Keep It Simple - May 29 2026

The more one judges the less on love. 

—Balzac

At times we need to make judgments about people’s behavior. We stand back and look at how their lives affect our sobriety. We have to do this to choose people whose relationships will be good for us. We have to do this before we trust someone in business. We should take a good look at the others person before we fall in love. But we decide to trust or love someone, we have to stop judging.

When we love someone, we don’t stand back. We move in close. We give them all our love can offer. We don’t just think and judge. We feel. We are on their side. We look for the good in them. We don’t pick them apart. We love the whole person.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to judge a little and love a lot. Help me accept the people I love, faults and all. Help me love them better.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll catch myself when I start to judge others. I will accept them as they are.

Fr. Leo's daily Meditation - - April 25 2026

             IMPERFECTION

“In the country of the blind a one-eyed king can still goof up.”
~ Anonymous ~

For years I tried to control everything and everybody.

There was a correct code of behavior, and everything had its place. I felt responsible for the universe and everyone in it.

Today I can laugh at my mistakes and the mistakes of others. When I catch myself organizing the world, I remember where the “perfect” yesterdays got me—and I laugh. God made me with a navel and flat feet; I would have preferred something different, but there is a loving message in my imperfections—it is okay to goof up! I relax in the humor of being human.

Thank You for making me an angel in the dirt. 

© 2008 Leo Booth

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT - April 17 2026

What thoughts are you willing to give up your happiness for?

~ Jane Nelson 

Far too quickly we put the responsibility for our happiness on others. We pout and blame and cry, but our lives never change. This doesn’t have to be true, however. We can decide to follow the example of the happier women we are discovering in this Twelve Step program. The difference between them and us is their willingness to be responsible for every thought they have, every feeling they harbor. It’s a simple change in mind-set, but it affects every aspect of their lives.

We are just as capable of finding happiness as any of the women we have grown to admire here. They have taken back their power from the others In their lives. They let no one decide how they are going to feel or think about a situation. They take charge of themselves. It’s not all that difficult or there would be far fewer successes. Let’s try it today.

I can purposefully decide how I’ll think and feel today. behaviouor one else’s behavior will control my own.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection for the Day

Merely to change my behavior, and what I say and do, doesn’t prove there’s been a change in my actual inner attitude. I’m deceiving myself if I believe I can somehow completely disguise my true feelings. They’ll somehow come through, prolonging the difficulties in my relationships with others. I have to avoid half-measures in getting rid of the troublesome emotions I’ve been trying to hide. Have I taken an honest inventory of myself?

Today I Pray

May I know that feelings will come out some-how sometimes barely disguised as behavior that I cannot always understand. But that perhaps is more acceptable to me than the root emotion that caused it. May I be completely and vigilantly honest with myself. May I be given the insight that comes through depending upon a Higher Power.

Today I Will Remember

Feelings can come out sideways.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

A baby learning to walk falls a lot.

~ Kathleen Rowe ~

We are developing new attitudes, new behaviors, new patterns for nearly every activity in our lives. We can’t be expected to master them immediately. The commitment to make progress on a daily basis is quite enough.


We won’t be perfect. Ever. The determination to keep improving is as close to perfection as we need ever come. The challenge is in the effort. The growth is in the effort too. We are in this program to grow and change. It will happen, sometimes in spite of ourselves, if we keep showing up to do the footwork.

Falling while learning to put a better foot forward is expected. The learning process is just that: a process. A little effort, one day at a time, will hone our new skills. In no time, we will look back on our old selves with disbelief. How did we come so far, so fast?

I may make plenty of mistakes today. I can accept that. I’m learning and moving forward.


© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

ONE DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #OA #Compulsion

COMPULSIONS

“Compulsive urges to overeat, gorge or purge are inadequate coping mechanisms.
Compulsion is loss of control and continuation of the behavior despite the consequences.”

~ Gloria Arenson ~

Compulsive overeating is not a moral dilemma. It is not about “right” or “wrong.” It is not a black-and-white situation. I learned at a pre-verbal stage that compulsive overeating is a coping mechanism. When I cried to be held, I was fed. When I cried because I was wet, I was fed. When I cried because I was in pain, I was fed. When life was good, I was fed. Is it any wonder I came to reach for food when life was happening around me?

This program teaches me better ways to cope with life. Instead of reacting to life, I have learned through the Steps how to take action. I did not choose this disease, but I do choose recovery. Through the help of my Higher Power, the program, and other program members I can recover. I can live in the solution one day at a time and one meal at a time.

One Day at a Time . . .

I will have a program. I choose recovery, health, love and life.

~ Sarah H. 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #Brotherhood #Behavior

TRUE BROTHERHOOD
We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among
friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of
society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide
underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership
relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we
had small comprehension.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53

This message contained in Step Four was the first one I heard loud and clear;
I hadn’t seen myself in print before! Prior to my coming into
A.A., I knew of no place that could teach me how to become a person among persons.
From my very first meeting, I saw people doing just that and I wanted what they had.


