Essentials Of Recovery

Created to carry the message of recovery to all addicts. Whether the addiction is alcohol, drugs, food or any other addiction the program of recovery is the same. I am a recovering alcoholic of over twenty-five years, a day at a time of course and I believe my primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve recovery. Remember seven days without a meeting makes one weak. Sign up to get emails.This Blog is not in any way affiliated to either A.A. or N.A. Help to stop drinking.

Saturday, 8 August 2020

ON THIS DAY AUGUST 8th - JUST FOR FUN

1609 - Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope
1925  -  1st national march of Ku Klux Klan (between 25,000 and 40,000 marchers) in Washington, D.C.

1974 -   US President Richard Nixon announces he will resign at 12pm the next day

1992  -  Metallica band member James Hetfield suffers second and third-degree burns during a pyrotechnics explosion on stage at Olympic Stadium, Montreal.

Daily Reflections

“MADE A LIST … ”

Made a list of all persons we had harmed.

-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS p. 77

When I approached the Eighth Step, I wondered how I could list all the things that I have done to other people since there were so many people, and some of them weren’t alive anymore. Some of the hurts I inflicted weren’t bad, but they really bothered me. The main thing to see in this Step was to become willing to do whatever I had to do to make these amends to the best of my ability at that particular time. Where there is a will, there’s a way, so if I want to feel better, I need to unload the guilt feeling I have. A peaceful mind has no room for feeling of guilt. With the help of my Higher Power, if I am honest with myself, I can cleanse my mind of these feelings.

Twenty Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

For awhile, we are going back to the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, and pick out passages here and there, so that they may become fixed in our minds, a little at a time, day by day, as we go along. There is no substitute for reading the Big Book. It is our “bible.” We should study it thoroughly and make it a part of ourselves. We should not try to change any of it. Within its covers is the full exposition of the A.A. program. There is no substitute for it. We should study it often. Have I studied the Big Book faithfully?

Meditation For The Day

All of life is a fluctuation between effort and rest. You need both every day. But effort is not truly effective until first you have had the proper preparation for it, by resting in a time of quiet meditation. This daily time of rest and meditation gives you the power necessary to make your best effort. There are days when you are called on for much effort and then comes a time when you need much rest. It is not good to rest too long and it is not good to carry on great effort too long without rest. The successful life is a proper balance between the two.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be ready to make the proper effort. I pray that I may also recognize the need for relaxation.

Just for today

Responsible recovery

“...we accept responsibility for our problems and see that we’re equally responsible for our solutions.”

Basic Text, p. 97

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Some of us, well accustomed to leaving our personal responsibilities to others, may attempt the same behavior in recovery. We quickly find out it doesn’t work.

For instance, we are considering making a change in our lives, so we call our sponsor and ask what we should do. Under the guise of seeking direction, we are actually asking our sponsor to assume responsibility for making decisions about our life. Or maybe we’ve been short with someone at a meeting, so we ask that person’s best friend to make our apologies for us. Perhaps we’ve imposed on a friend several times in the last month to cover our service commitment. Could it be that we’ve asked a friend to analyze our behavior and identify our shortcomings, rather than taking our own personal inventory?

Recovery is something that has to be worked for. It isn’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter, nor can we expect our friends or our sponsor to be responsible for the work we must do ourselves. We recover by making our own decisions, doing our own service, and working our own steps. By doing it for ourselves, we receive the rewards.

––––=––––

Just for today: I accept responsibility for my life and my recovery.

As Bill Sees It

In Partnership, p. 220

As we made spiritual progress, it became clear that, if we ever were to feel emotionally secure, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us. We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demand for repayment. When we persistently did this, we gradually found that people were attracted to us as never before. And even if they failed us, we could be understanding and not too seriously affected.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of A.A. will always depend upon our continued willingness to give up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean unity and survival for the group and for A.A.’s entire Fellowship.

1. 12 & 12, pp. 115-1162. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 287-288

Walk In Dry Places

No self-deception
Honesty

Most of the time, other people don’t really deceive us. We deceive ourselves by refusing to face life realistically. We often believe false information simply because we want to believe it.

Living on a 12 Step basis should enable us to face reality without becoming cynical or pessimistic. If a friend appears to be lying to us, for example, we can accept this as a single lie, not as a complete betrayal. In addition, we learn not to lie to ourselves. This helps us avoid shaky business schemes and unrealistic hopes.

At the same time, we can still retain our capacity for believing in wonders and miracles. We have experienced enough miracles to prove that they really happen.

I’ll use my head as much as possible today to help keep my heart from getting me into trouble, but I’ll remember that it’s what’s in my heart that counts.

Keep It Simple

Adventure is not outside a man; it is within.

—David Grayson

Sobriety. It’s an exciting adventure. It’s a spiritual adventure. We look inward. We find where our Higher Power lives: within us. We then reach outward. We share our joy with others. Not with words and preaching, but by trying to help others. Sobriety is faith turned into action.

Sobriety. It’s an adventure in coming to know one’s self. At times, we’ll have to face our fears. But we’ll also find just how much love we have for life.

Sobriety. It’s as if we’re on a trip. Our Higher Power holds the map. Our job is to listen. And we go in the direction we’re told.

Prayer for the Day: I pray to be an adventurer. Higher Power, I pray to follow Your direction.

Action for the Day: I’ll ask some friends to tell me about an adventure their Higher Power has taken them on.

