More Recovery Thoughts and Quotes - September

[yukonm]

September 1

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only THOUGHT they had lost their egoism and fear; they only THOUGHT they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else ALL their life story. - Pg. 73 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

At this time many people will get on our nerves. This is normal during early recovery. How we see others is often a mirror of our feelings--thus we are not so much upset by the actions of others as we are upset with ourselves.

Help me see that my feelings are often displaced and projected into anothers behavior when it may really come from within me.

Prayer

I will pray today. I will not try to do anything without God 's help whether it's finding something in a cupboard, figuring out what to have for breakfast or curing my life. I will allow God into each and every intimate detail in my life trusting that God's love is all pervasive, all knowing and cannot be used up. I understand that God's reach extends as I allow it to imbue my life with a sense of being alive and in constant, constant contact. It is not about being deserving, God and I are meant to be one in the same. It is not about being good enough, God is with me always, It is I who stray from God, not God who strays from me. Today I will allow God's presence to fill me and guide and hold my life. There is no such thing as poverty or lack when I live in God's eternal love and presence.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Recovery is not an event; it is a process. The disease of addiction affects all three aspects of our physical, mental, and spiritual selves by changing our behavior (to self-destruction), thinking (to self-serving), and allegiance (to no purpose). It was a slow debilitating process. Recovery is the same slow process in reverse.

I am in the process of changing my behavior to self-construction, my thoughts to service, and my allegiance from 'no purpose' to a higher purpose.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

We don't care why you're here, it's why you stay.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

All my needs are being met easily and effortlessly today.
I simply turn them over to my Higher Power and do the footwork.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

This too shall pass...Like a gallstone. - Anon.

[yukonm]

September 2

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only THOUGHT they had lost their egoism and fear; they only THOUGHT they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else ALL their life story. - Pg. 73 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

At this time many people will get on our nerves. This is normal during early recovery. How we see others is often a mirror of our feelings--thus we are not so much upset by the actions of others as we are upset with ourselves.

Help me see that my feelings are often displaced and projected into anothers behavior when it may really come from within me.

Prayer

I will pray today. I will not try to do anything without God 's help whether it's finding something in a cupboard, figuring out what to have for breakfast or curing my life. I will allow God into each and every intimate detail in my life trusting that God's love is all pervasive, all knowing and cannot be used up. I understand that God's reach extends as I allow it to imbue my life with a sense of being alive and in constant, constant contact. It is not about being deserving, God and I are meant to be one in the same. It is not about being good enough, God is with me always, It is I who stray from God, not God who strays from me. Today I will allow God's presence to fill me and guide and hold my life. There is no such thing as poverty or lack when I live in God's eternal love and presence.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Recovery is not an event; it is a process. The disease of addiction affects all three aspects of our physical, mental, and spiritual selves by changing our behavior (to self-destruction), thinking (to self-serving), and allegiance (to no purpose). It was a slow debilitating process. Recovery is the same slow process in reverse.

I am in the process of changing my behavior to self-construction, my thoughts to service, and my allegiance from 'no purpose' to a higher purpose.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

We don't care why you're here, it's why you stay.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

All my needs are being met easily and effortlessly today.
I simply turn them over to my Higher Power and do the footwork.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

This too shall pass...Like a gallstone. - Anon.

[yukonm]

September 3

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt -- and one more failure. - Pg. 151 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The worst form of blindness is emotional blindness. We say 'love is blind' but we must recognize that 'hate is blind', 'fear is blind', and 'anger is blind' as well. Intense emotions obscure our sight and in this first month, our emotions run amuck. We must accept this and use our program, treatment center, counselor, sponsor, and meetings as our 'seeing eye dog.'

My Spiritual Source helps me recognize that my emotions are more intense now then usual. I may not be seeing life as clearly as I will in the future.

Embracing the Void

There is emptiness as well as fullness to life. Today I will embrace them both. I will see the emptiness as a spiritual void that is actually full in a completely different sort of way. A God shaped hole. When I allow myself to embrace my own inner emptiness rather than run from it, a paradox happens. What was unknown becomes known, what was frightening becomes tolerable and what was empty becomes full. The void I feel inside of me is really a spiritual wilderness. When I enter it barren trees flower and bear fruit. It is alive and vibrating. It sooths and sustains me and I feel tingly inside.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Although we must be of service to our fellow drunk and junkie, although we want the hand of recovery to be there when they reach out, although we must give back what was so freely given to us, we cannot do for them what they must do for themselves.

I carry the message, I don't carry the drunk; however, if necessary, I carry the drunk to the message.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Be yourself today. You are perfect for the part.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will experience each moment to the fullest.

I will do all I have to do to let go of everything that is blocking me from being fully alive in this moment. Each moment is unique, within itself and the less I carry with me from the previous moment, the freer I am to experience the joy of the now.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

AA bumper stickers belong on the dashboard, not on the back bumper. - Anon.

[yukonm]

September 4

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did - then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen - Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand! - Pg. 151 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

We mustn't make a decision about staying sober with insufficient data. To collect data on what staying sober is like, we have to stay that way 12 months or more. Therefore, we should not make a final decision about this new life until we have a year of clean time.

May I know that experience and contact with sober people is the only way to collect data on sobriety.

