[bluidkiti]

July 11

Step by Step

"To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see large numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it!" - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 ("More About Alcoholism"), pp 33-4.

Today, if I still resist the Step One of admitting I am powerless over alcohol, let me heed the warning against comparing my own drinking to others whose drinking are more in quantity and longer in time. If I do, my desperation to find any excuse not to acknowledge my own condition has become denial. Nor can I expect a young age to shield me from powerlessness. Nor can I find justification to continue drinking if I can say I don't wake up every morning with a hangover or shakes that require a drink to calm them, or if I can say I have never spent a night in a county jail and faced a judge the day after because I was nailed for drunk driving, or if I can say I have never been in rehab. All these are consequences of alcoholism: that none has happened to me does not shield me. Today, I will not take anyone else's inventory of drinking habits to minimize or justify mine and that I and I alone might be scared enough to grab the lifeline that is AA. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

GRACE

But for the grace of God, there go I.

~ John Bradford ~

When we come in contact with those who have not yet found the Program, our first reaction is one of relief and gratitude. "There but for the grace of God, go I," we think. The next reaction is "How can I help them find what I've found?"

Before we began recovery, we would have traded in our lives for almost anyone else's. Now after a time on the Program, we feel differently about ourselves. We hear people giving thanks for their disease. They tell us without their disease they wouldn't have found the Program, and without the Program they wouldn't have found recovery.

We quit our addiction before and it never produced this sense of well-being. The difference is the Program, the Fellowship and our connection with a Higher Power.

Whatever it was that brought me to the Program, I have learned to be thankful for it. As I come in contact with those who still suffer, I can never forget that if it weren't for the grace of God, I would be where they are today.

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

We couldn’t conceive of a miracle if none had ever happened.

~ Libbie Fudim ~

We are very familiar with miracles. We see the change that has happened in our own lives and in the lives of others on this journey with us. Something deep within us changed when we first decided we could accept the truth of our powerlessness and the help of a Higher Power. When a man’s personality changes profoundly, that is a miracle.

These transformations go beyond what anyone might rationally expect. Some of us had given up and were without hope. Others had given up on us too. We thought our lives could never be different after we lived so long in the grips of codependency and addiction, after we tried in so many ways to manage and control our actions and repeatedly failed. But this program provided an awakening, as if from a deep sleep or perhaps a nightmare. Now we have found a path that produces genuine miracles. We cannot easily explain it, but our compulsions are lifted.

Today I am grateful for the miracle in my own lift and Hoe lives of my friends.

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

We all get to choose how we perceive things.

~ Chris DeMetsenaere ~

How happy do we really want to be? That’s per-haps the most important question we can ask our-selves every morning. We are absolutely in charge of how we answer the question and how we feel all day long. What we forget, all too often, is that our thinking doesn’t just happen to us. We create it. We are in charge of it. We are powerless over much, but our thoughts are our responsibility.

It’s exhilarating to understand deeply the breadth of our power to perceive and feel. It became habitual for us to blame others for everything that happened to us and our feelings as a result. Entrenched habits are hard to break, but it’s an adventure and a rewarding challenge to develop healthier habits.

There is no better time than now to decide what kind of day we want and to create it!

I will quietly and carefully choose how I see my life today. I will feel as happy as I want to.

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

I will not play doctor

I tried hanging on to the control. I thought I could manage my symptoms on my own with drugs. It didn’t work. After a long time and a lot of painful disruption in my life, I finally acknowledged just how out of control I was.

I know now that I have two illnesses and that I am not the doctor. To deal with my addiction and emotional illness, I need the help of professionals and others who have recovery. Although it is still hard for me to trust people, I hit bottom trying to do it all on my own. I want to recover and I will accept the help I need.

When I need help, I will contact one of my helpers. If I'm having a problem with my medication, I will call my doctor right away.

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

Although you may not like all of us, you'll love us in the very special way we already love you.

~ Program Saying ~

We don’t have to like everyone we meet in our recovery program. Odds are we won’t. And everyone won’t like us.

But we do learn from everyone and our sharing touches many others. We may hear a nugget of wisdom one night from someone we’ve never especially liked. When we in turn reach out to that person, we feel much better about them and about ourselves.

It’s true, we do love each other in a “very special way.” But we need to nurture that love by sharing ourselves, providing support to others when we can, and respecting everyone’s right to confidentiality. As we grow spiritually, we find we have more inside—and more to give to others, too.

Our program friends are special people — we may not like all of them, but we do love them in a very special way.

Today I thank You for the friendships I’ve made in my recovery program. Help me show each person that I am grateful for his or her help.

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

The actions you take during your first three months in a new job will largely determine whether you succeed or fail.

~ Michael Watkins ~

What would happen if you were hired to run a company and then, on your first day, without taking the time to learn about the company, you came into the office with firm ideas about how you will run the business?

In his book The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins out-lines success strategies for new leaders who often lack in-depth knowledge of the climate and the challenges of the organization they are entering.

The first 90 days in your recovery—whether this takes place in a treatment facility or program or by following the advice to attend “90 meetings in 90 days”—are just as critical. This start of your recovery represents a major transition in your life, and the way you begin will often determine whether you will succeed or fail. The recovery initiation period of 90 days, combined with early abstinence, provides you with the chance to develop awareness of your strengths and weaknesses and make maintaining abstinence easier. When you take the time to learn about the tools of the program and form relationships within the fellowship, you will learn that while your recovery is up to you, you do not have to do it alone.

I will learn all that I can about the program so my path in recovery will be easier.