Father Leo’s Daily Meditation

MONEY

“Money often costs too much.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

Money can be a curse. It can destroy people. Money in itself has no value. It needs to be “used” or “put to work”. The problem is that many people think it can work miracles, i.e., “make me happy”, “give me self-esteem”, “bring love into my life”, “remove my loneliness”, “cure my insecurities and remove my alcohol or drug problems!” The historical list of wealthy casualties indicates that this is not the case. We cannot “buy” ourselves out of a disease! In this sense, money costs too much.

Because I have a compulsive nature, I need to be aware of my desire for money and the responsible way I need to use it. Spirituality involves the use of money. I need to be positive in my attitude towards money but also creative about how to use it.

I need always to remember that true wealth is found in my discovery of the God within and not in the clothes I wear.

O God, let me make money serve me; may I never be foolish enough to serve it.

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

As a recovering alcoholic, I have to remind myself that no0 amount of social acceptance of resentments will take the poison out of them. In a way, the problem of resentments is very much like the drinking problem. Alcohol is never safe for me; no matter who is offering it. I’ve attended cocktail receptions for worthy causes, often in a convivial atmosphere that makes drinking seem almost harmless. Just as I politely but adamantly decline alcohol under any conditions, will I also refuse to accept resentments — no matter who is serving them?

Today I Pray

When anger, hurt, fear or guilt — to be socially acceptable — put on their polite, party manners, dress up as resentment and come in the side door, may I not hobnob with them. These emotions, disguised as they are, can be a full of trickery as the chemicals themselves.

Today I Will Remember

Keep an eye on the side door.

Elder’s Meditation of the Day

“The Creator told everyone of us in our tribal beginnings to look after our ceremonies, and each other.”

–Barney Bush, SHAWNEE

Our ceremonies are important and each has a purpose. They teach us about the Creator and about each other. The ceremonies teach us to be humble and teach us to pray. They teach us to look inside ourselves.

We should remember to pray each morning. Ask the Creator to guide our thinking. Think only good thoughts. Think good thoughts about our relatives and about our brothers and sisters. Pray for our children in ceremony. Give thanks to the Great Mystery of life. All life is sacred. Pray in a sacred way.

Oh Great Spirit, I come to You this morning in ceremony. I come to this sacred place to talk to You. I thank You for Your guidance and protection. Give me Your eyes today so I may see the beauty in all things.

One Day At A Time

~ HAPPINESS ~

Happiness is never something you get from other people. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you are able to give.

–Oprah Winfrey

I learned a great lesson while grieving the loss of my three-year-old son. It was Christmas time. I had three other children who were looking forward to a wonderful day with all the trimmings, but my heart was despairing. I came to the realization that I could take the experience one moment at a time. Some of those moments would be very sad, but some of those little periods of time would be joyful. I found out that happiness is moments, not a state of being. We can take those joyful moments and treasure them until they accumulate into happiness. We have the choice to treasure them or to allow them to disappear in our lack of gratitude and appreciation.

Every day there is joy that we miss because we aren’t looking for it. When I look back at the end of the day and add up the good moments, I often realize there is so much joy in my life. I learn to appreciate the little things.

That Christmas is remembered more for those little moments of joy. The love in my heart for the other children helped me to rise above the despair and reach out to give them a gift of happiness on that treasured holiday.

One day at a time …

I strive to see the good in each moment.

~ Dottie

Today's Gift

The important thing is not to conquer but to have fought at all.

—Olympic motto

People come from all over the world to participate in the Olympics, and they come with a wide range of talent. A lot of them know they will not win a medal, yet they have trained hard for their event. They meet people from all corners of the earth who love the same activity.

There is a contagious joy and excitement the athletes share in their time together. It is a sense that the sharing of worldwide joy and peace is indeed possible.

Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing. What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.

If I could share something with the world, what would it be?

The Eye Opener

Some of us wear our AA like we wear our clothes, entirely as external adornment and protection – and to hide what is underneath.

There are many, however, who wear their AA in such a way that the AA way of living is so predominant in their appearances that all other apparel is unnoticed. To see such a person, the reaction is not to observe a gray suit or a blue dress, but a personality that radiates a character made beautiful by the simple code of living as found in our Twelve Steps.

Hazelden Foundation

Daily Tao / 220 - THRESHOLD

Why mourn for a cocoon
After the butterfly has flown?

Death is one of the few givens in life, and yet we fear it. We immaturely deny its presence or refuse to take it into account. In life, where so few things are stable enough to serve as true reference points, death is one of our few assurances.

Death is not an ending. It is a transformation. What dies is only our sense of identity, which was false to begin with. Death is the threshold of this life. Beyond it is something else, some mystery. We can only be sure that it is unlike this life.

Let us be unabashed in admitting that no one knows death definitely. The closest we may come is a supposed near-death experience, which, by definition, cannot be death itself. Alternately, we can examine other people who have died. We can look at a corpse. When we do, we see that whoever or whatever it was that animated that body is longer in force. Is that body our dead friend? No. Whatever it was that was the person we knew is gone. What use is there to mourn over a lifeless shell in a casket?

Death defines the limits of life. Within those limits, there is structure upon which to base one's decisions. Whenever one deems that one's life has been fulfilled, one can utilize death as the portal away from this existence.

Daily Zen

In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life. ...Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama