Daily Recovery Readings - November

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November 6

Daily Reflections

GOING WITH THE FLOW

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we
understood Him. .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 96

The first words I speak when arising in the morning are, "I arise, O God, to do Thy will."
This is the shortest prayer I know and it is deeply ingrained in me. Prayer doesn't change
God's attitude toward me; it changes my attitude toward God. As distinguished from
prayer, meditation is a quiet time, without words. To be centered is to be physically relaxed,
emotionally calm, mentally focused and spiritually aware. One way to keep the channel
open and to improve my conscious contact with God is to maintain a grateful attitude. On
the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in my life. The instant I start
cursing things in my life, however, the flow of good stops. God did not interrupt the flow;
my own negativity did.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Fear and worry had me down. They were increased by my drinking. I worried about what I
had done when I was drunk. I was afraid of what the consequences might be. I was afraid to
face people because of the fear of being found out. Fear kept me in hot water all the time. I
was a nervous wreck from fear and worry. I was a tied-up bundle of nerves. I had a fear of
failure, of the future, of growing old, of sickness, of hangover, of suicide. I had a wrong set
of ideas and attitudes. When A.A. told me to surrender these fears and worries to a Higher
Power, I did so. I now try to think faith instead of fear. Have I put faith in place of fear?

Meditation For The Day

Spiritual power is God in action. God can only act through human beings. Whenever you,
however weak you may be, allow God to act through you, then all you think and say and do
is spiritually powerful. It is not you alone who produces a change in the lives of others! It is
also the Divine Spirit in you and working through you. Power is God in action. God can use
you as a tool to accomplish miracles in peoples' lives.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to let God's power act through me today. I pray that I may get rid of
those blocks which keep His power from me.

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As Bill Sees It

A Way Out Of Depression, p. 308

"During acute depression, avoid trying to set your whole life in order
all at once. If you take on assignments so heavy that you are sure to
fail in them at the moment, then you are allowing yourself to be
tricked by your consciousness. Thus you will continue to make sure of
your failure, and when it comes you will have another alibi for still
more retreat into depression.

"In short, the 'all or nothing' attitude is a most destructive one. It is
best to begin with whatever the irreducible minimums of activity are.
Then work for an enlargement of these--day by day. Don't be
disconcerted by setbacks--just start over."

Letter, 1960

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Walk In Dry Places

Dealing with worry
Dealing with feelings
There's nothing like a siege of worry to spoil our day. It matters little whether the worry is about a real problem or something we're imagining. In either case, worry makes us unhappy, depressed, and even fatigued.
It doesn't help to be urged not to worry. We may even know worry is harmful, yet be unable to stop it. In fact, one of the things we may have sought in the bottle was an easing of worry.
The best answer to worry is in the 12 Step program. If we have turned our will and lives over to our Higher Power, the real direction of our lives is out of our hands. We must think of ourselves as passengers in a divinely guided vehicle.
Some will think this philosophy is preposterous and irresponsible, but in reality we are taking right actions in an orderly way, as our guidance continues. We need only prove to ourselves that our program works. Worry is merely a signal that we need to work our program.
If I catch myself worrying, I'll remind myself that my Higher Power is in charge of all outcomes. I'll do my best and expect the best.

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Keep It Simple

That suit is best that best suits me.---John Clark
How mush time do we spend trying to “fit in”? Many of us used to care to much what other people thought about us---our clothes, our ideas, our work. Did we drink the right brand, drive the right car, listen to the right music?
In our program, we still have to watch out for fads and peer pressure. We have to ask ourselves if we’re really in touch with our Higher Power. Are we searching for a sponsor who has inner peace
and direction? Or do we look for people who are like our old using friends? As we learn to find our own way of following our Higher Power, we need to be okay with being different.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me be the best me I can be today.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll work to be me---honestly me---to everyone I meet.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Of course fortune has its part in human affairs, but conduct is really much more important. --Jeanne Detourbey
Behaving the way we honestly and sincerely believe God wants us to behave eliminates our confusion. When we contribute in a loving manner to the circumstances involving us, we carry God's message; and that's all that's expected of us in this life.
This recovery program has involved us in the affairs of many other people. We are needed to listen, to guide, to sponsor, to suggest. Each time we have an opportunity to make an impact on another person, it's to our benefit, and hers too, to let God direct our conduct.
Too often God's message is missed due to our selfish concerns, but it's never too late to begin listening for it. God is forever at hand, awaiting our recognition. We can be mindful that the ease of our lives is directly proportional to the recognition we offer.
Right conduct is never a mystery to us. We may not always choose to do it, but we never fail to know what should be done.
I will trust my conscience to be my guide every moment.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 11 - A Vision For You

Our friend proceeded to tell him. And with such good effect that the doctor agreed to a test among his patients and certain other alcoholics from a clinic which he attends. Arrangements were also made with the chief psychiatrist of a large public hospital to select still others from the stream of misery which flows through that institution.

p. 163

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Crossing The River Of Denial

She finally realized that when she enjoyed her drinking, she couldn't control it, and when she controlled it, she couldn't enjoy it.

Well, I made it all right, to full-blown alcoholism. A big city is a great place to be an alcoholic. Nobody notices. Three-martini lunches. drinks after work, and a nightcap at the corner bar was just a normal day. And didn't everyone have blackouts? I used to joke about how great blackouts were because you saved so much time in transit. One minute you're here, the next minute you're there! In retrospect, making jokes, just laughing it off helped solidify my unfaltering denial. Another trick was selecting companions who drank just a little bit more than I did. Then I could always point to their problem.

p. 329

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

Therefore, thoroughness ought to be the watchword when taking inventory. In this connection, it is wise to write out our questions and answers. It will be an aid to clear thinking and honest appraisal. It will be the first tangible evidence of our complete willingness to move forward.

p. 54

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Gods grace is like the wind: I can't see the wind, but I can surely feel the effects of
the wind.
--John G.

AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time.
--Rufus K.

When the solution is simple, God is answering.
--Albert Einstein

You can't lose if you stay in God's game plan.
--unknown

"Friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering
how to fly."
--Unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

BELIEF

"An atheist is a man who has no
invisible means of support."
-- John Buchanan

The common cry of those who suffer from addiction is that they feel isolated. Not only
isolated from self, family and friends but also from God. One reason for this feeling of
isolation is teachings and attitudes that produced guilt, shame and fear. God was seen as
a hammer with which society beat the addict.

Today, in an atmosphere of love and fellowship, we begin to look at these old attitudes
and, hopefully, begin to change them. God can be seen in the hug as well as the
sacrament; in the doubt as well as the dogma. In the honest sharing of fellow addicts,
God is made known. God needs to be given a human face.

Teach me to grow in the virtues of tolerance and understanding.

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"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him."
Psalm 62:5

"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
Psalm 91:2

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

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Daily Inspiration

Emotions can be dealt with by motion. Lord, when I feel controlled by feelings and complaints, help to get me up and get me moving to change my disposition even if it's something simple like stretching or organizing something or starting something I've been putting off.

When you are troubled, comfort someone more troubled, when lonely, reach out to one that is lonelier and when unsure, give encouragement to the weary. To care for another makes us forget our own sorrows.

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NA Just For Today

Understanding Humility

"Humility is a result of getting honest with ourselves."

Basic Text p. 35

Humility was an idea so foreign to most of us that we ignored it as long as we could. When we first saw the word "humbly" ahead in Step Seven, we may have figured it meant we had quite a bit of humiliation in store. Perhaps we chose to look it up in the dictionary, only to become even more confused by the definition. We didn't understand how "lowliness and subservience" applied to recovery.

To be humble does not mean we are the lowest form of life. On the contrary, becoming humble means we attain a realistic view of ourselves and where we fit in the world. We grow into a state of awareness founded on our acceptance of all aspects of ourselves. We neither deny our good qualities nor overemphasize our defects. We honestly accept who we are.

No one of us will ever attain a state of perfect humility. But we can certainly strive to honestly admit our faults, accept our assets, and rely on our Higher Power as a source of strength. Humility doesn't mean we have to crawl life's path on our hands and knees; it just means we must admit we cannot recover on our own. We need each other and, above all, we need the power of a loving God.

Just for today: To be humble, I will honestly accept all facets of myself, seeing my true place in the world. For the strength I need to fill that place, I will rely on the God of my understanding.

pg. 324

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Work is love made visible. --Kahlil Gibran
Family members show love and concern for others through their work. Parents might build a bookcase or prepare the meals. Children might help by emptying the wastebaskets. All are showing love through what they do. In our lives together, our work is an important way of saying I love you. We will still want to give them lots of hugs and kisses. But our work shows how much we care, and who is important to us. Our work around the house is an investment. It makes a home for all of us, constructed of visible love.
How can I make our home a better one today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human. --Pablo Casals
The "shoulds" of our lives can be found all around us. We should wear our seat belts. We should not cry. We should go to our meetings. These "shoulds" usually serve as good guides for us, but they can intrude upon us. If we give them power, they only condemn us and give no useful help. At times we jump toward the "should" because we don't have the courage to live with the insecurity of being human.
If someone at work gets an unfair shake, it takes courage to speak up and say what we think. We may have an impulse to reach out to a stranger, but it takes courage to do it. When an inner feeling emerges from our honesty, fear may prompt us to avoid it, and we need to call on our courage. That is how we fulfill the uniqueness of each of us.
I am alive as a man and a human being. I will not shy away from opportunities to express my humanity.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Of course fortune has its part in human affairs, but conduct is really much more important. --Jeanne Detourbey
Behaving the way we honestly and sincerely believe God wants us to behave eliminates our confusion. When we contribute in a loving manner to the circumstances involving us, we carry God's message; and that's all that's expected of us in this life.
This recovery program has involved us in the affairs of many other people. We are needed to listen, to guide, to sponsor, to suggest. Each time we have an opportunity to make an impact on another person, it's to our benefit, and hers too, to let God direct our conduct.
Too often God's message is missed due to our selfish concerns, but it's never too late to begin listening for it. God is forever at hand, awaiting our recognition. We can be mindful that the ease of our lives is directly proportional to the recognition we offer.
Right conduct is never a mystery to us. We may not always choose to do it, but we never fail to know what should be done.
I will trust my conscience to be my guide every moment.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Enjoying Life
Do something fun today.
If you're relaxing, let yourself relax, without guilt, without worrying about the work that is undone.
If you're with loved ones, let yourself love them, and let them love you. Let yourself feel close.
Let yourself enjoy your work, for that can be pleasurable too.
If you're doing something fun, let yourself enjoy it.
What would feel good? What would you enjoy? Is there a positive pleasure available? Indulge.
Recovery is not solely about stopping the pain. Recovery is about learning to make ourselves feel better; then it's about making ourselves feel good.
Enjoy your day.
Today, I will do something fun, something I enjoy, and something just for me. I will take responsibility for making myself feel good.


Today I know that I am in charge of the quality of my life. I am growing in the ability to become aware of the thoughts that have been controlling me. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart

Value Each Moment

How often we wait for those grand moments of revelation, those intense times that blast us into transformation, those turning points that forever change us and our lives. Those are the dramatic moments we write about, see in movies, and long for in our lives. Yes, they are wonderful. But turning points such as those happen only a couple of times in a movie and a few times in a lifetime.

Each moment of each day in our lives is a valuable turning point– an important part of our spiritual growth, an important scene in the movie of our lives. Each feeling is important: boredom, fear, hate, love, despair, excitement. Each action we take has value, an act of love, an act of healing. Each word we speak, each word we hear, each scene we allow ourselves to see, and each scenario we participate in changes us.

Trust and value each moment of your life. Let it be important. It is a turning point. It is a spiritual experience.

