Daily Recovery Readings - December

[willbe275]

“Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it,
for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about
a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it.
You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.”
Norman Vincent Peale.

W.O.W

[bluidkiti]

December 30

Daily Reflections

ANONYMITY

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our Traditions,
ever reminding us to place principles before
personalities.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 564

Tradition Twelve became important early in my sobriety
and, along with the Twelve Steps, it continues to be a
must in my recovery. I became aware after I joined the
Fellowship that I had personality problems, so that
when I first heard it, the Tradition's message was very
clear: there exists an immediate way for me to face,
with others, my alcoholism and attendant anger,
defensiveness, offensiveness. I saw Tradition Twelve as
being a great ego-deflator; it relieved my anger and
gave me a chance to utilize the principles of the
program. All of the Steps, and this particular
Tradition, have guided me over decades of continuous
sobriety. I am grateful to those who were here when
I needed them.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

To the extent that I fail in my responsibilities, A.A.
fails. To the extent that I succeed, A.A. succeeds. Every
failure of mine will set back A.A. work to that extent.
Every success of mine will put A.A. ahead to that extent.
I shall not wait to be drafted for service to others,
but I shall volunteer. I shall accept every opportunity to
work for A.A. as a challenge, and I shall do my best to
accept every challenge and perform my task
as best I can. Will I accept every challenge gladly?

Meditation For The Day

People are always failures in the deepest sense when they seek
to live without God's sustaining power. Many people try to be
self-sufficient and seek selfish pleasure and find that it
does not work too well. No matter how much material wealth
they acquire, no matter how much fame and material power,
the time of disillusionment and futility usually comes.
Death is ahead, and they cannot take any material thing
with them when they go. What does it matter if I have gained
the whole world, but lost my own soul?

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I will not come empty to the end of my life. I
pray that I may so live that I will not be afraid to die.

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As Bill Sees It

We Cannot Stand Still, p. 25

In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the areas of
life in which I was standing still. There was always the alibi: "After
all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with much more important
matters." That was my near perfect prescription for comfort and
complacency.

<< << << >> >> >>

How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, Im sober and I'm
happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way I am." We
know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide,
punctuated at some point by a very rude awakening. We have to grow
or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be today, never for
tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still.

1. Grapevine, June 1961
2. Grapevine, February 1961

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Walk In Dry Places

Maturity means principles
Right Action
A principle is sometimes defined as a fundamental guide to action. The more mature we become, the more likely it is that we'll work from principles rather than blind feelings.
The principles outlined in the Twelve Steps are good guide for mature living. They call for honesty in motive, fair and considerate treatment of others, and reliance on our Higher Power throughout each day.
As we continue on such a path, we will outgrow the childish selfishness and reactions that were so destructive in our old lives. We will be viewed by others as mature, responsible, reliable people.
We also grow into maturity by acting according to sound principles even when we don't always feel like it. Whatever our feelings might be at any given moment, we can choose actions that are sound and constructive.
Whatever my feelings might be from moment to moment, I"ll act according to the best principles today. I know this is a part of growing up.

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Keep It Simple

Keep It Simple.---AA slogan
Addiction messed up our thinking. We know that from taking Step One. We forgot things. We had blackouts. We made excuses, and we even started to believe them. We were mixed up. We couldn't figure things out. We decided to get high and forget about it. Now our minds are clear. We can keep thinking clearly if we work our program and Keep It Simple. Don't drink or use other drugs. Go to meetings. Work the Steps. Be yourself. Ask for help. Trust your Higher Power. Two thoughts will always mess us up if we let them in. They are "Yes, but..." and "What if?" Don't let them in. Keep It Simple.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, thanks for recovery. Help me stay sober and clean today.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll take one thing at a time and Keep It Simple.

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Each Day a New Beginning

And what a delight it is to make friends with someone you have despised! --Colette
What does it mean to say we "despise" someone? Usually it means that we have invested a lot of energy in negative feelings; it means that we have let ourselves care deeply about someone. We would never say we "despised" someone who wasn't important to us. Why have we chosen to let negative feelings occupy so much of our hearts?
Sometimes, in the past, that negative energy has become almost an obsession, consuming our time, gnawing at our self-esteem. But in recovery there comes a moment of lightning change; a moment of release from the bonds of obsession. The other person is, after all, just another person--a seeker, like ourselves. And, since we cared enough to devote our time and energies to disliking her, she is probably someone who would be rewarding to know.
Recovery has given us the opportunity to turn over many negative feelings, to discover that "friend" and "enemy" can be two sides of the same person.
Today, I will look into my heart and see whether I am clinging to obsessive concerns with other people. I will resolve to let them go.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS

Perhaps you are not acquainted with any drinkers who want to recover. You can easily find some by asking a few doctors, ministers, priests or hospitals. They will be only too glad to assist you. Don’t start out as an evangelist or reformer. Unfortunately a lot of prejudice exists. You will be handicapped if you arouse it. Ministers and doctors are competent and you can learn much from them if you wish, but it happens that because of your own drinking experience you can be uniquely useful to other alcoholics. So cooperate; never criticize. To be helpful is our only aim.

p. 89

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Five - "Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry it's message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

Just as firmly bound by obligation are the members of Alcoholics Anonymous, who have demonstrated that they can help problem drinkers as others seldom can. The unique ability of each A.A. to identify himself with, and bring recovery to, the newcomer in no way depends upon his learning, eloquence, or on any special individual skills. the only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety. These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from god, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates A.A.'s all around the globe.

pp. 150-151

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Don't hate - it's too big a burden to bear.
--Martin Luther King, Sr.

