[bluidkiti]

April 25

Step by Step

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message has found sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continues in active alcoholism. To claim credit for anyone else’s sobriety or blame for their continued drinking fires our ego and, because of it, we break the commandment to be only a carrier of the message. Just as we cannot credit anyone for our sobriety other than the program or blame our drinking on someone or something other than ourselves, we cannot claim credit for another person’s recovery. Today, let us remember that we are a messenger, not the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

DON’T PROJECT

What we anticipate seldom occurs. What we least expected generally happens.

~ Disraeli ~

We are not in the business of getting results. It’s easy and simple to plan results. It’s not so easy to just plan and not expect results.

When we think a plan of ours will bring us and mankind all sorts of payoff, we are playing god again. When our plan doesn’t turn out the way we expected, we put ourselves in danger of feeling hopeless. This can lead to relapse.

We remember the past only for what its lessons have taught us about living today. If yesterday was spent in planning how today was supposed to turn out, we will usually be disappointed in today. Today hardly ever turns out the way we had planned or expected it to turn out.

My plans for the future must stay hopes and possibilities. No matter how far I fall short of my plans, I must accept the results with serenity. I will work at making plans, but I won’t plan the results.

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

Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.

~ Dr. George Sheehan ~

We were taught that masculinity means ignoring pain, disregarding the sensations that arise within our bodies. A warrior in battle needs to do that in order to save his life. When a man can ignore his pain because of a more pressing goal, he has a valuable skill. But we aren’t living in a battle zone every day. And a wise man uses his skills selectively. When we are driving down an open highway on a sunny, warm day, we use different skills than when driving on ice.

Part of our recovery requires that we grow beyond some of the stereotypes of what a man is. A one-trick pony can’t adapt to a new show. When we are in the safety of an intimate relationship, we need to know what we feel and express it. We need the skills to pay attention to our internal messages, because they are also guides.

Today I will have the wisdom to listen to the messages of my body and my heart.

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

Healing is learning to trust my own wisdom, my own intuition.

~ Mary Zink ~

Being insecure is common with our disease. Some think insecurity triggered our abuse of chemicals. Yet it doesn’t matter which came first, the chemical abuse or the insecurity. They were good partners for years. Unfortunately, the partnership left us bankrupt!

Getting into recovery is like putting money in the bank. Working the Steps, going to meetings, getting a sponsor, being a sponsor, and taking time every day to commune with our Higher Power are I he deposits we make in our account. When we hit u rough spot, we have something to fall back on.

Believing that we can think clearly about the important matters in our lives is concrete progress. Our confidence about handling problems is growing. In time, what used to baffle us no longer will.

I am wise. I’ll know what to do today in every situation if I open my heart to my Higher Power.

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

I am finding the help I need

I managed to stop using and get my psychiatric symptoms under control in treatment. But once out, I wasn’t sure I could stay straight and stable. I was afraid I would get sick again under stress or with strong cravings. I was afraid I couldn’t manage on my own.

But finally, when the fear got strong enough, I went to a recovery meeting to look for help. And over the course of several weeks, I could tell that I had found it: the consistency, structure, and spirituality of the meeting itself combined with the respectful, caring, and consistent support of a sponsor (or guide, mentor, helper). I now had one way to help me mange my disability on my own.

I will write down two reasons why I need help to recover and the name of someone who can help me.

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

Take it easy — but not too easy.

~ Bob B. ~

In the early days of recovery, we’re so grateful to be alive that we’ll do anything, sacrifice anything, to change. Then, bit by bit, we may be tempted to slip back into our old ways. Sometimes we make excuses to skip a meeting, or we lose contact with our sponsor. We need daily reminders of how dangerous this kind of thinking can be. What will we sacrifice in exchange for our recovery? Is recovery worth giving up a social event? Overtime at work? A movie, a play, the ballet, a concert? Spring cleaning? Although recreation is important, we often wonder what excuses we have used to avoid the daily work of recovery.

Without our program of recovery, we had none of these things to sacrifice. When we began recovery, we may have had no home, no friends, no family, no job. Now, we have a life again. Now, we have choices. Now, we have support from people who accept us as we are, and who know the struggles we are facing. Now, we have a Higher Power who will love and support us in the worst trouble. Now, this moment, we can choose life over death simply by making a call and sharing our gratitude for a new life, or by asking for the help we need. This is all the power we need today.

Today let me remember all that is good in my life and work to keep it.

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

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.

~ Harriet Breaker ~

Beavers are often considered perfect engineers. The dams they create out of sticks and branches, green vegetation, and mud can still raging rivers and create a unique under-water living environment. They are dedicated workers that immediately take action when humans or natural elements conspire to destroy their dams. Even dams that have been broken down repeatedly are rebuilt.

Even beavers are not perfect as their dams do break. It might be better to think of them as tireless in their quest to create optimal survival conditions. Their dams are not works of beauty, nor is there one perfect dam-building pattern. But each dam is purposeful and functional.

Similarly, how you approach recovery determines the level of your success. If you strive to do everything per-fectly, chances are little or nothing you can accomplish will result in the perfect outcome you desire. But if you work tirelessly at your recovery, to build and rebuild whenever necessary, and to create the best possible life for yourself, then you will accomplish much. Success is measured by your dedication to see your work through to completion, even if completion comes after several tries.

I will strive for achievement and success in all that I do, rather than for perfection.

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

Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star

~ Confucius ~

Long ago, before the advent of radar systems, navigators and explorers found it impossible to proceed on cloudy nights. Without the moon or stars to guide them, they lost their sense of direction and the light by which to see. They were powerless and had to accept their inability to progress under such conditions.

