Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - May

[bluidkiti]

May 22

Step by Step

Today, reach into my past to measure the enormity of my present and try to grasp the scope of the life that sobriety has given me. Whereas I once was helpless, hopeless, weak, apathetic, selfish and destructive - and pathetic - today I have hope, strength, selflessness, compassion, passion and the courage born of humility to treat sobriety with awe and respect. While I cannot and do not want to live in or return to yesterday, I also do not want to forget it; its lessons can steer me from the same mistakes today. And all I have left behind and gained what I have now is through sobriety and, therefore, my sobriety is my No. 1 priority for. Without it, I have nothing except for all I pray I left behind. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris, M.

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

SEEKING PRIVACY

Let there be space in your togetherness.

~ Kahlil Gibran ~

Identifying with those who help our recovery by sharing experiences, strengths and hopes is one reason why our Program works. As we relate more closely to fellow members and our affection for them grows, we must be aware that danger lies in the belief that we all live alike.

We cannot try to possess others or work their Programs for them. Each is an individual, following the same principles in his or her way to the best of their ability and within limitations. We must always give others the privacy their recovery requires.

We remember that we are responsible for ourselves alone. Our recovery, our well-being, our happiness are all ultimately our own responsibility.

Privacy is a precious gift to all who need ample time to pray, meditate, and plan each day. Yet, in being alone with shared problems, I am never truly alone.

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

Whoever thinks that marriage is a fifty-fifty proposition doesn’t know the half of it.

~ Franklin P. Jones ~

Naturally we expect our intimate partnerships to be built on equality and mutuality. Sometimes we get so focused on the role our partner is playing that we lose focus on our own. A good intimate partnership works when we stay focused on being a worthy partner and stop keeping score.

We nourish our intimate relationship by being respectful, kind, and generous, whether or not we feel our partner is doing the same. That doesn’t mean that we never talk about what we want or hope for from our partner. It simply means that our loving attitude isn’t contingent on whether we get what we want. We know what a good partner is like, and when we provide that, it enhances the whole relationship and inspires our partner to respect us and respond in kind.

Today I will be the best partner I know how to be, regardless of what I receive.

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

When I take another’s needs into consideration and bend, I spiritually stretch.

~ Helene Lerner-Robbins ~

We have been told that this is a selfish program. Perhaps that has given us license to be inconsiderate. However, that isn’t what the founders meant by a selfish program. While it’s true that we must protect our sobriety always, it is never wrong to be kind and considerate toward others. Our kindness to someone else won’t ever make us drink! That’s what we must keep uppermost in our mind.

Along with helping us maintain abstinence, the program helps us develop a spiritual relationship that can change every aspect of our lives. Coming to believe in a Higher Power and turning to that Power for guidance and comfort allow us to experience hope in every situation. We can enhance our spiritual growth by treating others as we want God to treat us.

My spiritual growth can get a boost today if I get my ego out of the way and help someone else feel better.

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

I know who I am

I realize that I am willing to believe others’ opinions of me before my own. I am too willing to doubt myself. And whether intentionally or not, maliciously or not, people can easily be critical of me.

But now that I’ve done a Fourth and a Fifth Step, I know better what my weaknesses are (as well as my strengths). I know better what to do in order to accept myself and what to work on in order to change. I’m glad I’ve evaluated myself on my own. And I thank my higher power for giving me the strength to do so.

I will write affirmations on two of my strong points and tape them to my bathroom mirror.

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

Sometimes I feel sorry for people who don’t have a Twelve Step program to help them solve life’s problems.

~ Eleanor L. ~

Recovery helps us handle many issues that beset and befuddle other people. Whenever we hear someone say, “I’m a grateful alcoholic,” we know what they mean. We’re grateful, too. Before our addiction, lots of things bothered us. Since we started our recovery, though, we’ve learned that everybody has problems, no matter who they are or what they do. The difference is that now we have the tools and the support to help us get through.

So much of life is spent muddling through little difficulties, but we’re lucky enough to have a recovery program and Higher Power to help us handle just about anything. Now there is always a place we can go to share our thoughts, hopes, and feelings. Our problems haven’t disappeared, and we don’t expect them to. But now we have the tools and support we need to work through our problems each day.

Today I am grateful for the tools You have given me.

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

Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick.

~ Susan Sontag ~

Recovery facilitates healing much like applying salve and a bandage to a wound help healing. Such healing helps you to become more aware of the negative influences in your life so you can stop the flow of negative energy.

Healing in recovery involves learning about your dis-ease as well as becoming more aware of how this ad-diction affected you and the lives of others. Healing in recovery also involves making positive changes in your life. For example, you can assess the relationships in your life to determine if they are detrimental to your recovery.

To heal in recovery, you need to take action to bring about change. You can let go of the people, places, and things that are no longer beneficial to you and allow into your life those people and things that will encourage your healing. The program is a journey you undertake that leads you out of one land and into another. You entered the program with a passport to the kingdom of the sick and were given a passport to the kingdom of the well.

Today I have a choice between sickness and health. I choose health, and use the program to heal my sickness.

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

Sometimes I feel mad at her. Feel like I could scratch her hair right off her head. But then I think [she] got a right to live too. She got a right to look over the world in whatever company she choose. Just cause I love her don't take away none of her rights.