One of the reasons that I’m a happy, sober alcoholic today is that I’m learning this most important lesson.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Change #Behaviour

Reflection for the Day

Merely to change my behavior, and what I say and do, doesn’t prove there’s been a change in my actual inner attitude. I’m deceiving myself if I believe I can somehow completely disguise my true feelings. They’ll somehow come through, prolonging the difficulties in my relationships with others. I have to avoid half-measures in getting rid of the troublesome emotions I’ve been trying to hide. Have I taken an honest inventory of myself?

Today I Pray

May I know that feelings will come out some-how—sometimes barely disguised as behavior that I cannot always understand. But that perhaps is more acceptable to me than the root emotion that caused it. May I be completely and vigilantly honest with myself. May I be given the insight that comes through depending upon a Higher Power.

Today I Will Remember

Feelings can come out “sideways.”

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Women

A baby learning to walk falls a lot.

~ Kathleen Rowe ~

We are developing new attitudes, new behaviors, new patterns for nearly every activity in our lives. We can’t be expected to master them immediately. The commitment to make progress on a daily basis is quite enough.

We won’t be perfect. Ever. The determination to keep improving is as close to perfection as we need ever come. The challenge is in the effort. The growth is in the effort too. We are in this program to grow and change. It will happen, sometimes in spite of ourselves, if we keep showing up to do the footwork.

Falling while learning to put a better foot forward is expected. The learning process is just that: a process. A little effort, one day at a time, will hone our new skills. In no time, we will look back on our old selves with disbelief. How did we come so far, so fast?

I may make plenty of mistakes today. I can accept that. I’m learning and moving forward.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrec #Habits #Women #Recovery

Practiced consistently, new habits become who I am.

~ Lin Andrukat 

We sometimes have trouble defining ourselves. Anyone who spends much time in our presence, however, can define us pretty accurately. Our habits tell our “story” quite readily.

Many of our behaviors embarrass us, yet we repeat them. But changing them takes more than wishing they’d disappear. It takes a decision not to repeat them and the thoughtfulness to find a replacement for them. We return to old behaviors more out of laziness than intent.

Those of us in a Twelve Step program have the tools to make this shift in our behavior easier. Doing a Fourth Step to look at the past, and frequent Tenth Steps to stay on top of today, gives us the insight to define who we are and who we’d rather be. Changing who we are isn’t that difficult if we have the desire.

Any current behavior used to be “new.” It became a habit only with continuous use. I can decide to begin a new behavior today.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Slogans #Recovery #AA

Reflection for the Day

The slogan “Live and Let Live” can be extremely helpful when we are having trouble tolerating other people’s behavior. We know for certain that nobody’s behavior—no matter how offensive, distasteful, or vicious—is worth the price of a relapse. Our own recovery is primary, and while we must be unafraid of walking away from people or situations that cause us discomfort, we must also make a special effort to try to understand other people—especially those who rub us the wrong way. Can I accept the fact, in my recovery, that it is more important to understand than to be understood?

Today I Pray

When I run headlong into someone’s unpleasant behavior, may I first try my best to understand. Then, if my own sobriety seems threatened, may I have the courage to remove myself from the situation.

Today I Will Remember

Live and let live.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Keep It Simple essentialsofrecovery

The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.

—Benjamin Spock

In recovery, we each rebel against our disease. Each day we fight for the freedom to stay close to our Higher Power, friends and family.

It’s mainly a quiet battle. It’s fought daily. We fight and win by acting in a spiritual way. We fight and win every time we help a friend, go to meetings, or read about how to improve our lives

We move slowly but always forward. Rushing will only tire us out. Our battle will go on for life.

We are quiet fighters, but we’re strong, for we do not fight alone. And we know what waits for us if we lose.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay free. When I want to give up, help me realize this is normal. Help me to keep fighting at these times.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll be a rebel. I will go to an extra meeting, or I’ll talk with my sponsor. I’ll find a way to help someone without the person knowing.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrecovery

“That’s the way I am”
Getter Better

Bad behavior is sometimes justified as a form of self-expression: “That’s the way I am.” Others are supposed to tolerate this or risk losing a friendship.

In our program, we should modify any behavior that offends or hurts others. If we have been too brutally frank in our comments, for example, maybe we’re at fault. What we call honesty is really a form of cruelty.

If we persist in “being the way we are” even when it doesn’t work, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when things go wrong. Other people are entitled to be treated fairly and decently. Just as we want to be. Perhaps “the way I am” is something that can be changed for the good of all, ourselves included.

If I have habits and traits that cause friction with others, I’ll take a new look at them. It’s possible that this is something I can and should change.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

The Eye Opener #essentialsofrecovery

We are definitely what we think – as a man thinketh, so is he. The trick for all of us is to cull out of our thinking those thoughts that are injurious to us and to retain those that are beneficial.

We conceive our own thoughts, we give them birth, we nourish and sustain them – they are our brain children. Our lives become intertwined with them, and their influence on us and our behavior is enormous.

