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January 13

Step by Step

“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.” – Step One

Today, every journey has a starting point, and the road to recovery begins with Step One. Today, I have no doubt that I am powerless over alcohol and that it makes my life unmanageable. If I find even a small grain of reluctance to fully admit my powerlessness over alcohol, I wonder if I am willing to lose more to drinking or if I refuse to lose any more. If I answer that I could risk not losing anything more, I have not given Step One the gut-level honesty it requires. If I answer I cannot or will not give up anything more to alcohol, I have taken a productive First Step. Today, I admit I am powerless over alcohol and, in surrendering, my life can begin to become manageable again . And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

BE POSITIVE

Two men look out through bars. One sees the mud, the other the stars.

~ F. Longbridge ~

When we tell ourselves we can’t progress, we are making sure we never can. We need to remember that success breeds success. A feeling of “I can do it” meant success in the important action of finding a Higher Power. After that, we could turn over our problems to that Higher Power. That accomplished, we could recognize our shortcomings and the release of their pos-session of us. Then we could make amends to those we had harmed. We continued to pray and meditate, and finally could give of what we had in serenity and security to others who suffered our problems.

Recovery places the accent on the positive side of involvement and effort. A negative approach creates a feeling of being a loser which causes extra problems in itself.

Today I will say only positive things, or I will say nothing at all

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

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.

~ Henry David Thoreau ~

To have a dream takes courage and a bit of hope. A dream guides us, even if we haven’t let ourselves bring it to consciousness. How often do we stop to ask what our dreams are? Do we even know what we want? This path is about becoming the best men we can be. It’s more about who we become than what we achieve. So it inspires us to create dreams for our development as men.

When we take a few moments to reflect on the kind of men we want to be, we create reference points, or beacons, to move toward. This gives us a way to measure our actions and our choices. Do our actions take us in the direction we want to go, or do they take us off course? Are we growing into the men we want to be, or have we forgotten to follow our beacons?

In my actions today, I will keep my dreams in mind and choose my course with confidence.

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

The divided self exists in all of us.

~ Marie Lindquist ~

One gift of sobriety is the growing awareness that we are complex, whole women, more than just our dark side. Defeated, we came into this program of recovery certain that our lives would be forever fraught with problems. Little in our experience made us proud. Surviving our hateful, painful, and confusing lives was our proudest achievement.

The moment we admit our powerlessness over our drug of choice and over other people, a fresh start commences. Becoming willing to let a Higher Power influence our lives gives us a chance to glimpse the brighter side of our being. We discover it was there all the time.

We’ll always have both sides, the dark and the light. We’re human. Nevertheless, we tend to strengthen the part of our “self’ that calls to us loudest. Which side we hear is up to us.

I am a complex woman. I have the next twenty-four hours to live as I choose. What actions will pleasure me most?

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

I am learning about “good” drugs

For a long time, I thought a “good” drug was one that was strong, cheap, and easy to get. It was a very “good” drug if it got me high fast and kept me high for a long time.

Now, in recovery, I see drugs differently. I am learning that a good drug is prescribed for me by a doctor (especially a psychiatrist who knows addiction and recovery) and purchased at a pharmacy. A good drug helps me cope with my psychiatric illness, it does not get me high. Such a drug is best called a medication. Unlike street drugs, if I have any problems with my medication, I can call my doctor for assistance.

At my next dual recovery meeting I will share my old and new understanding of good drugs.

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

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Many of us can probably recount the details of the “last straw,” the turning point, the moment we began the journey on the road to recovery. Up until then all roads, however different, led downhill. For some of us the descent was steep, rough, and swift; for others, long and winding across years of denial, the pain just under the surface.

But today we are on the brink of recovery. Maybe it still looks like the bottom, but now we’re looking up. And that’s what counts.

Part of looking up involves enthusiasm for life’s smaller offerings. We relish the little things we once overlooked: apple-picking with children on an autumn afternoon; planting seedlings in the spring that, come summer, will yield flowers; the joy of going to sleep with a contented heart.

Enthusiasm breathes hope into our resolve to begin a new sober life. Life looks better in sobriety and it will be better. Enthusiasm can be a key.

Today help me greet my recovery with gratitude for all that has happened and enthusiasm for all that can be.

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

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

~ Leo Tolstoy ~

You may not only be an alcoholic or addict, but also an adult child of an alcoholic. Because of the dysfunction in your childhood home, the focus was not on your growth out of childhood but on the problems of your parents. You were usually taught to assume adult responsibilities well in advance of adulthood. As a result, you may be overwhelmed by feelings of confusion, fear, and insecurity. While you are living in an adult’s body, you have the unanswered emotions of a child.

There are many resources available, including Al-Anon as well as Adult Children. Both self-help groups follow the Twelve Steps of AA, dealing openly and honestly about how the drinking or chemical dependencies of others affected you. These groups teach your five basic rights: to be free from the past, to learn a new way of life, to express feelings, to develop self-esteem, and to ask for help.

Adult Children groups offer you a new way of life. Your feelings can be validated by hearing what others have to share, and you can learn how to express your feelings in a safe environment.

Today I will begin or continue to attend meetings that help me to recover from the negative effects of my childhood.

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

When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.

~ Herophilus ~

If we have ceased an obsessive behavior, we may think we are now healthy. Yet we may not be paying enough attention to our needs for sleep, good food, and exercise. We may also be ignoring our spiritual and mental health needs by not taking time to meditate or communicate with others.

Taking away an obsession doesn’t mean we’re cured. Instead, the work is just beginning. Now is the time to structure our days and nights to include time to be alone, time to listen to ourselves, and time to listen and talk with others.

