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.

Wednesday, 8 July 2020

ON THIS DAY JULY 8th - JUST FOR FUN

1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, becoming the 1st European to reach India by sea.

1777- Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery.

2010 - "Inception", directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, premieres in London

1996-British girls group the Spice Girls release their debut single "Wannabe" in the UK.

The Wisdom of Forgiveness , The Dalai Lama , Part 2

Daily Dose OF Emmet Fox

What did Jesus teach? What did he really wish us to believe and to do? What were the objects that he really had at heart? And how far did he actually succeed in accomplishing these objects in his life and in his death? How far has the religion or movement called Chris-tianity, as it has existed for the last nineteen centuries, really expressed or repre-sented his ideas? How far does the Christianity of today present his message to the world? If he should come back now, what would he say of the self-styled Christian nations in general, and of the Christian churches in particular—of the Angli-cans, the Baptists, the Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Quakers, the Salvationists, the Seventh Day Adventists, or the Uni-tarians; to cite them alphabetically? What did Jesus teach?

Daily Reflections

AN EVER-GROWING FREEDOM, p.198

The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God.

-12 & 12, p.76

When I finally asked God to remove those things blocking me from Him and the sunlight of the Spirit, I embarked on a journey more glorious than I ever imagined. I experienced freedom from those characteristics that had me wrapped up in myself. Because of this humbling Step, I feel clean. I am especially aware of this Step because I’m now able to be useful to God and to my fellows. I know that He has granted me strength to do His bidding and has prepared me for anyone, and anything, that comes my way today. I am truly in His hands, and I give thanks for the joy that I can be useful today.

Just for today

The "G" word

“It is important for you to know that you will hear God mentioned at NA meetings. What we are referring to is a Power greater than ourselves that makes possible what seems impossible.”

IP No. 22, Welcome to NA

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Most of us come to Narcotics Anonymous with a variety of preconceptions about what the word “God” means, many of them negative. Yet the “G” word is used very regularly in NA, if not constantly. It occurs 92 times in the first 103 pages of our Basic Text, and appears prominently in a third of our Twelve Steps. Rather than sidestep the sensitivity many of us feel toward the word, let’s address it head on.

It’s true that Narcotics Anonymous is a spiritual program. Our Twelve Steps offer a way to find freedom from addiction through the help of a spiritual Power greater than we are. The program, however, doesn’t tell us anything about what we have to think about that Power. In fact, over and over again, in our literature and our steps and our meetings, we hear it said, “the God of our understanding”—whatever that understanding may be.

We use the word “God” because it’s used in our Basic Text and because it communicates most effectively to most people a basic understanding of the Power underlying our recovery. The word, we use for the sake of convenience. The Power behind the word, however, we use for more than convenience. We use that Power to maintain our freedom from addiction and to ensure our ongoing recovery.

––––=––––

Just for today: Whether I believe in “God” or not, I will use the Power that keeps me clean and free.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We in Alcoholics Anonymous do not enter into theological discussions, but in carrying our message we attempt to explain the simple “how” of the spiritual life. How faith in a Higher Power can help you to overcome loneliness, fear, and anxiety. How it can help you get along with other people. How it can make it possible for you to rise above pain, sorrow, and despondency. How it can help you to overcome your desires for the things that destroy. Have I reached a simple, effective faith?

Meditation For The Day

Expect miracles of change in people’s lives. Do not be held back by unbelief. People can be changed and they are often ready and waiting to be changed. Never believe that human nature cannot be changed. We see changed people everyday. Do you have the faith to make those changes possible? Modern miracles happen every day in the lives of people. All miracles are in the realm of personalities. Human nature can be changed and is always being changed. But we must have enough faith so that we can be channels for God’s strength into the lives of others.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have the faith to expect miracles. I pray that I may be used by God to help change the lives of others.

As Bill Sees It

Experimenters, p. 189

We agnostics liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong.

When we finally did experiment, and unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact, we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer. And that, we found, can happen to anybody who tries. It has been well said that “Almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried enough.”

12 & 12, p. 97

Walk In Dry Places

God’s will for us.
Spiritual Guidance.

“I was afraid God would want me to do something unpleasant, like go off to become a monk,” a young man said at a 12 Step meeting. “That’s why I had a hard time seeking God’s will for me.” This sort of comment is heard now and then at meetings. It reveals a belief that God is a harsh taskmaster who delights in imposing difficult conditions on us.

The truth is that God’s purpose is to help us be more of what we ought to be, which is always something better than what we’re experiencing now. Few people are ever called to be monks, but those who do are pleased with their choice and devote themselves to it.

We must always be interested in finding God’s direction in our lives. It will turn out to be something far better than anything we could have planned.I need not fear God’s direction in my life. It’s actually what I need in order to reach my true place.

Father Leo’s Daily Meditation

ART

“There is no must in art because it is free.”

–Vasily Kandinsky

Now I understand why the religious people of the past persecuted the artist. Now I understand why so many artists moved away from religion and grew beyond it. The artist is always searching for that which is different, that which cannot be contained or codified; that which is free: Spirituality. As a drinking alcoholic I found it necessary to control my life; control my thoughts and behavior; control each and every situation — and it was depressingly exhausting. Today sobriety enables me to risk that which is new and different. Sobriety allows me to experiment and take risks in God’s world. Sobriety is being free. I am discovering more of me in what yesterday’s artists wrote and produced. The “musts” of yesterday have been replaced by the shoulds and needs today. I am free to listen and consider the person because he is a person and not simply because of his credentials.

Supreme Artist, let me hear You in the whisperings of Your creatures.

A Day At A Time

When we speak with a friend in The Program, we shouldn’t hesitate to remind him or her of our need for privacy. Intimate communication is normally so free and easy among us that even a friend or sponsor may sometimes forget when we expect him to remain silent. Such “privileged communications” have important advantages. For one thing, we find in them the perfect opportunity to be as honest as we know how to be. For another, we don’t have to worry about the possibility of injury to other people, nor the fear of ridicule or condemnation. At the same time, we have the best possible chance to spot self-deception. Am I trustworthy to those who trust me.

Today I Pray

I pray for God’s assistance in making me a trusted confidant. I need to be a person others will be willing to share with. I need to be an open receiver, not just a transmitter. Today I pray for a large portion of tried-and-sureness, so that I may be a better and more receptive friend to those who choose to confide in me.

Today I Will Remember

Be a receiver.

One Day At A Time

~ ACTION ~

“He does not believe who does not live his belief.”

-Thomas Fuller

It’s an old axiom that actions speak louder than words. Our Twelve Step program is one of action, no matter how much we want to avoid working the Steps. The Big Book states that IF you want what we have, you will do what we did. That also means the opposite … if you don’t want what we have, don’t do it. The insanity of this disease is expecting a different result by continually doing the same old thing. Sanity is giving up what didn’t work and daring to try something new.

One day at a time …

I am going to trust that obedience to the program will, in time, restore me to sanity.

~ Jeremiah

Elder’s Meditation of the Day

“You are going to learn the most important lesson – that God is the most powerful thing there is.”

–Mathew King, LAKOTA

The Medicine Wheel teaches that there are two worlds – the Seen World and the Unseen World, or the Physical World and the Spiritual World. We need information from both of these worlds in order to live our lives in a harmonious way.

The most difficult way is to figure things out by ourselves and leave the Great Spirit out of it. When we do this, we are making decisions with information only from the Physical World

can be called reliance on self. If we ask the Creator to help us, we then get information from the Unseen World or the Spiritual World. The Spiritual World is where we get our power. When we do this, we are God-reliant. Being God-reliant is the same as being on the Red Road.

Great Spirit, whisper the secrets of the Unseen World in my mind’s ear.

Today’s Gift

Hurry, hurry has no blessing.

—Swahili Proverb

In a busy family there is a lot of activity. We sometimes feel imprisoned by all the work, school, extracurricular activities, housework, meetings, and special events. In the press to do it all, we may lose our peace because of the hurry. We rush to eat; we rush to work; we rush to get there on time. Much of this cannot be helped. But hurry has no blessing, as the proverb goes. We can create quick tempers and a lot of frustration if we try to hurry too much.

When we allow enough time to slow things down, we give ourselves a chance to enjoy what we’re doing, and to develop along spiritual lines. Inner peace depends on our keeping a balance in all the things we do. Only then can we feel the joy that comes from having enough time to do things quietly and smoothly, and value the inner peace that comes when we do not hurry.

How can I take my time today and enjoy myself?

The Eye Opener

The spoke that is on top of the wheel will be, in half a revolution, on the bottom and in the mud. Another half turn and it will be on the top again.

The same applies to us alcoholics. We, too, have our cycles but, in the AA Program, we have acquired a faith in ourselves, a reliance on our fellowship and a belief in a Power Greater than ourselves that enable us to take our bad along with the good in full knowledge that, if we “stay right,” everything will turn out right eventually.

Hazelden Foundation

Daily Tao / 189 - VICTORY

Can you be both martial and spiritual?
Can you overcome your ultimate opponent?

To be martial requires discipline, courage, and perseverance. It has nothing to do with killing. People fail to look beyond this one narrow aspect of being a warrior and so overlook all the other excellent qualities that can be gained from training. A warrior is not a cruel murderer. A warrior is a protector of ideals, principle, and honor. A warrior is noble and heroic.

A warrior will have many opponents in a lifetime, but the ultimate opponent is the warrior's own self. Within a fighter's personality are a wide array of demons to be conquered : fear, laziness, ignorance, selfishness, egotism, and so many more. To talk of overpowering other people is inconsequential. To actually overcome one's own defects is the true nature of victory. That is why so many religions depict warriors in their iconography. These images are not symbols for dominating others. Rather, they are symbols of the ferocity and determination that we need to overcome the demons within ourselves.

Daily Zen

Limitations gone:
Since my mind fixed on the moon,
Clarity and serenity
Make something for which
There’s no end in sight.

– Saigyo (1118-1190)