Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - October

[bluidkiti]

October 26

Step by Step

"Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." - Step Seven

Today, caution against being too eager to release my shortcomings or character defects without first laying the foundation of Steps Four, Five and Six. I cannot be honest about my defects without first taking the self-inventory of Step Four and then giving them voice by acknowledging them to myself, the god of my understanding and to another person as suggested in Step Five. And I certainly cannot ask for those defects to be removed if I am not willing to let them go, as suggested in Step Six. It has been heard in meetings that some people hold onto defects because they are not ready to let them go. But if those defects are a roadblock to the quality of recovery I seek, I have to be willing to release them. Today, I can "humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings," but only after I have done the homework to let them go. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

IDENTIFICATION

Identify, don't compare.

~ Anonymous ~

When we identify with another in recovery we bond with that person, and, in so doing, we pass on the message of recovery. When we compare our Program with that of another, we break the bond and become separated by an act of our own ego. We can't grow when we compare.

The hope we all share in our Fellowship is that we will come to experience an honest acceptance of what life has to offer. We will never receive a report card grading our progress or a diploma for working the Steps. Taking our inventory is not the same as keeping score. We do not compare our Program with that of any other person. We only share our experiences to help another fellow traveler. We never try to put ourselves above anyone else through comparisons.

Identifying with my fellow travelers helps us to help each other. Comparing my progress with theirs turns recovery into a competition nobody wins.

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

We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.

~ Vince Lombardi ~

On a day when it seems like more things are going wrong than right, we may need to take a longer view. Today is just one day; this week is just one week on a long path. Certainly there are ups and downs on our path, and sometimes we just need more time.

We can get lost in the details of the moment, when every way we turn seems to show us more frustration. That is when we can get relief by knowing that with more time, progress will be made—and things will look different. Even when we are trying our best and we still don’t see the evidence that our lives are getting better, we are actually laying the foundation of a better life.

This program of recovery holds promises for us that will be fulfilled as long as we are willing to do the work.

Today I will not be discouraged by the frustrations I face because I believe the promise that my life will continue to get better.

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

So often I have listened to everyone else’s truth and tried to make it mine.

~ Liane Cordes ~

Being different from others was so painful in our youth. We wanted to belong, to look like our friends, to think like them, to be like them in every way. We wanted them to share our dreams and opinions. Rather than risk that they wouldn’t, we mimicked them. Who were we? We seldom knew, because it depended on who we were with.

That is still a problem for many of us. Fortunately, our friends in this recovery program do not expect us to share their opinions unless they fit us too. Listening to another woman’s truth honors her. Taking her truth as our own, when it isn’t, dishonors both of us. This program teaches us respect if we are willing students. To be praised, rather than judged, for our integrity, even when it means we are different, is a refreshing and humbling experience.

I will listen to my truth today and respect everyone else’s too. I am not here to judge, but to honor and love.

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

My mental health is improving

For some time before I hit bottom, I struggled to cope with stress and painful emotions. Drugs and alcohol did not help me. But I couldn’t admit any of this. To do so would have meant facing failure, feeling out of control, feeling "crazy"—even though I was doing the best I could, holding my life together on my own.

Perhaps I was in denial about my dual illnesses. But through therapy, psychological education, and personal support, I am learning that mental health is a matter of degrees. I am learning about myself, and learning coping skills. I am putting my life back together, making it work even better than before.

I will take five minutes to meditate on the ways I am OK.

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

Experiences are savings which a miser puts aside.
Wisdom is an inheritance....

~ Karl Kraus ~

One day a teacher placed a jar on his desk and a pile of rocks. He asked his students to fill the jar. When they were done, the teacher asked if the jar was filled. “Yes," the students replied.

Then the teacher placed on his desk a bucket of small pebbles. “Please fill the jar with these,” he told them, and the students did so. “Now,” he asked, “is the jar full?" “Yes,” the students answered, but with hesitation.

The teacher then placed a bucket of sand on his desk, “Please fill the jar with the sand,” he told them. The students placed a scoop of sand into the jar, which settled in between the rocks and pebbles. “Is the jar full?” the teacher asked. The students remained silent. So the teacher placed a bucket of water on his desk, and the students watched the teacher fill the jar with water.

Your experiences can be seen as the rocks, pebbles, sand, and water. You use each at some point in your life to make decisions and expand your knowledge. Bui il is wisdom that enables you to see that all of your experiences, when placed together in unity, bring about the greatest understanding.

Today I will draw from all of my experiences for greater wisdom

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

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without a much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it—but all that had gone before.