Changing My Mood

I will consciously lift my own mood today. I have much more choice about what I feel that I realize. If I'm feeling stressed out, I will even out my breath and relax. If I'm obsessing about something, I will ask myself how important this thing will be in five years, I will remind myself that stressing only makes things worse. It clouds my judgment and makes everything bigger than it needs to be. If I set my mind toward being in a good mood, I will find a way to get there. My day will feel more pleasant. The events of my day will run more smoothly. I will be more available to myself and the people I encounter. I will change my thoughts today. If I see my thoughts veering toward the negative, I will consciously elevate them. I will gently steer myself in a more positive direction. What am I but the thoughts I think all day? The thoughts that go through my mind influence and define how I experience my life. I don't need to let myself be tossed all over the place by the events of my day. I can act on my day as well as letting my day act on me.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Road rage and recovery rage are closely associated. People, places, and things get in our way and we freak. When the rage begins, quickly ask yourself, 'What would my guardian angel do now?'

My DUI's are no longer under the influence of alcohol. Today, I Drive Under the Influence of Angels.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If there is someone weaker than you, be kind to them. If there is someone stronger than you, be kind to yourself.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I have all the strength that I need today to accept the realities of my life.

I am guided on a path of learning and growth and healing.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If it smells like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... Chances are it's a duck. Unknown origin.

[yukonm]

September 5

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself. - Pg. 50 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

'Let Go and Let Go' is a simple phrase that helps us realize that we are not in charge of the world. Our need to control and manage all things in our life will soon be replaced as we allow our Spiritual Source to operate.

Let this phrase gently lead me to practice Step three each time I hear it in a meeting or see it written on the walls of our meetings.

I Thank You God

I will say 'thank you God' today each time something happens that feels nice. If I enjoy my cup of tea in the morning, I will say 'thank you God.' If I see a quarter on the sidewalk I will pick it up and thank God. If someone smiles at me in a way that feels good, if the sun feels warm on my back, if my car starts, my dinner is there or someone in my life is with me for another day, I will say 'thank you', recognizing that these are all blessings. By the end of the day, I will have thanked God for a lot of things. I will have remembered what makes my life worth living. I will have increased my conscious contact with the source of all good.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'There are no deals being offered here. You cannot trade the courage needed to live every moment for immunity from life's sorrows.' ~Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Invitation.

To gain that worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Things work out best for those who make the best of the way things work out.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am a terrific human being.

I deserve wonderful things to happen to me . . . and they are.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If it smells like a duck, looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck... It's probably an alcoholic. - Unknown origin ( Probably Duck. )

[yukonm]

September 6

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us. - Pg. 55 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Your Divine Source will always answer your prayers. Sometimes the answer is 'no' but we say, 'My Creator didn't give me what I wanted so my Creator doesn't listen to me.''The Divine listens, maybe you don't.

As I learn more about Divine will, help me not to interpret internal conflict as a God who doesn't care.

Home

I will value my home today. I will take time for those I love. I know that my time is the most valuable thing I have to give. Our world runs at a fast pace, we are all on a track to get somewhere but, at the end of the day, where are we all going in such a rush? What am I looking for so hard in the future that makes it worth running right by my present?

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Anger can be a source of personal power for people. When you get angry at God or others, even yourself, you feel the energy and you feel strong, not the helplessness of tears. Anger is a form of emotional denial.

Anger 'may be the dubious luxury of normal men' but it is not for me. (P 66, AA Big Book)

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

A sponsor's prayer: Whether I call them 'Baby' or 'Pigeon' or 'Squirrel' please don't let them become parrots.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am listening to my self-talk with a gentle non-judgemental ear.

It is okay to make mistakes today. I am giving myself positive messages with permission to accept both my victories and defeats.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Being a little bit alcoholic is like being a little bit pregnant. ( And the longer you go, the more it shows. ) - Unknown origin.

[yukonm]

September 7

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. If the alcoholic tries to shield himself he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion than ever. We have tried these methods. These attempts to do the impossible have always failed. - Pg. 101 - Working With Others

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Whether serious and conservative or eager and flighty, newcomers often feel no necessity for embracing recovery. REMEMBER, millions have gone before you. You don't have to embrace the 12 steps but embrace something that works for recovery.

I embrace a program of recovery, not my self will, but a program I trust with clean and people that I can see!

Remembering to Take Care of Myself

Today is a day to be reborn into the life I already have. To see and value it differently. To cherish it knowing that it is mine only for a while. I am God's gift to me. God has lovingly placed my life into my own hands to care for. God means for me to cherish and care for my own life in each and every way. I am responsible for what I do with me and what I do with my life. In caring for me, I am loving God's world. I am showing love and respect for what God has put into my hands until I rest once again in God's arms for all of eternity.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Even though you are a unique human being, you are not so unique that your recovery is any different then thousands before you. If you think we don't understand something about your situation, then your disease is playing tricks on you.

I am unique, just like everyone else.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

When you work with a drunk, the drunk you're working with is you.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am getting all the guidance I need to take care of myself.

I need not keep pushing beyond my limitations. I am learning to listen to my body and my mind, and rest when I get the message.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I want my way. That's 90% of my Fifth Step. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

September 8

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it - this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish. - Pg. 34 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

We can't always choose where or what we are in life, but we can choose how to view it. Adversity can be seen as an opportunity to work our spiritual program of life. And always when one door is closed to us, another one opens.