The thoughts we have must be purely conceived, carefully trained, well disciplined and encouraged. In so doing, we surround ourselves with a group of brain children whose influence on our lives brings the happy results we can hopefully expect.

Hazelden Foundation 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

To stop behaving in a certain way is to risk the unfamiliar.

~ Jan Lloyd 

Old patterns grip us so tightly! Even when the behavior pinches us painfully, we are loathe to give it up. Its familiarity makes it tolerable, knowable, somewhat manageable, and far less scary than trying something new. However, we are truly the luckiest women alive because now we have a training ground where it is safe to try new behaviors. We can discard old, self-defeating patterns in the safe environment of these Twelve Steps.

We are on this recovery path because each of us wants a new life. We have grown sick and tired of the old ways that no longer work. And we have come to believe that change is possible if we look for it in the right place. This is the right place! At any meeting we can see other women who, like us, are trying on new behaviors and meeting with success. We are role models for one another, and every time one of us tries a new response to an old situation, we are all heartened and stretched a bit. We know that what another can do, we can do too.

I am in the right place today to let go of the old and try the new. My support is all around me. I will not fear.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

~ Page 301

To Rebuild Security

In our behavior respecting financial and emotional security, fear, greed, possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst. Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and inferiority about my fitness for my job destroy my confidence and fill me with conflict? Or did I overvalue myself and play the big shot?

Businesswomen in A.A. will find that these questions often apply to them, too, and the alcoholic housewife can also make the family financially insecure. Indeed, all alcoholics need to cross examine themselves ruthlessly to determine how their own personality defects have demolished their security.

~ TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 51-52 ~

Copyright © 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

Keep It Simple #essentialsofrec

The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.
—Benjamin Spock

In recovery, we each rebel against our disease. Each day we fight for the freedom to stay close to our Higher Power, friends and family.

It’s mainly a quiet battle. It’s fought daily. We fight and win by acting in a spiritual way. We fight and win every time we help a friend, go to meetings, or read about how to improve our lives

We move slowly but always forward. Rushing will only tire us out. Our battle will go on for life.

We are quiet fighters, but we’re strong, for we do not fight alone. And we know what waits for us if we lose.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay free. When I want to give up, help me realize this is normal. Help me to keep fighting at these times.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll be a rebel. I will go to an extra meeting, or I’ll talk with my sponsor. I’ll find a way to help someone without the person knowing. 

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrec

“That’s the way I am”

Getter Better

Bad behavior is sometimes justified as a form of self-expression: “That’s the way I am.” Others are supposed to tolerate this or risk losing a friendship.

In our program, we should modify any behavior that offends or hurts others. If we have been too brutally frank in our comments, for example, maybe we’re at fault. What we call honesty is really a form of cruelty.
If we persist in “being the way we are” even when it doesn’t work, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when things go wrong. Other people are entitled to be treated fairly and decently. Just as we want to be. Perhaps “the way I am” is something that can be changed for the good of all, ourselves included.

If I have habits and traits that cause friction with others, I’ll take a new look at them. It’s possible that this is something I can and should change.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

Step by Step #essentialsofrec #Spiritual #Recovery

“The spiritual life is not theory. We have to live it. Unless one’s family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principles, we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will convince them more than our words.” 

– Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6, p 83.

Today, if called on to 12th-Step a prospect, I will not hammer the Program’s spiritual aspect if the topic seems to push away rather than draw the prospect into the Fellowship. Should the prospect who is weary of spirituality subsequently embrace the Program and find sobriety, the words of the Big Book ring true: “(Spiritual awareness) will change in time,” just as it did for me. Paraphrasing the saying that I was born of the Spirit but was taught religion, let me understand that others, like me, also may tie the two together – religion and spirituality – but that the tools of the Program will lead them to their own understanding of a Higher Power just as the tools of the Program led me to my understanding. Today, if spirituality cannot be discussed with a potential member, let my actions speak louder than my words. And our common journey continues. 

Step by step. – Chris M.

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrec #Self-Esteem #Recovery

THE NEED FOR APPROVAL

Raising Self-Esteem

Although drinking behavior may have been defiant and antisocial, most of us wanted others to think well of us. If we are not watchful, this need for approval can tyrannize us in sobriety.

A fierce need for approval can drive us to do more than our share of talking at discussion meetings. On the other hand, the fear of disapproval may cause us to “pass” when we really do have something to say. Outside of the fellowship, a strong desire for others’ approval can make us anxious and unsure of ourselves. In the same way, a strong fear of being rejected or criticized can make us afraid to act.

In sobriety, we can free ourselves from an un-reasonable desire for approval. When we learn to like ourselves more, we do not need constant re-assurance and applause from others. We may also discover that we have been doing certain things against our will simply because we wanted somebody’s approval. This is our fault, not theirs, and we can get such practices out of our lives when we no longer need them.

I will accept myself as I am today. I will give others the approval that I desire for myself. I will not try to win approval by being a people-pleaser.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation

Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec