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November 4

Step by Step

Today, focus on making the faith I have been given as a gift of intelligence rather than an emotional one. As an alcoholic, my emotions are usually in excess – and anything in excess is risky, including faith if I ground it in emotion. By striving for an intelligent faith, I hope to remove the influence of my unsteady emotions on the faith I need – one in which I have unconditional trust in my Higher Power as opposed to one in which I let my feelings challenge His will. And with an intelligent faith rather than an emotional one, hopefully those things I cannot control can be more faithfully surrendered to my Higher Power and, as a result, hopefully I will take a step toward the goal of total faith, hope and charity. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

SECURITY

I'm gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around, and I'll keep this world from draggin' me down. Gonna stand my ground, and I won't back down.

~ Tom Petty ~

Security is the result of a dedicated effort toward a goal. We feel secure in our Fellowship, some more, some less. Security comes from the safety and confidence we get from building on the working principles of our Program of spiritual growth.

We know that our progress can never be taken away from us by force or under-handed dealings of others. Our belief in the security of the Program defies those who try to betray our trust or draw us back into addiction. Security is the knowledge that it is possible for the most hopeless and helpless victims of any addiction to find recovery. Security is also a shield against our own acts of carelessness or feelings of overconfidence.

I have come to feel secure in the Program and my recovery. I won't let others or myself bring me down.

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

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ~

What darkness do we feel in our lives today? Are we troubled by a relationship? Is guilt about past mistakes clouding our peace of mind? Do we feel threatened by a challenge that looms before us? Perhaps we live with an illness or we feel trapped by our life’s circumstances. Darkness is universal. It is one side of the coin of life.

We cannot not respond to this darkness. The question always is, how will we respond? Many times our established ways of responding to our situation only perpetuate the problem. So we must now seek a way to respond differently. We can do the counterintuitive thing. If we can forgive ourselves, it is easier to forgive others. If we first calm ourselves in the face of challenge instead of letting ourselves panic, we will bring our better self to cope with it. If we respond to anger and hate with genuine loving honesty, we may change the nature of a relationship. Light and love are also universal, and we can choose to walk in the light.

Today I will respond with calmness and a loving frame of mind.

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

I will never be able to feel the love someone wants to give to me unless I am loving myself

~ Betty MacDonald ~

Loving ourselves sounds so simple, but how do we do it? Learning more about who we are is a good first step. The Fourth Step inventory leaves little doubt about who we are, providing we are vulnerably honest. And after acknowledging who we are, we can begin the process of accepting what we can and changing what we need to. Self-love is the reward for carefully doing our work.

The shame we feel for the person we think we are makes it hard to believe others could love us. Getting a more balanced view of ourselves changes our perspective. It becomes easier to love ourselves when we acknowledge how hard we are working to change. We want love. We deserve to be loved. We must be the initiators.

Loving myself may take effort, but if I remember that I'm doing the best I can, and then do it, today will be easier.

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

I want to make new friends

Because of my addiction and mental health problems, I don't have many friends—I gave up most of them. I got stable and sober, but they wanted me to keep using.

So now I'm trying to make new friends at my recovery meetings. Usually, I feel shy and awkward. I guess I'm afraid of them—no chemicals to lower my inhibition—and maybe they're afraid of me. Yet I am tired of all my fear. I'm a good person who can be a good friend. Maybe it's up to me to break the ice.

I will pray for courage, and at my next meeting, I will start a conversation with a member of my group.

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

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

~ Helen Keller ~

Constantly living in the past is as harmful as always dreaming about the future. It leaves no time for making the most of the present. But we can use what we’ve learned about the past to make healthy choices about the future. In recovery, we learn to look with forgiveness and without shame at who we were. Gradually, we develop a desire to live in our lives today without dwelling on the past.

Because recovery helps us make peace with all the warring elements in ourselves, we can move into our new selves and our renewed lives, with greater security and serenity, as a whole person.

We still may think about all that might have been or all that may be. That’s useful. But to dream is different than to dwell with anger and resentment, and now we can tell the difference. Now we know that making peace with our past frees us from that obsessive backward glance — frees us to see what lies ahead. Now we can face the future with serenity and continued spiritual growth.

Today help me lay one more chapter of my past to rest. Free me from my regrets.

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

We are members of a vast cosmic orchestra in which each living instrument is essential to the complementary and harmonious playing of the whole.

~ J. Allen Boone ~

Migrating geese fly in a magnificent V pattern in the sky. As beautiful as this pattern is, it also serves a meaningful and useful purpose. When a bird flies slightly behind the bird in front, it experiences a reduction in wind resistance. With less resistance, the tailing geese have an easier flight and can endure longer before they tire. Because the birds must fly great distances to reach their new homes, they will often shift positions in flight; as one grows tired, it will fall back and enjoy an easier flight behind the goose that has conserved its energy.

The V formation also serves another useful purpose, which has been replicated by military pilots. With each goose in clear sight, it is easier to monitor all members o( the group and to communicate important information, Your recovery can be seen in a similar way. When you are weak, others can strengthen you. When you are strong you can empower others. Share your journey with others, and the path to your recovery will be that much easier in follow.

I am connected to everyone in recovery. I share in their journey and need to be united with them so everyone can stay strong.

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

Free will is not the liberty to do whatever one likes, but the power of doing whatever one sees ought to be done, even in the very face of otherwise overwhelming impulse.