We are now in the process of rebuilding ourselves into better people. We need to work on our outer appearances and our inner healthiness. Good nutrition, plenty of rest, a balance of exercise and play, meditation time, and a balance between work hours and home hours is needed for our best health. We can take the first healthy step toward building a better self.

Higher Power, help me look at my health. Can I identify areas that need improvement?

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

Seeing the beauty

We can see our Higher Power in so many beautiful things in this world: the reflection of light in the running brook; the spectrum of colors in the oil spot on the street; the stubbly grass peeking out of the snow like morning whiskers; hail popping like kernels of corn; the music of rain; the face of a child; the face of an elder.

Some of us see our Higher Power most clearly in the light of another’s eyes or in acts of unselfish kindness and know ourselves to be part of it. With clean, sober eyes we can see this beauty.

Can I see the beauty all around me?

Higher Power, help me see the beauty all around me today and to realize that I, too, am beautiful in your eyes.

Today I will look for the beauty in

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

The day is a gift of the universe.

~ KATHLEEN CULVER ~

Newcomer

I don’t want to disappoint the people who count on me, but I’m afraid to promise that I’ll stick to this recovery stuff forever. I don’t know if I can do it. Frankly, I feel suffocated by the idea of never using anything ever again, of going to meetings for years—I can’t imagine spending my whole life in recovery.

Sponsor

The span of a whole life is impossible to imagine. We have no idea how long we’re going to live, what unforeseen things will take place in our lifetime, or even how a small choice we make today may in some way change the person we grow to be tomorrow. If I try to imagine doing anything “forever” or “for my whole life,” I’m overwhelmed. Fortunately, no one here is asking me to promise that. The program suggests only that we get through one day—today—without using an addictive substance. Yesterday is over. Tomorrow is not here yet. My whole life is now, and now is all that need concern me. Sometimes even a twenty-four-hour period feels overwhelming, so I break it down into hours and go through the day an hour at a time. Some days I’ve even had to think in terms of just one minute at a time. Using substances we’re addicted to comes naturally to us; a day in which we choose recovery instead is a highly successful day.

I let go of yesterday and tomorrow. I choose recovery for today.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

In Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount he quotes Christ as saying “BE YE THEREFORE PERFECT, EVEN AS YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT.”

Our first reaction is that that is impossible. Christ either did not say this or else He did not mean it.

If He didn’t say it then the Bible is inaccurate. If He did and did not mean it, then Christ drops below Divine stature. No, He said and meant it. For man to aspire to less is a direct rejection of His order.

To cry that we are circumscribed by human limitations is to deny the God in us which makes all things possible.

We probably will never arrive at that state of perfection but we can, one day at a time, strive to attain that goal.

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

1) Suicide is such a long term decision, while living has so many more variables.

2) You are heading towards a slip when you remember the good times more than the bad.

3) Learn by others’ mistakes. You will never live long enough to make them all yourself.

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

The Tollerance Prayer

Lord, give me tolerance toward those whose thoughts and ways, in the Program and life, conflict with mine. For though I would, I cannot always know what con-stitutes the Absolute Truth. The other person may be right, while I may be all wrong, yet unaware. 
Lord, make my motives right, for only this can ease my conscience when I sometimes err.
Lord, give me tolerance, for who am I to stand in judgment on another person’s mistakes? No one knows better than my inward self how many little blunders I have and can make.
Life is full of stones that somehow trip us, and meaning not, we stumble now and then.
Lord, give me tolerance, for only You are rightly fit to judge my fellow travelers.

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

GOD IS TRUTH

The second main aspect of God is Truth. God is not truthful but Truth itself, and wherever there is Truth, there is God. There are many things which are relatively true at certain times and places only: but God is absolute. Truth at all times and in all circumstances. As soon as we touch God, who is Absolute, relative things disappear.

To know the truth about any condition heals it. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

You should realize God as Truth when you want information on any subject, or if you suspect that you have to deal with deceit. If you believe that someone is trying to deceive you, claim that divine Truth dwells in the person concerned, and is expressed through him. If you realize this clearly enough he will then speak the truth. When you have to transact any important business such as signing a lease or a contract, spend a few minutes realizing divine Truth and if there is any thing you should know, it will come out. Of course, people may not have any desire to deceive you and yet for some reason you may not be given the whole story. I know of several cases where serious misunderstandings were prevented because somebody realized God as Truth and so all the facts were brought out. I know also of cases where intentional dishonesty was frustrated in the same way.

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

Time to Be Free

Lovers make a fool of time.

~ Anonymous ~

When one of Albert Einstein’s students asked him to explain his abstruse theory of relativity in a way that anyone could understand, he answered, “A day spent with a beautiful woman seems like a moment; an hour at a job you hate feels like an eternity.” Einstein was teaching that our experience of time is determined by the consciousness we are in. Since time is an illusion invented by the human intellect, it is entirely pliable, expanding or contracting to reflect the thoughts we are holding at the time.

We always have enough time to do what needs to be done. Thoughts of “not enough time” are born of fear and a consciousness of lack. The ego fabricates the belief in lack of time as a sleight of hand to move us away from peace. If we make peace our first priority, all things that need to be taken care of in time will be handled.

We are always free in this moment. It is only when we haul the past or future into the now that we feel bound. Practice surfing on the energy of the now. If you become seduced by past or future thoughts, remind yourself that all is well right now. Handle whatever is before you, and leave the rest for another time or another way.

When we live in love, miracles happen that defy the laws of time. Ultimately, time becomes irrelevant, and, as Jesus stated, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Prisoners are colloquially described as “doing time.” If you are a servant of time rather than letting time serve you, you are a prisoner. Break free of your watch, and bask in the glory of the present moment. Bring more activities that you love into your world, and you will be a millionaire of time.

Help me to move beyond time and celebrate the glory of the present moment.

I live in the timeless kingdom of love.