Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - January

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January 27

Step by Step

Today, “Let Go and Let God” does not absolve me from responsibility for being alcoholic and from participation in my redemption from the damage and pain to others of my drinking days. “Let Go and Let God” commands that I turn my will over to my Higher Power for knowledge of HIS will for me and “the power to carry (it) out.” It does not give me the easy out by expecting God to do it for me. In accepting a role in my recovery instead of expecting it to come to me by reading the Big Book and going to meetings, I understand that sobriety is a two-level process. On the surface, I cannot drink; on a deeper level, I cannot expect a fundamental change in spiritual and emotional conditions that comes solely by not drinking. I am responsible for my condition as an alcoholic; likewise, I am responsible for my recovery. “Let Go and Let God” does not dismiss me from either responsibility. Today, I “Let Go and Let God” by surrendering MY self-will and listening for my High Power to show me HIS will and how to carry it out. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

REGRETS

Opportunities flit by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone.

~ Jerome K Jerome ~

All of us have things we regret. But when regret takes possession of our thoughts and lives, we are in trouble. There’s nothing wrong with playing the “what if’ game, as long as it remains a game.

“What if I had chosen a different career? What if I hadn’t (or had) married? What if I had traveled more? Where and who would I be today?” These are questions we all ask ourselves.

But the answer to unhappiness today doesn’t lie in past decisions. If we think it does, we’re ignoring the fact that each day is a new beginning. To concentrate on lost opportunities or to wish the past was different opens the door to despair. All we can do is the best we can do at any given moment.

Perhaps my life would have been different had I made different choices, but can I really say it would have been better? Who I am today is the person with whom I have to deal.

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

When we see men overdoing their masculinity, we can assume that they . . . are scared that they aren’t manly enough.

~ Frank Pittman ~

Masculinity is a wonderful thing. It is part of a man’s inner feeling of self-esteem, and it has a wide scope. It’s the feeling that we can protect and provide for ourselves, our family, and our loved ones; that we are tough when we need to be tough, standing up to difficult challenges; that we are true to our word, loving, and honorable.

As young boys we had boyish ideas about masculinity. Normally, children have uncomplicated ideas about life. But boys don’t know manhood until they are there. And some of us didn’t have adult men that we were close to; we couldn’t know intimately what grown men were like. So we reached manhood almost as outsiders, still trying to fulfill our boyish ideas. We worked extra hard to fulfill the simple stereotypes of manhood. That’s why we sometimes exaggerated our behavior like perpetual adolescents, always anxious about whether our masculinity was measuring up.

We don’t need to be anxious about our masculinity. When we are comfortable that we are man enough, that we have arrived, there is no need to prove anything.

Today I value my masculinity and accept myself as a good man, just as I am.

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

In analysis, as I have known it, you are confronted by your qualities and cannot disown them, though you may try to.

~ Florida Scott-Maxwell ~

We aren’t all in formal analysis, but this Twelve Step program does introduce us to the personal inventory. In this exercise of introspection, we come to know ourselves. We often don’t like who we see, but until we have acknowledged her, we are unable to change the specifics of our behavior.

Blaming other people and the “unlucky” circumstances of our lives for all our troubles is deeply rooted in who we are. But coming to believe that accepting full responsibility for ourselves will empower us, even when we are guilty of wrongdoing, is a major step forward.

Looking squarely at ourselves and owning all of who we are may not make us proud, but it does make us honest and humble. We have to be both, first, if we ever hope to forge the qualities that will make us proud.

Today I will reveal qualities that I like very much. If some that I don’t like surface, I won’t deny them; I will correct them.

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

I am willing to get help

I was afraid to ask for help at first, because I was afraid to learn that I was indeed sick. Then I was afraid that my employer and friends would find out. I couldn’t accept having an addiction and an emotional illness. In the meantime, my problems kept getting worse.

