Friday 30 June 2017

DAILY ZEN #essentialsofrecovery



"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

~Buddha
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Saturday 24 June 2017

Emmet Fox - Be Still A Treatment against fear #essentialsofrecovery

The metrical rhythm of the poem is preserved by a reiteration of the general theme in the next verse. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The heathen, needless to say, means your own wrong thoughts, those fears, doubts, self-reproaches, and shortzomings of every kind that come between you and your realization of God—the heathen forces that attack the holy city of your soul, sometimes lay siege to it for days and weeks, and sometimes even capture and  occupy it for a time. Only for a time, however, if you hold steadfastly to God by constant prayer, for sooner or later, as surely as God lives, the kingdom of error shall be moved. He will "utter his voice" through your prayers and affirmations, and your salvation will come. 
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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

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 #essentialsofrecovery

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 not only strengthens 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 #essentialsofrecovery

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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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

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.
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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

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 #essentialsofrecovery

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 “ass 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 #essentialsofrecovery

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.
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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

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.
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One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

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.
~ Bluerose  
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day #essentialsofrecovery


 “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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The Eye Opener #essentialsofrecovery

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.

Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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Daily Tao #essentialsofrecovery

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 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 #essentialsofrecovery



As flowing waters disappear into the mist

we lose all track of their passage

every heart is its own Buddha

ease off; become immortality

wake up: the world's a mote of dust

behold heaven's round mirror

turn loose: slip past shape and shadow

sit side by side with nothing—save Tao.

- Shih-shu (17th c) 
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Friday 23 June 2017

Emmet Fox - Be Still A Treatment against fear #essentialsofrecovery

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. Here the Psalmist adds one of those simple touches, expressed in the most direct and childlike language, that go straight to the heart. He says "God shall help her—and that right early." This beautiful promise should remove the last traces of fear and doubt that may linger in the dark corners of the soul. 
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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

TRUSTING OTHERS

Quote: But does trust require that we be blind to other people’s motives or, indeed, to our own? Not at all; this would be folly. Most certainly, we should assess the capacity for harm as well as the capability for good in every person that we would trust. Such a private inventory can reveal the degree of confidence we should extend in any given situation. 

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 144

I am not a victim of others, but rather a victim of my expectations, choices and dishonesty. When I expect others to be what I want them to be and not who they are, when they fail to meet my expectations, I am hurt. When my choices are based on self-centeredness, I find I am lonely and distrustful. I gain confidence in myself, however, when I practice honesty in all my affairs. When I search my motives and am honest and trusting, I am aware of the capacity for harm in situations and can avoid those that are harmful. 
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Just For Today #essentialsofrecovery

Surrender


Quote: “We didn’t stumble into this fellowship brimming with love, honesty, open-mindedness, or willingness….When we were beaten, we became willing.”

Basic Text, p. 20


Surrender may be the necessary foundation for recovery, but sometimes we fight it. Most of us look back after some clean time and wonder why on earth we fought so hard to deny our powerlessness when surrender is what finally saved our lives.

As we recover, new opportunities to surrender present themselves. We can either struggle with everyone and everything we encounter or we can recall the benefits of our first surrender and stop fighting.

Most of the pain we experience comes from fighting, not surrendering. In fact, when we surrender, the pain ends and hope takes its place. We begin to believe that all will be well and, after some time, realize that our lives are much better as a result. We feel the same way we did when we gave up the illusion that we could control our using-relieved, free, and filled with fresh hope.

Just for today: Is there a surrender I need to make today? I will remember my first surrender and remind myself that I don’t need to fight anymore.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrecovery

A.A. Thought For The Day

No chain is stronger than its weakest link. Likewise, if you fail in the day-by-day program, in all probability it will be your weakest point. Great faith and constant contact with God’s power can help you discover, guard, and undergird your weakest point with a strength not your own. Intelligent faith in God’s power can be counted on to help you master your emotions, help you to think kindly of others, and help you with any task that you undertake, no matter how difficult. Am I master of my emotions?

Meditation For The Day

You need to be constantly recharged by the power of the spirit of God. Continue with God in quiet times until the life from God, the Divine life, by that very contact, flows into your being and revises your fainting spirit. When weary, take time out and rest. Rest and gain power and strength from God, and then you will be ready to meet whatever opportunities come your way. Rest until every care and worry and fear have gone and then the tide of peace and serenity, love and joy, will flow into your consciousness.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may rest and become recharged. I pray that I may pause and wait for the renewing of my strength.
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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

Constructive Forces, p. 174

Mine was exactly the kind of deep-seated block we so often see today in new people who say they are atheistic or agnostic. Their will to disbelieve is so powerful that apparently they prefer a date with the undertaker to an open-minded and experimental quest for God.

Happily for me, and for most of my kind who have since come along in A.A., the constructive forces brought to bear in our Fellowship have nearly always overcome this colossal obstinacy. Beaten into complete defeat by alcohol, confronted by the living proof of release, and surrounded by those who can speak to us from the heart, we have finally surrendered.