~ George MacDonald ~

There are certain things we cannot do, whether they are restricted by law, are moral issues, or are safety concerns. We may know this now, but in the past this fact may have meant little to us. We may have driven drunk, beaten partners, or verbally or sexually abused our children.

Free will doesn't mean we can do anything we please. Free will means doing things like changing bad tempers, drinking habits, or unacceptable behaviors. With free will, we have the choice to make changes, even though they may be difficult.

Nothing is impossible if it is within our control. We can use free will to opt for change and improvement. With free will, we can choose when and how we will change. If we choose, we can begin tonight.

Are there changes or improvements I can make in my life? Help me know I'm free to change these things whenever I'm ready.

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

Expressing love

Our fellowship is saturated with love and caring. We can touch one another and know that it comes from the Spirit. In the beginning, some confuse this love with sexual desire. A man may cringe when first embraced by another man, but the love we receive from our Higher Power is pure and needs no justification.

An embrace is an embrace of love. Now, we can freely express our love for each other. It’s the same love that flows from our Higher Power. All true expression of love is good.

Do I know how to express my love outwardly?

Higher Power, let me express love from you in some way today, if only by touching another’s hand.

Today I will openly express my love to

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Come what may, I have been blessed.

~ GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON ~

Newcomer

People are always saying, "There are no coincidences." I don't know what that really means or what to think about it. If some Higher Power cares about me, then what about the years when I was active in my addiction? Where was my Higher Power then?

Sponsor

Miracles don't all happen instantaneously. The desire to heal was in me long before I was able to enter recovery, but I didn't understand or acknowledge it. I didn't even know what was wrong with me. The process of identifying my central problem as one of addiction—and of beginning to hear that there was help for me—didn't happen overnight.

Recovery is such an immense gift in our lives that it's hard to understand how it happened. Many of us were led to it with the help of a particular person who seemed to appear at the critical moment. For some, a seemingly chance phone call or encounter influenced our decision to come to a meeting. We may feel as if we were brought here at exactly the right time. And it's true—we were!

I thank my Higher Power for this day, and for every day leading to this day.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

A large number of people come into AA antagonistic to Churches, yet most everyone recognizes the fact that Churches have a vital role to play in the development of civilization generally.

If religions are not what they ought to be, it is because we are not what we ought to be. The Church's failure is man's failure. Man is the culprit that relegated spirituality to second place behind creeds and dogmas.

Instead of Churches leading men, men are leading Churches.

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

Attitude and Outlook

God, help me to work on a positive attitude and outlook in my life. Help me adapt to the real world no matter how different and difficult it seems. During my addiction, I tried to escape reality and live in a world of fantasy. Recovery has taught me I can't change the facts of living, but 1 can change my attitude toward them. Today, I will learn new attitudes toward life's challenges and practice new solutions by working the Program. I'm learning to live in the real word with a healthy attitude and outlook.

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

THE GOOD GOD

God knows everything, and at all times. The Bible sometimes speaks of God as having changed His mind or being disappointed. God is supposed to have tested Abraham's obedience in the matter of Isaac. God is supposed to have had His plans upset by the misconduct of Adam and Eve, by the general wickedness of humanity before the flood, and, in fact, He is frequently represented as being disappointed and even frustrated by the conduct of mankind. In orthodox theology, the devil was continually upsetting God's arrangements and bringing his plans to naught. Indeed, to listen to some preachers, one would have supposed that the devil was a good deal more powerful than God.

Of course, alt this is nonsense. Such things could not be really true of God. It was Abraham's idea of God that led him to prepare to kill Isaac. It was the wickedness of mankind in the antediluvian world that brought on the flood as a natural consequence, just as the fears, hatreds, jealousies, and greed of mankind over many years have brought on war.

We make an idolatrous image of ourselves and call it God. Let us destroy this image today and worship the true God who is infinite and unchanging Good.

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent. . . (Numbers 23:19).

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

Follow Your Star

On the whole, as this wondrous planet, Earth, is journeying with its fellows through infinite space, so are the wondrous destinies embarked on it journeying through infinite Time, under a higher guidance than ours.

~ Thomas Carlyle ~

Every winter, the magnificent humpback whales come to Maui. In a basin about 30 miles in diameter, these gentle giants play, mate, sing their haunting songs, and give birth. In April, the humpbacks return to the north Pacific, where they feed until they return the following December. Astonishingly, the same whales return to precisely the same place every year. Although they traverse three or four thousand miles in each direction, they pinpoint the same tiny basin in the middle of a huge ocean.

To me, this is compelling proof that the Great Spirit has imbued all creatures with the wisdom to be in their right place at the right time. The blueprint of our destiny is etched deep into our psyche, along with the guidance to achieve it. As spiritual beings, we have the capacity to find the place in life where we feel most at home. Each of us has a right living situation, relationship, career, and spiritual path that our internal guidance system will show us if we relax and cooperate. We don't have to add any intelligence; we just need to let go of all thoughts and activities that obscure our innate knowledge.

Should you doubt your ability to fulfill your destiny, remember the whales. Consider dogs and cats who find their way home after being lost many miles away, and remember the birds who fly south for the winter and return to the same backyard in the north. If God cares so carefully for the birds, surely we are known and loved, and our way shall be made clear.

I place my life in Your hands, trusting that You always lead me to my right place and my highest good.

I give my life to God to guide me today.