Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - May

[bluidkiti]

May 15

Step by Step

Today, no immersing myself so deeply into service or 12th-Step work that I neglect my own basic needs. To put into anything the passion I spent on drinking, I will predictably suffer the same outcome of physical, emotional and spiritual emptiness - and resentment. While we are called by the 12th Step to commit ourselves to service, the quality of that service will be negligible if I have not reserved enough of myself to offer something worth giving. Today, I will guard against becoming too hungry, angry, lonely and tired - HALT - to assure that I can be the best of what the 12th Step asks of us - an effective carrier of the message. Today, I will listen to the message again. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

ESCAPING DULLNESS

Men are disturbed not by things but by the views they take of them.

~ Epictetus ~

If everyone in recovery followed the principles of our 12 Step program exactly the same way, sharing would be dull and boring. The Steps are constant, but each of us in recovery work them differently, to whatever degree gives us the most serenity and spiritual growth.

If all of us lived the guiding principles of recovery by habit, mechanically, without thinking, the routine would become uninteresting and tiring. We must not be afraid of adding new ideas that work for us to the tried-and-true manner of thinking we find in our Fellowship. Using our imagination properly will keep recovery continuously fresh and rewarding.

Even “far-out” ideas can be useful to me if they inspire thinking and prevent complacency.

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

There is no smaller package in the world than that of a person all wrapped up in himself.

~ William Sloane Coffin ~

In self-centeredness, we are trapped within the con-fines of our own skin. It is a self-indulgence that stifles and chokes our emotional development by continuously turning us back into our own limitations, pain, and fears. The grandiose feeling of superiority is not the only way that self-centeredness grabs and holds us; feelings of shame and self-pity can also trap us. To liberate ourselves from these traps, we first get acquainted with them and name the feelings, which gives us some power over them. Next, we get outside ourselves by reaching out to help someone else who is genuinely in need.

When we have a cause or a purpose greater than our own selfish goals, we escape the boundaries of our self. That’s the spiritual move toward participating in the larger whole.

Today I will help someone simply out of generosity, or I will help with a cause that’s greater than myself.

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

I have always been sort of quiet and kept my thoughts to myself. I have looked to “the Man upstairs” and he has provided the answer.

~ Phyllis Elliott ~

Looking to one’s Higher Power for guidance is a tool we are using with greater ease as we continue our journey in recovery. Many of us came into this program with little or no belief in God. Coming to believe in a caring God, one who will gently guide us through every circumstance, does not happen overnight. Fortunately, God is patient.

Trying to figure out how to live our lives— including what job to take, what person to choose as a mate, what opinions to have—was difficult when we didn’t know we had a Higher Power to turn to. And, as a result, we made many unfortunate decisions. But making decisions today no longer needs to be a problem. For every situation we have the answer we need and it rests with God. In the quiet places in our minds we will discover what our Higher Power thinks is best for us. We can either follow the guidance or ignore it. But it will be there for us.

I will ask God to help me with the easy as well as the hard decisions I face today. Relying on God will make my life much more serene.

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

I need to keep trying

Right now, I don’t much care. I’ve been straight and had slips. I’ve been stable and had setbacks. I’m tired of getting up and falling down. Lately it feels like I’m losing control again. I’m afraid I have a long way to go in my recovery.

And yet now that I know what recovery feels like, I know I want it, and I know how to get there. I know, too, that if I think about past events too much, I may get discouraged and do nothing. It’s hard to accept that recovery is a process−but I want to get back on track. I will not quit trying.

Today I will attend a dual recovery meeting and contact my sponsor (or therapist) for extra support.

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

Iron rusts from, disuse; stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.

~ Leonardo Da Vinci ~

Being idle is so easy, sometimes we want to make it a full-time job. Our lives are filled with getting to and from places, with work, with family and friends, with obligations and requirements and rules to remember. When we have spare time, we’re tempted to just sit back and take it easy. But this can be habit-forming, and soon the easy way is the only way we’re willing to go. It’s too cold to go to a meeting. It’s too much work to call our sponsor. We’ve put in a full day; now it’s time to relax and take it easy. The television comes on. It’s too much trouble to read, to think, to change.

This attitude is dangerous for us. In recovery, there’s no standing still. We either go forward or we go backward.

When we become more active, we soon discover we feel more alive, vital, and stronger, more excited about life, happier, and more fulfilled. We look forward to prayer and meditation, eager to commune with our Higher Power and feel His peace. There is so much to know, so much to see, so much to do in the world, and every minute of every day is our chance to be part of it. In time, we find ourselves looking forward to doing all we can do and becoming all we can become.

Today help me take advantage of all that life offers me

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

The Hares and the Frogs

One day the hares were discussing how they could hardly ever relax because of their fear of other animals.

Just then they felt the earth tremble and saw a herd of wild horses stampeding their way. They scampered about in a panic and soon were trapped near the edge of a lake. They decided they would rather leap into the lake and drown themselves than continue living in a state of perpetual panic. But just as they were about to leap, they startled some frogs that promptly hopped into the water.

The hares scanned the lake and saw that the frogs had disappeared. “Perhaps,” said one hare, “things are not as bad as they seem.”

The moral of the story: There is always someone worse off than you.

There are many others who are facing their own set of difficulties and challenges. To think that you are the only one who has problems, what you are going through is unique, or no one could possibly understand the hardships you face minimizes the needs of others. The program is for the good of all, not for the good of one. Rather than stay locked in your own mind-set and bemoan what you are facing, reach out to others.

I will remember there are others who also require attention, comfort, and care.

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

We owe to our first journeys the discovery that place is nothing. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern Fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical fact that I fled from.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Many times we may not like what we are thinking or feeling or the way we are acting. We may try to run away, hoping a geographical move, or new job, or new set of friends will make being with ourselves more bearable. Yet no matter how we change our environment or lifestyle, those changes will not change us.

We can become more bearable by changing from within. If we don't like the way we think, perhaps we can take one minute tonight and think positive thoughts. If we don't like the way we act, we can begin changing our behaviors. By changing from within, we will deal with the reasons why we want to run from ourselves. We will change the person we are running from.

I can stop running and start looking at myself. How can I make myself more likable to me?

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

Giving it away each day

Talent, heroism, and personal beauty. Although society admires such qualities, they don’t count much when it comes to our all- important Twelfth Step work. This work draws on all our talents and powers, but in ways that are subtle, warm, and personal.

With the help of our Higher Power, we develop the power to soothe, suggest, endure, and love. The Step Twelve encounters that happen every day are more important than the work of the statesman or hero. Our program exists and grows through the giving of Step Twelve.

Do I give it away each day?

Higher Power, help me to see the joy of being loving and self-sacrificing.

Today I will practice giving by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

A certain amount of distrust is wholesome, but not so much of others as of ourselves.

~ MADAME NECKER ~

Newcomer

I’ve always had a hard time asking people for things. Asking someone to hear my Fifth Step seems like placing such a burden on them.

Sponsor

Helping other members of this fellowship to achieve freedom from addiction is part of our primary purpose. Speaking and listening to other human beings whose journey resembles ours is one of the principal ways that we maintain our recovery. Being asked to hear a Fifth Step is usually regarded as a gift, not a burden.

Asking for help is a wonderful exercise in humility. It asks us to give up our idea that we’re responsible for every-thing. It asks us to trust other adults to take care of them-selves, to trust that if hearing the Step isn't feasible for them at this time, they’ll say so. It asks us to give up our idea that we’re unique and not capable of being understood, let alone forgiven, by anyone else. It asks us to let other people be close to us.

Step Five dissolves the sense of separation, both for the person sharing and for the person listening. Chances are that neither will ever forget the experience.

Today, a Power greater than myself is with me in all my exchanges with others.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

There is such an abundance of religions, sects, creeds and cults, that it is little wonder that many thousands of non-alcoholics have thrown up their hands in disgust and proceeded to ignore them all. The poor confused alcoholic certainly could not be expected to wade through this maze of contradictions.

To them the simplicity of the AA program has been its greatest attraction. Here they have been asked only to seek a God of their understanding and to accept a spirituality based on common sense and universally accepted moral standards.

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

TIME SOMEBODY TOLD ME

Time somebody told me
That I am lovely, good, and real.
That my beauty could make hearts stand still.

Time somebody told me
That my love is total and so complete,
That my mind is quick and full of wit,
That my loving is just too good to quit.

Time somebody told me
How much a person wants, loves, and needs me,
How much my spirit helps set that person free,
How my eyes shine full of the white light,
How good it feels just to hold me tight.
Time somebody told me.

So I had a talk with myself,
Just me, nobody else,
Cause it was time somebody told me.

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

GOD IS NOT BECOMING

God is infinite perfection and he is not concerned with our limited ideas about time and space and matter.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones (Isaiah 57:15).

God is not progressing or improving. What improves is our understanding of Him, and as this happens all our conditions necessarily improve too. There never was a time in your history when God was not all that He is today, and there never can come a time when God will be any more then He is today.

God is continually expressing Himself in new ways−but this is not improvement; it is unfoldment. Your life is simply part of this unfoldment, and that is the only reason for your existing at all. You are the living expression of God now−and to understand this is salvation.

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

A Better Deal

When one door shuts, another opens. He that would struggle with the world, and bear up in adversity, ought still to resolve not to be discouraged, for resolution is the mother of fortitude, and... very much conducive to our deliverance.

~ Samuel Palmer ~

While searching for an office to rent, I found an attractive space for a reasonable fee. I had a few reservations about the place—it was at a noisy intersection and the rooms were small—but I needed to move in a short time, and the quarters seemed adequate. I told the Realtor I would take it, but when I did not hear from him after a few days, I called to remind him that we had a deadline and we needed to get the lease signed. He assured me that everything was in order, and not to worry. Another week passed and I called again, with the same response. Finally, a few days before the first of the month, I told him we could no longer wait for a confirmation. He sheepishly informed me that the owner did not want to rent to me; he had looked at some of my writings and did not like my philosophy. I felt insulted and outraged. "That sounds like discrimination to me!” I righteously claimed.

The Realtor tried to defend the position, but it was clear there was nothing he could do. My mind raced with anger as I felt I had been deceived and mistreated. Meanwhile, and inner voice said, “No use getting upset; this is all working on your behalf.” While driving home, I decided to take a scenic route, where I saw a storefront with a large "For Rent' sign in the window. The landlady was a lovely woman who had sold tea and held tai chi classes in the space, which was large, beautiful, inexpensive, surrounded by green life, and minutes from my home—in every way superior to the place I had lost. I rented the space, and we have been happy there ever since.

Nothing is withheld or taken away from us unless something better is in store. Remember this, and bitterness will fly away forever.

Help me trust that Your wisdom is operating behind the scenes at ail times.

I have no use for sorrow. God is in charge of my well-being.