Gentle Meditation - Ocean Waves

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

We learn the value of mediation in The Program. As the beginning of the Eleventh Step suggest, we see through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as We understand Him. One of the great values of meditation is that it clears the mind. And as the mind becomes clearer, it becomes more capable and willing to acknowledge the truth. less pain is required to force honesty recognition of defects and their results. The real need of the whole person are revealed. Are prayer and meditation a regular part of my daily living?

Today I Pray

May God’s truth be revealed to me through meditation and these small prayers, through contact with my group which keeps me mindful of my need to clear my mind with daily meditation. For only an uncluttered mind can receive God; only a mind cleansed of self-interest can acknowledge the truth.

Today I Will Remember

.Meditation is a mind-cleanser

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - May 28 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A. we learn that since we are alcoholics we can be
uniquely useful people. That is, we can help other alcoholics
when perhaps somebody who has not had our experience with
drinking could not help them. That makes us uniquely useful.
The A.A.s are a unique group of people because they have taken
their own greatest defeat and failure and sickness and used it
as a means of helping others. We who have been through the
same thing are the ones who can best help other alcoholics. Do
I believe that I can be uniquely useful?

Meditation For The Day

I should try to practice the presence of God. I can feel that
He is with me and near me, protecting and strengthening me
always. In spite of every difficulty, every trial, every
failure, the presence of God suffices. Just to believe that
He is near me brings strength and peace. I should try to live
as though God were beside me. I cannot see Him because I was
not made with the ability to see Him else there were no room
for faith. But I can feel His spirit with me.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to practice the presence of God. I
pray that by doing so I may never feel alone or helpless again.

Father Leo’s - May 19 2016

MONEY

“Money is the symbol of duty. It
is the sacrament of having done
for mankind that which mankind
wanted.”

–Samuel Butler

St. Paul said, “The laborer is worthy of his hire.” In one sense money –
how people pay us for the services we have performed – is symbolic of
our value in the community. Of course, this is not always true and
people can make money by dishonest and destructive methods.

However, in our society money is also a force behind much creativity
and job satisfaction. The danger is to become a “snob”. Thinking that
we are better than others because we earn more money.

Spirituality is about discovering the “oneness” of mankind and
incorporating our creative “difference” – we can all learn from each
other. Pretentiousness is indicative of insecurities that need to be
dealt within our recovery program.

O Lord, let my gratitude be seen in my relationship with others.

Daily Zen - May 9 2026

Reality as it is becomes the right view of the meditator. Thinking of it as it is becomes the right thought. Awareness of it as it is becomes the right awareness. Concentration on it as it is becomes the right concentration. Actions of the body and speech are then aligned to reality as it is. In this way the meditator develops and is fulfilled.

-Majjhima Nikaya 

DAILY ZEN - April 22 2026

Reality as it is becomes the right view of the meditator. Thinking of it as it is becomes the right thought. Awareness of it as it is becomes the right awareness. Concentration on it as it is becomes the right concentration. Actions of the body and speech are then aligned to reality as it is. In this way the meditator develops and is fulfilled.

-Majjhima Nikaya 

DAILY ZEN - April 20 2026

It is not that anger and desire are inherently evil or that we should feel ashamed when they arise. It is a matter of seeing them as the delusions that they are: distorted conceptions that paint a false picture of reality. They are negative because they lead to unhappiness and confusion.



-Kathleen McDonald, "How to Meditate"

Guided Meditation for Sleep... Floating Amongst the Stars - 1st April 2026

This one's for Nacho Richard

ELDER'S MEDITATION - 15th February 2026

“One of the essential characteristics we need to learn as men was to be gentle, and to be gentle means to be serene, to enter meditation or a prayerful state in the morning and evening.”

~ Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA 

The most important talk we can do during any day, is to start the day with prayer and meditation. We need to ask the Creator to be in our lives. We ask Him to direct our thinking. We ask Him for the courage and the power to be gentle. In the morning quiet time, we make our request for guidance using our spiritual tools. We pray for the people and we pray for ourselves. In the evening we thank the Creator for the day, for the lessons and for the opportunity to be of service to others. Then we go to sleep.

Great Spirit, today, show me the power of being gentle. 

Walking Meditation - 17th January 2026

Drinking Meditation - 8th Jan 2026

JUST FOR TODAY - 25th November 2025

  Meditation

“Quieting the mind through meditation brings and inner peace that brings us into contact with the God within us.”

~ Basic Text pg.45 
As our recovery progresses, we often reflect on what brought us to Narcotics Anonymous in the first place and are able to appreciate how much the quality of our lives has improved. We no longer have to fear our own thoughts. And the more we pray and meditate, the more we experience a calm sense of well-being. The peace and tranquillity we experience during our quiet times confirms that our most important needs – our spiritual needs – are being met.

We are able to empathize with other addicts and strengthen our conscience in the process. We learn to avoid judging others and experience the freedom to be ourselves. In our spiritual reflection, we intuitively find “the God within us” and see that we are in harmony with a Power greater than ourselves.

Just for today: I will reflect upon the gift of recovery and listen quietly for my Higher Power’s guidance.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc    

\ Ocean Meditation

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection for the Day

When I meditate upon such a vision,Bill W. continued, I need not be dismayed because I shall never attain it, nor need I swell with presumption that one of these days its virtues shall all be mine. I only need to dwell on the vision itself, letting it grow and ever more fill my heart…Then I get a sane and healthy idea of where I stand on the highway to humility. I see that my journey towards God has scarcely begun. As I thus get down to my right size and stature, my self-concern and importance become amusing.” Do I take myself too seriously?

Today I Pray

May the grandiosity which is a symptom of my chemical addiction be brought back into proportion by the simple comparison of my powerlessness with the power of God. May I think of the meaning of Higher Power as it relates to my human frailty. May it bring my ego back down to scale and help me shed my defenses of pomp or bluster or secret ideas of self-importance.

Today I Will Remember

God is great. I am small.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation 

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

Today I will stop brooding—and start meditating.

~ Nancy T. ~

The Eleventh Step suggests that we meditate in order to know God’s will for us. Not recognizing how to do that at first, we mistakenly think that when we “shut up,” we’re meditating. But we eventually realize that quieting the mouth is not the same as quieting the mind.

To meditate—to free our minds of worries, snarling questions, and constant complaints— makes it possible for us to know the best step to take next. We are good at “getting quiet” (perhaps becoming sullen is a better description), but clearing our mind of all thoughts is not easy. With enough practice, however, we will begin to savor the meditative moments and seek them far more often. When that occurs, we’ll find the serenity we have been promised, the serenity we observe in others. We’ll also find we know how to handle those situations that used to baffle us.

I can figure out my next best move today if I quiet my mind long enough to receive God’s message.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

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DAILY ZEN #essentialsofrecovery

Your search among books, word upon word, may lead you to the depths of knowledge, but it is not the way to receive the reflection of your true self.

When you have thrown off your ideas as to mind and body, the original truth will fully appear. Zen is simply the expression of truth; therefore longing and striving are not the true attitudes of Zen.

-Dogen, "The Practice of Meditation" 

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DAILY ZEN #essentialsofrecovery

Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice (of religious ritual). Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachment to results (of one's actions), because there follows immediate peace.

-Bhagavad Gita 12:12  

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ELDER'S MEDITATION OF THE DAY #essentialsofrecovery

“One of the essential characteristics we need to learn as men was to be gentle, and to be gentle means to be serene, to enter meditation or a prayerful state in the morning and evening.”

~ Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA 

The most important talk we can do during any day, is to start the day with prayer and meditation. We need to ask the Creator to be in our lives. We ask Him to direct our thinking. We ask Him for the courage and the power to be gentle. In the morning quiet time, we make our request for guidance using our spiritual tools. We pray for the people and we pray for ourselves. In the evening we thank the Creator for the day, for the lessons and for the opportunity to be of service to others. Then we go to sleep.

Great Spirit, today, show me the power of being gentle. 

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Responsibility #Meditation #Recovery

Reflection for the Day

Why do I do what I do? Why did I say what I said? Why on earth did I put off an important responsibility? Questions like these, best asked of myself in a quiet time of meditation, demand honest answers. I may have to think deeply for those answers, going beyond the tempting rationalizations that lack the luster of truth. Have I accepted the fact that self-deception can only damage me, providing a clouded and unrealistic picture of the person I really am?

Today I Pray

May God allow me to push aside my curtain of fibs, alibis, rationalizations, justifications, distortions, and downright lies and let in the light on the real truths about myself. May I meet the person I really am and take comfort in the person I can become.

Today I Will Remember

Hello, Me. Meet the real Me.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

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Walking Meditation