And then, paradoxically, we have found ourselves in a new dimension, the real world of spirit and faith. Enough willingness, enough open-mindedness–and there it is!


A.A. Today, p. 9 
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Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery

Words are sacred, we must use them wisely. . . . They are a gift from God.

~ Burton Pretty-On-Top

We use words to bring peace to others. We can use words to tell God and others how much we care. Or we can use words to hurt others. We can curse them and scare them away. We often did when we used alcohol and other drugs.

In recovery, we learn to use words in a kind, wise way. We treat words as a gift from God. We use words to build our relationships.

Do I always use words in a kind way? Do I treat words as a powerful gift from God? Do my words make the world better or worse for those who hear me speak?

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, when I speak words, help me think about their power. Help me speak to others in a kind way.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll speak to others with respect. My words will add a little kindness, honesty, and love to the world today.
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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

REALITY


Quote: “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.”

–Elbert Hubbard

When I used to take life too seriously, I was always miserable. I missed so much. I placed a disproportionate amount of energy on my own importance. I am not saying that I am not important, but I must learn to live within the structures of this imperfect world.

For so long I made myself the “victim” of this world. Every airplane missed was seen as a personal abuse. I could not wait in a line without getting angry and developing a resentment to everybody around. Everybody was expected to revolve around my world and I felt the world owed me a living! The result: unhappiness.

I needed to change or remain unhappy. Today I am learning to change and I am working on patience.

Thank You for the spiritual gift of balance in my life.
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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery


Reflection For The Day


Complacency is my enemy, easy to recognize in others, but difficult to identify and accept in myself. Complacency simply means being sure we’re right — taking it for granted that we couldn’t possibly be wrong. It means, moreover, judging others by what we think is right. It blocks out understanding and kindness, and seems to justify qualities in ourselves that we’d find wholly intolerable in others. Do I tend to assume that my views are always correct?

Today I Pray


God, please steer me past complacency, that state of being on dead center. When I am smug, I am no longer a seeker. If I assume I am always right, I am never on guard for my own mistakes, which can run away with me. Keep me teachable. Keep me growing, in heart, mind and spirit.

Today I Will Remember

Complacency stunts growth.
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One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

MIRACLES


Quote: “Miracles are instantaneous, they cannot be summoned but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments and to those who least expect them.”

–Katherine Ann Porter

I never believed that we live in an age of miracles. As far as I was concerned, those happened only in the days of the Bible — with burning bushes and the red sea opening up. When I first came into the program and heard people talking about miracles, I was skeptical. As I became more open to the possibility, things began to happen which I can only consider to be miracles. They may not have seemed large to my old closed mind, but being able to give up certain trigger foods — or having a fellow member in the program call me when I most needed a call — have become miracles in my life today.

Being able to maintain my weight, rather than losing and gaining weight every few months, is a miracle. Most importantly, my transformed relationships with my children and other loved ones are miracles.

One day at a time…
I will open my mind to the possibility of miracles occurring in my life…and they will come.

~ Sharon 
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day #essentialsofrecovery


 “He [Wakan Tanka] walks with us along the pathways of Life, and He can do for us what we could never do on our own.”

–Fools Crow, LAKOTA

With the Creator in our lives, we are everything. Without the Creator, we are nothing. When the Creator is in our life, suddenly the impossible becomes possible. The extraordinary becomes ordinary. Things we thought could never happen start to happen. Talents we never know we had, start to blossom. Resources appear. Help arrives to give us guidance and direction. We become happy. We have peace of mind and confidence.
Oh Great Spirit, today I want You in my life. The days that I know You are with me are the days that are perfect. Let me be joyful today.
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Today’s Gift #essentialsofrecovery


The Importance of Money


We cannot afford to allow our focus in life to be money. That will not lead us into the abundance we’re seeking. Usually, it will not even lead to financial stability.

Money is important. We deserve to be paid what we’re worth. We will be paid what we’re worth when we believe we deserve to be. But often plans fail when our primary consideration is money.

What do we really want to do? What do we feel led to do? What are our instincts telling us? What do we feel guided to do? What are we excited about doing? Seek to find a way to do that, without worrying about the money.

Consider the financial aspects. Set boundaries about what you need to be paid. Be reasonable. Expect to start at the bottom and work up. But if you feel led toward a job, go for it.

Is there something we truly don’t want to do, something that goes against our grain, but we are trying to force ourselves into it “for the money”? Usually, that’s a behavior that backfires. It doesn’t work. We make ourselves miserable, and the money usually goes wrong too.

Money is a consideration, but it cannot be our primary consideration if we are seeking spiritual security and peace of mind.

Today, I will make money a consideration, but I will not allow it to become my primary consideration. God, help me be true to myself and trust that the money will follow.

From the book:



                                  The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation
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The Eye Opener #essentialsofrecovery

It takes courage, intelligence, initiative and deep emotions to make a really successful fool. The timid, under-imaginative, cowardly seldom do.

