[bluidkiti]

April 22

Daily Reflections

NEW SOIL . . . NEW ROOTS

Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of
spiritual serenity, as I have excellent reason to know.
Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush,
will hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which
would destroy us, or which we would use to destroy ourselves.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 173

I came to A.A. green--a seedling quivering with exposed
taproots. It was for survival but it was a beginning. I
stretched, developed, twisted, but with the help of others,
my spirit eventually burst up from the roots. I was free.
I acted, withered, went inside, prayed, acted again,
understood anew, as one moment of perception struck. Up
from my roots, spirit-arms lengthened into strong, green
shoots: high-springing servants stepping skyward.
Here on earth God unconditionally continues the legacy of
higher love. My A.A. life put me "on a different footing
. . . [my] roots grasped a new soil."
(Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 12).

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

People believe in A.A. when they see it work. An actual
demonstration is what convinces them. What they read in
books, what they hear people say doesn't always convince
them. But when they see a real honest-to-goodness change
take place in a person, a change from a drunkard to a sober,
useful citizen, that's something they can believe because
they can see it. There's really only one thing that proves
to me that A.A. works. Have I seen the change in people who
come into A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

Divine control and unquestioning obedience to God are the
only conditions necessary for a spiritual life. Divine
control means absolute faith and trust in God, a belief
that God is the Divine Principle in the universe and that
He is the intelligence and the Love that controls the
universe. Unquestioning obedience to God means living each
day the way you believe God wants you to live, constantly
seeking the guidance of God in every situation and being
willing to do the right thing at all times.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may always be under Divine Control and always
practice unquestioning obedience to God. I pray that I may
be always ready to serve Him.

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As Bill Sees It

To Be Fair-Minded, p. 113

Too often, I think, we have deprecated and even derided projects of our
friends in the field of alcoholism just because we do not always see eye
to eye with them.

We should very seriously ask ourselves how many alcoholics have gone
on drinking simply because we have failed to cooperate in good spirit
with these many agencies--whether they be good, bad, or indifferent.
No alcoholics should go mad or die merely because he did not come
straight to A.A. at the beginning.

<< << << >> >> >>

Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint. This
carries a top-priority rating. When we speak or act hastily or rashly,
the ability to be fair-minded and tolerant evaporates on the spot.

1. Grapevine, July 1963
2. 12 & 12, p. 91

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Walk in Dry Places

Faking it, and then making it.
Finding the Spirit of the Thing.
We're sometimes advised to "fake it until you make it." But how can anything false really lead us to recovery? Aren't we told that this is an honest program?
We're not being dishonest by pushing ourselves to become actively involved in AA. The self-help movements have told us for years that we have to form an image of what we want to be in order to reach our goals. We are forming an image that corresponds to the sober people we want to be. We are actually rehearsing sober living and working to accept a picture of sobriety in our heart of hearts.
There's also much to be said for "faking it" enough to attend meetings and try to benefit from association with people….. even those we don't like. This puts us in line for the change we really need.
A lot of members say that they "white-knuckled it" during the first months or years of sobriety. If this worked to bring recovery, it had to be the right approach.
Even if there is rebellion within, today I'll talk and act like the sober person I want to be.

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Keep It Simple

One meets his destiny often on the road one takes to avoid it.---French proverb
None of us, perhaps, ever thought we'd end up in recovery. But we were working at joining recovery years before we got here! Maybe recovery was our fate from the day we first took a drink or a pill. Others around us could see the writing on the wall, but we couldn't. We were to busy trying to avoid the pain. Alcoholism and other drug abuse have to do with us trying to find spiritual wholeness--- the kind of spiritual wholeness we're finding now. . .in recovery. So, let's welcome recovery into our lives. We have found our spiritual home.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I got lost because I acted like I knew the way to a good life. You lead the way. Thank-you for putting me on the right track.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll think about why it's my fate to be in recovery. I will list ways that I try to avoid my fate.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Our own rough edges become smooth as we help a friend smooth her edges. --Sue Atchley Ebaugh
Focusing on a good point in every person we encounter today will benefit us in untold ways. It will smooth our relations with that person, inviting her to respond kindly also. It will increase our awareness of the goodness all around us. It will help us realize that if everyone around us has positive traits, then we must also have them. But perhaps the greatest benefit of focusing on good points is that it enhances us as women; a healthy, positive attitude must be cultivated. Many of us had little experience with feeling positive before the turning point, recovery.
Recovery is offering us a new lease on life every moment. We are learning new behaviors, and we are learning that with the help of a higher power and one another, all things that are right for us are possible. It is energizing, focusing on the good points of others, knowing that their good points don't detract from our own.
In the past, we may have secretly hated other women's strengths because we felt inferior. We are free from that hate now, if we choose to be. A strength we can each nurture is gratitude for being helped by, and privy to, the strengths of our friends and acquaintances.
Bad points get worse with attention. My good points will gain strength.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS

What usually happens? The show doesn’t come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right. He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play does not suit him. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame. He becomes angry, indignant, self-pitying. What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? And do not his actions make each of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show? Is he not, even in his best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?

p. 61

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

The Keys Of The Kingdom

This worldly lady helped to develop A.A. in Chicago and thus passed her keys to many.

Then he told me there was a handful of people in Akron and New York who had worked out a technique for arresting their alcoholism. He asked me to read the book Alcoholics Anonymous, and then he wanted me talk with a man who was experiencing success with his own arrestment. This man could tell me more. I stayed up all night reading that book. For me it was a wonderful experience. It explained so much I had not understood about myself, and best of all, it promised recovery if I would do a few simple things and be willing to have the desire to drink removed. Here was hope. Maybe I could find my way out of this agonizing existence. Perhaps I could find freedom and peace, and be able to once again to call my soul my own.

pp. 272-273

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Foreword

Everywhere there arose threatening questions of membership, money, personal relations, public relations, management of groups, clubs, and scores of other perplexities. It was out of this vast welter of explosive experience that A.A.'s Twelve Traditions took form and were first published in 1946 and later confirmed at A.A.'s First International Convention, held at Cleveland in 1950. The Tradition section of this volume portrays in some detail the experience which finally produced the Twelve Traditions and so gave A.A. its present form, substance, and unity.

p. 18

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"Spiritual growth results from absorbing and digesting truth and
putting it to practice in daily life."
--White Eagle

There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and
lifting people up.
--John Andrew Holmes

"Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only
you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other
people spend it for you."
--Carl Sandburg

>From that place of stillness, the right action will emerge and you will
find your next step. From that place of stillness, you can move into the
present moment. There you will find your power, and there you will
find God.
--Melody Beattie

You don't have to wait for Christmas to give gifts of love and joy.
Give that love to others and yourself. Give it often. Give it freely.
Give it all year round.
--Melody Beattie

When we listen, God speaks and guides.
--Paul K. McAfee

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

MUSIC

"I have my own particular
sorrows, loves, delights; and
you have yours. But sorrow,
gladness, yearning, hope, love
belong to all of us, in all times
and in all places. Music is the
only means whereby we feel
these emotions in their
universality."
--H. A. Overstreet

A language for the world is music. It unites all peoples, cultures,
religions and backgrounds; it points man beyond himself, while at the
same time breathing through him God's glory. Music makes man
wonder, enables him to dream, allows him to rest in the miracle of
creativity.

Drugs stopped me from appreciating the gift of music. They twisted
and corrupted sounds and made them destructive and coarse. Drugs
took from me so much and left me with a feeling of utter emptiness.

In my recovery I can hear again. My spiritual program incorporates
music, different types of music, the inexhaustible joys of melody. I can
feel in it, through it, with it - another miracle.

Thank You for the gift of music that enables me to grow in my
understanding of self and my need of others.

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"But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing."
Matthew 6:3

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man
observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes
away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was."
James 1:22-24

"I know, O Lord, that your judgments are right.... Let your steadfast
love become my comfort.... For your law is my delight."
Psalm 119:75-77

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Daily Inspiration

When you feel the need to tell someone how bad your day has been, tell them how good it's been instead. Lord, help me to highlight the parts of my day that will bring me to a peaceful and joyful place.

There is always a reason why people act as they do. Lord, help me to be more patient and understanding.

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NA Just For Today

Traveling The Open Road

"This is our road to spiritual growth."
Basic Text, p. 35

When we arrived at our first NA meeting, it looked like the end of the road to many of us. We weren't going to be able to use anymore. We were spiritually bankrupt. Most of us were totally isolated and didn't think we had much to live for. Little did we realize that, as we began our program of recovery, we were stepping onto a road of unlimited possibilities.

At first, just not using was tough enough. Yet, as we watched other addicts working the steps and applying those principles in their lives, we began to see that recovery was more than just not using. The lives of our NA friends had changed. They had a relationship with the God of their understanding. They were responsible members of the fellowship and of society. They had a reason to live. We began to believe these things were possible for us, too.

As we continue our recovery journey, we can get sidetracked by complacency, intolerance, or dishonesty. When we do, we need to recognize the signs quickly and get back on our path — the open road to freedom and growth.

Just for today: I am continuing to develop my spiritual, social, and general living skills by applying the principles of my program. I can travel as far as I wish on the open road of recovery.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I meant to do my work today But a brown bird sang in an apple tree, And a butterfly flitted across the field And all the leaves were calling me. --Richard LeGallienne
The harried hen scurried about her house, trying to put it in order. Some friends she hadn't seen for years were due to arrive later that day, and she wanted everything perfect for them. In a flurry, she made the bed, put away the dishes, and scrubbed the floor. Oh dear, she thought in dismay, I meant to wash the sheets today.
Frantically, she flew back to the bedroom and tore the sheets from the made bed.
Just then, a neighbor arrived and stood at hen's door, watching her anxiously rush about. "Dear hen," he said in a patient loving tone, for he was quite fond of her, "You will never enjoy your visit if you continue to race about. Come. Sit and rest and tell me of these friends. Have you any snapshots?" The hen did as her neighbor had suggested, and soon her friends arrived to find her relaxed, refreshed, and warm with the memories of them.
What is my real work for the day?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The first springs of great events, like those of great rivers, are often mean and little. --Jonathan Swift
Our lives are like streams which flow through time. Looking at the flow of our whole lives, we see the interconnections of many days that seemed minor. Each day contributes to the stream of goals and faith and relationships. As we look at the flow of a whole river, we see at its beginning a little trickle of water here, joining another trickle there, slowly gathering together a stream that develops force and direction.
We may look for intensity in our lives and ignore the quiet. Much of our lives may have been lived on a roller coaster of major crises. As terrible as it seemed, it was not dull. Today may seem rather boring. But in recovery we learn to appreciate the more subtle trickle that a good day can be. Simply continuing with the flow - of our program, of faithfulness to our values, of being emotionally present in our relationships - adds up to a rich life.
May I see the continuity of my life in the simple moments of this day.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Our own rough edges become smooth as we help a friend smooth her edges. --Sue Atchley Ebaugh
Focusing on a good point in every person we encounter today will benefit us in untold ways. It will smooth our relations with that person, inviting her to respond kindly also. It will increase our awareness of the goodness all around us. It will help us realize that if everyone around us has positive traits, then we must also have them. But perhaps the greatest benefit of focusing on good points is that it enhances us as women; a healthy, positive attitude must be cultivated. Many of us had little experience with feeling positive before the turning point, recovery.
Recovery is offering us a new lease on life every moment. We are learning new behaviors, and we are learning that with the help of a higher power and one another, all things that are right for us are possible. It is energizing, focusing on the good points of others, knowing that their good points don't detract from our own.
In the past, we may have secretly hated other women's strengths because we felt inferior. We are free from that hate now, if we choose to be. A strength we can each nurture is gratitude for being helped by, and privy to, the strengths of our friends and acquaintances.
Bad points get worse with attention. My good points will gain strength.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Coping With Stress
Inevitably, there are times of stress in our lives, no matter how long we've been in recovery.
Sometimes, the stress is outside or around us. We're feeling balanced, but our circumstances are stressful. Sometimes, the stress is within; we feel out of balance.
When the stress is external and internal, we experience our most difficult times.
During stressful times, we can rely more heavily on our support systems. Our friends and groups can help us feel more balanced and peaceful in spite of our stressful conditions.
Affirming that the events taking place are a temporarily uncomfortable part of a good, solid plan can help. We can assure ourselves that we will get through. We won't be destroyed. We won't crumple or go under.
It helps to go back to the basics to focus on detachment, dealing with feelings, and taking life one day at a time.
Our most important focus during times of stress is taking care of ourselves. We are better able to cope with the most irregular circumstances; we are better able to be there for others, if we're caring for ourselves. We can ask ourselves regularly: What do we need to do to take care of ourselves? What might help us feel better or more comfortable?
Self-care may not come as easily during times of stress. Self-neglect may feel more comfortable. But taking care of us always works.
Today, I will remember that there is no situation that can't be benefited by taking care of myself.


