[bluidkiti]

May 3

Step by Step

Today, security in sobriety to sustain any disappointments - minor and major - that I encounter in recovery. The best laid plans of mice and men do not always take form even in sobriety, and I must not deceive myself by expecting life to go as I think or expect it should only because I have stopped drinking. Part of the nature of alcoholism is the ultra-sensitivity to disappointment, sometimes to a disproportionate degree, and the result could be the false belief that I have failed somewhere along the line. Life for the non-addict is not always a bed of roses, but the thorns can cut the recovering addict's psyche deeper. Today, mindful that even the rose bed of sobriety has hidden thorns, I will not be disenchanted if I am stung. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

CHANGING ATTITUDES

The Program is education without graduation.

~ Anonymous ~

We can never escape from reality. We must adapt to the real world no matter how different and difficult it seems. We can’t change the facts of life, but we can change our attitudes toward them. That’s the purpose of the Program, which we learn to cope without returning to the false courage and comfort of our addiction.

Stress and pressure are enemies of serenity. When they threaten to overcome us, we remember that they have been trying to make mankind escape into chemicals for ages. The healthy attitude we work for doesn’t believe that stress and pressure come our way because “life isn’t fair.” It’s important to our recovery that we remember, “We don’t have attitudes; they have us.”

I’m learning new attitudes towards old problems, and new solutions for them, by working my program. I am learning to live in the real world.

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

When you have got an elephant by the hind leg and he is trying to run away, it’s best to let him run.

~ Abraham Lincoln ~

We know what it feels like to have an elephant by the hind leg when he wants to run. We have held on to our addictive and codependent ways, thinking we were in control and refusing to face the reality that we were about to get trampled. Now we can be grateful for the guidance of Step One. When we could admit we were not in control, that changed everything.

Some of us knew we were out of control but didn’t know where to go from there. We were living in despair, but with no place to turn. Steps One and Two pointed the way to a spiritual release. We were told that if we “let the elephant go,” we could get help from a Higher Power. This new way of thinking gave us a whole different take on our life. We can let go and we will survive.

Today I am grateful for the life-changing option of letting go.

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

Sometimes the things that frighten you the most can turn out to be the biggest sources of strength.

~ Iris Timberlake ~

Not many things would send fear through us if we remembered to rely on our Higher Power at all limes. Yet we try to handle circumstances ourselves first. It’s often only when we finally feel hopeless I hat we turn to our Higher Power for the help that awaited us all along.

We make our lives much more difficult than they need to be. Let’s quit thinking through our problems alone, no matter how foolish they seem. Let’s quit trying to handle tough people alone. Let’s trust that every circumstance, no matter how small, is a lesson offered by God. And let’s know that the outcome will be the right one for our particular growth at that moment.

Things that frighten us do so only because we have failed to remember the presence of our Higher Power. Let’s pray for the willingness to remember God’s presence. When we do, we will know a new strength.

Today I will let God help me handle every moment of my day.

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

I have much to offer

Deep down I used to think of myself as a sick and defective person in a life that could not be changed. I thought I was someone who could not take responsibility, who could not hold a job, who just kept making the same mistakes, as if she didn’t know better.

Getting a hold on my dual disorder has been a struggle, but after some months now in recovery, I feel stronger, resilient, even courageous. With my abstinence and stability I can see that I do not have to be limited by my problems: I am not just a person with a dual disorder. I have abilities and I am learning how to put them to use as I heal. These days I sense that I can do whatever is needed, not just to take care of myself, but to flourish.

Today I will make a list of my strength, my assets.

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

Ah, what is more blessed than to put cares away!

~ Catullus ~

There’s nothing like a good hearty laugh to pick up a gloomy day. Laughter has such a calming effect on us, doctors ought to prescribe it: “Take two jokes, and call me in the morning.” Laughter liberates the tormented soul and soothes the troubled heart. Laughter helps us keep perspective; our troubles are less scary, our woes are dimmer, life is less frightening.

No two of us laugh at the same thing; our sense of humor is as unique as our fingerprints. It doesn’t matter what we laugh at — life’s silly moments, our own mistakes, or the circus clown falling on a banana peel — we’re always richer just for doing it.

Laughter works on our bodies like stationary exercise, banishing tension and bad thoughts as it loosens the muscles and soothes the mind. A good laugh leaves a happy aftertaste that lingers on and helps us fend off the ghouls and goblins and things that go bump in the night. Laughter is song, it’s joy, it’s life itself.

Today help me bring the gift of laughter to another, and help me find more laughter in my own life.

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

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

~ Thick Nhat Hanh ~

Each time you engaged in your habit, a link on a chain was created. Over time, more and more links were added until the chain that bound you to the habit was strong and it prevented you from moving about freely. It imprisoned and enslaved you.

The process of letting go in recovery is one in which you remove, one by one, each link in the chain of your addiction. If you came into the program knowing your decision to be free from your habit was the right one, you started your recovery with a deep determination and conscious commitment. And you have discovered that, by letting go and letting both your Higher Power and the program work through you, you have kept your focus strong. You have been able to slowly break free from this chain.

But if you entered the program kicking and screaming or thought of your recovery as something you would do to prove that you could take a break from your habit, then you may be finding it harder to break free. Until you completely surrender your will and let go, you are still enslaved by your habit.

I will let go and completely surrender. Through this action, I will find greater freedom.

