Even More Recovery Readings and Meditations - February

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February 24

Step by Step

Today, apply the program more widely and remember it is developed not solely to guide us to sobriety but to detect and correct the character flaws that enabled our drinking. Being dry is all we can expect if the only action we take is to quit drinking. Abstinence by itself won’t earn us the sobriety and peace if we do not uncover, admit and either give up or correct the dysfunctional dynamics of our spiritual and emotional characters. Being dry is a major step forward from our drinking days, but dry without peace puts us at significant risk of relapse if we turn a blind eye to the defective parts of our character. And because simply being dry puts us on the edge of a relapse waiting to happen, AA helps us to deal with the defects in mental, spiritual and emotional characters. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.

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

THE NINTH PROMISE

Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.

~Big Book ~

When we were deep in our compulsions and obsessions, we were afraid of people, especially those who loved us. We were terrified we would not have the necessities of life. And we usually lost both.

Addiction so warped our minds, we were constantly fantasizing dangers from sources we could not identify or bring into focus. These fantasies became our reality. All the “ghosts that never were” could be traced to one major fear: that of the unknown. We distrusted people, places, and things.

Now we welcome them. Our new friends, surroundings, and tools for living are life-saving. Now when “fear knocks, faith answers – and no one is there.” Our Program teaches us to trust ourselves, others, and our Higher Power. The rest take care of itself.

The only things I used to trust were those I was addicted to. When I began to put my trust in the Program and my Higher Power, the destruction stopped and the recovery began.

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

Woe to the man so possessed that he possesses God!

~ Martin Buber ~

When we first set out on this spiritual path, we learn that a relationship with “God as we understood Him” is a requirement for healing. So many of us think that we have to begin by defining our personal understanding of God. This is indeed a good question for us to think about. Yet the greatest thinkers, beginning in the most ancient times, have told us that God is truly beyond definition. In the oldest Judeo-Christian history, even the name of God could not be pronounced.

It is one thing to ask where we find our spiritual renewal. It is another thing to try to invent it. And as soon as we think we have the answer, as soon as we believe we hold the true definition of God, we may be off the spiritual path. In the end, the true spiritual path is always a learning process and has a good deal of mystery.

Today I turn my life over to God, Whom I can never fully understand.

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

We will never hear anyone else’s thoughts if we are only listening to our own.

~ Cathy Stone ~

It’s not a defect to think. On the contrary, we need to examine all the issues in our lives, evaluating very carefully what action to take in each instance. Many of us are still clearing up the mayhem that occurred because we didn’t give enough thought to situations in the past. But there is nothing gained by constant self-analysis, particularly during those moments when God has sent a friend to share with us her story or perspective.

It’s never an accident when another person discusses with us an experience she has had. God intends for us to learn from one another. We are students and teachers, interchangeably. When a teacher comes our way, let’s put our minds to rest. Her words may supply the answer we seek.

I will be drawn to the people who have something to teach me today. I will listen first and think later.

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

I have a simple job to do

I suppose it’s not unusual, but my life is highly troubled at this stage of dual recovery. I am going through many changes and feeling much pain. When I hit bottom a while back, I thought my problems were at their worst. But these days, they seem little better. I feel frustrated and confused.

So I took my struggles to my Step group, and as usual, got some support. I was reminded that it will help to keep my life, my focus, as simple as possible these days. I have only one task with two parts: stay abstinent and stable. Nothing is more important. If I take Step One, accept that I have these problems, and keep coming to meetings so I can get support working the rest of the program, I will recover. It’s that simple.

I will make a reminder card that reads “Today I want abstinence and stability. I will do what it takes to recover.”

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

I live in my body, so taking care of it is the most important housework I can do.

~ Terry S. ~

Recovery may mean great strides in mental and spiritual health, but what about our physical health? Often we neglect this aspect of our recovery.

Broadening our recovery to include physical fitness can mean walking, outdoor exercise, visits to an aerobics class, or a simple home-exercise routine several days a week. It doesn’t have to be the best exercise program in the world, just a simple one that works for us. And it’s not something we have to become the best at. Whatever is right for us.

The first step is consulting our physician to find out what’s best for us. Then, once we’re up and moving, we’ll find the benefits of regular exercise to be well worth the effort. When our bodies are fit, we feel better physically, mentally, and spiritually and can fully enjoy all the rewards of recovery.

Today help me exercise.

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

What poison is to food, self-pity is to life.

~ Oliver C. Wilson ~

Sometimes life presents you with a difficult loss, a great disappointment, or a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Life is filled with a great many unknowns—both wonderful surprises as well as unexpected disasters.

Self-pity is, essentially, an attitude of ingratitude. Self- pity looks at what you cannot do, what you do not or cannot have, what you have lost, and what you cannot change. Self-pity is absorbed and selfish, for self-pity says, “Look at me. I feel awful. My life is a mess. I will never get better.” On and on self-pity goes, starting out as a trickling stream and gradually swelling into a raging flood.

A positive attitude is the dreaded and hated enemy of self-pity. A positive attitude focuses on what you can do, what you do and can have, what you have gained, and what you can change. A positive attitude displays care for yourself and others. A positive attitude seeks and sees progress. A positive attitude motivates and encourages. A positive attitude is the perfect companion to living a physically, mentally, and spiritually fulfilling life. Today, you have a choice: feel pity or embrace positivity.

Starting now, I will get off my pity pot and live life with both a positive attitude and an attitude of gratitude.

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

Be patient with the faults of others; they have to be patient with yours.

~ Our Daily Bread ~

How do we feel when someone we know makes a mistake? What happens when the boss makes an error and we have to work overtime to straighten it out? How do we feel when a cashier overcharges us, the post office loses our package, or the mechanic doesn’t fix a problem?

Most of us become angry. Since we have been brought up from childhood to believe we are victims, it seems only natural in adult life to feel the same way. We imagine all those people had it in for us; they were all in league somehow to make us suffer.

But everybody makes mistakes. Who among us is perfect? We have made many mistakes in our lives that have probably brought inconveniences to others. If we can learn to treat the faults of others with patience and understanding instead of anger and resentment, we may find others treating us accordingly.

I can overlook the mistakes of others as I would want them to overlook mine.

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

Being grateful

We grow in gratitude for the pure gift of being clean and sober. In time, we recognize and are grateful for its benefits.

The benefits we appreciate are many, including mended relationships with family and friends, the ability to sustain honesty in relationships, the awareness of our lives and our health, the ability to ask for help and to help others.

Am I grateful?

Higher Power, help me to be grateful each day for just being sober and clean and for the many blessings that brings.

I will express my gratitude today by

God help me to stay clean and sober today!

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

Your misery can always be refunded.

~ SAYING HEARD AT MEETINGS ~

Newcomer

I heard someone say, “Recovery ruins your drinking.” What does that mean?

Sponsor

From our first day in recovery, we know that there is an alternative to our suffering. We may choose to ignore that knowledge, but we can’t entirely erase it. We can’t convince ourselves that we can safely go back to what we’ve done in the past. The recovering part of us just won’t buy it.

We’ve changed many things about our lives. We go to meetings, call sponsors, show up for work and for situations involving others. We read literature we hadn’t even heard of a short time ago, and we talk openly to people who, until recently, were complete strangers to us. We’re examining our lives, challenging every belief and value we previously held.

All this change is knowledge. If we return to an addictive substance or behavior after a period of recovery, we do so knowing that we’re acting out our addiction. We can’t sustain our denial; we know that we’re risking our lives and hurting others. And we know that there are people sitting in meetings, giving each other mutual support, facing the same addiction. It’s hard to pretend that acting on the addiction instead of treating it gives us lasting pleasure or security.

Today, I’m living in the solution, not in the problem.

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~ THE EYE OPENER ~

We alcoholics know that one drink is too much and a barrel isn’t enough. That first drink starts the compulsion to drink.

Suppressing desires can become a habit just as their satisfaction does. Each time we say “NO” we weaken the old habit and strengthen the new.

The efforts to satisfy our desires led us to the excesses that brought about our alcoholism. So let us follow the advice of John Stuart Mill and “learn to seek our happiness by limiting our desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them.”

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

1) Depression is a Defense, not a Disgrace.

2) Gratitude, that’s the attitude.

3) If you are not grateful for your sobriety, you will not stay sober.

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

Open Mind

Higher Power, may I understand:
To be alert to my own needs, not to the faults others;
To remain teachable;
To listen,
To keep an open mind; and
To learn not who’s right but what’s right.

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

MAKING YOUR OWN FORTUNE

You think, and your thoughts materialize as experience, and thus it is, all unknown to yourself as a rule, that you are actually weaving the pattern of your own destiny, here and now, by the way in which you allow yourself to think, day by day and all day long.

Your fare is largely in your own hands. Nobody but yourself can keep you down. Neither parents, nor wives, nor husbands, nor employers, nor neighbors; nor poverty, nor ignorance, nor any power whatever can keep you out once you have learned how to think.

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

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

So Far So Good

Through many dangers, toils, and snares we have already come; “Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

~ from the song, “Amazing Grace, ” by John Newton ~

When I was in college, I went to a rock festival in Puerto Rico, replete with every drug possible. One night I took a walk along the beach where many rock ‘n’ rollers were camping, and each person I passed handed me a pill or swig of alcohol. With great foolishness, I ingested every consciousness-altering agent I was given. It is no surprise that I had a bad trip. Every fearful and paranoid thought I ever entertained riled up to literally scare the hell out of me. During the night, I knew that I had really done it this time, and I was going to die.

Yet, somehow I made it through the night, and I remember sitting on a rock overlooking the beach, watching the sunrise. It was the most welcome sight I had ever seen. With the sun came the awareness that I had been forgiven, and my delusional fantasies were untrue. My idea of how I was to be punished was superseded by God’s idea of love.

Perhaps you, too, felt that you would never make it through the night or week. Then consider that you are still here. God’s law of grace is bigger than our notion of karma. You have a purpose here, and there is a force of love that keeps you going as long as your purpose is yet to be fulfilled. There are angels, guides, and guardians who watch over us to keep us safe and protected. There is an invisible force of good that guides us home, even when we have turned away from it.

Should you become fearful about the future or fall prey to the expectation of punishment, consider that you have been well taken care of thus far. All of your fears have been offset by grace. Could the current situation be an exception to the law of love?

Help me to remember that You are present wherever I am. Thank You for taking such good care of me even when I have not honored myself. Let me learn to love me as You do.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I -will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.