*****

more language of letting go
Become willing

There's nothing against you to fall down flat.
But to lie there-- that's disgrace.
Edmond Vance Cooke

Sometimes the problem isn't that we don't believe we can. The problem is that we don't want to do it, whatever the current task or challenge is.

When I began my writing and recovery, I wanted to do these things. The challenge was invigorating. I wanted to get back up. I wanted to push ahead. I wanted to get into the game.

When my son Shane died, I didn't want to get up.

I didn't want the challenge. It wasn't invigorating. I didn't want the loss, and I didn't want to heal from my grief.

One day in those painful, awful, early years of grief, a friend stopped by the house. I had known him for a long time. He had suffered a permanent loss,too-- the use of his leg muscles from a form of polio he had suffered during his teenage years.

People hadn't known what to do with me back then. They had watched me flounder in my grief. They had tried to be compassionate, and that was good. But right now compassion wasn't exactly what I needed to hear.

"You've got to get up," my friend said in a loud voice. "You've got to get back up on your feet again. Stand up to life."

Sometimes life's problems and challenges are invigorating. Sometimes they're not. But no matter what we get hit with, we need to get up again.

Let yourself grieve. Let yourself become enraged over your losses, if you must. Then, whether you want the loss or not, get back up again. You don't have to want to, you don't even have to believe you can. Sometimes all we need to do is be open to wanting to and then believe we can.

God, help me believe in life.

*****

Actions Speak Louder than Words
Aligning Actions and Words by Madisyn Taylor

Words carry a lot of weight in this world, but it is through our actions that we bring things into being.

Words carry a lot of weight in this world, from how we say them to what we say with them, but it is through our actions that we bring things into being. This is what we mean when we say to one another that actions speak louder than words. In many cases, what we say doesn’t necessarily line up with what we are doing, and it is here that it becomes clear that it’s easier to talk about doing something than it is to actually do something. At the same time, it’s easy to keep doing something that we don’t necessarily acknowledge ourselves doing verbally. It’s good for all of us to take a look every once and a while to make sure there is alignment between what we say and what we do.

For example, it’s easy to talk about our dreams, but it takes a lot more energy to take the many small steps that lead to bringing our dreams into reality. If all we ever do is talk about it, we begin to lose faith in ourselves because nothing changes on the external level. In this way, being all talk and no action is actually a form of self-sabotage. It’s also useful to examine our actions to see if, through them, we are following through on our words. For example, in expressing concern about the environment, we can look to make sure that we are taking the simple steps we can take to put that concern into action.

It’s always helpful to observe what we talk about and who we say we are, and then to observe what we actually do in the world. Sometimes we realize our actions haven’t caught up with what we are saying, and at other times we see that we might change our words in a way that it will more adequately reflect what we do in the world. Either way, the more we align our words and our deeds, the clearer we are in expressing our truth in the world, and the more powerful we are in bringing it into reality. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

There are no boundaries to meditation. It has neither width, depth nor height, which means that it can always be further developed without limitation of any sort. Meditation is an individual matter; few of us meditate in the same way, and in that sense, it is truly a personal adventure. For all of us who practice meditation seriously, however, the purpose is the same; to improve our conscious contact with God. Despite its lack of specific dimensions and despite its intangibility, meditation is, in reality, the most intensely practical thing that e can do. One of its first rewards, for example, is emotional balance. What could be more practical than that? Am I broadening and deepening the channel between myself and God?

Today I Pray

As I seek God through daily prayer and meditation — may I find the peace that passes understanding, that balance that gives perspective to the whole of life. May I center myself in God.

Today I Will Remember

My balance comes from God.

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One More Day

To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.
– Vauvenarques

Of all the limitations we face, one of them greatest is actually one we impose upon ourselves. We limit ourselves by believing that it’s too late to go back to school, to change careers, or to start something new. We artificially restrict ourselves because we misunderstand the concept of time.