Today I will be aware not to judge myself when I feel less than perfect. I am beginning to love myself just as I am and that feels so nice. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

On the Other Side of Fear Is Joy

Climb over the wall of fear.

Fear can be like a brick wall on our path. We may say we want to move forward– we want to feel better, do something new, live differently, go to the next place on our journey– but if we have unrecognized fears about that, we may feel like we’ve hit a wall. We don’t know we’re afraid; the fear is tucked and hidden away. All we can see is that, for some unknown reason, we can’t seem to move forward in our life. We’re in the dark.

Or we may be conscious of our fear, but be refusing to deal with it. We have talked ourselves out of honestly addressing the fear by telling ourselves to be strong and brave. While there is much to be gained from pressing forward at certain times in our lives, there simply are other times when we cannot do that because our fear holds us back. There are times in life when real power comes from being vulnerable enough to say, Yes, I am afraid.

Gently face our fears one at a time as they arise. Let each fear surface into consciousness. Tell yourself you know it’s there. Then release its energy; let it dissipate into the air. Don’t be afraid of what you’ll find; the feeling is only fear.

There’s a magic I’ve learned over the years. It happens when I feel my fear. My life changes. I become empowered to move on. Barricades I have not been able to penetrate crumble and disappear. And all I had to do was simply face and feel my fear.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Solve the right problems

Are you solving the problems you want to solve, or the problems you think that you are supposed to solve?
–Thom Rutledge

Peter spent his days solving problems. He had attended the right college and found the right profession and worked for the right people. As a successful accountant, he counted other people’s money and figured out what they owed the government. Peter was good at his job, but he wanted to take pictures. Still, accounting was an important job, and people needed him to help them with their taxes. Solving other people’s money problems took up most of Peter’s time, so much time that he gradually forgot about taking pictures.

One day, he picked up a magazine on photography and started reading. He bought a camera and took some pictures. Then he took a vacation and took some more pictures. He entered them in a local showing and received second prize.

Peter didn’t stop being an accountant. But now he spends as much time solving problems of aperture and shutter speed as he does 401k’s and 1099′s.

Are you solving the problems that you want to solve? Or are you solving the same problem over and over?

Find the answers to the questions you have.

Then find more questions to ask.

God, give me the courage to follow my heart. Teach me how to experience more joy in my life.

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In God’s Care

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
~~George Bernard Shaw

One thing we all have going for us is the ability to change our mind. Thank God. If we were still stuck with our childhood beliefs, where would we be now? Many of us have gotten into deep trouble – physically and emotionally – by following beliefs that proved wrong. For instance, the treacherous belief that we are self-sufficient, that to depend on others is a sign of weakness. How many of us crashed and burned while holding high the banner of independence?

Disastrous circumstances have forced us to change our mind. Now we know that we cannot get along without others, nor without a Higher Power to guide us. We are still tempted daily to go it alone – old habits die hard – but we can change our mind as often as needed.

With God’s help, I can exercise the greatest force for change in my life – I can change my mind.

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Together on Earth
Seeing the Bigger Picture

by Madisyn Taylor

When we see a photo of our earth from space, it is hard to feel ourselves as being separate from all others.


Seeing an image of the planet Earth taken from space inspires awe in many of us, since we can clearly see the connectedness of all of us who live upon this planet. We have created imaginary boundaries, sectioning ourselves into countries and states, forgetting that in reality we are all living together, breathing the same air, drinking from the same water, eating food grown from the same earth. We share everything on this planet, whether we are conscious of it or not, with other people, and those people are our brothers and sisters. Keeping a photograph or painting of the planet Earth in a prominent place in our homes can be a positive way to remember our interconnectedness.

Meditating on the fact that any sense of separation we have from one another is truly an illusion, we will naturally begin to make more conscious choices in our daily lives. The simple act of preparing food, or determining how to dispose of our refuse, can be done with the consciousness that whatever we do will affect all our brothers and sisters, no matter how far away they live, as well as the planet herself. When we foster this kind of awareness in ourselves out of a feeling of awe, it becomes easier to be conscious than to fall back into old habits of thinking of ourselves as separate.

