Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - February

[bluidkiti]

February 8

Step by Step

Today, living only for today without reaching into yesterday and bringing its baggage into today and leaving tomorrow to its own time. Sobriety is a reprieve from drinking – but only for today. I have no guarantee that my current 24 Hours of sobriety will carry into tomorrow, if there is one, and I cannot take for granted that what is mine today won’t be thrown away – by me – tomorrow. And while I have no guarantee that my sobriety today will be mine tomorrow, I CAN improve the chances by doing today what the program requires of me – to tend to the business of today and not yesterday or tomorrow, to seek through contact with my Higher Power absolute and unconditional surrender, faith, gratitude and humility, and NOT to do to anyone what I would not want done to me. By strengthening the foundation of my sobriety today, the storms of tomorrow, if any, will be weakened by my sobriety then. But today’s business must be tended to first, and today is my business. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.

~ Will Rogers ~

Doesn’t life sometimes seem like a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces scattered on the floor? Our Program provides us with simple instructions for matching the pieces. We are told if we follow these few instructions, in time we will begin to see the picture develop. But there can be no shortcuts. We can start anywhere, but the picture will only emerge one piece at a time.

Each day for us is like a piece of the jigsaw puzzle. It gives us a glimpse of the picture of our lives. We learn that we must live the while day through to get to the next day. There is no way to get to tomorrow but through today. One day at a time becomes the key to the future.

I will only be able to keep my addictions in check today. I can do anything for one day. This is the only day I have, so let me do the best I can.

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

An ounce of apology is worth a pound of loneliness.

~ Joseph Joubert ~

The healing that comes when we make amends happens in two places. First of all, it mends the split between what we want to be and the mistake we have made. In that way, we take responsibility for our actions and reaffirm our standards for ourselves. It’s a way of respecting ourselves by saying, I believe in the standard that I didn’t keep and I will try harder next time.

The second place that healing may happen is between ourself and the person we have harmed. If it’s an old mistake, with apology long overdue, the relationship may take on renewed meaning after an apology. It opens the possibility for a discussion about the friendship and its importance to each person. In other situations, an apology doesn’t heal the connection and perhaps the other person isn’t willing to accept it. In such a situation, we still take comfort in knowing that we have restored the split within ourselves and we can let go of the past.

Today I will be sincere and quick with my apologies.

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

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other.

~ George Eliot ~

Always seeing our struggles as the fault of others is a good indication that we need an attitude adjustment. There is no better place to get one than in this program of recovery. The women around us and the Steps that guide us can help us discover the joy of cultivating a new attitude.

Trying to determine the grand purpose of our lives can be overwhelming and anxiety-provoking. As alcoholics, we gravitate toward complicating the simple. That’s why one of our slogans is “Keep it simple.” We can apply this to all our relationships. Asking ourselves what we can do to help someone else, at every opportunity, defines our purpose in life quite clearly. Moment by moment, we’ll never doubt what to do next.

My purpose is to help someone else today. If I think someone is causing me a problem, perhaps I should address my attitude.

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

I am building a new source of strength

When I had symptoms of my psychiatric illness, I used street drugs to manage them. Drugs were my higher power. They seemed to do what I thought I couldn’t do. When I used them, I seemed to feel better—briefly. But instead of restoring my mental and emotional health, the drugs led to addiction, and the addiction has made my psychiatric recovery that much harder. Now I must work on two illnesses together.

These days, it’s clear that I won’t find relief in street drugs. Real relief comes from people, caring people who accept and understand my no-fault illnesses. With the help of my friends and fellows in dual recovery, I can remain both stable and abstinent.

I will make a commitment to myself to spend more time with people who have the experience, strength, and hope that can help me recover.

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

Openly accept who you are and the restoration has begun.

~ David M. ~

Our egos may struggle with the very idea of being restored. We hate to admit we lost our sanity in the first place. But when we look at the rubble around us, the picture is pretty clear: the way we were living was definitely insane. Though we weren’t crazy, our lives lacked order, direction, serenity, and spirituality. We kept trying the same things over and over, expecting different results. This is a good definition of insanity.

Our egos and our disease blocked acceptance of our problems, but both lost power and control over our lives when we began to accept who we are.

Just as an antique table is restored to its original beauty, we can be restored to sanity. It will take time and effort. There’ll be some scraping and rubbing. But, we’re worth it. We are valuable creations of our Higher Power, who is willing to work with us and restore us. Our job is to do the next right thing, one step at a time. What a better life, a more beautiful world, one with order, direction, and a relationship with our Higher Power to help us manage it.

Today restore me to sanity. Bring me serenity and a sane way to live.

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

Appearances aside, we need no advice but approval.

~ Coco Chanel ~

Decisions based on people-pleasing take the focus from your wants and needs and place it on the wants and needs of others. You may feel that you are protecting yourself from criticism and disapproval by acting and verbalizing in ways you feel will earn acceptance and approval. But the time you spend focused on pleasing others is less time spent on yourself, and you may become out of touch with who you are and what you want and need.

Your recovery depends upon your ability to understand and act upon what is right for you. This does not mean that you have to be selfish, self-centered, or uncaring about others, nor does it mean that every decision you make has to be based solely upon what you want. It simply means that you need to take care of yourself first so your commitment to your recovery remains strong.

If you are unsure of your wants and needs, simply change the word should to want whenever you need to make a choice. So instead of thinking, I should go to a meeting tonight, you can think, I want to go to a meeting tonight.

Today I will keep my focus on what I want and need to become n stronger person. I will make choices that support my recovery.

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

All miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.

~ Blaise Pascal ~

When we are alone, what’s the first thing we do? Do we turn on the radio, call a friend, invite someone over, make plans to go out, or turn on the television? How easy is it for us to be in silence for a period of time?

Perhaps we grew up in homes filled with confusion and yelling and everyone talking at once. Silence may be uncomfortable for us. Perhaps we prefer to fill our rooms with noise so we don’t feel alone. Whatever method we choose to drown out the sounds of silence, we are also drowning out another sound—the inner self.

How can we possibly think, read, meditate, or write in a journal with noise bombarding us? To learn to sit comfortably alone in silence, we need to try it in small steps. We can start with five minutes, then ten, then fifteen, then a half-hour. By gently easing ourselves into quiet moments, we will allow our inner selves the time and space in which to grow.

I can spend a short time alone in silence, and listen to my inner self.

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

Expressing love

As we recover, we come to realize the presence of a Higher Power in our lives. Eventually we realize how much progress in recovery comes through our Higher Power. We realize that we are loved.

Being loved, we can love others, but we cannot love mankind until we love our God. And we cannot love our God until we love each other. (And we cannot love each other until we love ourselves.)

When we practice loving our fellows (in thought, word, and deed), we feel the presence of our Higher Power and feel that we, too, are loved.

Do I express my love for others?

Higher Power, help me recognize your presence and power in my life. Help me love others as I am loved.

I will show my love for others today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

But let me think away those times of woe;
Now ’tis a fairer season….

~ JOHN KEATS ~

Newcomer

I feel trapped and miserable. I don’t want to pick up my addiction, but, frankly, my life feels bleak without it. I’m not like those goody-goodies who do everything right and spout program. I’ll never be like them. What’s the point of being in recovery, if I feel this bad?

Sponsor

In recovery, I make the decision not to change my mood with an addictive substance or behavior today. And I can make other decisions as well. Recovery is the freedom to make choices. I can choose to remain isolated with feelings of fear, anger, and loneliness, or I can choose to share my feelings with another recovering person. I can arrange to go to a meeting. I can make phone calls—even short ones—to people whose numbers I have asked for. If I only reach answering machines (some days are like that!) I can choose to leave messages asking people to call back. I can let go of results, knowing that I’ve done my part. If I’m feeling stressed, I can light a candle or just sit quietly for a few moments to relax and breathe. I may read a page from some program literature.

We can choose to put yesterday and tomorrow “on the shelf” and just let ourselves be, for this moment.

Today, I make choices that support my recovery. I have the willingness to be happy.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

The difference between your pre-AA existence and your present is in direct ratio to the extent “God’s way of living” has influenced your life.

Those of us who have witnessed the miracles in our own midst and who have felt the surge of power that we acquired when we tapped this unlimited reservoir, know that our “horsepower” is dependent on our God-power.

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

1) Be grateful you have been given two ears and only one mouth.

2) There is no mistake so great as that of being always right.

3) Discover yourself. Everything else has been done.

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

Life Is a Celebration

Lord, help me today to:
Mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a friendly letter.
Share a treasure.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage another.
Manifest my loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise.
Find the time.
Forego a grudge.
Forgive an enemy.
Listen.
Acknowledge any wrongdoing. 
Try to understand.
Examine my demands on others.
Think of someone else first.
Be kind.
Be gentle.
Laugh a little.
Smile more.
Be happy.
Show my gratitude.
Welcome a stranger.
Speak Your love.
Speak it again.
Live it again.
LIFE IS A CELEBRATION!

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

THY WILL BE DONE

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10)

Now we too often choose to use our free will in a negative way; allowing ourselves to think selfishly, and this wrong thinking brings upon us all our troubles. Instead of understanding that it is our essential nature to express God, to be ever about our Father’s business, we try to set up our own account. We abuse our own free will, trying to work apart from God; and the very natural results is all sickness, poverty, sin, troubles, and death that we find on the physical plane. We must never for a moment try to make plans or arrangements without reference to God, or suppose that we can either be happy or successful if we are seeking any other end than to do his will.

Our business is to bring our whole nature as fast as we can into conformity with the will of God. “In his will is our peace,” said Dante, and the Divine Comedy is really a study in fundamental states of consciousness, the Inferno representing the state of the soul that is endeavoring to live without God, the Paradisio representing the state of the soul that has achieved its conscious unity with the divine will. It was the sublime conflict of the soul that wrung from the heart of the great Augustine the cry, “Thou hast made us for Thyself; and our hearts are restless until they find themselves in Thee.”

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

I’ll Be Your Rock

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

The acclaimed motion picture Field of Dreams touched the hearts of millions and was nominated for an Academy Award as best picture of the year. Actor Kevin Costner accepted the lead role in spite of a deluge of criticism from his advisors, who warned him that he could damage his image and career by making a “Care Bear” film. The sponsoring studio also levied immense pressure against Costner and producer Phil Robinson in an effort to add sex and violence to make the movie more marketable. When Robinson was tempted to buckle, Costner urged him, “Don’t give in, Phil—I’ll be your rock.” Encouraged by Costner’s support, Robinson held his ground, and the film went on to be a huge success without exploitative elements.

Is anyone your “rock”? Have you acknowledged this person? Are you a rock for another? What can you do to support someone who is being challenged to hold to their vision?

The support of a friend during a time of adversity can make the difference between success and failure, despair and triumph. Encouragement and confidence are priceless spiritual gifts that can change an entire life.

Give me the strength to be a rock to my friends. Help me sustain the spirit of my loved ones and to be open to receive their support.

Founded in Spirit, I can do all things in the name of love.