Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - May

[bluidkiti]

May 16

Step by Step

"The fact is that most alcoholics ...have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically non-existent. We are unable ...to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink." - Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 2, p 24.

Today, the lie of "just one" and my defense that rests wholly on a higher power of my understanding. I need only to review with honesty my drinking history and its trail of broken bottles that were opened on the promise of "just one drink." And if the Big Book is correct that the memory of "the suffering and humiliation" of my last try at just one drink doesn't last more than a month at best, I pray for the wisdom to search beyond the impotence of my own devices to overcome any temptation. Today, that search beyond leads me to my higher power in whom I must place my trust, faith, hope and confidence to rise above temptation. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

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

BEING PRACTICAL

Theories are like the tail feathers of a rooster, highly ornamental but not much use in a high wind.

~ Arthur E. Holt ~

Theories for effective living are important, but unless we put them into action, they are worthless. The 12 Steps and the Slogans are among the theories which have been tested by millions who have put them into action. They have withstood the “high winds” of living.

Meditation on some theories may do nothing for our recovery except make us feel better. Even this is useful.

By working the kinds of behaviour and thinking in our lives that we find in theories, we make those theories into practical realities.

It is less important to look well than to be well. Theories by themselves look good. Working them makes us good.

What I ask for while I am on my knees in prayer is never as vital to me as what I do with the answers I receive once I am back on my feet.

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

Gossip needn’t be false to be evil—there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.

~ Frank A. Clark ~

To be a friend is a trust placed in us. Naturally, as we get to know someone better, and we grow closer over time, he lets us into his more private and personal world, and he does that in a spirit of trust. In a sense he is saying we may come past the fence that keeps most people out because he trusts us. Maybe he even lets us know some guarded secrets about his life. We need to be sure that we live up to the trust placed in us. Our self-respect and our character are at stake: how loyally do we honor that trust?

When we attend our meetings, we hear many things that are spoken in trust. Hearing someone’s story is a privilege and an honor and with that comes our duty to honor and protect the privacy of our fellow members. When someone takes us into his privacy, it becomes our job to protect it. If we fail to keep his trust, it reflects on us as not worthy of the honor.

Today I am grateful for the chance to know other men and women so well that they share their private lives with me. I honor that trust by protecting their privacy.

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

To avoid pain at all costs forces us to reject half the lessons life can teach.

~ Jan Pishok ~

If we could remember that every experience we’ll ever have is unique and offers us a lesson we will grow from, we’d accept them all with far greater ease. What’s to be afraid of anyway? God is never absent. In fact, God is present during every experience. Remembering this makes us courageous as we walk through the turmoil that interrupts the peaceful times.

Before coming to this program, we feared most of the situations that called to us, and understandably so. We were often trying to do the improbable without the wisdom or the guidance that might have guaranteed success. By taking the Third Step every morning of our lives, as has been suggested, we can positively influence the outcome of every experience we’ll have. Hallelujah!

I will not avoid any experience today. I’ll simply remember that God is present and that I need to know what calls to me.

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

I am right where I am supposed to be

Here I am, a few months sober, wondering if the cravings will get me, wondering if my lingering depression will drag me down, wondering what’s happening to my life.

As difficult as it is for me to accept at times, I have a dual disorder−and there are no simple answers. My tasks are to learn about my illnesses, work a program of dual recovery (including taking medication, as prescribed), and avoid relapse. The more I accept these tasks, the more I believe that my life will follow its true path.

I will carry out each activity on today’s recovery plan.

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

Anger is a short madness.

~ Horace ~

When we’re angry, our minds and bodies are completely involved. Our blood is pumping, our pulse races, our breathing is fast and furious, and our brains are on temporary hold. We are no longer rational beings. We become anger machines, ready to put up our fists and fly off the handle on a second’s notice.

In recovery, we want to be different, and learning to deal with anger is a good place to start. We’ve learned we can’t afford the luxury of split-second thinking — that’s what got us into trouble before and it’ll do it again if we let it.

How do we deal with anger? We can turn our anger over to God and we can pray or meditate to find peace. Or we can try a rational approach, working to understand the other person’s point of view. We can honestly vent our anger. Or we can simply retreat, backing away until the anger subsides and we can think more clearly. All these methods give us a chance to get our breath and think twice before flying off.

Now we don’t have to act on every feeling, or react to everything that happens. We can choose how we’ll handle our anger. And if our choice turns out to be inappropriate, we can learn from that as well.

Today let me treat my anger as a tool for growth, not as an enemy.

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

A request not to worry... is perhaps the least soothing message capable of human utterance.

~ Mignon G. Eberhart ~

There is a fine balance between worrying in a healthy way and worrying in an unhealthy manner. Healthy worry provides you with an essential alert that enables you to take appropriate action. For example, worrying about a food allergy you have can make you more rigorous in avoiding foods that would trigger a reaction. But unhealthy worry, such as obsessing about something that may or may not happen, can make you feel as if you are drowning and clinging to yourself at the same time.

Feeling nervous, anxious, or filled with dread from time to time is not unusual. But feeling such things most or all of the time can make it difficult to focus your energy anywhere else or difficult to think more rationally about your worry so you can put it in perspective.

When you take the time to figure out what you are so anxious about, you might discover that your worry is not based on a reality but on what you imagine or fear might happen. Think instead about how you could best handle a situation so it does not get to that point.

I will not spend my time today in useless worry. I will take action that will lessen my anxiety and fear.

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

If you don't have such a clear picture of what you want, you may become more humble.