~ Alice Walker, The Color Purple ~

When we open ourselves up to caring, sharing, and giving, we also bare our vulnerable spots. We often hear how beautiful it is to be in love, but we also know how painful it can be.

We might not mind being in love if the other person would stop hurting us. Sometimes it seems deliberately done: coming home late for dinner, forgetting an appointment or special event, or falling asleep when we want to be intimate. We may then express our hurt in ways that will hurt the other: yelling, throwing things, hitting, running away, breaking up.

Sometimes we forget important dates or are too tired to express intimacy. lf those are our rights, then they must also be the rights of others. To truly express love, we need to have room to grow as two beautiful flowers, instead of one depriving the other of light and nourishment.

I can give space to a loved one.

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

Accepting tragedy

Even clean and sober, there may be tragic experiences in our lives. Sometimes there is just no logical explanation. Unexplained misery seems cruel, and we wonder how God can do this to God’s children. We don’t know the answers.

We know that many of our problems are of our own making. But what do we do about acts of God? It is said that our greatest burdens may also be our greatest gifts and that the most tragic experience can help us learn to be of service and at one with our Creator.

Am I capable of accepting tragedy?

I can’t, my Higher Power can—and will— if I allow it.

I will practice acceptance today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Advice is seldom welcome, and those who want it the most always like it the least.

~ LORD CHESTERFIELD ~

Newcomer

This is going to sound strange, but sometimes I get fed up with all this kindness and caring. I talked a little at a meeting about a health problem I’m dealing with—I’d already seen a doctor—and at the break, people came over to talk to me, full of sympathy and concern. One told me to go to her doctor, another told me what kind of medicine I ought to be taking. I guess they meant well, but I hated it anyway.

Sponsor

Was it kindness and caring, or just people's need to give advice? In and out of meetings, we may find ourselves subjected to others’ unsolicited opinions and advice. It’s human to want to be helpful, but sometimes true helpfulness lies in simply acknowledging that we’ve heard the other person. It takes skill to be able to let someone know we care, without trying to take over. I can understand your irritation at being inundated with advice after you’d already sought a professional opinion and treatment for your problem; perhaps you felt as if your responsible, adult behavior was being ignored.

Even in matters of recovery, not everyone with time in the program has the right answer for us. When we share our own experience instead of preaching, others can hear us more easily. According to Twelve Step tradition, it’s a pro-gram of attraction rather than promotion.

Today, I trust what my heart is telling me.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We veterans of the Alcoholic Wars that raged within ourselves can bear testimony to the fact that it was only when we called upon the God of our understanding, that peace was restored to our lives.

World Wars are but the extension of the conflicts existing in the souls of men on a world-wide basis. They, too, have as their foundation, fear, suspicion, envy, intolerance and national egotism.

There will never be a permanent peace until the Prince of Peace is admitted into the hearts of men in high places and is allowed to preside over their Conference Tables.

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

REST

Go with each of us to rest,
If we awake, temper to them the dark hours of watching;
And when the day returns, return to us,
Our Son and Comforter, and call us up with
Morning faces and with morning hearts
Eager to labor, eager to be happy
If happiness would be our portion,
And if the day be marked for sorrow,
We are strong to endure it.

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

A SIMPLIFIED LIFE

It is unquestionable that the spiritualization of thought does undoubtedly lead the student to simplify his mode of life, for so many things that previously seemed important are now found to be unimportant and uninteresting. It is unquestionable too, that he gradually finds himself meeting different people, reading different books, spending his time differently; and that his conversation naturally changes its quality. These things follow upon the change of heart; never can they precede it.

. . . old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Now we see how vain is the foolish attempt to cultivate the good opinion of other people under the impression that such a thing can be of any real advantage to us. Jesus has exposed that kind of fallacy once and for all. He says that the applause that follows upon outer acts is the only reward they ever bring, and that results worth while are only to be obtained in the Secret Place of consciousness.

. . . pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seet in secret shall reward thee openly (Matthew 6:6).

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

Now I’m Sure

Come, my friends, ‘tis not too late to seek a newer world... We are one equal temper of heroic hearts.

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~

In the film Lost Horizon, a group of air-crash survivors find their way to Shangri-La, a Utopian community high in the Himalayas where everyone lives in harmony and enjoys tremendous longevity. One of the survivors, Robert Conway, senses that he has finally come home and plans to live out his life in Shangri-La. But when some of his fellow passengers convince him that he has been deluded, he rejects the community and ventures back into his old world. It is not long before he realizes that the peace of Shangri-La was genuine and the life he attempted to regain was the illusion. Conway tries to find his way back to Shangri-La, but because the community is tucked away beyond bottomless chasms and unsurpassable blizzards, he must persevere fearlessly and tirelessly to regain the paradise he renounced. Eventually, he does locate the land of peace, and the wisdom he gained during his quest earns him a position as a leader in the community.

When we say no to love, the contrast between what the love offered us and what we tried to exchange it for is obvious. We recognize without a doubt that the good we renounced was indeed in our best interests. Then we can pursue it with a whole heart. When we regain it, we know it is ours, and we deserve it by right of our consciousness. In the big picture, perhaps we had to say no first so we could become sure of the yes we eventually declare.

Let me hearken wholeheartedly to the call of love and renounce any delusions that fear could offer me more.

Love is my refuge and my salvation. I choose it with all my heart.