We as alcoholics made fools of ourselves, it is true, but, in so doing, we experienced more, we lived more, we suffered more. These are the ingredients of a liberal education.

If wisdom could be dissected, there would be a large portion of Folly, Defeat, Suffering and just plain Damned Foolishness in its makeup.

By the same token, our foolishness taught us valuable lessons that could not have been acquired anywhere else.

Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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Daily TAO / 174 Worship #essentialsofrecovery

Worship
You can worship gods.
You cannot worship Tao.


Adoration of your god is more beautiful than lovers, more fulfilling than feasts, more valuable than mammon. It provides greater shelter than places. Proper worship is joyous and ecstatic.

If you have a limited view of worship, you can always lose sight of holiness. When you are on a junior level of achievement, you can turn away from your gods at any time. Those who follow Tao know that Tao is not the god on the altar, they therefore see their god in their every action and never lose sight of the divine.

Gods can be worshiped, but the Tao can’t be worshiped. Why? Because gods lead to good things and inspire our highest devotion. As magnificent as this is to imagine, it is still limited when compared to the eternity of Tao. Tao has no definitions, no limit, no personal or individual consciousness. Thus, to worship Tao is meaningless, for our effort would be lost in an infinite sea. There is no supplication to it, for it will not respond. There is no adoration of it, for it displays no glory. There is no ecstatic union with it, for it has no differentiations. Tao is great. Tao is eternal. Anything limited and small – even worship – disappears in it. One can only enter Tao to become a part of its limitlessness.c
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Daily Zen #essentialsofrecovery

Recognition
Zen enlightenment is as if you have been away from home for many years, when you suddenly see your father in town. you know him right away without a doubt. There is no need to ask anyone else whether he is your father or not.



Zen Master Foyan
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Thursday 22 June 2017

Emmet Fox - Be Still A Treatment against fear #essentialsofrecovery

"The City of God" is man's consciousness. Your consciousness, which is your identity in life, is called a "city" in the Bible. "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Now the consciousness in which the Light of Truth begins to shine again after an attack of fear or unhappiness, is a city purified by that holy river, and it becomes a glad city, a city of God or good, a holy place for the tabernacles of the Most High. God is indeed in the midst of such a city, and when God, which is to say, our realization of God, is in the midst of our consciousness, then truly we shall not be moved. 
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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery


TODAY, I’M FREE

This brought me to the good healthy realization that there were plenty of situations left in the world over which I had no personal power–that if I was so ready to admit that to be the case with alcohol, so I must make the same admission with respect to much else. I would have to be still and know that He, not I, was God.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 114

I am learning to practice acceptance in all circumstances of my life, so that I may enjoy peace of mind. At one time life was a constant battle because I felt I had to go through each day fighting myself, and everyone else. Eventually, this became a losing battle. I ended up getting drunk and crying over my misery. When I began to let go and let God take over my life I began to have peace of mind. Today, I am free. I do not have to fight anybody or anything anymore. 
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Just For Today #essentialsofrecovery


Accepting Life As It Is

“In our recovery, we find it essential to accept reality. Once we can do this, we do not find it necessary to use drugs in an attempt to change our perceptions.”

Basic Text, p. 87

Drugs used to buffer us from the full force of life. When we stop using drugs and enter recovery, we find ourselves confronted directly with life. We may experience disappointment, frustration, or anger. Events may not happen the way we want them to. The self-centeredness we cultivated in our addiction has distorted our perceptions of life; it is difficult to let go of our expectations and accept life as it is.

We learn to accept our lives by working the Twelve Steps of Narcotics Anonymous. We discover how to change our attitudes and let go of character defects. We no longer need to distort the truth or to run from situations. The more we practice the spiritual principles contained in the steps, the easier it becomes to accept life exactly as it comes to us.

Just for today: I will practice self-acceptance by practicing the Twelve Steps. 
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrecovery


A.A. Thought For The Day

If you have any doubt, just ask any of the older members of the A.A. group, and they will readily tell you that since they turned their lives over to the care of God as they understand Him, many of their problems have been banished into the forgotten yesterdays. When you allow yourself to be upset over one thing, you succeed only in opening the door to the coming of hundreds of other upsetting things. Am I allowing myself to be upset over little things?

Meditation For The Day

I would do well not to think of the Red Sea of difficulties that lies ahead. I am sure that when I come to that Red Sea, the waters will part and I will be given all the power I need to face and overcome many difficulties and meet what is in store for me with courage. I believe that I will pass through that Red Sea to the promised land, the land of the spirit where many souls meet in perfect comradeship. I believe that when that time comes, I will be freed of all the dross of material things and find peace.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may face the future with courage. I pray that I may be given strength to face both life and death fearlessly. 
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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

Roots of Reality, p. 173

We started upon a personal inventory, Step Four. A business which takes no regular inventory usually goes broke. Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock in trade. One object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool himself about values.