~ Jacob Riis ~

Many times we may hear at a meeting that the length of time in the program isn't as important as the quality of the work we do. Someone with five years of recovery isn't necessarily healthier than someone with three years of recovery.

No one accomplishes everything within a mere amount of time. The greatest achievements are the results of accumulated experience, maturity, and the application of healthy principles.

Today is just a brief entry in our daily journals of recovery. What we do tonight may not draw all the loose ends of our lives together, but may tighten one or two a little more. Tomorrow holds great promise for us if we can see it as another page in our lives instead of as the whole book.

Higher Power, help me forget my destination and remember instead the joy of journeying toward that place.

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

Avoiding greed

Greed enslaves us to material things and diverts our values from the spiritual. As lust binds us to the animal plane, greed binds us to the material plane. We start to worship possessions. We begin to place love for the material before love for all living things or for our Higher Power. Greed can harden our conscience and become the greatest of slave drivers.

As we work to be free from drugs, we must work to be free from greed or we will always be slaves. Greed will make us into liars, hypocrites, robbers, bribers, and extortionists. Living like that, we cannot stay clean and sober for long.

Have I stopped being so materialistic?

Higher Power, in your infinite mercy show me that material greed will only enslave me. Set me free.

Today I will give the following material thing away

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

My tidiness, and my untidiness, are full of regret and remorse and complex feelings.

~ NATALIA GINZBURG ~

Newcomer

Even though I've done steps Four through Nine, my defects haven't all disappeared. Now that I've started doing Step Ten, just taking a few minutes once a day for a "spotcheck," what comes up isn't new. For the most part, it's stuff that I've had problems with for a long time. Am I ever going to change?

Sponsor

If you think about how much you've changed already, you'll get some idea of what an unstoppable process recovery is for those who stay committed to it.

We may unconsciously cling to some of our defects because of positive things they do for us. Perhaps they keep us in familiar situations, protecting us from having to try new approaches. Perhaps they serve to ward other people off so that we don't have to face them. Perhaps we're hoping that we won't have to do anything ourselves to address our limiting characteristics-that somehow, in time, they'll just go away.

We can think of our so-called defects as challenges. Our discomfort is a source of information: it reveals that there are things our Higher Power wants us to work through over time.

Today, I let my daily inventory inform me of what I want to change. I make small changes today.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

All men eventually die, it might he said that we live to die. The way we die is usually the way we live. Dying is the last thing we do on this earth, but certainly we do not live just to die. Living would not be worthwhile if that were so.

The only worthwhile purpose of living is that those whose lives we come in contact with will be enriched thereby. If you live so that others will live more abundantly then you are performing the purpose of your little life.

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

Burden No Longer

Lord, take away this ache in my heart. I know I have asked this of You before. This ache consumes my every waking moment, haunts my dreams, weakens my spirit. I pray You take this from me so the burden is no longer my own, but ours together. I have wasted enough energy and am ready to turn it over to You completely. I believe in You and Your will for me.

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

WHEN

When your knees are knocking together, and you do not know which way to turn—think of God and His goodness.

When prosperity seems out of the question—give thanks for God's abundance.
When you want peace of mind—dwell upon the Presence of God.
When your health is under par—speak the healing Word.
When you need inspiration—browse through the Bible.
When the situation seems to need a miracle—remember that nothing is too difficult for God, and that He is He is performing miracles every day.

I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee (Joshua 1:5).

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

About Time

Get over it.

~ from the song, “Get Over It,” by The Eagles ~

Ben Cohen and Shoshana Hadad had a rude awakening when the State of Israel told them their marriage was not legal because Shoshana's noble ancestor married a peasant—in 580 B.C. That’s a 2,5OO-year punishment!

Have you been punishing yourself or someone else for something that happened a long time ago? Any payoff you perceive for hording a grudge is an illusion; there is no value, only a weighty price. A friend of mine in chiropractic school showed me a diagram of what happens to a human body in the throes of anger or rage. All kinds of chemicals are released into the system that exact a heavy toll on our health and vitality.
A Course in Miracles tells us that true forgiveness is a “selective forgetting." our pain comes not from what happened to us in the past, but from holding on to painful memories. It is within our power to release the thoughts that trouble us. The course also reminds us, “I can elect to change thoughts that hurt."

Jesus was asked, "How many times should we forgive—seven?” Jesus's answer was clear: "seventy times seven,” meaning just keep on letting go. We must remember that forgiveness is more of a gift to ourselves than to the person we are forgiving.

Today, declare liberation day. open the prison door, and ret the war of fear end.

Give me the willingness to let go. Let me perceive no value in holding hurtful thoughts. I want to be free.

I release the past and get on with my life.