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-seven 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.
Friday, 24 June 2022
Daily Reflections
A SPIRITUAL KINDERGARTEN
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect.
-AS BILL SEES IT, p. 95
When I came to A. A., I was run down by the bottle and wanted to lose the obsession to drink, but I didn’t really know how to do that. I decided to stick around long enough to find out from the ones who went before me. All of a sudden I was thinking about God! I was told to get a Higher Power and I had no idea what one looked like. I found out there are many Higher Powers. I was told to find God, as I understand Him, that there was no doctrine of the Godhead in A.A. I found what worked for me and then asked that Power to restore me to sanity. The obsession to drink was removed and–one day at a time–my life went on, and I learned how to live sober.
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Just for today
Tolerance
“...ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.”
Tradition Twelve
––––=––––
Sometimes it’s hard to accept others’ character defects. As we recover together, we not only listen to others talk in meetings, we also watch how they walk through their recovery. The more we get to know other members, the more we become aware of how they live their lives. We may form opinions about how they “work their program.” We may find that certain members upset us, or we may even hear ourselves say, “If I worked their program, I would surely use.”
We have found tolerance to be a principle that strengthens not only our own recovery but also our relationships with individuals who are a source of irritation to us. It becomes easier to accept other members’ frailties when we remember that we ourselves rarely turn over our own character defects until we become painfully aware of them.
––––=––––
Just for today: I will strive to accept others as they are. I will try not to judge others. I will focus on the principles of love and acceptance.
“...ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.”
Tradition Twelve
––––=––––
Sometimes it’s hard to accept others’ character defects. As we recover together, we not only listen to others talk in meetings, we also watch how they walk through their recovery. The more we get to know other members, the more we become aware of how they live their lives. We may form opinions about how they “work their program.” We may find that certain members upset us, or we may even hear ourselves say, “If I worked their program, I would surely use.”
We have found tolerance to be a principle that strengthens not only our own recovery but also our relationships with individuals who are a source of irritation to us. It becomes easier to accept other members’ frailties when we remember that we ourselves rarely turn over our own character defects until we become painfully aware of them.
––––=––––
Just for today: I will strive to accept others as they are. I will try not to judge others. I will focus on the principles of love and acceptance.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build, it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys. We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life’s realities, little realizing or caring that in continued drinking we are only multiplying our problems. Have I got control over my unstable emotions?
Meditation For The Day
When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its reward as surely as acting upon God’s direct guidance. I must not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques upset me.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that I may go quietly along the path I have chosen
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As Bill Sees It
Aspects of Tolerance, p. 175
All kinds of people have found their way into A.A. Not too long ago, I sat talking in my office with a member who bears the title of Countess. That same night, I went to an A.A. meeting. It was winter, and there was a mild-looking little gent taking the coats. I said, “Who’s that?”
And somebody answered, “Oh, he’s been around for a long time. Everybody likes him. He used to be one of Al Capone’s mob.” That’s how universal A.A. is today.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are the children of a living Creator, with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.
1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 102
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 28
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Walk In Dry Places
Expressing gratitude
Self Improvement
How can we express gratitude when we feel it? We can begin by simply using the proper forms of courtesy at all times; this reminds us that we can’t live without other people.
The best way to express gratitude, however, is to “pass on” the good that has come to us. This is more effective when we share ideas and experiences that have helped us on the way to self-improvement.
It’s also a good idea to dismiss thoughts and statements that are forms of prideful boasting. Even telling people how hard we’ve worked for the 12 Step program can detract from our gratitude. And never, under any circumstances, should we put others under obligation to us.I’ll discover ways to express my gratitude today. I’ll know that my best way of doing it is to pass on good ideas to others.
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Keep It Simple
Beauty is gift of God.
—Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people’s defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn’t let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure— if we turn to our program, we’ll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
Action for the Day: Today I’ll let myself feel beautiful. I’ll see recovery as beautiful.
—Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people’s defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn’t let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure— if we turn to our program, we’ll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
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Keep It Simple
Beauty is gift of God.
—Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people’s defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn’t let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure— if we turn to our program, we’ll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
Action for the Day: Today I’ll let myself feel beautiful. I’ll see recovery as beautiful.
—Aristotle
In our addiction, we often went after what was ugly in life. Maybe we hung out in bad places.
Maybe we saw people’s defects instead of their beauty. Addiction is ugly, painful disease. The worst part of addiction is how it doesn’t let us see beauty in the world.
There is much beauty in each of us. Recovery is beautiful. Our stories are beautiful. The way we help each other is beautiful. The way we become loving family members is beautiful. But sometimes, we may still see the world as ugly. At these times, we need to turn to our program.
Maybe we need to help someone by working Step Twelve. Maybe we need ask to give the Step at our meeting. Maybe we just need to read the Big Book. Whatever we do, one thing is sure— if we turn to our program, we’ll see how beautiful the world is.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see beautiful today. Help me be beautiful today.