We had to do exactly the same thing with our lives. We had to take stock honestly.

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

“Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual serenity, as I have excellent reason to know. Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy us, or which we would use to destroy ourselves.”

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 64
2. Letter, 1949 
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Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery


The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

—St. Augustine.

We started recovering the minute we admitted we were powerless over our illness. We crossed over from dishonesty to honesty.

Often, we don’t see what power honestly has. Maybe we still aren’t sure that being honest is best for us. It is! This is why the authors of the Big Book ask us to be totally honest from the start.

Just as denial is what makes addiction work, honesty is what makes recovery work.

Honesty means self-respect. Honesty heals. Honesty let us look people in the eyes. What comfort we’ll feel as we deeper into our program.

Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll let go totally. I pray that I’ll keep no secrets that could put my sobriety at risk.

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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery


INDIVIDUALITY



“You’ll never really know what I mean and I’ll never really know exactly what you mean.”

–Mike Nichols

There is a certain loneliness in life with which we must all live; perhaps this is the price of individuality. I am not always sure that I know what I am feeling or thinking and so I know I cannot be absolutely sure of what you are feeling or thinking. Today when I say “I know how you feel”, it is with this reservation.

Another problem I face daily is finding words to express what I feel — language seems so inadequate. Words, although bridges to meaning, are often barriers to understanding. What I mean by what I say is often misunderstood.

This awareness provides me with the stimulus to be more precise, explicit and creative in my methods of communication and understanding. Today I consider more seriously what the other person is trying to say, rather than just listening to the words. Because I am sensitive to my difficulties in being understood, I am becoming patient with my neighbor.

Teach us never to become victims of our language.
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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection For The Day

The minute we think about a twisted or broken relationship with another person, our emotions go on the defensive. To avoid looking at the wrongs we’ve done another, we resentfully focus on the wrong he or she has done us. With a sense of triumph, we seize upon his or her slightest misbehavior as perfect excuse for minimizing or forgetting our own. We have to remember that we’re not the only ones plagued by sick emotions. Often, we’re really dealing with fellow sufferers, including those whose woes we’re increased. If I’m about to ask forgiveness for myself, why shouldn’t I start out by forgiving them?

Today I Pray

When I blame or fault-find, may my Higher Power tell me to look under the rug for my own feeling of guilt, which I have neatly swept under it. May I recognize these behavior clues for what they really are.

Today I Will Remember

Resentment, inside-out, is guilt.
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One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

SUNLIGHT OF THE SPIRIT


“Trust God and buy broccoli.”

Author Unknown

I heard that quotation in an OA meeting years ago. “What an odd thing,” I thought. “Why does God care what I buy?” But as years have gone by and my abstinence continues one day at a time, I see the meaning of that phrase and have deep respect for its principle.

I can trust God ’til the cows come home, but there is work to be done. A more familiar quote is: “Trust God but continue to row toward shore.”

Abstinence for me is not only refraining from compulsive overeating, but abstaining from what I call my “alcoholic foods.” They block that beautiful contact between me and the Sunlight of the Spirit. It is my responsibility to purchase, prepare, weigh and measure the best foods for my peace of mind ~ and to open the channel to a Power Greater than Myself. Now I live this way, with thanks to the twelve steps.

One day at a time…
I will be grateful that food does not have power today.

~ Gerri
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day #essentialsofrecovery


“The one who wishes to be a true medicine person must be a person of faith, and they can only work successfully with those who also have faith.”

–Fools Crow, LAKOTA

Medicine People are spiritual beings who have made a decision to seek the Red Road. They sacrifice and seek the way of the Creator. After many years of dedication, the Grandfathers teach them about power, and about laws, and about how to use the medicine. The Medicine People develop tremendous faith in their medicine and in the Creator. When we go to the Medicine People, we too must have faith so they can help us. We can only be helped if we want to be helped. Because the Medicine People know how to help – that is only one half of it. The other half is up to us. We must have faith that the medicine has powers to help.
My Creator, faith is belief without evidence. Today, give me the faith. Let me trust that You are running my life. Let me know You are in charge of all things. Let my mind not wonder; let me stand strong on Your path today.
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Today’s Gift from Hazelden #essentialsofrecovery

If you go around thinking you are being cheated, life becomes very unpleasant.

— Felix Salten

Sometimes we feel cheated that we have been given this darn disease to cope with. Why us? Why can’t we just be like normal people? Why did we have to get into so much trouble and pain as a result of a disease that hit us and skipped over other people?

Another way to look at it is: Hey, I’m really lucky. I have a killer disease, and I’m beating the odds. I’m getting healthier every day. I got my life back.

Another way to look at it is: At least this is a disease I can recover from.

The Big Book Promises (on pages 83 and 84) say that any feeling of self-pity will disappear by the time we are working Step Nine. We may even be grateful for the path that led us to recovery. Do we believe it? There’s one way to find out: We need to try it.

Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me to remember that there are a lot worse things in life than being in recovery.