~ Carlos Castaneda ~

When we were growing up, our parents often wished our career definitions would be specific: fire fighter, teacher, police officer, doctor, lawyer, nurse. Yet as we grew older, we may have questioned such cut-and-dried choices. We may have gone to college and majored in a subject not defined by a career. We may have chosen the business world for financial reason. We may have enlisted in the military or gotten married.

Who are we now? We may just be beginning to question who we are and what we want from life. We may be dissatisfied by our choices of the past and are yearning to redefine our goals.

We are changing every day. Such change has given us room to grow because our definitions of ourselves are not so clear, so rigid. Our work on Step Four teaches us to take continual inventory of ourselves. This personal inventory has enabled us to remain forever humble as we realize we are ever-changing, ever-growing persons.

Tonight I can be grateful for the freedom in which the program allows me to grow.

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

Accepting our condition

It is important to realize that we are alcoholics and drug addicts and not ex-alcoholics or ex-addicts. We accept the fact that we have a chronic illness and that no amount of “discipline” and no magic cure will change that.

We are deluding ourselves if we think we can handle “just a little.” If we say, “I used to be an alcoholic” or “I used to be a drug addict,” then we may conclude that we can drink or take drugs and still stay in control. But for us, that’s the route to despair and, perhaps, death.

Do I accept my incurable illness?

Higher Power, help me never to forget who I am, what I am, and where my salvation lies.

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) ~

In the faces of men and women I see God.

~ WALT WHITMAN ~

Newcomer

I’m nervous about Step Five. It’s already such a radical change for me to be honest with myself—which I guess is also a way of being honest with my Higher Power. Isn’t that enough? Do I have to shame myself in front of another person?

Sponsor

No, we don’t have to "shame” ourselves in front of another person; but yes, we do have to share our inventory with a human being. I’m glad that you experienced the presence of your Higher Power as you took stock of your life. Your Higher Power will also be present when you share your inventory with another person.

This exchange between two people is a sacred one. The Fifth Step requires one of us to share, the other to hear, de-tails of a past in which self-centered fear and resentment took us places we don’t want to return to. It’s an experience of intimacy: both participants know each other and themselves better when they’re through. The listener is going to hear about feelings and choices that are reminders of his or her own. A listener may respond by sharing some similar experiences with us or may simply indicate to us that we’re not unique; this helps us to put our past into perspective.

Step Five is just a beginning, a beginning of self-love and self-trust, a beginning of feelings of connection with the rest of humanity. In time, as recovery continues, we’ll be blessed by many opportunities to share ourselves honestly and deeply, whether at meetings or in conversations with trusted friends or loved ones.

Today, I'm being healed by my honest sharing and compassionate listening.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

Is revenge really sweet? Some louse has offended you, so you get even, thus offending him and becoming a louse yourself.

Do you really want revenge? Then do the guy a favour. It will hurt him deep down in his heart as nothing else can. It will be a great source of satisfaction to your wounded pride and it may be that you will be additionally rewarded by the acquisition of a friend.

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

REJECTING REJECTION

“God don’t make junk.” In other words, every person has an infinite spiritual worth that has nothing to do with the ordinary judgements of the marketplace and the world. Other people may reject us for both good and bad reasons, but the real Source of our existence will never turn us away.

Moreover, this Higher Power is also capable of leading each of us to people and places that fit our needs and our social talents for service. Many of us who are now in recovery feel that this happened when we were being led to the Fellowship.

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

MASTER, NOT SLAVE

One philosopher has defined life as adaptation to environment. He said that anything that was alive would try to survive by adapting itself to the conditions in which it had to live. There is of course a great deal of truth in this view. Life is tenacious and extraordinarily resourceful in fitting itself to unsuitable conditions.

When we come to humanity, however, the Bible teaches us that man does not have to adapt himself to outer conditions but that he has the power of changing or adapting outer things to fit him. This is the vital distinction between materialism and spiritual Truth. You have within you the divine Spark−the Indwelling Christ−and by awakening and developing this, your spiritual nature, you can mold conditions to fit your needs.

Man has free will, the power of reason and intuition. By learning to use these faculties he gains his dominion. It is the Bible that says that God has given man dominion over all things.

The Lord will give strength unto his people . . . (Psalm 29:11)

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

Crazy Works
You have to be a little cracked to let the light in.

Anonymous

My friend Darryl is a crazy genius. He spent time in and out of mental institutions, and I could never quite decide if he was a saint or a madman. Once I went to visit him in the day room of a locked ward where the patients milled around and had contests to see who could do the strangest things. “Do you see that man over there?” Darryl asked me. “He murdered his family.” “Oh.” “And that guy over there is a chronic rapist.” I got the picture. "Jerry over there ate 12 cats before they brought him in.” I checked my jacket for the odor of my cat, hoping Jerry wouldn’t confuse me with a feline.

Just then, two of the patients got into a loud, violent argument and started to push each other around. Not seeing any attendants, I began to feel frightened that I might be pulled into a maniacal fray. Suddenly Darryl, a frail vegetarian, jumped up, forced himself between the two bulky brawlers, and shouted, "Nowyou guys cut that out right now—do you understand?" To my utter amazement, instead of squashing Darryl summarily as they could easily have, the two lugs sheepishly parted and retreated to different corners of the day room.

I was stunned. “Darryl, man,” I asked as he returned, “how did you manage to get those wild men to listen to you?”

“The most amazing thing happened the first day I was here,” Darryl explained. “I had no space in my room to do yoga, so I did it right here on the floor of the day room. When the other guys saw me, they thought I was a martial arts expert, and now they’re all afraid of me. They do whatever I tell them.”

The Lord works in mysterious ways, and takes care of His own.

Place within me the intuition to succeed in all situations; speak to me from inside my heart.

I am always safe because God is always with me.