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April 3

Step by Step

Today, I will not let selfishness, any problems I have and lack of empathy to blind me to someone else’s needs and problems. Human nature, and especially so with the recovering alcoholic, is to retreat into self and worry with our own problems – sometimes out of a misplaced intention not to unload on others. But by withdrawing we may lose someone’s helpful advice or, if nothing more, give voice to what we fear. But, sometimes unintentionally, I risk alienation of others who interpret my lack of interaction as apathy to them and their own problems. Today, I break down my self-erected boundaries to understand that, with others, there can be sharing without dumping and there can be something I might be able to offer them in their own recoveries. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

STICKING TO IT

I shot an arrow into the air. It fell to earth, I knew not where.

~ Longfellow~

When we’re working hard on something, and we’re not sure how it’s going to turn out, we sometimes feel hopeless. But we never let that hopeless feeling make us unsure of our goals. As long as we keep trying to help ourselves or others, we can’t fail.

Friends always tell us to look past our goals because we can’t tell when or where our message will find its mark. We tell ourselves every day that there is no shame in falling down. The shame comes when we fall and don’t get up again to make another try.

Our strength doesn’t come from winning easily. Our strength comes from winning over hopelessness. If we quit today, tomorrow will be impossible.

May I be strong and stick to my efforts at personal and spiritual progress.

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

Solitude is the furnace of transformation.

~ Henri Nouwen ~

This path is an alternative to the lifestyles portrayed by Hollywood and the popular media. It is about finding happiness on a deeper level than immediate gratification. It is about a bigger, fuller kind of happiness than we can find in a new car or an erotic one-night stand. No hit TV program shows the way. No commercial touts the joy that can be found in peace of mind.

Solitude is quiet. It is not loneliness and it is not neediness. Solitude is the way we meet ourselves; it is the place where we first get honest and finally accept the truths we have been avoiding. It is the place where we are alone with God. Many of us don’t know how to be alone. We have never actually accepted our own companionship or taken on the role of self-care. We can start by taking a few minutes of quiet, in a room or on a park bench. In that quiet moment we might simply make a fist of what we are grateful for, or speak to God about what we want help with. In solitude we learn to reach down into our inner well of knowing, where we find guidance.

Today I will seek the solitude that transforms my life.

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

If there were no others to share ourselves with, life would be meaningless.

~ Carlotta Posz ~

We often hear at meetings and from sponsors the saying “There are no accidents.” But what does it mean? That wars are necessary? That a suffering parent is God’s will? That our disease is our destiny? We can worry ourselves sick over the answers, or we can accept these mysteries and try instead to appreciate the lessons they offer us. It’s the lessons that aren’t accidental.

We are here for a purpose. We may not yet understand what our contribution was yesterday or will be today, but we can come to believe that the people we’re living among are necessary to the contribution that is ours to make.

We grow and change through our acceptance of the unexplainable in our lives. The more willing we are to let God be in charge, the more meaning we’ll see in the small details of our lives. Finally, we’ll come to understand the depth of meaning in those four simple words “There are no accidents.”

I can trust that God is part of every detail of my life today. I can either be peaceful about what happens or hr resistant and miss my opportunity to contribute.

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

I am looking forward to the future

The most important thing in my life today is staying abstinent and stable. But being in recovery from a dual disorder does not define me for all time. My illnesses are only part of me.

Before I got sick, I was dating and working to advance my career. Now I feel strong enough to get back on track. The track may take a different route – my goals in life have changed some with my illnesses – but I still feel I have a lot to contribute o the world – perhaps more now than before.

I will ask my sponsor or therapist to help me as I make a plan for my future.

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

I never realized something so good could knock me for a loop.

~ Frederick G. ~

We expect to be upset by bad news, or at least to be blown off course for a while. But good things take a toll on us too, especially if they mean big changes. We’re creatures of habit, and change is hard, even a change to something better. We don’t prepare for good things the way we do for bad ones and may not have any support to help us cope. So we sometimes flounder, not sure what to do next. We can take a long time regaining our balance.

Change doesn’t have to upset us anymore; we can prepare ourselves. When seeking a promotion or a better job, we can think through how it might affect us. Taking on more responsibility can be scary sometimes. A new relationship, even a new friend, involves more responsibility, too, and more time from us. We need to think about how we’ll handle our feelings and get our needs met.

With each change, the most important constants in our lives will be our recovery and the presence of our Higher Power. With the strength and support of our Twelve Step program, we can face change with serenity.

Today help me accept change and grow from it.

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

Rough weather makes good timber.

~ Appalachian adage ~

When you journey up a mountain path, you see many types of tree growth. In the lower part of the mountain are small saplings just starting their growth as well as towering trees. Higher up, trees are smaller. Some cling precariously to the side of the mountain, growing out of a small patch of earth between cracks in a rock.

Journey up the same path after a spring snowmelt and you may see a different view. In the lower regions, once towering trees have been felled by the power of raging water, and small saplings have been snapped at their base. But up higher, small trees are still firmly in place, stead-fast in their grip between the rocks.

The lesson in this is that the strongest can survive. Like the trees, you are ever-exposed to the storms and difficulties of daily life. Will you be overwhelmed by life’s adversities, easily felled by such things, or will you develop an inner strength and resiliency that will enable you to work through each difficulty? Today recognize that challenges in life are inevitable. Brace yourself for them, hold firm to your position, and never let them dislodge you.

I am a survivor who can withstand the difficulties in life. I do this with strength and with dignity.

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

Sometimes we need to look hard at a person and remember he is doing the best he can. He’s just trying to find his way. That’s all.

~ Ernest Thompson ~

Sometimes we need to look hard at ourselves at the end of a day and give ourselves credit for doing our best. We need to look at our actions and reactions as objectively as possible. Now is the time to review and focus on the positive outcomes, not the negative.

The mere fact we got out of bed, got dressed, and faced the day are sometimes acts of courage and strength. We didn’t run from the day; we faced it, even with feelings of anxiety or sadness or fear. What matters is this – that we tried to do the best we could.

Let’s look back over the day and remember we did the very best we could to find our own way today.

How did I do the best I could today? What good things have I learned about me?

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

Rediscovering love

We know that in each of us, a fountain of love lies buried ready to be discovered. If we practice our newfound principles and con-tinue searching we’ll uncover our treasure, little by little, beneath our resentments, un-healthy style, and shame.

Our Higher Power and the Twelve Step program give us the guidance, strength, and tools necessary to uncover it.

Am I finding love?

Higher Power, help me use the tools you give me so that I may reconnect with my reservoir of love.

I will make myself open to love today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.

~ FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT ~

Newcomer

Initially, I was excited about recovery. I felt better for a while. I hate to say it, but now that I’m not at the beginning any more, everything seems worse. I feel more cynical than ever.

Sponsor

What you’re experiencing is part of the process of recovery. Many of us go through a “honeymoon” phase in early recovery. Our craving may feel miraculously lifted. Change feels easy, and hope replaces despair.

Then, life feels difficult again. We may perceive ourselves as having gotten worse, but that’s not accurate. What’s really happening is that, though our addictive craving has been treated, we still have our old problems, habits, and states of mind. We may be getting through the day, showing up for our work responsibilities, attending meetings, but not having much fun. We may wonder if what we’ve heard is really true—that “our worst day in recovery is better than our best day of active addiction.” We may wonder whether recovery really is the answer, after all.

Our doubt makes clear to us that we have to do something. Staying where we are is too uncomfortable. We can attend a Step meeting and read program literature to begin to familiarize ourselves with our next Step. For spirits in need of healing, Step work leads to the next phase of recovery.

Today, I have the courage to move forward in my journey of recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all things therein contained. There is nothing on earth that God didn’t put here.

True, we have manufactured things by changing sizes, shapes or chemical combinations but all things made by man can be reduced to those elements that God originally put here on earth. All things therefore are God’s and he put them here for our use. He did not intend that we should hoard up surpluses and thus deprive others of their use.

Our responsibility begins in our use of these surpluses. It’s God’s not ours, remember? And some of God’s loved ones are in want.

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

1) HEART: Healing, Enjoying And Recovery Together

2) Act, don’t react.

3) A meeting a day keeps the detox away.

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

Third Step Prayer

God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.

Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will.

Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.

May I do Thy Will always.

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

PEACEMAKERS

Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of god
(Matthew 5:9).

To the casual reader this Beatitude might sound like a mere conventional
religious generalization, even a sententious platitude. Here we receive an
invaluable practical lesson in the art of prayer—and prayer is our only means
of returning to communion with God. As a matter of fact, prayer is the only
real action in the full sense of the word, because prayer is the only thing that
changes one’s character. when such a change takes place, you become a different
person and, therefore, for the rest of your life you act in a different way. If
you should get a very strong realization of the Presence of God with you, it
would make a very great and dramatic change in your character, so that, in the
twinkling of an eye, your outlook, your habits, your whole life would completely
change. Many such cases are on record, including cases of what used to be
called “conversion.” Because the change is radical, Jesus refers to it as being
“born again.”

The great essential for success in obtaining that sense of the Presence of God
is that we first attain some degree of true peace of mind.

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

Worth It

If you had but the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Be thou moved,” and so it would be.

~ Jesus Christ ~

While I was writing my first book on a borrowed electric type-writer, I saw a similar one at a yard sale for $50. I questioned if the project was really worth it, and I passed. But the thought of the typewriter nagged at me until I decided to return to the (regular) yard sale a month later. The typewriter was still there (a sign!), and I purchased it.

The book became a bestseller, and along with my subsequent writing has created millions of dollars in sales. As I look back now on my hesitancy to purchase the typewriter, I laugh at how small I was thinking—a $50 investment eventually returned itself a hundred thousand times over!

Now I realize that it was not the worth of the typewriter I questioned, but my own worth. If I had known that such seeds of service and success lay within me and my writing, I would have gone out and bought the best typewriter on the market.

Every decision you make reflects what you believe about yourself. If you know your worth, you will act in ways that reflect your gifts.

Help me honor who I am and what I am here to do.

God inspires me to do great things. I joyfully act on the guidance I receive.