Today’s Action
What are five good things that I have gotten from recovery? Ten? I will write these down and refer to them when I’m tempted to feel sorry for myself.

From the book:



                                                 God Grant Me. . . © 2005 by Hazelden Foundation
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The Eye Opener #essentialsofrecovery

Many members of AA refer to their entrance into our fellowship as a passing from adolescence to maturity. When we take this step, we should cease thinking as children and begin to think as adults.

Remember how you wanted what you wanted when you wanted it and cried like hell when you didn’t get it? The advice of wiser and saner folks fell on deaf ears and we persisted in having our way even though our way was killing us.

A child thinks with its appetites while a mature person thinks with his head. We all know what class we belonged in.

Drunkenness is unthinkable for a thinking person.

Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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Daily TAO /173 Renunciation #essentialsofrecovery

Wine’s pleasure,
Love’s intoxication,
Work’s obsession,
Children’s involvement,
Age’s sorrow.
When will craving end?


Originally there was nothing. It is to nothing that we return. Differentiation came out of the interplay of cosmic opposites. Human life became mired in complexities, and this constant diversity is stressful and disruptive. We ourselves add to the problem with our own lusts and ambitions. We intoxicate ourselves, we indulge in sensual gratification, we strive for success in our careers, we commit decade to the raising of children. All this only to be caught in the closing jaws of old age, gradually hemmed in until there is not alternative other than sorrows, infirmities, and senility.

Duty is inevitable, but we need not saddle ourselves with extra responsibilities. Keep life simple. Give up as much as possible. Renounce unnecessary cravings and desires. Leave behind the trappings of wealth and success. Turn toward the divine. It satisfies, it brings knowledge, and it brings joy.
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Daily Zen #essentialsofrecovery


Over the snowy mountain,
The star is still shining
As ever brilliantly
As when Buddha saw it
Long ago.
But alas!
Some of us fail to see it.

- Sengai (1750-1837)
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Wednesday 21 June 2017

Emmet Fox - Be Still A Treatment against fear #essentialsofrecovery

The man who wrote this, we will agree, had no small knowledge of the human heart, its difficulties, and its needs.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. This is the capital river mentioned several times in scripture; the river of life that flows from the throne of God. It means the understanding of Truth that is verily the "Waters of Life" to those who to those who attain it. The river as a symbol is rather interesting. Primarily it stands for purpose. A river means purpose because it is always going somewhere. A river does not stay in one place, like a lake, or even an ocean, but is always on the way to a destination. In this respect it is a true type of the dedicated life which every student of Divine Truth is supposed to be living. In this teaching, if it really means anything to us, we are no longer drifting about like a log at the mercy of the tide, but are definitely headed along the pathway of understanding and freedom.


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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

FEAR AND FAITH

The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one that can never be wholly completed.  When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other condition of insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion – well or badly, as the case may be. Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 263

Fear has caused suffering when I could have had more faith. There are times when fear suddenly tears me apart, just when I’m experiencing feelings of joy, happiness and a lightness of heart. Faith–and a feeling of self-worth toward a Higher Power -helps me endure tragedy and ecstasy. When I choose to give all of my fears over to my Higher Power, I will be free. 
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Just For Today #essentialsofrecovery

New Levels Of Honesty

“We have been experts at self-deception and rationalization.”

Basic Text, p. 27

When we come to our first meeting and hear that we must be honest, we may think, “Well now, that shouldn’t be too difficult. All I have to do is stop lying.” To some of us, this comes easily. We no longer have to lie to our employers about our absence from work. We no longer have to lie to our families about where we were the night before. By not using drugs anymore, we find we have less to lie about. Some of us may have difficulty even with this kind of honesty, but at least learning not to lie is simple – you just don’t do it, no matter what. With courage, determined practice, the support of our fellow NA members, and the help of our Higher Power, most of us eventually succeed at this kind of honesty.

Honesty, though, means more than just not lying. The kind of honesty that is truly indispensable in recovery is self-honesty, which is neither easy nor simple to achieve. In our addiction, we created a storm of self-deception and rationalization, a whirlwind of lies in which the small, quiet voice of self-honesty could not be heard. To become honest with ourselves, we first must stop lying to ourselves. In our Eleventh Step meditations, we must become quiet. Then, in the resulting stillness, we must listen for truth. When we become silent, self-honesty will be there for us to find.

Just for today: I will be quiet and still, listening for the voice of truth within myself. I will honor the truth I find. 
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrecovery


A.A. Thought For The Day

Intelligent faith in that Power greater than ourselves can be counted on to stabilize our emotions. It has an incomparable capacity to help us look at life in balanced perspective. We look up, around, and away from ourselves, and we see that nine out of ten things that at the moment upset us will shortly disappear. Problems solve themselves, criticism and unkindness vanish as though they had never been. Have I got the proper perspective toward life?

