Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - February

[bluidkiti]

February 3

Step by Step

Today, no self-destruction by believing I do not deserve the benefits of the program and recovery. If I am carrying into today the guilt, remorse and regret of yesterday, their strength lies in sabotaging my progress toward sobriety and in setting me up for failure, i.e., relapse. But my program of admission, surrender and service has empowered me with confidence, courage and strength, each endowed by a Higher Power, and they are powerful enough to assure me that I am worth the gift of recovery. Today, by virtue of returning from the abyss, I am earning worthiness. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

K.I.S.S.

Keep it simple, stupid!

~ Anonymous ~

When we were using, our addicted minds were too clever for their own good. They told us lies. They told us that we knew things we didn’t, that we were strong when we weren’t. The addicted mind tried to analyze recovery and find its fatal flaws. That way it could return to addiction with all the reasons why the Program can’t and shouldn’t work. But the Program doesn’t have its foundation in this type of reasoning. Its foundation is faith, and faith defies reason. Reason is complicated. Faith is very simple.

Our addictions are clever, baffling, powerful, and very patient. Our Program disciplines this addiction with the simple truth. We fight the addiction with honesty. Our Program has revealed to us that truth is not complicated. It is simple. We should not dress the truth up in fancy clothes.

I want to keep it simple, just as it is. I won’t use my clever mind to twist the truth. My Program tells me that I need to keep it simple, just as I found it.

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

Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance of success.

~ Vaclav Havel ~

We are not following the way of the mainstream. Our troubles required us to follow a path of healing and recovery that most of our community and society may not need to follow. A strong message in the world today says that success, in and of itself, is wonderful. On our path, we are always concerned about who we are, not just what we do. We always ask, what is the moral good in our choices? We don’t only ask, will it work? Financial success at the expense of our sobriety, serenity, or self-respect is won at far too high a price.

On this path, we ask ourselves daily how we are doing on the moral scale for our lives. Do our choices and our work help create something that is good? Are we following our values or are we just trying to get ahead? Do we treat everyone the way we want to be treated? Are we kind and respectful to the weak as well as the strong? Do we speak the truth when it is called for?

Today I will work for that which is good and leave success in the hands of my Higher Power.

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

Edge up against your pain and give it a name.

~ Patricia Benson ~

Dwelling on our pain is unproductive and can heighten our anxieties. However, we do need to identify the pain, give it attention, and then be willing to let it go. Naming it sheds light on it, preventing the pain from living in the shadows where it remains free to haunt us.

Life is never wholly free from struggle and pain. As part of the human community, we learn significant lessons, and our willingness to experience the journey may sometimes appear directly related to the amount of pain we have suffered. But letting our steps be guided by our Higher Power, instead of fearfully resisting that Power, will make our lessons easier to learn and our journey smoother.

When the pain-filled moments come, as they may today, we can remember to acknowledge them und give them over to the One who has all power.

Today I will recognize my pain if it comes, and I will take responsibility for my part in it. It will leave when I do my part and let my Higher Power do the rest.

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

I still want to feel my emotions

For a while it hurt so bad that I couldn’t stand it anymore—anger, then rage, abandonment, crying myself to sleep, then emptiness. Yet, now that I’m finally on medication I feel almost nothing. It’s as though the switch to my emotions were shut off. I’m numb.

Medication is a therapy I now know I need. But if I am overmedicated, flattened out, I have no emotions to work on and it’s hard to care about anything. As painful as it has been, I do not want to feel numb. I still want to feel my emotions, even if some of them still hurt.

I will call my doctor promptly, tell him what’s going on, and ask about an adjustment in my medication.

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

A man may fall many times but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.

~ Elmer G. Letterman ~

“I’m such a failure, I might as well drink!” Feelings of failure are powerful excuses to do any number of self-destructive things. The sad part is, most of us set our expectations so high that falling short is virtually guaranteed. Or we’re so afraid of taking risks, we never get the chance to find out what would happen if we tried something new.

A 45-year-old woman decides to go back to college and halfway through finds she can’t continue. She’s so busy that she’s too tired to go to as many meetings as she’d like. So she drops out of school. Is she a failure? No — she’s honest (“I can’t do it all”). She’s brave (“I tried”). She’s sober (“I need my meetings”). And she’s smart (“This stress is going to kill me if I don’t make some changes”).

All we can do in life is try. Be honest and try. No excuses, no blaming, just try. All those so-called failures are notches of courage on our souls. And each notch brings us new peace and wisdom.

Today let me not consider myself a failure if I don’t get everything 1 go after. Help me feel proud to have tried.

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

The biggest lesson I’ve learned… was that if you have all the fresh water you want to drink and all the food you want to eat, you ought never to complain about anything.

~ Eddie Rickenbacker ~

When the airplane he was piloting was shot down during World War II, Eddie Rickenbacker spent nearly twenty- one days floating in a life raft in the ocean. He was hungry, thirsty, and uncomfortable. He lived from day to day, having no idea whether he would survive. After he was rescued, he focused on the very basics in life and lived each day grateful for a second chance.

Are you content, or are you looking for something bigger and better? Are you grateful for challenges, which strengthen your commitment, or are you trying to find an easier path?

It has been said that money can buy a bed but not a good night’s sleep, books but not intelligence, a house but not a home, and amusement but not happiness. You can attain a deeper level of happiness and satisfaction in life by following this simple tenet: Keep it simple. Use this phrase to maintain focus whenever you find you have lost sight of the simple blessings you have been given.