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

Go ahead with your life, your plans, your preparation, as fully as you can. Don't waste time by stopping before the interruptions have started.

~ Richard L. Evans ~

Inside each of us is a little voice called "Too Cautious." Too Cautious loves to be the initiator of doom, the forerunner of disaster, the messenger of disappointment. When we start to plan our vacations, for example, Too Cautious will tell us we don’t have enough money, or we probably won’t get a reservation, or we've got too many other things to do. lf we think about going back to school, Too Cautious will tell us we won’t have enough time or we'll probably flunk. If we want to ask a friend to do something with us, Too Cautious will whisper in our ears that we aren’t likable and will probably get refused.

But we don't have to listen to Too Cautious. We can listen instead to our Higher Power. We'll soon hear inspiring words of faith that will help us take more risks, like "Why not?" or "Wouldn't that be nice?" or "What a wonderful idea." We can listen to our Higher Power for strength, hope, and guidance in all our affairs.

What's stopping me from making plans or taking a risk?

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

Losing our self-centeredness

The Fourth Step inventory helps us see our character defects. When we take a look at why we resented others, for example, our self-centeredness jumps out at us. In the past we set up situations that helped only our-selves. Then, when things didn’t go our way, we quickly became resentful of people (or places or things).

That kind of self-centeredness is what nearly killed us, but we persisted nevertheless. If we use that same persistence in finding and working on our character defects, our self-centeredness will diminish and make way for the growth promised in the Ninth Step prayer.

Am I using my self-centeredness?

Higher Power, help me find and work on my character defects, especially my self-centeredness.

Today I will work on my self-centeredness by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.

~ KATHARINE HEPBURN ~

Newcomer

I went to a wedding where it seemed as if everyone but me was celebrating in ways I used to love—overeating and getting drunk, among other things. Either they were consuming stuff right under my nose, or else they were talking about all their little addictive habits without questioning them, as if they hadn’t a care in the world.

Sponsor

First, let me congratulate you for getting through a demanding social event without picking up. We go through a process in recovery that begins with feelings of loss and deprivation and progresses to a sense of freedom. It takes awhile.

In early recovery, I envied and resented nonaddicts. Everywhere I looked, people seemed to be bingeing in one way or another without negative consequences. It took time to accept that the things they could do without negative consequences—or believed they could do—were toxic for me. As my denial lifted, my attitude toward recovery became somewhat egotistical. For some time, I lived off a sense of superiority. They were in the dark, I thought. They were the ones who were deprived; I’d found a better way.

Over time, we stop being so concerned about others’ lives. What other people do for fun is their business; we have our own path. It doesn’t make us better or worse than anyone else, but it does make us different.

Today, I love being alive; I celebrate my recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

George Washington is often credited with being America’s first millionaire, yet few people are aware of this fact. He left a heritage so much richer politically, economically, and historically, that his own personal wealth is forgotten.

His personal wealth has long since been dissipated but the opportunities in this country he helped establish, will continue as long as men’s lives are motivated by the same unselfish devotion to mankind that he exemplified, both in public and private life.

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

LOVE IS

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing, and forgiving. It is loyalty through good times and bad. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.

Love is content with the present, it hopes for the future, and it doesn’t brood over the past. It’s the day-in-and-day-out chronicle of irritations, problems, compromises, small disappointments, big victories, and common goals.

If you have love in your life, it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don’t have it, no matter what else there is it’s not enough.

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

RESIST NOT EVIL

Read Matthew 5:38−42.

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil . . . (Matthew 5:39)

Jesus is a revolutionary teacher. He turns the world upside down for those who accept his teaching. When once you have accepted the Jesus Christ message, all value change radically.

The old law was that whatever man did to man, he should himself be made to suffer by way of punishment. If he put out another man’s eye, his own was put out by the officers of justice; if he killed, he was killed.

The desire to “get even,” to get one’s own back, to level things up somehow or other, when we have been hurt or have suffered injustice, or witnessed things of which we did not approve, will remain with us until the time when we definitely take ourselves in hand and destroy it. “Revenge,” said Bacon. “is a kind of wild justice.”

Now Jesus reverses this and says that when someone injures you, you are to forgive him. No matter what the provocation may be, and no matter how many times it is repeated, you are to loose him and let him go, for thus only can you be freed yourself.

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

First-Class Flying

Above all things, reverence yourself.

~ Pythagoras ~

The movie Defending Your Life suggests that when we leave this world we review the experiences in which we succumbed to fear rather than choosing love. As Daniel reviews his life, he realizes that he consistently denied his own good, until the following event: After a devastating divorce, Daniel was left with a small amount of money and an airline ticket for a vacation in the Orient. When Daniel arrived at the ticket counter for his pleasure outing, the agent told him, “You have seat 38B.”

“Does that mean I’ll be sitting in the back of the plane between two other people for ten hours?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, sir, there are no other seats available.”

“How about in first class?”

“There is one first-class seat left; to upgrade will cost an additional $3,000.”

Daniel deliberated for a moment, then exclaimed, “I’ll take it!”

Do you love yourself enough to give yourself what would make you happy? Can you trust that your happiness will not take away from another's good, but will only add to the sum total of joy in the universe?

Asking for what you want is not selfish; it is your responsibility. The more you honor yourself with beauty, play, and joy, the greater will be your capacity to love and serve others.

I open myself to receive all the gifts You would offer me.

I accept the best that life has to offer.