Give me the courage to face every adversity with the spiritual tools I am given in this program.

Necessary Losses

Over the holidays I sometimes feel melancholy for people who are no longer around. Life is full of gains and losses, they are inevitable but I feel their loss more keenly during these days when family and friends gather. I recall what the holidays felt like when they were here. I will say a quiet prayer of appreciation for all that they have been to me and I will ask for the strength to go on without them in my daily life. And I will recognize that remembering them is honoring their spirit and what they meant to me. No one is ever really lost if I hold them in my heart. When I hold them with love, I feel full rather than empty. I feel blessed by their presence in my heart rather than punished by their absence. Or maybe a little of both, but holding them with appreciation lets the memory of them feel alive and nourishing.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Daily meditation for about 20 minutes is recommended for all in recovery, unless of course, you're very busy-then you should meditate for an hour.

May I be blessed with a slow recovery.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you want to stay sober, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am exactly where I am supposed to be today.

Everything about this day, this place, this moment is perfect.

Everything about me is perfect in this moment.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I always had that long line of destruction right there in my face every time I got sober. So I couldn't stand sobriety. - Allen F.

[yukonm]

September 9

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

'Once an alcoholic, always and alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Do you have a phone list of clean and sober people in the program? If yes, call one person right now and share a clean and sober morning greeting. If not, take this book and begin a sober list in the back. Collect names and numbers at the meeting you go to today.

People say, 'Call me anytime.' Let me know that as long as I am clean and sober, they mean it!

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Do you have a phone list of clean and sober people in the program? If yes, call one person right now and share a clean and sober morning greeting. If not, take this book and begin a sober list in the back. Collect names and numbers at the meeting you go to today.

People say, 'Call me anytime.' Let me know that as long as I am clean and sober, they mean it!

Forgiveness

Today I recognize forgiveness as the quickest road to freedom and serenity. When I forgive my past, I release myself from the grip that it has on my present. I no longer carry that heavy baggage around with me. It is difficult to live in peace today if I am psychically engaged in yesterday's battles. But I cannot forgive and release what I do not first feel and come to terms with. The type of forgiveness that bypasses this stage only pays lip service to letting go. I will do what I need to do today to process fully the issues in my life that remain unresolved so that I can let them go.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Take a breath and hold it. Take another and hold, hold, hold. You can see that you can't live on the inhale alone. The inhale is the breath of the program bringing you life. The exhale is you working with others.

I inhale healing for my soul and exhale hope for others.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Your situation is your situation, not your problem.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

It feels so comforting when I trust my own truth.

It is both powerful and peaceful to know that we are all at choice. Each and every one of us is being led on a path of peace and love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Alcoholics Anonymous is an utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery. - Bill W.

[yukonm]

September 10

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. - Pg. 48 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Another part of learning good hourly habits is to take time for physical exercise. This is part of the balance of our new lives. We need activity for the well-being of the body and for self-discipline. We can walk, swim, jog, take up sports, aerobics, dance, or even yoga--just as long as we are consistent and somehow active.

Give me the self-discipline to maintain some type of physical activity in my clean and sober life-style.

Managing Added Stress

Stress affects my body and my mind. When I am under stress, I tend to do the same thing more intensely, but less efficiently. Stress undermines my state of health and makes me feel stuck in non productive, compulsive routines. I lose my spontaneity. Stress chemicals do everything from lock in the storage of fat cells to making my hair and nails brittle. Stress adds nothing to my day and it takes away a lot. Today when I feel stressed I will use my stress busters. I will take a walk or exercise, use my breathing to calm and quiet my nervous system, listen to music, take a warm bath or sit quietly by myself and meditate. I know what works best for me to get back into a relaxed space. Sometimes it's just collapsing in front of my favorite show. But the key is, I will notice when I am stressed and do something to counter it before it spins out of control. Today, I will take responsibility for my own state of calm.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

In the words of Father Joe Martin, 'You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink. But you sure as hell can make them thirsty!'.

Just living my new, free life is often enough to make others 'thirsty' for recovery. I don't always have to carry the message; I am the message.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Replace 'What ifs' with 'What is'

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Peace is flowing through me everywhere today, pouring all over my mind and my body . . . releasing all my tensions and anxiety . . . emptying me of all my negativity and fear . . . .

I am being filled with peace and love and serenity.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I think God's job is to keep the planets from hitting each other, He's busy enough with that. I don't think He takes a lot of time wondering if I'm going to have a parking space at the meeting. - John L.

[yukonm]

September 11

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

He will presently try the old game again, for he isn't happy about his sobriety. He cannot picture life without alcohol. Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it. Then he will know loneliness such as few do. He will be at the jumping-off place. He will wish for the end. - Pg. 152 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many times we go to meetings to listen to what happens to people who don't go to meetings. When they ask for a topic at today's meeting, suggest 'What Happens to People Who Don't go to Meetings.'

One meeting a day can not possibly take as much time as my former bars, parties, connections, and the energy I put into using and drinking, so help me see that any complaints about the 'frequency' is unfounded.

Meditation

Today I draw strength and nourishment from within. I will meditate. There is a medicine chest inside of me if I tap into it. I have body chemicals that are meant to smooth me out, to nourish me and let me feel good inside. I can get those going through quiet and meditation. I can feel them coursing through my system, elevating my mood. In my own inner quiet, I will look for nothing. I will simply be. I will bear witness to the inner workings of my mind but I will not tell my mind to do or be anything. I will just let it flow and float in and out of consciousness. I will just be.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I cannot feel my way into better behavior, I must behave my way into better feelings.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Give your smile to the next person you meet.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am letting go of all that is holding me back from spiritual progress today.

My path is becoming easier as I open myself up to faith and trust.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Step One is pretty straight forward; I can't drink - and I have trouble not drinking. - Clancy I.

[yukonm]

September 12

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The terms 'spiritual experience' and 'spiritual awakening' are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms. - Pg. 567 - 4th. Edition - Appendices II - Spiritual Experience

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Complete involvement in this new way of life will keep you from falling through the cracks. If you stay in the middle of us, you won't fall off the edge.

As I follow those before me, newcomers will follow behind me and I will always be in the middle of the path of progress.

The Experience of Pleasure

I will build my capacity for experiencing joy and serenity. What good is earning a living if I don't enjoy my life, what good is recovery if I don't become grateful for the life I am saving, namely mine. Today I recognize that it is the simple pleasures that bring me the greatest joy. Waking up and feeling good. Enjoying the weather, a friend, a cup of tea. When I allow myself to live my life rather than chase after what I think my life should be or reject the good that is around me a mysterious thing happens. Life is enough. The space around me just sort of fills up with something, an energy, a sensation of being alive, a presence that fills in what previously felt empty. I look around and know it is enough.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Friends and loved ones don't always behave as we expect them to. But this is a good thing. If friends and loved ones were absolutely predictable, that would mean they are not changing and if they are not changing, they are not growing.

I don't have to change friends if I understand that friends change.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Keep the focus on yourself, but once the picture is taken, move on.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Each step I take today makes me feel better and better.

Today I know that I have all that I need to do exactly what must be done and go exactly where I need to go.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If a newcomer calls at 2 am, I say: 'Your answer's on page 63 of the Big Book.' - I don't know what's on page 63, but this guy will start reading and if his answer's not there, he'll think; 'Well he must have given me the wrong page.' and keep reading until he finds his answer. - Serenity Sam.

[yukonm]

September 13

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort. - Pg. 25-26 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There is the law of this physical earth which always leads to death and decay. It can be no other way in a material world. There is also the law of Spirit which leads to life and grace. Our addiction obeys the law of this earth plane, our recovery obeys the law of the Spirit.

Please, Divine Source, as I understand You, guide me to the law of Spirit and recovery.

Creating My Own Rituals

Rituals ground me in my own day. My morning tea, my walk through the park, dinner with my family. These are the daily rituals that give my life a sense of continuity and solidity. They hold me, they bond me with those I love. Recovery is full of rituals. Meetings, daily reading, sharing with friends and quiet moments of self reflection. Rituals that deepen my sense of life and remind me of what's really important. They are part of what gives my life its symmetry. I need these rituals to help me remember what to value. And they join me with with life, with the feeling of what we're all really made of under the skin. Rituals speak in their own voice and today, I am listening.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'If you understand, things are just as they are; if you do not understand, things are just as they are.'~ Zen Proverb

I don't have to understand how the Steps work, just that they do.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Pick them up, as long as they don't pick up.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm taking all the steps that I can for my recovery.

My Higher Power is giving me all the guidance I need, and I am full of joy and gratitude that I am growing and healing today.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I wouldn't put myself in situations where I can only have two drinks and then can't get anymore. Not because I'm an alcoholic. It's just sort of an intuitive thing with me. - Bob D.

[yukonm]

September 14

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks -- drinks which they see others taking with impunity. - Pg. xxix - 4th. Edition - The Doctor's Opinion

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Letting go of the past and the present is to admit powerlessness. This means that the outcome is not in your hands.

All I can do is the best I can do. I know that the results are in the hands of my Higher Power.

Staying Calm

Peace begins with me. I need to remember that emotions run high during recovery. My joys are higher and my longings are stronger. The world is more intense than it usually is. When I forget this, I start to feel out of step if I'm not where I think I should be, I compare my insides with everybody else's outsides and use that to make myself wrong. I want to push away my inner world and I get a little afraid of what I'm experiencing if it doesn't fit my image what I'm supposed to be feeling. Then I engage in a cover up, only the person I am covering up is me. When I do that, I am only half there. Today I will let myself have my full range of feelings, knowing that they may, at times, be a bit of a roller coaster, but knowing also, that I will land comfortably at the end of the ride.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

They say that you need only one meeting a week but it might be a good idea to go to one every night so you don't miss the one you need!

Seven days without a meeting makes one weak.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The people you hang with are the people you hang with.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am most grateful for the guidance I am receiving in my recovery.

The more I open myself up to admitting I can't do it alone, the more I realize help is always there.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm not the type who came out of blackouts screaming: Cover me I'm going in! I came out at the dry cleaners with the assistant saying; 'Boxed...or wrapped?' With an expression which said that he'd been asking this for some time and hadn't had any response - What do you say? 'Could you repeat that? I just got here myself.' - Charlie C.

[yukonm]

September 15

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. 'How can I best serve Thee - Thy will ( not mine ) be done.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. - Pg. 85 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Our disease is NOT the drug, it is a system malfunction in the person. This malfunction is in the brain (neurochemistry), in the mind (irrationality), and in the spirit (immorality). Only by healing all three do we have any hopes of recovering.