Tonight may seem like a cloudy night. We may feel lost or directionless, or we may feel as if we’ve stayed in the same emotional space. We may pray in desperation for movement and change, only to feel as if our prayers go unanswered. Like a car mired in mud, we may be spinning our wheels and going nowhere.

Acceptance, then, is our answer. Just because our prayers haven’t brought the results we’ve wanted doesn’t mean no one has listened. Our prayers were heard, and the answer was to stay where we were and wait. Our journey is being prepared for us. Soon the clouds will roll away, the moon and stars will guide us. Our Higher Power’s will, not ours, is what we have to accept.

Even though I may feel like I’m going nowhere, tonight I can turn my life and my will over to the care of my Higher Power.

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

Coming alive to life

How important is awareness! By drinking or drugging we tried to dull our awareness, although perhaps we excused some drugs by insisting that we were heightening our awareness. We always wound up with awareness of little but pain. We were deadened and uninterested in life.

Communication is based on awareness: Through communication, we make others aware of us and we are made aware of those around us. Without communication with God, there is no awareness of God working in our lives. If we want to come alive to life, we can begin by paying attention to our Higher Power.

Am I coming alive and paying attention?

I pray to become more aware of my Higher Power and of life.

Today I will slow down and pay closer attention to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Home, in one form or another, is the great object of life.

~ JOSIAH HOLLAND ~

Newcomer

I know this sounds trivial, but it’s still bothering me. My house is a mess. It feels out of control. It’s going to take forever to get it together. It’s not the sort of thing I can ask someone to help me with; I’m ashamed to let anyone see it.

Sponsor

In early recovery, we may crave change, but feel too de-pressed to know how to go about it. We may be overwhelmed just thinking of all the work involved in clearing up the wreckage of the past, whether it involves a messy house, unpaid bills, back taxes, work commitments, or personal promises.

As with so many chores, we can approach cleaning house little by little. Instead of pulling everything out of all the closets, we can limit ourselves to fifteen minutes or half an hour to fill a trash bag with things we don’t want in our lives any more. If we can’t simply throw things away, we can start filling a carton for a charitable organization. Short periods of time once or twice a week eventually add up.

Recovery began with a single action. Taking the First

Step prepared us for the Second. There are times when we feel we’re at a standstill, others when we progress rapidly. The overall length of time isn’t the point; it’s the quality of the ongoing process. We can begin it at any time.

One more thing: are we really so much worse than everyone around us that we can’t ask for help? If we can’t accept hands-on help, how about making phone calls before, during, and after tough chores?

Today, I take one step toward creating order.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Man is a pretty smart duck, but after all these centuries of study, experimentation and reasoning, we still don’t know what we are, where our life came from, or what happens to it when we die. True we have certain faiths and beliefs, but who can say with certainty and with personal knowledge, exactly what the answer to the Great Enigma really is?

We have unlocked many of the secrets of Nature but we still don’t know what we are, how we got here or where we will go when we leave.

God still has many secrets. If man knew them all there would be no incentive to know God better.

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

1) Sometimes our individual actions damage the group.

2) N—****ing—A

3) Short version of the Serenity Prayer—”F” it.

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

Live A Little Just To Please

Can you say today in honesty
As the hours slip by so fast,
That you’ve helped a single person
Of the many you have passed?

Did you waste the day, or lose it?
Was it well or properly spent?
Did you leave a trail of kindness
Or mementos of discontent?

Have you given God a moment
In humble, devout prayer?
Have you talked with Him in honesty
To let Him know you care?

As you close your eyes in slumber,
Do you think that God would say,
“You have made the world much better,
For you lived a lot today?”

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

NECESSITY FOR SELF-CONTROL

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement:

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire (Matthew 5:21-22)

The Old Law said “Thou shall not kill,” but Jesus says that even to want to kill, nay, even to be angry with your brother, is sufficient to keep you out of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was a distinct gain when primitive people could be persuaded not to murder but to develop sufficient self-control to master their anger. Spiritual demonstration demands that anger itself be overcome. It is simply not possible to get any experience of God worth talking about, or to exercise spiritual power until you have gotten rid of resentments and condemnation. You can have either your demonstration or your indignation, but you cannot have both.

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

Best When It’s Worst

Consider that people are like tea bags. They don’t know their own strength until they get into hot water.

~ Dan McKinnon ~

In the film Starman, an extraterrestrial comes to earth to study life on this planet. Like many such visitors, he does not receive a very kindly welcome and spends most of his time fleeing from authorities. In the process, he falls in love with a woman who befriends him. Finally he must leave, and he has a few short moments to say good-bye to his beloved. “Do you know what I learned about human beings?” he asks. “I learned that when things are at their worst, you are at your best.”

Adversity is a gift if we make it work on our behalf. Challenge is not a curse or a punishment, but an opportunity to shine. If life were easy all the time, we would not deepen in love, compassion, and wisdom, or learn how to sink a pipeline into the well of true strength within us. Often we do not know how powerful we are until we are faced with a challenge that draws forth our greatness.

In high school I took a typing class. By the end of the course, I had built up my speed to about 40 words a minute. The time came for the final exam, on which a large part of my grade depended. I focused intently and scored a smashing 64 words a minute—over 50 percent faster than my regular speed! Why did I do so well? I knew it counted for a lot.

When an act in life counts, there is a source of strength within us that grows to meet the challenge. Some people demonstrate superhuman abilities, such as pushing a wrecked car off an injured person. Where do they find the strength? It was within them all the time; the worst brought out the best.

I pray to be big enough to handle whatever comes before me.
With Your help, I can and will do anything.

The power of God is within me. The Grace of God surrounds me.