We can decide if time is a friend or an enemy. It’s our enemy when we shy away from new experiences. But when we willingly take unsteady steps into unknown territory by lifting a brush to canvas or finally learning to drive a car or applying for the job we’ve always wanted, then time is our friend. We have all the time in the world because we have this moment, this day, and that is all the time we need to begin great things.

I am the only one who can decide which great things I will begin today.

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Food For Thought

Pain

Living without the narcotic of excess food means learning to cope with emotional pain. Uncomfortable feelings, which we have covered up by eating, begin to surface as we abstain. At first, our emotional reactions are often vague and diffuse, since we have not yet acquired enough insight to identify what it is that is bothering us.

If we are willing to stay with the emotional discomfort and pain, we will eventually gain understanding. Sometimes we have to spend time hurting before we are able to pass through one phase in our development and move on to the next. Whatever the suffering, it is preferable to the agony of a binge. Facing emotional pain is constructive; trying to bury it under food is destructive.

Our pain is often associated with events in the past, which are still troubling us unconsciously. When we are able to identify the source of the pain, we can examine it in the light of our present maturity and begin to put it behind us. As long as we avoid feeling the pain, we deny ourselves the healing which our Higher Power can give us.

May I accept the pain that is necessary for continued growth.

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One Day At A Time

~ FREEDOM ~
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

The Bible, Book of John
In the past, when I was threatened by another person's thoughts, beliefs, actions, or desires, I simply deemed them completely unacceptable and worked hard to convince the other person just how wrong they were. I cited all kinds of religious doctrine and politically correct ideas to try to convince the other person why their ideas were unacceptable.

This "convincing" was nothing more than an attempt to control another so I wouldn't have to face myself or any of the things that caused me anxiety and fear. All I succeeded in doing was forcing others to help me lie to myself. Of course, this also created its own anxiety and fear, so I had to do something to cover it up. What did I do? I compulsively overate, I binged, I purged, I exercised, I starved myself, I abused laxatives, and on and on.

Today, because of my Higher Power and the gifts of this program, I can look at why some thoughts, feelings, beliefs and desires threaten me. I can be gentle with myself as I look at which of my "boo-boo buttons" have been pushed. I can ask myself how I've been hurt by these ideas in the past and learn how those "boo-boo buttons" were produced in the first place.

Just like a wound, exposing my hurts to the sunlight helps them heal. Bringing them out into the light helps me see all the truth about them--not just the distorted parts I felt in the darkness. I can see what my part was and I can see what the part of others may have been. Through working the Twelve Steps, I can find peace with these hurts and experience the promise of not regretting or wanting to close the door on the past.

One Day at a Time . . .
I can set myself free from the darkness by looking at past hurts in the light of truth.
~ Sandee S. ~

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principle: we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. - Pg. 62 - How It Works

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Doubts can be a good thing. It shows we're still thinking. Of course we doubt the wisdom of taking steps, going to meetings, and practicing spiritual principles to arrest this deadly disease of addiction. Even Thomas doubted his path with Jesus, but given time, he saw the wisdom of the spiritual path. His doubts were allayed.

May my doubts, like Thomas's fade away in time, as I observe the miracles in myself and others.

Projection

Today, I understand that when I project my feelings outward and see them as belonging to other people and not to me, I postpone my own self-awareness. The only way I can deal with difficult feelings is first to claim them as my own. Sitting with anxiety, anger, rage and jealousy is not pleasant, but actually experiencing my own feelings is the only way to get through them.

I own my feelings and am willing to experience them.
- Tian Dayton PhD

'Self-forgiveness brings your mental and emotional energy systems back into balance. That's all. No big deal. It's not necessarily religious or spiritual, it's just good ol' street sense - the missing link in intelligence that scientists are looking for. Once you practice forgiving and releasing yourself, you'll realize the benefits soon in the way you feel overall.'
- Doc Childre

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are.' ~Talmudic Saying

I need to put things in perspective because I have a disease of perception.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I know that I am in charge of the quality of my life. I am growing in the ability to become aware of the thoughts that have been controlling me.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Diabetics watch what they eat and take insulin. I watch what I drink and take the steps. - Anon.