But now that I have managed to begin my dual recovery, I can see that to be willing to ask for help, I first had to hit bottom. I had to believe that it would be more painful not to change. Today I attend treatment and my Twelve Step group twice a week. I am doing the best I can and I am getting better—with help.
I will practice trusting my helpers and pray for courage to continue my dual recovery.

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

It is the act of forgiveness that opens up the only possible way to think creatively about the future at all.

~ Father Desmond Wilson ~

Today is full of endless possibilities and dreams. In many cases, we are limited only by our fear and lack of hope, in ourselves and others. Each new day we are given a clean page to live in our book of life.

What freedom we find when we choose to practice the art of forgiveness. Forgiving ourselves and others will allow us to step into this new day as free human beings. What can really hurt us in the present if we have the key to daily forgiveness? What could our friend, boss, or enemy possibly say that would be worth the emotional price of ongoing resentment?

Freedom is a gift we give ourselves every time we choose not to react to a hurtful comment. Holding on to old resentments keeps our creative energy trapped and stifled. Our choices are these: new freedom or old resentment. We choose new freedom. It is the gift we give ourselves when we choose not to let the sun rise on yesterday’s script.

Today let me forgive everyone and anything — past and present — that might distract me from, my spiritual growth.

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

Hurry up and learn patience.

~ Wes Smith ~

When he was in his mid-80s, cellist Pablo Casals would play his instrument for more than five hours each day. Someone once asked him why, at his age and with his expertise, he still worked so hard. “Because,” he replied, “I have a notion that I am making some progress.”

No matter your age, you may feel that you have accomplished little in life. You may reflect upon the years when you drank or drugged and feel deep regret over all the time you let slip by.

Be patient as you learn and grow in recovery. Do what you can, when you can. Try not to rush ahead too fast, nor look behind too long. When you feel you are progressing more slowly than you would like, trust that you are making progress. Each step you take leads you closer to where you would like to be. Each goal you set makes your dreams and desires that much more attainable. Live as Casals did—no matter your age or where you are in life, know that there is still time left for you to learn and achieve so much more.

Today I will not regret the time that I have lost. Instead, I will trust that I am exactly where I need to he—at this moment

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

Iron rusts from disuse, water loses its purity from stagnation . . . even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.

~ Leonardo da Vinci ~

After a long day of working or doing errands, we may want to sit and not do a thing. But although our bodies may be physically tired, our minds may be just the opposite.

If we’re plagued by tired, cranky thoughts after a day’s activity, we might discover our minds are too hooked into our feelings. We can separate the mind from the body and learn to chase away stinking thinking. We might treat our tired bodies to a bath while we treat our minds to a good book. While we’re soaking our feet or resting in an easy chair, we can put on some music. Or we can put aside the hectic pace of the day and throw our creative energies into preparing a new recipe.

There are countless ways to wake up our minds even if our bodies are tired. Instead of collapsing in front of the television or eating junk food, we can change our focus. We can tune out the signals of the day and turn on our minds.

Did I exercise my mind tonight?

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

Finding joy

In the revelation of life (not in booze, pills, or junk) our first joy is the very fact that we are alive. Next, we find gladness and joy in our daily activities and accomplishments.

Soon we discover the joy of service to others. Later our happiness widens when we learn to share the joys of our brothers and sisters. And finally, we find joy in our Higher Power.

Am I finding joy?

Higher Power, may I experience joy in the world around me, joy in being myself.

Today I will look for the joy in

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

I took the portion that was given to me and gave it to him.

~ THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD ~

Newcomer

Are there any rules about how to find a sponsor?

Sponsor

Some meetings have interim sponsorship programs. An interim sponsor works with a newcomer temporarily—a few weeks to a few months—while he or she looks for a regular long-term sponsor. Sometimes, an interim sponsor becomes the newcomer’s regular sponsor, if they both agree to it.

Long-term sponsorship is a relationship of trust, one that’s likely to have a significant impact on the process of recovery. It’s not a good idea to choose impulsively. When we attend meetings, we listen closely as people qualify or share. We’ll hear people who have the serenity and sober experience we ourselves want. If we hear someone we think we’d like to ask to be our sponsor, we try phoning or going out for coffee with him or her first. We take a little time. We soon know whether or not we have the willing-ness to share and to listen. We sense whether this is someone whose guidance we can trust.

Sponsors should have a minimum of one year of recovery. It’s suggested that a sponsor’s gender not be that of his or her sponsee’s sexual preference; for example, a heterosexual woman generally shouldn’t choose a heterosexual male sponsor. It’s a suggestion, not a rule, meant to keep the way clear, so that sponsors and sponsees don’t get distracted from their goal. The goal is continued, quality recovery—for both the sponsor and the sponsee.

Today, I welcome a sponsor-sponsee relationship that encourages and supports my recovery.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We alcoholics are the world’s greatest squanderers. During our drinking days we squandered our money, our health, our time, our intellect, our reputations, in fact everything—not for a purpose but to make ourselves oblivious to the fact that we were doing so.

We who have accepted the AA way of living must never give up our old habit but we should learn to spend ourselves for a constructive purpose.

That purpose is to help the other alcoholic. We are the best qualified people in the world for the job. Years of conditioning and thousands of dollars went into the process of making us experts. We have no other means of atoning for the past, no other way of showing our appreciation for the Grace of God which saved us, but to squander ourselves for this world-needed purpose.

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

1) Do you really want to give up the defect? Or do you just want to give up the result of the defect?

2) Our reprieve from using is a daily grace contingent upon a spiritual base.

3) The greatest mistake you can make is to be continually fearing you will make one.

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

The Gifts I Ask

These are the gifts I ask of Thee,
Spirit Serene:
Strength for the daily task,
Courage to face the road,
Good cheer to help me
Bear the traveler’s load;
And for the hours that come between,
An inward joy in all things heard and seen.

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

THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS

It is an unbreakable mental law that you have to forgive others if you want to demonstrate over your difficulties and to make any real spiritual progress.

The vital importance of forgiveness may not be obvious at first sight, but you may be sure that it is not by chance that every great spiritual teacher from Jesus Christ downward has insisted so strongly upon it.

You must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in your heart—and that is the long and short of it. You do this, not for the other person’s sake, but for your own sake, Resentment, condemnation, anger, desire to see someone punished and things that rot your soul. Such things fasten you r troubles to you with rivets. They fetter you to many other problems that actually have nothing whatever to do with the original grievances themselves.

Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that yea are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing (1 Peter 3:9)

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

Money Love

The closed fist locks up heaven, but the open hand is the key of mercy.

~ Hindu proverb ~

Milton Petrie was a wealthy entrepreneur who knew what to do with his money. Each morning, Milton and his wife would read the newspaper to see who had been the victim of a crime or disaster, and then the Petrie’s would help them. One morning, the couple read about a beautiful model who had been viciously assaulted by several men who gashed her face many times, leaving her with huge, gaping scars and ruining her budding career. I saw a heart-rending photo of this young woman with a Frankenstein-like face. Milton Petrie called her to his office and promised her $20,000 a year for the rest of her life. She used her gift to restore her skin to its former beauty and renew her career.

The purpose of money is to extend love, celebrate abundance, and support each other. The more we try to hoard, protect, or withhold money, the more it slips away from us and becomes a source of pain and contention. The more we use money to make each other happy, the greater our own flow of joy becomes.

We do not have to be millionaires to enjoy the blessings of giving love through money. Leaving a larger-than-usual tip at a restaurant, sending an “I love you” greeting card, or simply not arguing over money matters are ways we can use money to enhance our experience of love. In the long run, it will not be our bank accounts that we remember, but the kindness we gave and received.

Abundant God, help me use money to serve love’s purpose.

Every dollar I spend expands love and returns to me multiplied.