Meditation For The Day

A truly spiritual man or woman would like to have a serene mind. The only way to keep calm in this troubled world is to have a serene mind. The calm and sane mind sees spiritual things as the true realities and material things as only temporary and fleeting. That sort of mind you can never obtain by reasoning, because your reasoning powers are limited by space and time. That kind of a mind you can never obtain by reading, because other minds are also limited in the same way.  You can only have that mind by an act of faith, by making the venture of belief.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have a calm and sane mind. I pray that I may look up, around, and away from myself. 
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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

This Matter of Honesty, p. 172

“Only God can fully know what absolute honesty is. Therefore, each of us has to conceive what this great ideal may be–to the best of our ability.

“Fallible as we all are, and will be in this life, it would be presumption to suppose that we could ever really achieve absolute honesty. The best we can do is to strive for a better quality of honesty.

“Sometimes we need to place love ahead of indiscriminate ‘factual honesty.’ We cannot, under the guise of ‘perfect honesty,’ cruelly and unnecessarily hurt others.  Always one must ask, ‘What is the best and most loving thing I can do?’”

Letter, 1966 
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Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrecovery



Remember the Golden Key
Living in the Spirit

Whenever trouble arises, the first thing to do is to turn it over to our Higher Power. We can take all necessary practical steps to solve a problem, but we don’t need to decide what the answer may be. Do this, and you’ll soon be out of your difficulty.

This is essentially the formula of the Gold Key as taught by Emmet Fox. It is also the core idea os Steps three and Eleven. It is a manner of living one’s life iwht the constant knowledge that a Higher Power is always part of it.

We should also condition ourselves to believe that our Higher Power has been with us all along and will continue to show us the way. Nothing depends on our being “spiritual” or “saintly” or perfect in behavior. With all our shortcomings, we are and ever will be children of God.

My Higher Power is always with me today, supplying whatever I need for the accomplishment of any good purpose. 
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Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery


The future is much like the present, only longer.

—Dan Quisenberry

In many way we don’t know what the future holds. But in terms of recovery, we know the future holds the Twelve steps. They will be with us for life.

We should never fall into the trap of thinking we “know” the program. We’ll never know all the truth and love the Steps hold for us. “Knowing the Steps” is a project we’ll never finish. As we change , the Steps change. As the seasons come and go, the same field or the same tree becomes a different picture.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I pray for Your help as I work the Steps and continue my recovery. Help me discover new treasures.

Action for the Day: I will ask long-time members of my program how they keep the program fresh and alive. 
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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery



LIES

“The cruelest lies are often told in silence.”
–Robert Louis Stevenson

In treatment I said that I did not “tell” many lies – and although this was not true (hence a lie), it missed the fact that most of my lies were “lies of silence”. It was what I did not say that produced the confusion; the pretended self-confidence that hid the pain and shame;  the half-spoken truth that harbored the disease.

Communication is the key to any spiritual relationship and a sick silence creates the ultimate blasphemy. God created you and me to relate. In the interchange of our ideas is the miracle born. A sick, angry and ego-centered silence is our shouted “no” to God.

O Lord of the paradox, let me see how the lie of silence can be used to destroy my world.
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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery



Reflection For The Day

“Direct” is a key word in the Ninth Step.  There are times, unfortunately, where many of us are hopeful that indirect amends will suffice, sparing us the pain and supposed humiliation of approaching people in person and telling them of our wrongs.  This is evasion and will never give us a true sense of breaking with the wrong-doings of the past.  It shows that we’re still trying to defend something that isn’t worth defending, hanging on to conduct that we ought to abandon.  The usual reasons for sidestepping direct amends are pride and fear.  As I make amends to others, do I realize that the real, lasting benefits accrue to me?

Today I Pray

May I be sure that the best reward for coming on straight as I try to repair my damages is, after all, my own.  But may I avoid making amends purely for my own benefit — to be forgiven, to be reinstated, to flaunt the “new me.”  Ego-puffing and people-leasing are not part of the real “new me.”  God save me from opportunism.

Today I Will Remember

No puffery or people-pleasing.A Day At A Time

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One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery


A Person of Worth

“It is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get it.”

–W. Somerset Maugham

Upon entering recovery, I found it ironic, even strange, that I was so very good at taking care of others and helping them secure the help that they needed, yet often in my life I have not done this for myself. I would grow depressed and very frozen in anger, grief, and fear. Why wasn’t I ever able to care properly for myself? At what point did I begin to expect the worst as my own allotment in life?

It is possible that I dreamed of a “rescue” or an intervention of some kind that would “save me.” It is likely that my Higher Power knew of my tendencies for magical thinking. He caught my attention by the introduction of someone who knew of a program that would point me in a realistic direction. In this program, I would be taught to take small actions — “One day at a time” — that would encourage and re-build my shattered self-esteem. I now am in possession of a wonderful program that has given me tools for recovery and change so that I can learn to treat myself as well as I treat others.

One day at a time…

I no longer accept anything but the best, as it will indirectly affect my recovery. This is my new mindset: that I am a person of worth.

~ January K. 
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Elder’s Meditation of the Day #essentialsofrecovery



“The god that people reject is not the true god, it is a god they have conjured up apart from proper education, and understanding. In such cases, the least Fools Crow will do is to call their assumptions into question, and force them to re-evaluate their position.”

—Thomas Mails on Fools Crow, LAKOTA

Inside of every person – man, woman, and child – is the knowledge that there is a Supreme Being. Many of us have been taught that the Creator is a punishing God. We have been taught about feelings of guilt and shame when we do things wrong. We have been taught that God gets angry and disappointed with us. The Elders teach us that the Creator is a loving and forgiving God. He loves us during our good days and He loves us during our bad days. He doesn’t know how to do anything but love. If I really want to find out about the true God, I only need to ask in prayer. There is one thing that God cannot do and that is refuse help to one of His children who asks.

My Creator, I ask You to be a part of my life everyday. Whisper to me Your wisdom. Let me feel Your presence. If I am doubtful and afraid, show me, in terms I can understand, You are real. 
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Today’s Gift #essentialsofrecovery

To be able to invite pain to join in my experience and not have to control my life to avoid pain is such a freedom!

—Christina Baldwin

If we really stopped to think about it, we would be astounded to discover how much of our time is spent trying to avoid pain. We are afraid to say what we think or tell others our needs because we fear rejection. We are afraid to face the pain of our own anger. We are afraid of telling others who we are. When we are afraid of opening up to others for fear they will hurt us, we are not free, we are prisoners of our own fears.

Pain is a natural part of life, and we are gifted with the ability to feel it. Pain teaches us, makes us work harder sometimes, and it helps us appreciate pleasure.

When we accept pain, and stop exhausting ourselves trying to avoid it, we will be free to live life more fully and without so much worry.

How has my own fear limited my freedom? 
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The Eye Opener


We alcoholics have lived in two entirely different worlds that were separated only by an act of decision.

One day we lived in a world filled with hostile people, a world devoid of understanding and sympathy; a world of ugliness, suffering and despair. By this act of decision, a new day was created and we were transported into a different world.

If you would change the world, change yourself.

Hazelden Foundation 
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Daily Tao - Solstice #essentialsofrecovery

When the true light appears,
The entire planet turns to face it.


The summer solstice is the time of greatest light. It is a day of enormous power. The whole planet is turned fully to the brilliance of the sun.

This great culmination is not static or permanent. Indeed, solstice as time of culmination is only a barely perceptible point. The sun appears to stand still. Its diurnal motion seems to nearly cease. Yesterday, it was still reaching this point; tomorrow, it will begin a new phase of its cycle.

Those who follow Tao celebrate this day to remind themselves of the cycles of existence. They remember that all cycles have a left and right, an up side and a down side, a zenith and a nadir. Today, day far surpasses night, and yet night will gradually begin to reassert itself. All of life is cycles. All of life is balance.


So celebrate, but be not proud. For whenever you electorate high achievement, the antithesis is also approaching. Likewise, in misfortune, be not sad. For whenever you mourn in grief, the antithesis is also approaching. Those who know how to reach the peak of any cycle and remain glorious are the wisest of all.
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Daily Zen #essentialsofrecovery

He who for himself or others craves not for sons or power or wealth, who puts not his own success before the success of righteousness, he is virtuous, and righteous and wise.

- Buddha
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Tuesday 20 June 2017

Bill C- A.A. Recovery Speaker

Dr.David S. on The Principles - Step 5. - Integrity #essentialsofrecovery

Dr. David S. On Principles of Step 6. - Willingness

Emmet Fox - Be Still A Treatment against fear #essentialsofrecovery

The Psalmist says that though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, and the waters roll and tremble until the very mountains themselves seem to shake, he is not going to be afraid. The mountain, in the Bible, always means prayer, the uplifted consciousness, and this clause makes us declare that even when in the midst of our prayers things seem to get worse, so that the very prayers themselves are all but swamped by our terror, or doubt, or, despair; 
yet we are going to hold on to the truth about God, knowing that even though it be after forty days, the waters will subside—if only we hold on to the thought of God. The waters, of course, are always the human personality, and more especially the emotions. 
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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

RELEASE FROM FEAR

The problem of resolving fear has two aspects. We shall have to try for all the freedom from fear that is possible for us to attain. Then we shall need to find both the courage and grace to deal constructively with whatever fears remain. 

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 61

Most of my decisions were based on fear. Alcohol made life easier to face, but the time came when alcohol was no longer an alternative to fear. One of the greatest gifts in A.A. for me has been the courage to take action, which I can do with God’s help. After five years of sobriety I had to deal with a heavy dose of fear. God put the people in my life to help me do that and, through my working the Twelve Steps, I am becoming the whole person I wish to be and, for that, I am deeply grateful.
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Just For Today #essentialsofrecovery

Meditation For Beginners

“For some, prayer is asking for God’s help; meditation is listening for God’s answer. Quieting the mind through meditation brings an inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us.” 