May I understand that I am not fighting the chemicals that made me sick, I am fighting the malfunctions that make me want to use them.

Giving Back

Today I give something to the community of people in which I find myself. I look around me and wonder what I might add to the world, to someone else's day and I do it. I recognize that giving and receiving are one channel, that when I open my heart to give, I simultaneously open it to receive as well.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Egotism is that certain something that enables a man in a rut to think he's in a groove.

I am never in a rut when I can answer this question, 'What Step am I working now?'

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

United We Stand- Divided We Stagger.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm willing to take responsibility for my own life.

I am willing to grow up and let go of my parents. I am filled with the sense of my own power and I choose not to give it away.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

There are not too many people too stupid to get this program but there have been a lot too clever. - Unknown origin.

[yukonm]

September 16

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt -- and one more failure. - Pg. 151 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

'Let Go and Let God' is a simple phrase that helps us realize that we are not in charge of the world. Our need to control and manage all things in our life will soon be replaced as we allow Our Spiritual Source to operate.

Let this phrase gently lead me to practice Step three each time I hear it in a meeting or see it written on the walls of our meetings.

Paying it Forward

Today I will show my gratitude for the many kindnesses I have received by paying it forward, by giving what I have so appreciated getting to another individual. I remember how good it felt to have some one reach out to me in generosity. I will do that for someone today. I will see an opportunity to give and I will give. Whether it's a smile, an encouraging word, an extra moment of my time or some kind of object. I will not hang on to it, I will give it. And when I do give it I will say a quiet thank you to the person who gave to me. I will see the gift going full circle.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

There are no musts in our program, but a lot of 'have-tos'.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Light is shining on my path today as I face in the direction of love and goodness.

One step at a time is leading me exactly where I need to be.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I drank like eight pigs. - Mike.

[yukonm]

September 17

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Live and let live is the rule. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other. - Pg. 118 - To Wives

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Vengeance sometimes seems the only way to get back at those who've hurt us. But we've found the best vengeance is living well, practicing our principles, and letting our Higher Power take care of the offenders.

May I recognize and internalize that vengeance is an attribute of addiction, not recovery.

Joy

Today I will embrace the experience of joy. The real purpose of life isn't to grab and get, to preen and try to out do the next guy. The real purpose of life is to deepen my ability to experience joy. Joy is the gift. Joy is the accomplishment. Joy is what fills me up. When I am able to feel joy, I don't need to chase around trying to get the world to admire and envy me on the outside because I feel empty on the inside. When I feel joy, I am happy in my own life because I understand that it is the only one that is actually mine to live, the only one through which I can connect with spirit.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Whatever vexes you currently, imagine for a moment what could make it worse. What can make it worse than that? Again. Imagine it, feel it, and come back to now. If you can make it worse, then you can make it better. Remember this: you are not helpless before your feelings.

I am stronger at what I'm doing, than my feelings are at what they're doing.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I continue to find people who are positive, healthy and nurturing.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Turn my stumbling blocks to stepping stones. - Jerry Jeff Walker - 'Getting By'

[yukonm]

September 18

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people - was not a basic solution of these bedevilment's more important than whether we should see newsreels of lunar flight? Of course it was. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Many times we go to meetings to listen to what happens to people who don't go to meetings. When they ask for a topic at today's meeting, suggest 'What Happens to People Who Don't go to Meetings.'

One meeting a day can not possibly take as much time as my former bars, parties, connections, and the energy I put into using and drinking. Help me see that any complaints about the 'frequency' is unfounded.

Love What You Have

Today I will love what I have rather than always wanting something to be different before I allow myself to be happy. There is so much in my life right now. When I sit still and allow the life I already have to surround me, there is a feeling of fullness that begins to expand inside of me. When I spend all my time chasing what I think I need in order to be happy, I am never still enough to actually experience this feeling of contentment. Contentment is available to me all the time if I am willing to slow down and allow it to come into me. My happiness has more to do with loving what I already have than regretting or chasing after what I don't have.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Whether you pray, petition, plead, protest, prod, or praise your Spiritual Source, whether you sing songs of gratitude or whisper words of doubt, this is prayer.

Got prayer?

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

We take the steps, but it's funny where the steps take us.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

If something isn't working for me today, I am willing to let go of the struggle.

I trust that God has something better in store for me.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Ninety per cent of what I do on first contact with a new drunk is to spoon feed him Traditions. 'Cos if you get a guy in your car and you're on your way to a meeting and you say: 'Look, you're going to have to take a searching and fearless moral inventory.' you'd better not hit a red light, 'cos they're gone. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

September 19

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear. Whenever men are gathered together in business there will be rivalries and, arising out of these, a certain amount of office politics. Sometimes we alcoholics have an idea that people are trying to pull us down. Often this is not so at all. But sometimes our drinking will be used politically. - Pg. 145 - To Employers

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Learning to be tolerant of others, a difficult task at best, does not mean that we have to agree with them! Tolerance disagrees agreeably, we think. If someone disagrees with us right now, we can agree to disagree.

Right now I ask for the serenity to agree to disagree because my discomfort for prolonged times could lead me to pick up that first fix, pill, or drink!