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

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

~ Gibbon ~

"She just doesn't understand." "He doesn't listen to me." "She can't see my point of view." Do we ever say these things? No matter how much we argue or how convincing our argument, we may never be able to change another's opinion.

It may be our parents. But do we value their opinion, or are we trying to force their approval? It may be a boss or co-worker. But are they people we would choose to have as friends outside work? Before we become tense and angry, we must look at the person with whom we are arguing.

Do we respect these people? Would their opinion benefit us? Are they interested in our best welfare? Sometimes we may struggle to change the opinion of those who have never supported us, rather than talk with those who have always been there for us. To distinguish between the two is the difference between disapproval and tension, and love and acceptance.

Am I driving myself crazy trying to change another's opinion? I can take a look at this and seek those opinions I value and trust.

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

Showing empathy

When we first got into recovery, most of us were quite unhappy. We were in pain; we were vulnerable. We were angry and impatient. We probably didn’t like ourselves very much and may not have liked other people much.

But what if others had treated us according to these feelings? Weren’t we forgiven? Accepted? (And if we weren’t, wouldn’t it have been better if we had been?) Today, we see that we are the same as everyone else who is struggling to achieve or maintain a drug- free life. If we treat everyone well, it will help us recover.

Am I practicing generosity and compassion?

Higher Power, help me to treat others as I would want to be treated.

Today I will be especially compassionate toward

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Good fences make good neighbors.

~ ROBERT FROST ~

Newcomer

I keep hearing people say things like “It’s a selfish program.” I don’t like the sound of the word "selfish.” I was too selfish when I was active in my addiction. You can’t just want me to think of my own recovery. What about all the suffering in the world around me? What about social responsibility? Surely it’s not wrong to try to help others.

Sponsor

I understand how that slogan may be misleading. I don’t think that it’s meant to encourage selfishness in the usual sense of that word. I wouldn’t characterize most people in recovery as selfish or ungenerous, would you? In fact, I think that the opposite is true.

The slogan is useful to remind us to have some humility. I can get pretty grandiose, thinking I ought to have all the answers for others. I’d rather be trying to figure out how to solve the world’s problems than remembering that I need to do my work, make my dinner, and get enough rest.

There are lots of people around me with all sorts of needs. I don’t like to disappoint people, so it’s taken me awhile to accept that I can’t be totally available to them all. It took time to develop some discrimination and to learn what boundaries felt comfortable to me. When someone asks something of us, we don’t have to say yes automatically. We are honest with ourselves about our limitations and priorities, putting our recovery first. Remembering to keep the focus on ourselves as we go through recovery keeps us centered.

Today, I take my needs as a recovering person seriously.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Columbus is the only man on record who didn't know where he was going when he set sail, didn't know where he was when he got there, and didn't know where he had been when he got back, and still escaped the reputation of being an alcoholic.

If AA paid no further dividends than to get us out of that haphazard, confused and disordered way of living, it would be enough.

Now we at least know which end is up.

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

WITH WHAT MEASURE YE METE

With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured, to you again (Matthew 7:2).

If the average man understood for a moment the meaning of these words, they would tum his everyday conduct inside out, and so change him that, in a comparatively short space of time, his closest friends would hardly know him.

The plain fact is that it is the law of life that, as we think, and speak, and act toward others, so will others think, and speak, and act toward us. Everything that we do to others will sooner or later be done to us by someone, somewhere. Perhaps by someone who knows nothing of our previous action, but for every unkind word that we speak to or about another person, an unkind word will be spoken to or about us. For every time that we cheat, we will be cheated. Every time we neglect a duty, or evade a responsibility, or misuse authority over other people, we are doing something for which we will inevitably have to pay by suffering a like injury ourself.

However, it is a poor law that does not work both ways, and so it is equally true that for every good deed that you do, for every kind word that you speak, you will in the same way, at some time or other, get back an equivalent.

The Golden Rule in Scientific Christianity is: Think about others as you would wish them to think about you. In the light of the knowledge that we now possess, the observance of this rule becomes a very solemn duty, but, more than that indeed, it is a debt of honor.

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

I Read the News Today, Oh Boy

Truth in journalism is usually found on the comic page.

~ Frank DeGennaro ~

A radio commentator noted that the news we generally receive though the media is “a proctological view of life.” What is presented as the news is a carefully distilled entree of mayhem, culled for commercial saleability, playing on base fears and sensationalism. Much of the news we receive is not honest, for it is not an accurate reflection of the truth. While the media lets us know that a rape occurs every five minutes, it does not tell us how many acts of kindness occurred in that time. We rarely receive statistics on how many children were brought in to the world with delight and appreciation; how many teachers told their students, "You are destined for greatness"; how many athletes dug into themselves for the stamina to complete their jogging; how many creditors extended extra grace to their overdue accounts; how many drivers slowed down to allow cars from a side street in to the lineup on a main thoroughfare; or how many times any one said, “I love you.'' When the news reflects the whole of life, not just its sordid aspects, it will be honest, serviceful, and worthy of our attention.

If we wish to get more accurate news, we must withdraw our fascination from evil and reinvest it in peace. A San Francisco newspaper published two different versions of a day's news, one with a sensational headline about murder, and the other with a more modest banner about progress in peace talks. The sensational headline outsold the more mellow edition by four to one.

Invest in a better world by placing your attention on what works, rather than what doesn't. Do not start or end your day by listening to newscasts. Celebrate all the good you hear about, and pray that we learn from our pain and suffering, rather than dwell on it. Make the news of the day better by shining the light of your consciousness on the good, the beautiful and the true.

I pray to be a beacon. Give me the strength to bless the good and heal the sorrow.

I change the world by focusing on the light.