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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation
PERFECTION
“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.”
–Leonardo da Vinci
How I used to beat myself up! I was not good enough. I was not attractive enough. I could not speak properly. I was too small. My family was not prestigious enough. I was boring. My breath smelled, etc., etc. I never saw my value in life. I could never see beyond my failings into my God-given virtues. Sin was all too evident in my life!
Today I catch an egotism in my past criticism of self and others! Who was I to think I should be perfect? I could find fault with the Archangel Gabriel if he came to be my neighbor. My compulsive disease extended beyond drugs to negative attitudes about life.
Today I see my value. Sobriety has restored my dignity. Today I am in touch with that part of me that is noble. Today in my sobriety I am a spiritual somebody, not a nobody.
Let my desire for “perfection” be tempered by reality.
“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.”
–Leonardo da Vinci
How I used to beat myself up! I was not good enough. I was not attractive enough. I could not speak properly. I was too small. My family was not prestigious enough. I was boring. My breath smelled, etc., etc. I never saw my value in life. I could never see beyond my failings into my God-given virtues. Sin was all too evident in my life!
Today I catch an egotism in my past criticism of self and others! Who was I to think I should be perfect? I could find fault with the Archangel Gabriel if he came to be my neighbor. My compulsive disease extended beyond drugs to negative attitudes about life.
Today I see my value. Sobriety has restored my dignity. Today I am in touch with that part of me that is noble. Today in my sobriety I am a spiritual somebody, not a nobody.
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A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
The primary purpose of The Program is freedom from addiction; without that freedom we have nothing. But that doesn’t mean I can say, for example, “Sobriety is my only concern. Except for my drinking, I’m really a sure person, so give me sobriety, and I’ve got it made.” If I delude myself with such specious nonsense, I’ll make so little progress with my real life problems and responsibilities that I’ll likely return to my addiction. That’s why The Program’s Twelve Step urges us to “practice these principles in all our affairs.” Am I living just to be free of chemical dependence, or also to learn to serve, and to love?
Today I Pray
May I relish and be grateful for my sobriety, which is where all good things begin. But let me not stop at that and give up trying to understand myself, the nature of God and of humanity. Freedom from dependency is the first freedom. May I be certain that there are more to come — freedom from tight-mindedness, from the unrest of bottled-up feelings, from over-dependence on others, from a Godless existence. May The Program which answered my acute needs also answer my chronic ones.
Today I Will Remember
Sobriety is just a beginning.
The primary purpose of The Program is freedom from addiction; without that freedom we have nothing. But that doesn’t mean I can say, for example, “Sobriety is my only concern. Except for my drinking, I’m really a sure person, so give me sobriety, and I’ve got it made.” If I delude myself with such specious nonsense, I’ll make so little progress with my real life problems and responsibilities that I’ll likely return to my addiction. That’s why The Program’s Twelve Step urges us to “practice these principles in all our affairs.” Am I living just to be free of chemical dependence, or also to learn to serve, and to love?
Today I Pray
May I relish and be grateful for my sobriety, which is where all good things begin. But let me not stop at that and give up trying to understand myself, the nature of God and of humanity. Freedom from dependency is the first freedom. May I be certain that there are more to come — freedom from tight-mindedness, from the unrest of bottled-up feelings, from over-dependence on others, from a Godless existence. May The Program which answered my acute needs also answer my chronic ones.
Today I Will Remember
Sobriety is just a beginning.
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One Day At A Time
ACCEPTANCE
“Because you’re not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who in truth, you are.”
–Madeleine L’Engle
The Big Book of AA says, “Acceptance is the answer to all my problems.” I am finding this to be true for me. Living in a household with several family members, I need to not focus on others’ faults. I can choose to practice acceptance by looking past what others do that I think they shouldn’t do, and instead I can love them for who they are.
In order to show unconditional love I must look past their shortcomings. I need to stop dwelling on the fact that they sometimes don’t do things the way I want them to. If I don’t do that, anger and resentments follow and I find myself trying to control things and play God. We all know that doesn’t work. It just causes misery and takes away my joy, peace and serenity.
As I work my program of recovery, I am better off to “let go and let God” and just accept others as they are. Putting others in God’s hands and resisting the temptation to try to make things turn out the way I want them to is the definition of acceptance for me. When I love others unconditionally I experience peace and serenity beyond my wildest dreams.
One day at a time …
I will practice the miracle of acceptance and unconditional love.
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day
“Believing people can soar beyond ordinary life.”
–Fools Crow, LAKOTA
We are created by God to be vision people. First we set the goal and then we see. If we create within ourselves a picture or vision and we hold that picture or vision in our mind, whatever we picture will show up in our reality. If we can see ourselves being educated, then schools and teachers will show up in our lives. If we picture in our mind a positive, spiritual person to be in our lives, we will attract this type of person in our relationships. How big can our dreams be?
