Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - August

[bluidkiti]

August 29

Step by Step

Today, understand that serenity comes from within and not from people and things on the outside. I wasted too much time, emotion and energy in my drinking days searching and even clinging to outside things and people in whom I vested my sobriety. But now I must accept that my sobriety comes from within. I no longer can demand or hope that the world and other people can change to accommodate my recovery but that I must change to fit into them. AA gives me the road map to arrive at such a lofty destination, in Step Four: "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Steps Five, Six and Seven, then, guide us through the admission to God, to ourselves and another human being the "exact nature" of the wrongs we find in Step Four. The steps are dependent on action by me, not someone or something else. Today, I assume responsibility for both my addiction and recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M.

**************************************************

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

TEACHERS

To teach is to learn twice over.

~ Joseph Joubert ~

At every meeting, there is an abundance of teachers, ready, willing, and able to pass on to others the results of lessons they have experienced through constant openminded attendance at meetings. New arrivals to a Group frequently hear, "Find a teacher and you will find a new friend."

This truism is soon apparent to any who choose to listen to teachers. The passing on to others of the useful lessons learned in recovery comes from those members who have savored recovery for lengths of time ranging from a few months to several decades.

Beginners readily accept the advice they receive because one of the first realization's a newcomer enjoys is that they are hearing honesty. He or she knows they can believe what they hear and will never have to take the painful steps of learning facts from personal experience.

I have met many teachers in my recovery. They hold the torches that light the way for me to learn. I will continue to follow the light.

**************************************************

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

God provides minimum protection, maximum support.

~ William Sloane Coffin ~

People often ask how a just God could allow innocent children to starve to death, or how an all-powerful God could send devastating storms that cause pain and destruction across the land. Great theologians tell us that we cannot hold God responsible for the evil and pain in the world. Bad things happen, and they aren’t the work of God. In a random universe, God’s design is to be present with us and support us through the troubles we face.

When we turn our life and will over to the care of God, we can’t expect God to bring us special magical favors. Instead we turn over our willfulness and childish demanding nature to God who helps us be strong, maintain our spirit, and continue on our path. Then God never leaves us alone, even when we defy God, even when we make bad choices. God is there loving us, even when we feel worthless.

Today I will open myself to the support of my Higher Power.

**************************************************

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

Willing to be oneself is not always easy, especially when ... we are not at all sure who we are.

~ Mary McDermott Shideler ~

It’s normal to mimic the expressions and the opinions of the people we admire. We did it as girls. We continue to do it. Fortunately, our taste In friends and models has improved. We have now surrounded ourselves with women who are abstinent from mood-altering chemicals and who have chosen honest, spiritually focused lives.

A goal of our recovery is to discover and celebrate who we really are. It’s time to focus on what we actually think, what we really feel, who we prefer being. This self-discovery is empowering, yet arduous and humbling. Because we are human and not perfect, we come face-to-face with traits that signal our need for growth. This journey into self- discovery changes us forever. We can never so easily mimic others again.

I can be the person I want to be today. I now have the courage to choose my actions rather than imitate someone else’s.

**************************************************

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

I know what to do if I have a setback

Recently I had a slip with my addiction. My sponsor quickly helped me get back on track. Then I asked myself, What would happen if I had a setback with my psychiatric illness? Would that be a different matter to deal with? Even though I'm stable on medication, I understand that it could still happen.

So I wound up asking a friend from my support group if he would be willing to watch out for me, just as my sponsor does. He said yes. Then we agreed on what steps should be taken if I had a setback and couldn't take care of myself. Even though I don't expect a problem, I feel better now that I have a good plan in place.

I will write down my important setback/relapse plans—just in case.

*************************************************

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

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

One of the mixed blessings of early recovery from chemical addiction is the remarkable healing power of the human body. Except for those in the late stages of addiction, most of us begin to feel better fairly quickly, often within a few days. But complete physical recovery from alcohol or drug abuse takes a long time. Likewise emotional and spiritual recovery, which usually take longer.