Actualizing the Gifts that are In Me

I will actualize that gifts that are in me today. I will be less preoccupied with who I'm not and more occupied with who I am. When I spend all of my time looking outside of me or wanting what others have, I forget that I have my own special gifts. God has placed gifts within me that I am meant to develop and share. My responsibility is to come to know what my gifts are, then to cultivate and strengthen them as I share them with the world.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

One of your greatest resources can be your pets. Animals are wonderful companions and better listeners. They give undivided and devoted attention--long past the time when others have exited. They do not judge and they love unconditionally.

I work toward becoming the person my dog thinks I am.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

It says: 'here are the steps we took,' not suggested, not understand.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I grow and learn from everything that happens.

Today I am keeping my eyes open and many head clear so that I don't have to make the same mistake twice.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Carry the message not the mess. - Anon.

[yukonm]

September 20

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We suggest you draw the book to the attention of the doctor who is to attend your patient during treatment. If the book is read the moment the patient is able, while acutely depressed, realization of his condition may come to him.
We hope the doctor will tell the patient the truth about his condition, whatever that happens to be. When the man is presented with this volume it is best that no one tell him he must abide by its suggestions. The man must decide for himself. - Pg. 144 - To Employers

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The professionals in our new life may appraise our situation better than us. They are not romantically linked to our love affair with drugs. Therefore, their evaluation may be more nearly correct.

May I have the ability to listen to those trying to help me; they honestly may be more objective than myself.

Loving Myself through Action

I want to do something special for myself today. Giving to others and withholding from myself doesn't work. I tend to treat other people the way that I treat myself. If I am stingy with me, I will, somewhere along the line, act that out with other people. If I am hard on myself, I will tend to be hard on others. I am the only person who is with me all hours of the day and I know what feels good and warm to me. I know what makes me feel sustained from within. Today, I will encourage, support and congratulate myself. Each time I do something that pleases me I'll say 'thank you' to myself. Each time I do something well, I'll tell myself 'good job.'

I will be my own best cheerleader.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

When you are having a bad day, lower your expectations and start over!

The more I work on me - the better most people behave.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Today do something for someone you love: Leave them alone.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am very grateful for this day.

I am grateful for all the love and inspiration that I receive from my Higher Power wherever I ask.

I just stop and tune in to this universal energy and am transformed to the level of my willingness.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We have an approach called the Dumb Guy Approach to sobriety. We follow the directions that are in the AA Big Book. We don't make up any directions, there are already directions in here. If the book says we should read, we read. If it says to pray, we pray. If it says write, we write. Simple as that; 'Duh dum, ah what the hell, I can do that.' - Milt L.

[yukonm]

September 21

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If he is sincerely interested and wants to see you again, ask him to read this book in the interval. After doing that, he must decide for himself whether he wants to go on. He should not be pushed or prodded by you, his wife, or his friends. If he is to find God, the desire must come from within.
If he thinks he can do the job in some other way, or prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his own conscience. We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us. But point out that we alcoholics have much in common and that you would like, in any case, to be friendly. Let it go at that. - Pg. 95 - Working With Others

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

If you were the helper and not the helpee, how would you like the person you were working with to behave? Are you acting in a manner consistent with what you believe is right?

Help me act in the same manner I would have others act with me under the same circumstances.

Silver Linings

I search for silver linings, for the deeper meaning of the events in my life. Life is my teacher if I can learn to read the subtle messages that are laced into the circumstances that I co-create around me. I will look for the lesson. When life offers up its inevitable challenges, I will try to understand what I am meant to see that I am not seeing, what I am meant to hear that I am not hearing, what I am meant to know that I am not knowing. There is always a silver lining if I look for it. Even if I don't see it readily, I trust that it is there and that it will reveal itself to me over time. Life isn't simple. One of the ways that I can grow from life's adversities, is to see what is positive about a difficult situation, to look for the silver lining. I can grow in joy and in pain. It doesn't need to be one or the other because pain can transform into joy. It can be the fire that clears the field for new and tender growth.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Do you like being lied to? Didn't think so. Yet how many times have you said, 'I'm fine' or 'Everything's OK' when it's not? When your friends ask how you are, they deserve not to be lied to. When you lie to others, you lie to yourself.

I am authentic with others and thus myself.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

If you want to know God's will, spend time with Him.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am taking whatever comes in my stride.

Today I know I can handle any change, any surprise, anything as long as I remember that my Higher Power is with me and I am never alone.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'd wake up in the morning and my mind would be waiting like a vulture on the bed head: 'Good, I've been waiting for you.' - And it never told me anything positive. - Bob E.

[yukonm]

September 22

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: 'Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The slogans we are learning are like combinations to unlock something of value and make it accessible to our mind. Even if we don't like the slogans hanging on the walls and repeated at meetings, we at least consider the possibility of opening our mind to it's intent.

What situation, God, can I find this hour where a slogan will lead me to the solution?

I Will Be Me

I will be me, today. One thing I never seem to do well at, is trying to be someone else. I can imitate and learn from others, but I cannot be them. Only they know how to do that, it's a natural outgrowth of all that they have experienced in life, of all they are. That's the bad news. The good news is no one can be me as well as me. Being me builds on who I already am. It's exercise for my personality and my spirit. If I allow myself to actualize my own unique gifts and visions they will have originality to them, a freshness.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'When adversity strikes, my message is always, Even this will pass...and better days than we have ever experienced will come.' ~Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

I can't run from God, so I let God run me.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

God speaks through people, don't worry about which ones.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will find someone who needs my love.