Today I will be satisfied with what I have and what I have been given.

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

Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed. . . .

~ Joshua 1:9 ~

It has been said when we are at the end of our rope, we can do one of three things: let go, tie a knot and hang on, or splice the rope and begin again. Whenever we feel there’s nowhere to go but down and nobody to turn to, that’s when we can start all over again. If we can learn to look beyond the end of something, we’ll always see an exciting, fresh beginning.

At the end of every storm is calm. At the end of every argument is silence. At the end of one relationship there is another. Although life is composed of many endings, there are just as many new beginnings. “Life goes on” is even assured by the passage of time—at the end of each minute there’s another.

Nights may have many endings, but they will also have just as many beginnings. Just as the sun will set, so the moon will rise and the stars will appear. Just as the day’s activities will end, so the evening’s activities will begin. And when those activities are over, there will be new experiences the next day.

I can be unafraid of endings because I know they are only the first half of beginnings.

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

Practicing what we know

Our Higher Power does not expect us to live what we do not know or do not yet under-stand. But we can gain understanding by ap-plying what we know day by day. (When we turn our backs on what we already know, then we stumble.)

We already know that drinking and using only block our way. When should we begin applying what we already know? Today. For today is the only day we have.

Do I practice what I know?

Higher Power, help me apply what I know and not turn my back on my program of recovery.

I will practice what I know today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

For extreme illnesses, extreme treatments are necessary.

~ HIPPOCRATES ~

Newcomer

I keep hearing people refer to this problem as a disease. I’m not sure I buy that. I’ve stopped, haven’t I?

Sponsor

The “disease debate” reminds me of the old saying, “If it looks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck—then it must be a duck.”

We know from experience that our addiction, untreated, is a craving so powerful that we have no choice but to put it first, before our goals and ideals, before work, health, and love. Willpower and promises may curb our addictive use for brief periods, but our physical craving and mental obsession return. Lives are shattered in the process. Some of us die.

Yet we persist in thinking that our addictive behavior is a moral issue. If we could just pull ourselves together, we could stop for good. Good intentions and inspirational messages haven’t worked for us, but we try them again and again. We forget that recovery isn’t about stopping, but about staying stopped.

We can look at it as good news that we have a disease. Accepting this helps us become willing to make the radical changes in our spiritual, mental, and physical lives that are required for our survival. We’re grateful for the “medicine” of meetings, literature, phone calls, sponsorship, and service. It’s helping us create new, healthy selves.

Today, I’m grateful for the lifesaving principles of this program.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

To shut off from our minds the re-collections of unpleasant yesterdays is of course impossible, but we can refuse to dwell on them unnecessarily, or to lash the present with the cruel whip of the past.

It was in the past that remorse, resentments and self-pity were found, but now we are doing our level best to lose them in order to insure a happy and sober present. Close the gate—we have passed through it.

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

1) Alcoholism is a disease of denial.

2) When I am grate-full, I am grace-filled.

3) There are some people who learn from the mistakes of others and then there are the rest of us.

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

The Right Road

Dear God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I am actually doing so.
But I believe this.
I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.
I hope I have that desire in everything I do.
I hope I never do anything apart from that desire.
Lord, I’m Hurting
And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it at the time.
Therefore, I will trust You always, for though I may seem to be lost, and in the shadow of death, I will not be afraid, because I know You will never leave me to face my troubles alone.

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

OUR FATHER

Now the Lord’s says, not “My Father.” But “Our Father,” and this indicates beyond the possibility of mistake, the truth of the brotherhood of man. It forces upon our attention at the very beginning the fact that all men are the children of the Father; and that

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Here Jesus cuts away the illusion that the members of any nation, or race, or territory, or group, or class, or color, are, in the sight of God, superior to any other group.

The final point is the implied command that we are to pray not only for ourselves but for all mankind. None of us lives to himself, however we may try. In a much more literal sense than people are aware we are limbs of one body.

“Our Father”—a spiritual explosive, that will ultimately destroy every kind of human bondage.

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

Will Power

There is no try; only do.

Yoda (in The Empire Strikes Back)

“I have been going out with this guy for a while, and he is really nice to me,” Terri explained, “but I don’t feel a lot for him. When I told my girlfriend I would try to make the relationship work, she asked me, ‘Why would you want to be in a relationship that you had to try to make work? Either you are motivated or you aren’t. Trying doesn’t create juice.’ ”

If you experience strain, it is because you are moving against God’s will. God’s will is the easiest and most effortless thing to do in the world, and it is the most effective. We are empowered when we get out of the way and let God do Its will through us. We are totally disempowered when we try to impose another will over the one that Spirit would effect.
The way that most people approach “will power” is quite self-defeating. The number of broken New Year’s resolutions is testimony to the fact that personal will power is paltry. Real will power means hitching your will to God’s will and surfing on the strength of what is, rather than what you are trying to twist it into. God’s will is for health, peace, prosperity, and joy. How much struggle could be required to accomplish what Spirit would give you?

Instead of using your will to fight an uphill battle against a mammoth monster, use it to align with peace. You can be very active and effective in creating world change without bearing the lonely and impossible burden of doing it all yourself. Accept the backing of the home office, and your battle will be transformed into a dance.

I pray to be aligned with Your will. I trust You to do for me what I cannot do for myself.

The will of God is easy and powerful. I claim it now.