Basic Text, pp.44-45

“Be patient when you’re learning to meditate,” many of us were told. “It takes practice to know what to ‘listen’ for.”

We’re glad someone told us that, or many of us would have quit after a week or two of meditating. For the first few weeks, we may have sat each morning, stilled our thoughts, and “listened”, just as the Basic Text said-but “heard” nothing. It may have taken a few more weeks before anything really happened. Even then, what happened was often barely noticeable. We were rising from our morning meditations feeling just a little better about our lives, a little more empathy for those we encountered during the day, and a little more in touch with our Higher Power.

For most of us, there was nothing dramatic in that awareness – no bolts of lightning or claps of thunder. Instead, it was something quietly powerful. We were taking time to get our egos and our ideas out of the way. In that clear space, we were improving our conscious contact with the source of our daily recovery, the God of our understanding. Meditation was new, and it took time and practice. But, like all the steps, it worked – when we worked it.

Just for today: I will practice “listening” for knowledge of God’s will for me, even if I don’t know what to “listen” for yet.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrecovery

A.A. Thought For The Day

You should be ready and willing to carry the A.A. message when called upon to do so. Live for some purpose greater than yourself. Each day you will have something to work for. You have received so much from this program that you should have a vision that gives your life a direction and a purpose that gives meaning to each new day. Let us not slide along through life. Let us have a purpose for each day and let us make that purpose for something greater than just ourselves. What is my purpose for today?

Meditation For The Day

To see God with eyes of faith is to cause God’s power to manifest itself in the material world. God cannot do His work because of unbelief. In response to your belief, God can work a miracle in your personality. All miracles happen in the realm of personality and all are caused by and based on belief in God’s never-failing power. But God’s power cannot manifest itself in personalities unless those personalities make His power available by their faith. We can only see God with the eyes of faith, but this kind of seeing produces a great change in our way of living.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may see God with the eyes of faith. I pray that this seeing will produce a change in my personality.
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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrecovery

Dividends and Mysteries, p. 171

“The A.A. preoccupation with sobriety is sometimes misunderstood. To some, this single virtue appears to be the sole dividend of our Fellowship. We are thought to be dried-up drunks who otherwise have changed little, or not at all, for the better. Such a surmise widely misses the truth. We know that permanent sobriety can be attained only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the individual–by a spiritual awakening that can banish the desire to drink.”

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

“You are asking yourself, as all of us must: ‘Who am I?’ . . . ‘Where am I?’ . . . ‘Whence do I go?’ The process of enlightenment is usually slow. But, in the end, our seeking always brings a finding. These great mysteries are, after all, enshrined in complete simplicity. The willingness to grow is the essence of all spiritual development.”

1. Letter, 1966
2. Letter, 1955 
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Walk in Dry Places #essentialsofrecovery

Estrangements
Amends

A number of alcoholics become estranged from members of their family. Sometimes these estrangements continue
into sobriety and fester as a source of resentment.
Where estrangements have occurred, we are always responsible for any wrongs on our part. We need to check
carefully to make sure that pride and bitterness on our part aren=t prolonging the estrangement.
But some of these estrangements have been chosen by others. We need to accept them if we’ve done everything
possible to correct the problem.
Honesty will be our guide as we look carefully at any estrangements in our rives. All that’s ever necessary is that we
use our best principles in dealing with any estrangements.
If I find today that an estrangement is bothering me or others in the program, I’ll examine it carefully with the thought that either making amends or acceptance might be required. 
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Keep It Simple #essentialsofrecovery


Order is heaven’s first law.

—Alexander Pope

We need order in our lives. It makes life simpler for us. Life without order would be like driving in a large city without traffic signals. Our lives as addicts were like this. We lived with no plan, no order.

Now that we’re sober, we can put some order in our lives. We can get up every morning. We can make our beds and be on time for work. These things make life so much easier and nicer. we need this order. It allows us to depend on ourselves.

We now look at the Twelve Steps to bring order to our lives. The Steps follow each other as summer follows spring. Do I allow myself to follow the natural order or do I fight it?

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You’ve put order in this world. Please put order in my life. Let me flow within this order instead of being on my own.

Action for the Day: The Twelve Steps have a natural order. Today I’ll take time to read each Step and think about the order found in them.
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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

IDEAS


“Ideas shape the course of history.”

–John Maynard Keynes

I get so excited about my sobriety because it has given me ideas. Today I can think, ponder and create. God is such a big idea today — every thing is involved.

For years I had made God a prisoner of the Church or an idea in history, but in my sobriety I have discovered Him in art, poetry, music and literature. God is found in friendship, advice, sharing and sexuality. God is forcibly experienced in nature, sunsets, animals and the sea.

God can be found through my failures. He is perceived in suffering, loneliness and resentments. The acknowledgment of my disease has brought me closer to God as I understand Him.

My idea of God is alive and it makes me want to live.

May my ideas and thoughts always reflect Your beauty.
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