Never be afraid to entrust the unknown future to the all-knowing God."
--unknown

"We may not know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future."
--unknown

God can make all things new, even you.
--unknown

When you find you are upset over a situation, stop and ask yourself one very important
question. "Is this something I can change?" Whether it is or not, turn your negative
energy in to productive energy. You can either change the situation, or change your
perspective of the situation.
--unknown

You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
--Oliver Goldsmith

You cannot raise a man up by calling him down.
--William Boetcker

Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.
--Will Rogers

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

BALANCE

"A society that gives to one class
all the opportunities for leisure,
and to another class all the
burdens of work, dooms both
classes to spiritual sterility."
-- Lewis Mumford

Spirituality brings with it balance. In order to be relaxed, healthy and alive, I need
both work and leisure. For me I need to remember it is okay to take a day off; to stay
in and relax is not a waste; play time is creative time!

I was not only compulsive around alcohol and people but I was also obsessive about
work. I was and am a work-aholic. I need to remember to H.A.L.T.: Don't get too
Hungry. Don't get too Angry. Don't get too Lonely. Don't get too Tired.

Work for me can be a form of escape. In leisure I have the opportunity to meet with
myself.

Go on enjoy yourself, with yourself!

You, who made me a laborer in the vineyard, also expected me to sit and enjoy it.

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"I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right
hand."
Isaiah 41:10

"Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its
shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured
such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3

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Daily Inspiration

Begin every day as if it were your very first because you really are always at the beginning. Lord, thank you for the constant ability to stop any offensive behaviors that I have and the gift of being forgiven and being able to forgive myself.

Imagine that you were paid for every kindness and charged for every unkindness. Would you be rich or poor? Lord, I often pray for material wealth. Let me not neglect my soul by now praying for the ability to build my spiritual wealth also.

[willbe275]

Doing what needs to be done right now
we make the best of every moment.
As long as we are alive we are free to
choose.

W.O.W101

[bluidkiti]

December 31

Daily Reflections

Daily Resolutions

The idea of "twenty-four-hour" living applies primarily to the
emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we must not
live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.
As Bill Sees It, p. 284

A New year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600
minutes--a time to consider directions, goals, and actions. I must
make some plans to live a normal life, but also I must live emotionally
within a twenty-four hour frame, for if I do, I don't have to make
New Year's resolutions! I can make every day a New Year's day! I
can decide, "Today I will do this . . . Today I will do that." Each day
I can measure my life by trying to a little better, by deciding to follow
God's will and making an effort to put the principles of our A.A.
program into action.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my criticism, creative
in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give A.A. my interest, my
enthusiasm, my devotion, and most of all, myself. The Lord's Prayer has become part
of my A.A. thoughts for each day: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Have I given myself?

Meditation For The Day

As we look back over the year just gone, it has been a good year to the extent that
we have put good thoughts, good words, and good deeds into it. None of what we have
thought, said, or done need be wasted. Both the good and the bad experiences can be
profited by. In a sense, the past is not entirely gone. The result of it, for good or
evil, is with us at the present moment. We can only learn by experience and none of our
experience is completely wasted. We can humbly thank God for the good things of the
year that has gone.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may carry good things into the year ahead. I pray that I may carry on
with faith, with prayer, and with hope.

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As Bill Sees It

Wider Understanding, p.255

To reach more alcoholics, understanding of A.A. and public good will
towards A.A. must go on growing everywhere. We need to be on
still better terms with medicine, courts, prisons, mental hospitals, and
all enterprises in the alcoholism field. We need the increasing
good will of editors, writers, television and radio channels. These
publicity outlets need to be opened ever wider.

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

Nothing matters more to A.A.'s future welfare than the manner in
which we use the colossus of modern communication. Used unselfishly
and well, it can produce results surpassing our present
imagination. Should we handle this great instrument badly, we
shall be shattered by the ego manifestations of our own people.
Against this peril, A.A. members' anonymity before the general
public is our shield and our buckler.

1. Twelve Concepts, p.51
2. Grapevine, November 1960

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Walk In Dry Places

Has it been a Year of Growth?
Growth
As any year draws to a close, we should reflect on how we have grown in sobriety. We should also identify changes during the year that enabled us to overcome bad habits and to move closer to better patterns of living.
Though we never are guaranteed favorable outcomes, we should always remember that sobriety is its own reward. We want a full life of course, but it must begin with a decision to seek and to maintain sobriety at all costs.
We find that with sobriety, lots of other problems seem to solve themselves. Even if they don't we have the tools to move forward and to achieve goals that always eluded us while we were drinking. Every year in sobriety is a year of growth.
I'll be conscious today of recent improvements I've made in my life and all my affairs. With sobriety, these improvements will go on for a lifetime.

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Keep It Simple

May you live all the days of your life'--Jonathan Swift.
Tonight, at midnight, a New Year will begin. None of us know what the New Year will hold. But we can trust ourselves to hold on to the spirit of recovery as we go through the year. As a New Year is about to begin, we can rejoice in our new way of life. We can give our will and our life to our HP. By doing these things, we'll be ready for the New Year.
PRAYER: Higher Power, I pray that I'll start the New Year safe in Your loving arms. I pray that I'll keep working my program.
ACTION: Tonight, at midnight, I'll say the Serenity Prayer. I will think of all the others who have read this meditation book and who will join me in this prayer. We are a recovering community.

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Each Day a New Beginning

In the process of growing to spiritual maturity, we all go through many adolescent stages. --Miki L. Bowen
Progress, not perfection, is our goal in this recovery program. And many days we'll be haunted by the feeling that we've regressed. We will display old behavior. We will feel unable to change, to go on, to make gains once again. But these periods will pass, and soon progress will be evident again.
We must be wary of our need for perfection. It's this need that makes normal progress seem not good enough. And yet, that's all we're capable of--and all we'll ever need to be capable of. The program, its Steps and the promises offered, provide the tools we have lacked, yet need to use in order to accept ourselves wholly and imperfectly.
Daily attention to our spiritual side will foster the spiritual and emotional health we long for. Prayer and meditation, combined with honest inventory-taking, can show us the personal progress needed, the personal progress made. However, we will falter on occasion. We will neglect our program some days. But it won't ever be beyond our reach. And each day is a new beginning.
Today is before me, and I can make progress. I will begin with a quiet prayer and a moment of meditation.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS

When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all you can about him. If he does not want to stop drinking, don’t waste time trying to persuade him. You may spoil a later opportunity. This advice is given for his family also. They should be patient, realizing they are dealing with a sick person.

p. 90

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Five - "Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry it's message to the alcoholic who still suffers."

There is another reason for this singleness of purpose. It is the great paradox of A.A. that we know we can seldom keep the precious gift of sobriety unless we give it away. If a group of doctors possessed a cancer cure, they might be conscience-stricken if they failed their mission through self-seeking. Yet such a failure wouldn't jeopardize their personal survival. for us, if we neglect those who are still sick, there is unremitting danger to our own lives and sanity. Under these compulsions of self-preservation, duty, and love, it is not strange that our Society has concluded that it has but one high mission - to carry the A.A. message to those who don't know there is a way out.

p. 151

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"Wherever you go, whomever you meet, look for an opportunity to help, to inspire, to
lend support."
--Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Most people search high and wide for the keys to success. If they only knew, the key to
their dreams lies within.
--George Washington Carver

Look for the Good.
--unknown

The traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous help me play well with others,
when what I really want to do is take my toys and go home!
--unknown

"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do."
--Henry Ford

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

CHANGE

"It is not necessary to get away
from human nature but to alter
its inner attitude of heart and
mind."
-- J. F. Newton

An understanding of sobriety and serenity that has proved helpful to me is that we
are not only changing but involved in change. We determine the results of the
change.

I can change for good or bad. I can stay sober or drink. I can be cheerful and creative
or negative and destructive. My attitude determines the results of my changing life.

Spirituality has been given, but it also needs to be nurtured. I need to surround myself
with loving and honest people if I am to allow my spirituality to grow in my life. My
continued willingness is essential to my sobriety and serenity.

Thank You for making me with a mind and heart that together create the action.

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I believe that I am now a child of God .
1 John 3:1-3

I believe that I was saved by the grace of God through faith, that it was a gift and not
the result of any works on my part.
Ephesians 2:8

I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Ephesians 6:10

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Daily Inspiration

To have courage, think courageous, act courageous, and pray to God for courage. Lord, You are full of love for all who come to You.

Abundance is God's to give, so shut out all limited thoughts. Lord, my faith in You and my faith in the talents and abilities You have given me makes me able to achieve my goals.

[willbe275]

Do not allow other peoples priorities to become yours.
What's important to me at this time in life
are the vital issues of life - family, health,
happiness. As I age I realize
I no longer obsess about things.

W.O.W101

[MajestyJo]

Thank you for your shares.

[robl]

Thank you so much for being a Hugh part of my daily journey. God bless you all.

Rob L

[willbe275]

Humility is an absence of pride.
• Pride produces: Anger, jealousy, discontent in life, bitterness and greed.
• Pride comes in levels, levels that compound and worsen as we revel in them.
• Pride is a sickness that infects. It causes shame, isolation, and fear. Pride was the first sin, Adam and Eve sought to be like God, and then experienced the consequences and effects of their pride and sin.

W.O.W101