We can easily get discouraged when our emotional and spiritual recovery lags so far behind the physical.

Most crucial to our recovery, especially early recovery, is patience. We need to have patience with family and friends who may not understand that we have an illness called addiction. We need patience with Twelve Step group members who may sometimes move too fast or seem not to understand us. Above all, we need patience with ourselves. Our Higher Power can help us learn to love ourselves, even when we seem to be moving slowly.

Recovery takes time. We do what we can, and let our Higher Power and time do their share of the healing.

Today let me be patient. Help me know that, like a growing plant, patience will grow within me if I nurture it.

**************************************************

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

God gives every bird his worm, but He does not throw it into the nest.

~ P.D. James ~

A young girl loved to ice skate at every opportunity. In the winter she would find a frozen pond; in the summer she used indoor rinks. As she grew older, she won several competitions. Some of the best coaches in the world noticed her and vied to lead her to Olympic glory. She selected a coach who had trained gold-medal Olympians and began working with him.

For the first few weeks, the coach had her focus on the basics of jumps. She begged him to let her practice ice dancing, but he refused. Finally she fired him and hired mother, who led her to the Olympics. During the competition, she was locked in a fierce battle with another skater. Their numerical scores were so close that one tiny mistake could spell the difference between a gold or silver medal.

On the final day of competition, she thought back to her first coach, who had made her practice her jumps. She realized that he had provided her with a very valuable lesson. Perfecting even the simplest components of her routine could lead her to victory.

I devote focus to all that I do to be the best I can.

**************************************************

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

The awareness of the ambiguity of one's highest achievements (as well as one's deepest failures) is a definite symptom of maturity.

~ Paul Tillich ~

While we were still living with the effects of the disease, we may have ridden the roller coaster of highs and lows. But once we got off that crazy ride, we learned life isn’t so dramatic. Life has its wonderful moments and is not-so-wonderful ones, but on the whole it takes us on a steady ride.

Once we begin to mature in the program, we learn how to become a passenger of life without gripping the rails and strapping ourselves in. Now we can open our eyes for the whole ride, look around us with wonder and appreciation, and feel less breathless about the movement of it all. Life without the highs and lows is a wonderful trip.

Tonight I can feel the quiet pace of my life and not question whether it is normal. I can relax and trust this quiet pace as a sign of my maturity.

**************************************************

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

Working the Twelve Steps

There is a good reason why the Twelve Steps are numbered one to twelve: They are meant to be taken in order. For instance, we must admit we are powerless over our addiction (Step One) before the other steps can help us. Likewise, Step Four would be too painful if we had not turned our wills and our lives over to the care of God in Step Three. And how can we make amends in Steps Eight and Nine unless we realize whom we have hurt in Steps Four and Five? Of course, we can do Step Twelve only after doing all the other Steps.

The hop-skip-jump method of working the Steps is not reliable and might hop- skip-jump us right back into our addiction.

Do I work all Twelve Steps of the program in the best order?

Higher Power, give me the strength to take each Step—as hard as it may be- in the most helpful order.

Today I will review my progress on each of the Steps and re-enter the order with

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

**************************************************

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

Don't be humble: you're not that great.

~ GOLDA MEIR ~

Newcomer

I'm still confused about the issue of forgiveness. What if someone takes advantage of me, harms me, or cheats me? Do I just do nothing?

Sponsor

We're not required to be doormats. Self-esteem requires us to speak our truth, when doing so isn't harmful to ourselves and doesn't harm others. We're not really doing people or institutions any favors by not acknowledging problems.

Not long ago, I bought a piece of equipment for my home office that turned out to be defective. In my days of active addiction, I'd have yelled at the salesman, threatened to sue the company, created a huge drama and a lot of ill will. Or I might have done nothing at all—simply swallowed my anger and taken a loss, or had the equipment repaired at my own expense. Both of these paths are those of a person with low self-esteem. In recovery I could be clear, firm, and persistent about my expectation of having the defective equipment picked up and replaced.

Today, I expect myself and others to keep promises. Asking a manufacturer to stand behind a product is a way to express my respect for truth. Had my efforts failed to get results, I'd still have felt successful: simply by speaking honestly, I'd have achieved something important.

Today, I acknowledge my needs firmly and clearly, to myself and to others.

**************************************************

~ THE EYE OPENER ~

The relationship of hours to a lifetime is comparable to the relationship of bricks to a house. Every brick that is laid must be a separate and distinct operation, yet so tied to the preceding and the following brick that their positions are level and plumb. Each one is an entirety in itself but all the bricks are either supporting or are supported by each other.

Our hours, lived one by one, are in no sense different. The beauty, strength and durability of our lives will be determined by the individual hours viewed collectively.

**************************************************

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

Shinto Blessing

I humbly speak in the presence of the
Great Parent God,
I pray that this day, the whole day, as a child of
God, I may not be taken hold of by my own desire,
but demonstrate the Divine Glory by living a life of
creativeness, which shows forth the true individual.

*************************************************

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

THE BOOK OF GENESIS

Genesis means origin or beginning, and this, the first book of the Bible, explains how things and conditions come into existence. Genesis deals with this creative power of thought. The first section deals with generic thought. The second, the story of Adam and Eve, deals with specific thought, or how a given person builds every condition that exists in his life. The sections concerning Cain and Abel, the tower of Babel, the flood, the story of Abraham and his family, the story of Joseph and his brethren, all deal in different ways with the creative power of thought, showing how it is the genesis of all things that exist. The book of Genesis is partly allegorical and partly historical. Unless you have the spiritual meaning behind the story you do not possess the Bible at all.

The covenant of Sinai, necessary and good in its place, signifies the attempt to order things from the outside and is, of course, much better than anarchy; but he who is on the spiritual path must pass beyond this to the spiritual Jerusalem, which is the ordering of things from the inside by the Practice of the Presence of God. This is the new Jerusalem that cometh straight down from God out of heaven.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven . . . (Revelation21:2).

The book of Genesis having explained the creative power of thought, the other books of the Bible then proceed to illustrate the way in which the laws of thought work in different circumstances, but Genesis is the foundation of it all.

**************************************************

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

Where to Start

Can the world be saved if you are not

~ A Course in Miracles ~

“Daddy, will you play with me?" was the last thing Bill wanted to from his five-year-old son. He had just come home from work tired, and all he wanted to do was relax and read the evening paper. Suddenly, a scheme dawned on him. He took a picture of the earth out of the newspaper, tore it up into a hundred little pieces, and gave them to his son. "Here is a jigsaw puzzle, Scottie," Dad explained. "Take it to your room and put it together. When you're done, Daddy will play with you." Scott enthusiastically ran off with the game, and Bill sat smug and proud that he had bought himself some time.

To Bill's surprise, Scottie returned in just a short time with the entire page intact. "How did you do that?" asked Bill incredulously. "I couldn't have done that puzzle in three times the time you took."

"Well," answered Scottie innocently, "the picture of the earth you gave me was too complicated; there were so many pieces, and they were all the same. So I turned over one of the pieces and on it was the picture of a man's hand. I turned over another piece, and there was the picture of a foot. It was easier to put one man together than the whole earth. Then I discovered that when the man came together, so did the earth!"

Often, our need to save the world is a distraction from the real work of saving ourselves. In many cases, a crusade against world pollution conveniently shifts our attention from the psychic pollution of our own fears and upsets. Of course, world peace and environmental healing are extremely important, but it's even more crucial that we come to terms with the issues that undermine our own inner peace. It's hypocritical to try to end international war if you're ravaged by internal conflict. Personal integrity is the foundation of world transformation. Fill your spirit, and your service will be infinitely more effective.

Help me remember that my primary responsibility is the healing of my own mind and heart.

My own peace is my first contribution to world peace.