence at what they do, improved relationships, more zest for living, and greater serenity. It costs absolutely nothing to do, requires no equipment, and takes relatively little time.

We don't have to punish ourselves for what we failed to do yesterday. Today is as good a day as any to begin again. Rather than struggling with meditation, just sit down and allow it to happen.

Today, I do all that I set out to do with ease and pleasure.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We find in life exactly what we are looking for. In your drinking days you courted trouble constantly and you probably found more than your share of it.

Today we are looking for a better way of life and this, too, we find at every turn.

We get what we want if we put forth sufficient effort to look for it, if we have the ability to recognize it when we see it, and the tenacity to hold on to it when once we grasp it.

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

Wealth, Power, Fame

Dear God, I pray to remember
I will not care overly much for
Wealth, or power, or fame,
Or one day I will meet someone
Who cares for none of these things,
And then I will realize
How poor I have become.

~ Adapted from writings by Rudyard Kipling ~

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

PASSIVE BEFORE GOD

To be sensitive is good, because sensitive people are aware of a thousand interesting or beautiful things where the obtruse person gets nothing. To do any creative work you have to be sensitive; because the creative worker is a "receiving set" for divine Mind.

A world-famous tenor, who was literally fretting himself to death over unimportant matters, broke down in my office, and said that God was cruel to make him so sensitive. I replied, "If you had the hide of a rhinoceros you might be a happier man, but you would not be at the Metropolitan."

In an electric circuit any given point is said to be positive to any point below it, and negative to any point above it. Current passes always from the positive to the negative, and never the other way. Now, if you are positive in this sense to everything but the action of God, no negative things can come back at you. On the other hand, you are receptive (or "negative" in the purely electrical sense of this ambiguous word) to all good—the direct inspiration of God, the prayers of other people, and all the beautiful and interesting vibrations in the universe.

Here is an affirmation that, intelligently used, will save you much unnecessary bombardment by negative thoughts: I am positive to everything but the action of God.

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

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

The Faithkeeper

Keep your faith in all beautiful things; in the sun when it is hidden, in the Spring when it is gone.

~ Roy R. Gilson ~

I saw Bill Moyers interview Oren Lyon, a Native American whose role in the tribe was “The Faithkeeper.” Eloquent, centered, and purposeful, Oren Lyon explained the importance of having one person in the tribe who consistently holds the higher vision. He was designated to be the voice of hope, an inspiration to remember the bigger picture when others forget it.

Each of us needs to be a Faithkeeper. When others around us go into fear or confusion, we serve best by remembering the light and holding peace.

I went to a hospital to visit an infant who had been born with some serious health challenges. As I stood outside the nursery with the child’s relatives looking at the baby laden with tubes and bandages, I sensed great worry, fear, and pessimism from the infant’s family. In that moment, I realized that my purpose there was to simply remain peaceful; the greatest service I could offer would be to stay calm while others were losing their cool. Without saying a word, I meditated inwardly and affirmed the presence of God, knowing that the child was loved, cared for, and protected by an unseen hand.

I know a woman who was invited to sit meditatively in the room where Middle East peace negotiations were being held. Her role was to pray and hold the vision of unity and healing. We hire people to be responsible for all aspects of important projects. Why not designate someone to fulfill the most important aspect—the remembrance of the presence of God.

The next time someone around you loses their cool, remember to be the Faithkeeper. As long as you remain sane, the situation is assured of healing.

I pray to be a force for faith.

I magnify the presence of God wherever I am, and bring peace to the world.