Today I will share my strength, hope and experience so that someone else can be reborn.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

'Analysis' has 'anal' in there. That tells me something. - Trip S.

[yukonm]

September 23

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks - drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is little hope of his recovery. - Pg. xxviii-xxix - 4th. Edition - The Doctor's Opinion

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Even though you are a unique human being, you are not so unique that your recovery is any different then thousands before you. If you think we don't understand, then your disease is playing tricks on you because it doesn't want you getting well with us.

I name three reasons why I am just like every other chemical dependent seeking recovery.

Endless Opportunities

I can start over each day. I can start over each hour of each day. The universe is impersonal in that sense. It's always waiting for me to tell it what I want. Like attracts like. I tell the world what I want more of, by what I am thinking and feeling right now, right this minute. Today, every hour on the hour, I will allow myself to see something positive about my day. I'll let myself send out an order by my pleasant thoughts and feelings for more of the same. When I catch myself heading down a negative path I'll stop and consciously observe what is going through my mind. Life is full of chances and so is my day. I can start it over any time I want to.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Courage is more complex than spontaneous reactions to traumatic events. It may take courage to rush into a burning building or jump in a river to save a life, but they are almost instinctual. Sharing your deep feelings might be an act of courage far beyond gallant feats.

My courage is my fear in action.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Your sponsor helped you up. Don't let them down.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I am really listening to the messages that I tell myself.

Today I want to feel good.

Today I'm changing on my negative messages for positive ones.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I got side-tracked; it wasn't that I was born needing six drinks, just Twelve Steps. - Trip S.

[yukonm]

September 24

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. - Pg. 52 - We Agnostics

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There is a fundamental unity that underlies the fellowship of our programs. It is this unity that can comfort us and help us hold on when we want a fix, pill, drink, smoke, or snort more than we want this new unfamiliar life.

God, as I understand You, show me how to take comfort from the unity of fellowship when drugs call me back.

Hope

Hope is on my horizon. I feel it in my bones, I sense it in my being, I know it to be part of who I am. I will never give up hope. Hope for a better world, a better life, a better me. Hope is that feeling that led explores to cross dangerous oceans in search of a new world. Hope is what keeps people who are imprisoned from giving up. Hope is what allows those who have all they hold dear taken from them to begin again. Hope is natural. It is a gift that I will allow myself to have.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Refuse to attack yourself.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I choose to do things for me that make me feel good about myself.

Today is a perfect day to do something that I have been putting off.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases. - Hippocrates.

[yukonm]

September 25

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. - Pg. 47 - We Agnostics

Being More of Me

Today, I realize that if I am to stand centered and strong within my life and self, I will need to plant a garden within my own soul. A garden for me to nurture and to nurture me. A haven of beauty. I will find my own voice and sing my song because if I don't sing it, it will not be sung. It is all I have and it is enough. I do not need to prove anything to anyone anymore. I have come home -- to me. The truth is, I was here all along, only I forgot to look for myself. Instead, I searched for me in other people's meaning and became lost in their stories. I am not lost today. I know that there is nowhere to look for me but within myself, and no one to lead me there but me.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Sponsors carry the message, not the sponsee.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I choose to build a pathway to freedom from the bondage of self.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I was worried about stuff I couldn't remember for my 4th Step. My sponsor said: 'Let's just do the fridge, we'll get to the freezer later. - Tony.

[yukonm]

September 26

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem. - Pg. 35 - More About Alcoholism

One Life

I have one life I can do something about and that life is mine. I have one mind through which to think the next right thought, one heart through which to experience the next feeling and one body through which to take the next right action. I cannot control another person. That is part of my disease, wanting to fix. I have spent too many years feeling overwhelmed by other people's problems, hurt by other people's actions and baffled by disease related behaviors. When I try to control others I will ask myself if I am feeling overwhelmed by their lives being out of order and need to take a step back. If I really want to distance them and I feel guilty about that feeling so I run in to fix instead and I need to take a step back.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Where do you find recovery? Twelve steps past any lengths.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm living according to my truth, knowing that freedom and happiness are the result.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I know my capacity for drink but I keep getting drunk before I reach it. - Oliver R.

[yukonm]

September 27

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master. - Pg.8 - Bill's Story

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There is a fundamental unity that underlies the fellowship of our programs. It is this unity that can comfort us and help us hold on when we want a fix, pill, drink, smoke, or snort more than we want this new unfamiliar life.

God, as I understand You, show me how to take comfort from the unity of fellowship when drugs call me back.

Help is Not Always Help

I watched those I love sink further and further into a disease and it was extremely painful to witness. I watched those I love steep in denial, coming up with a new set of rationalizations for each manifestation of the disease and I felt deep frustration and sometimes despair at their unwillingness to see the reality that was growing like yeast before their eyes. It hurt to hear them use rationalizations to let themselves off the hook. But those rationalizations, that denial was their disease. It was infuriating to watch them go about their day seemingly free of the kinds of anxieties and worries that I was experiencing because their denial was working so well for them. It was enraging. It left me feeling completely helpless, frustrated and alone. It made me want to scream at everyone. But I fixed instead to make the feeling go away. When I fix to make my own pain go away, it doesn't work. The 'help' I give is too loaded down with my own pain and the messages get muffled.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

The difference between self-love and self-conceit is very important. Self-love is a healthy appreciation of God's gift to you. Conceit is comparing yourself to others and finding them lacking.

I do not climb the mountain so that I can look down on others.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Patience is giving God space.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am learning to trust my intuition and I am willing to act on this inner guidance.

I am taking positive and healthy actions today and my life is getting better and better.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

You go to a meeting and in ten minutes you're telling a complete stranger things you wouldn't tell a priest. - Doug D.

[yukonm]

September 28

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. - Pg. 16 - Bill's Story

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

This hour may be rough. No one promised us a rose garden and if they did they were wrong. Recovery is not a thing like a rose garden; it is a process like the act of gardening. Right now we are tilling the soil; soon you will be planting seeds; later new growth will reach for the sun.

Let me know Higher Power, God as I understand You, that I can't reach for the sun until I've left the muck of addiction.

Distorted Reasoning

This disease distorted the reasoning of all around me. Because we were trying so hard to hide the pain of watching those we love become mired in the disease and losing our grip on our own happiness, we used our thinking to twist and bend the truth into a more palatable shape. We rationalized, denied what was right in front of us, made excuses and sometimes lied because it made us feel better than to admit the truth. The alcoholic lied to hide their uses and abuses, the family members lied to hide their fear, pain and confusion. We chose stinking thinking over the truth, lying to the world and to ourselves. Pretty soon, our thinking became so filled with denial and rationalization that we started to live by it. Eventually our sense of reality became distorted. Today, I am willing to live life on life's terms, not mine. I am able to tolerate the truth because I know that I have a program, I have accepted the things I cannot change and changed the things I can.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

They say the easiest way to stay clean and sober is to breathe in and breathe out and don't drink or drug in between. That leads to abstinence. Working the Steps leads to recovery.

Nothing is so bad that a drink or drug won't make it worse and nothing is so good that working my steps won't make it better.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Rather than giving others a piece of your mind, don't-and have peace of mind.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I love myself and all that I am today.

My fears are just one part of all that I am. I am a human being on a progressive path to recovery and every part of me is important in the making up of who I am.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Denial - Don't Even Notice I Am Lying. - Mickey B.

[yukonm]

September 29

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents - anyone can increase the list. - Pg. 18 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Right now you don't have to pretend to be someone you are not. You don't have to pretend to be strong (if you're a man) or weak (if you're a woman). You don't have to pretend that you don't want to use, if you do--share what is real. We can't help if we don't know the truth.

Grant me the courage to simply be who I am, say what is real in my gut, and respond genuinely to others.

Hypervigilance

Living with this disease has been traumatic for me and for those I love. All of the symptoms of trauma have become a part of who we are. That's why we need to do so much work to recover. We're not just recovering from the disease of addiction, we're recovering from the symptoms of emotional and psychological trauma. My fear apparatus got very much overused in my family. I was constantly geared up for fight or flight. And when I couldn't do either of those I froze in my tracks, I went numb inside, I shut down. But all of that pain that I shut down stayed inside of me. It show up in my life as a delayed reaction, even though I am not still living under the same kind of stress as I did surrounded by active addiction, my body and mind carry the imprint of that trauma and over react. I live as if the stressor is still present. My old pain and anger are surfacing after the fact in a post traumatic stress reaction.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

You spend more time with yourself than with anyone else. Doesn't it make sense to put something into that relationship?

I am my own best friend and value my own companionship.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Few of us realize that God is all we need until God is all we have.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am one of the miracles of this universe and I am connected to everything that was ever created.

I can pick up the phone or sit in quiet meditation, choosing to make a contact with a friend or with my Higher Power or with both.

Today I know that I am never alone.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I'm not one who says that sobriety is a life beyond my wildest dreams - I could have dreamed up something far wilder than this. - Lorna K.

[yukonm]

September 30

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected. - Pg. 24 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Sometimes all we can do is not use, hold on, go to another meeting and tell them, 'I am not using, holding on, and going to another meeting because that's what you told me to do at times like these.' Our answers will come.

Help me take the steps necessary when times get tough, to do what the people in the program tell me to.

Healing Society

Today, I will light one candle and that candle is myself. I will keep my own flame burning. I turn my sight to light and love and goodness. For today, there is no need to be discouraged. So what if I see and identify all the ills of society and diagnose it as sick -- what good will that do me or anyone else? I heal society by healing myself. Just as life is lived one day at a time, the world will heal one person at a time. Each time I think a positive, loving thought, it goes into the ether and vibrates. This is nothing particularly mystical; I have but to sit near someone and look at her face to feel how her thoughts affect me. I take ownership of my own inner workings and their effect on myself and others. Today I am the gift.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People think that 'nobility' is something special. But when you study the word, you come to realize that 'nobles' were simply those who served the King. Nobles were servants. In the Twelve-Step programs, we are all nobility.

The highest office I can attain in our fellowship, is Chief Servant.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Don't worry about finding your feelings; they will find you.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am grateful for the power I have over the future of my life.

I am being guided at all times to use my power with wisdom and with love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

We all came on different ships but we're on the same boat now. - Martin Luther King.