When we contemplate the earth in her wholeness, we attune ourselves to the truth of the bigger picture, which is the Earth, and all of us, every one of us, living on her body. We are connected to one another in the most intimate way, because we literally share our living space. As more people become aware of the reality of our interdependency, things will shift in a positive direction, and much of the discord that we see now will give way to a more cooperative, loving conscious. This is happening already, so as our consciousness grows, we can join with the many other minds working to live in the spirit of togetherness. Published with permission from Daily Om

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

As I Attend meetings of The Program, my eyes open wider and wider. Other people’s problems make mine look small, yet they are facing them with courage and confidence. Others are trapped in situations as bad as mine, but they bear their troubles with more fortitude. By going to meetings, I find many reasons to be grateful. My load has begun to lighten. Do I expect easy solutions to my problems? Or do I ask only to be guided to a better way?

Today I Pray

Make The Program my way of life. Its goals are my goals. Its members are my truest friends. May I pass along the skills for coping I have learned there. May my turnabout and the resulting transformation in my life inspire others, as others have inspired me.

Today I Will Remember

May I be grateful.

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One More Day

As mature people we must learn not to love ourselves excessively nor to mistrust the universe morbidly.
– Joshua Loth Liebman

Each time we know success, large or small, we may tend to applaud ourselves. We have all see small children clapping their hands together in glee at some small triumph. That is the spontaneity of human nature.

Even now that we are older, we may find it difficult not to praise ourselves in front of others each time we make some kind of gain. We learn we are applauded for those special times with which all people can identify — success on the job or when a new child or grandchild is born. Sometimes, however, our applause must be private — treasured by no one but ourselves — for we may be the only one to realize how much we deserve it.

When I achieve success, in any aspect of my life I will glow with inner pride.

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One Day At A Time

COMPULSIONS

“Compulsive urges to overeat, gorge or purge
are inadequate coping mechanisms.
Compulsion is loss of control
and continuation of the behavior
despite the consequences.”
Gloria Arenson

Compulsive overeating is not a moral dilemma. It is not about “right” or “wrong.” It is not a black-and-white situation. I learned at a pre-verbal stage that compulsive overeating is a coping mechanism. When I cried to be held, I was fed. When I cried because I was wet, I was fed. When I cried because I was in pain, I was fed. When life was good, I was fed. Is it any wonder I came to reach for food when life was happening around me?

This program teaches me better ways to cope with life. Instead of reacting to life, I have learned through the Steps how to take action. I did not choose this disease, but I do choose recovery. Through the help of my Higher Power, the program, and other program members I can recover. I can live in the solution one day at a time and one meal at a time.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will have a program. I choose recovery, health, love and life.
~ Sarah H.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. - Pg. 151 - A Vision For You

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

'We can reach UP for that energy, and we can reach IN for that energy, feel that life force, touch that Power Greater Than Ourselves. We can reach up and in and hold on and hang in there. If we just stop. We can climb up from that dark hole. And be here. Be present. Be awake for the next miracle.'--Ruth Fishel,

I do not give up before the miracle, of climbing up from this dark hole and seeing the clean and sober light.

Treasures

If I am alive then I need to look around me and feel thankful for the gifts that are mine. There is so much to be grateful for if I am willing to consider the blessings I already have. There is a wisdom in gratitude because what I focus on with appreciation has a way of expanding in my life. If I erase my blessings, I don't feed them with the grace of gratitude. If I give thanks for them, I show the creative force that brings forth all good things that I am worthy enough to appreciate what has been so generously given to me.

I know enough to say thank you

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Seven days without a meeting, makes one weak.

Just as I am not independently wealthy and need to work to stay solvent, I am not independently healthy and need meetings to stay soulvent.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Try to listen sober, your ears work better that way.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I will be aware not to judge myself when I feel less than perfect. I am beginning to love myself just as I am and that feels so nice.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I came into AA with no conditions on my sobriety. Not to save a job or a marriage, or my standing in the community. I came here to save my life, and I'm real grateful for that. I see so many people come in here for other reasons and when that works out and it still doesn't fix them ...a lot get drunk. - Sean A.