Great Spirit, let my visions today be Your vision. Put within me a vision of the being you would have me be. Then help me to keep the vision in my mind.
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Today’s Gift
Self-image sets the boundaries of individual accomplishment.
—Maxwell Maltz
The way we think about ourselves determines how we behave and who we become. If Eileen believes she is good at baseball, she will swing the bat more confidently and catch fly balls more easily. And her extra effort will generally pay off. At math, Steve thinks he’s a whiz and it makes him proud. He studies so he’ll continue to be a whiz.
The image we have of ourselves is like the blueprint the contractor follows when building a house. When we see ourselves sad or angry, our behavior and personality will match it. When we see ourselves withdrawn and afraid, we seem to avoid activities that involve others. How wonderful that we can change our behavior and thus ourselves by changing the picture we carry in our minds.
Do I have a good picture of myself today?
—Maxwell Maltz
The way we think about ourselves determines how we behave and who we become. If Eileen believes she is good at baseball, she will swing the bat more confidently and catch fly balls more easily. And her extra effort will generally pay off. At math, Steve thinks he’s a whiz and it makes him proud. He studies so he’ll continue to be a whiz.
The image we have of ourselves is like the blueprint the contractor follows when building a house. When we see ourselves sad or angry, our behavior and personality will match it. When we see ourselves withdrawn and afraid, we seem to avoid activities that involve others. How wonderful that we can change our behavior and thus ourselves by changing the picture we carry in our minds.
Do I have a good picture of myself today?
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The Eye Opener
The poor old drunk has ever had to face the wrath of the law and an indignant world. Lectures, threats, jail sentences, booby hatches and asylums have proven to be but waste of words, efforts and public funds. Nothing – absolutely nothing – worked.
AA tried a revolutionary ministration of sympathy and understanding. It recognized his condition as an illness, threefold in its nature, and that the only medication that would prove effective must treat his physical, mental and spiritual disorder at one and the same time.
Hazelden Foundation
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Daily Tao / 175 - DIVERSITY
Gods have many faces,
But true divinity has no face.
There are so many gods in the world. Taoists have their pantheon. The Buddhists, Hindus, and other religions have theirs. The Islamic and Judeo-Christian schools may be monotheistic, but their sects differ vastly from one another. Those who follow Tao assert that each of us sees the divine in our own way. Is there one god, or many?
Among those who follow Tao, there are those who say that if there are gods, then everyone is a god. You are god. There is nothing in the sky, and no one lives your life but you. Whatever one believes in terms of deities is fine. It's all individual preference, and it ultimately means self-awareness. But there is something beyond the diversity of gods, and that is the absolute.
That which is absolute is formless. Thus Tao is nameless and faceless. We cannot consider Tao our god. That would be to give it form and therefore bring it back into the world where the myriad things have names. We use the word Tao for convenience only, but in fact, we are referring to a deep mystery. As long as we live in the world of diversity, whether it is the frantic pace of our professional lives or the involvement with all the gods of the world, we will not be with Tao. It is only when we leave the diversity of existence and find the formless absolute that we reach Tao.
But true divinity has no face.
There are so many gods in the world. Taoists have their pantheon. The Buddhists, Hindus, and other religions have theirs. The Islamic and Judeo-Christian schools may be monotheistic, but their sects differ vastly from one another. Those who follow Tao assert that each of us sees the divine in our own way. Is there one god, or many?
Among those who follow Tao, there are those who say that if there are gods, then everyone is a god. You are god. There is nothing in the sky, and no one lives your life but you. Whatever one believes in terms of deities is fine. It's all individual preference, and it ultimately means self-awareness. But there is something beyond the diversity of gods, and that is the absolute.
That which is absolute is formless. Thus Tao is nameless and faceless. We cannot consider Tao our god. That would be to give it form and therefore bring it back into the world where the myriad things have names. We use the word Tao for convenience only, but in fact, we are referring to a deep mystery. As long as we live in the world of diversity, whether it is the frantic pace of our professional lives or the involvement with all the gods of the world, we will not be with Tao. It is only when we leave the diversity of existence and find the formless absolute that we reach Tao.
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Daily Zen
If any recluses or followers do not understand objectively that the enjoyment of sense pleasures is enjoyment, that the unsatisfactoriness of their passing is unsatisfactoriness, and that liberation from their tyranny is liberation--then it's not possible that they will properly understand what the desire for sense pleasures is or that they will be able to bring anyone else to understand it. But if they do understand objectively the arising and ceasing of sense pleasures, their frequent unsatisfactoriness, and the way to freedom from attachment to them, they will be able to instruct other people to that end.
-Majjhima Nikaya
-Majjhima Nikaya
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