Daily Reflections May 26 2026

TURNING NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If you will bear this in mind. I think that your slip will have the effect of kicking you upstairs, instead of down. 

AS BILL SEES IT , p. 184

In keeping with the pain and adversity which our founders encountered and overcame in establishing A.A., Bill W. sent us a clear message: a relapse can provide a positive experience toward abstinence and a lifetime of recovery. A relapse brings truth to what we hear repeatedly in meetings – “Don’t take that first drink!” It reinforces the belief in the progressive nature of the disease, and it drives home the need for, and beauty of, humility in our spiritual program. Simple truths come in complicated ways to me when I become ego driven.

Today's GIft - May 14 2026

Having boundaries doesn’t complicate life; boundaries simplify life.
— Beyond Codependency

There is a positive aspect to boundary setting. We learn to listen to ourselves and identify what hurt us and what we don’t like. But we also learn to identify what feels good.

When we are willing to take some risks and begin actively doing so, we will enhance the quality of our life.

What do we like? What feels good? What brings us pleasure? Whose company do we enjoy? What helps us to feel good in the morning? What’s a real treat in our life? What are the small, daily activities that make us feel nurtured and cared for?

We have deprived ourselves too long. There is no need to do that anymore, no need. If it feels good, and the consequences are self-loving and not self-defeating, do it!

Today, I will do for myself those little things that make life more pleasurable. I will not deny myself healthy treats.

From the book:



The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation

One Day At A Time - May 8 2026

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

“I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.”

James Arthur Baldwin

What did I think about before I was in recovery? I worried about what others thought of me. I thought of what and when I could eat next. I picked apart the way others’ bodies looked, while being jealous of them. I didn’t know that thinking of negative things brought my energy level down. I thought self-discipline meant disciplining myself — which meant mentally beating myself up.

My Higher Power has shown me a way of thinking that was new to me, but is age old — positive thoughts. Thinking positive brings me to a level of serenity. When my mind wanders, I can bring it back. When I find myself obsessing over something negative, I can work the first three steps with it. I am powerless over negativity. I have a HP who can remove it from me. I choose to let my HP direct my thoughts. And then let myself to think of something else.

One day at a time…
I choose to think positively. The result is serenity.

Nancy F.

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

Even on a rainy day, I can feel the sunshine.
Even when the clouds are gray, I can feel a glow.
There’s a little light inside me, just keeps burning.
I take it with me, everywhere I go.

~ Jill Clark ~

We carry within ourselves the single necessary Ingredient for our happiness: a positive attitude. Nothing can ruin our day, unless we let it. No remark can devastate us, unless we let it. No person can have a harmful, lasting impact on us, unless we let him or her. No unhealthy, negative attitude controls our thoughts without our assent.

Feeling good about the experiences we’re having, regardless of their nature, is a decision. Trusting that some good will come out of every one of them is a habit we can form. We can acquire un attitude of hope for growth and positive change.

I will see the sunshine even through the clouds if that’s my choice. Today I have twenty-four hours to practice this.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

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ONE DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

POSITIVE THINKING

“It takes but one positive when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower and entire army of negative thoughts.”

~ Robert H. Schuller ~

A positive attitude is crucial for a successful recovery. This summer, I wasn’t laid up with two torn tendons in my left ankle. This happened right at the start of my summer vacation. When it first happened, I was VERY dejected. This had to happen NOW!!! Just when my holidays are starting? (not that ANY time is a good time to receive an injury!). However, upon reflection it WAS good timing. I didn’t have get myself to and from work. My daughter was finished school for the summer and was able to be home to assist me with day to day stuff. Plus I had just taken on some new OA service responsibilities and being home allowed me the time to really focus and internalize my new roles. Instead of looking at this as a negative – I think HP gave me an opportunity here to rest up and do some service at the same time. My daughter and I did some wonderful bonding as well. It would have been very easy just to turn negative and feel sorry for myself. But I simply would have made myself (and everyone around me) miserable during my six weeks of recovery. Instead, it’s turned out to be a wonderful learning experience (not to mention it provided a good idea for this meditation topic!). Life’s too short for cheap whine, n’est past?

One Day at a Time . . .

I will look at life from a positive point of view.

~ Rob R. ~ 

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WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrecovery

A VISION FOR YOU

A Positive Attitude

One of the methods that helps in recovery is to see yourself as a sober person living a clean life. This is the “vision for you” that the society’s founders offered in AA’s early days, and it’s still powerful today.

While being careful to avoid self-will, we can use this method with great success in living each day. Along with seeing ourselves sober, we can see ourselves living and working according to the best principles we know. We can see a business relationship improving. We can see some longstanding problems being solved. We can see a brighter side to negative situations that have persisted in spite of our best efforts to change them.

One author also talked about “seeing God on both sides of the table in any business negotiation.” We desire success, of course, but it’s also important to know that any negotiation ought to be successful for both parties. If we’re really practicing spiritual principles in all of our affairs, there should be no desire to outmaneuver another per-son in any negotiation. There is always a price that is fair and satisfactory for both parties, and there are always terms suitable for both sides.

I will go through this day visualizing it as I think it should be according to the highest and best principles I know. I will put aside self-will and see everybody benefiting from any negotiation in which I am involved.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation 

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A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection for the Day

Today I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him?

Today I Pray

On this day of love-giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.

Today I Will Remember

To count—and consider—my blessings.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation 

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WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialofrec #Positivity #Attitude

A VISION FOR YOU

A Positive Attitude

One of the methods that helps in recovery is to see yourself as a sober person living a clean life. This is the “vision for you” that the society’s founders offered in AA’s early days, and it’s still powerful today.

While being careful to avoid self-will, we can use this method with great success in living each day. Along with seeing ourselves sober, we can see ourselves living and working according to the best principles we know. We can see a business relationship improving. We can see some longstanding problems being solved. We can see a brighter side to negative situations that have persisted in spite of our best efforts to change them.

One author also talked about “seeing God on both sides of the table in any business negotiation.” We desire success, of course, but it’s also important to know that any negotiation ought to be successful for both parties. If we’re really practicing spiritual principles in all of our affairs, there should be no desire to outmaneuver another per-son in any negotiation. There is always a price that is fair and satisfactory for both parties, and there are always terms suitable for both sides.

I will go through this day visualizing it as I think it should be according to the highest and best principles I know. I will put aside self-will and see everybody benefiting from any negotiation in which I am involved.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation

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Just For Today #essentialsofrec #NA #Recovery

 A Positive Attitude

“That old nest of negativism followed me everywhere I went.”

Basic Text, p.135

A negative attitude is the trademark of active addiction. Everything that occurred in our lives was someone or something else’s fault. We had blaming others for our shortcomings down to a fine science. In recovery, one of the first things we strive to develop is a new attitude. We find that life goes a lot easier when we replace our negative thinking with positive principles.

While a negative attitude dogged us in our active addiction, all too often it can follow us into the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. How can we begin to adjust our attitudes? By altering our actions. It isn’t easy, but it can be done.

We can start by listening to the way we talk. Before we open our mouths, we ask ourselves some simple questions: Does what I’m going to say speak to the problem, or the solution? Is what I’m going to say framed in a kind manner? Is what I have to say important, or would everyone be just as well off if I kept my mouth shut? Am I talking just to hear myself talk, or is there some purpose to my “words of wisdom?”

Our attitudes are expressed in our actions. Often, it’s not what we say, but the way we say it, that really matters. As we learn to speak in a more positive manner, we will notice our attitudes improving as well.

Just for today: I want to be free of negativity. Today, I will speak and act positively.

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrec #positivity #Attitude

Even on a rainy day, I can feel the sunshine.
Even when the clouds are gray, I can feel a glow.
There’s a little light inside me, just keeps burning.
I take it with me, everywhere I go.

~ Jill Clark ~
We carry within ourselves the single necessary Ingredient for our happiness: a positive attitude. Nothing can ruin our day, unless we let it. No remark can devastate us, unless we let it. No person can have a harmful, lasting impact on us, unless we let him or her. No unhealthy, negative attitude controls our thoughts without our assent.

Feeling good about the experiences we’re having, regardless of their nature, is a decision. Trusting that some good will come out of every one of them is a habit we can form. We can acquire un attitude of hope for growth and positive change.

I will see the sunshine even through the clouds if that’s my choice. Today I have twenty-four hours to practice this.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

ONE DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Positivity #Thinking #OA

POSITIVE THINKING

“It takes but one positive when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower and entire army of negative thoughts.”

~ Robert H. Schuller 

A positive attitude is crucial for a successful recovery. This summer, I wasn’t laid up with two torn tendons in my left ankle. This happened right at the start of my summer vacation. When it first happened, I was VERY dejected. This had to happen NOW!!! Just when my holidays are starting? (not that ANY time is a good time to receive an injury!). However, upon reflection it WAS good timing. I didn’t have get myself to and from work. My daughter was finished school for the summer and was able to be home to assist me with day to day stuff. Plus I had just taken on some new OA service responsibilities and being home allowed me the time to really focus and internalize my new roles. Instead of looking at this as a negative – I think HP gave me an opportunity here to rest up and do some service at the same time. My daughter and I did some wonderful bonding as well. It would have been very easy just to turn negative and feel sorry for myself. But I simply would have made myself (and everyone around me) miserable during my six weeks of recovery. Instead, it’s turned out to be a wonderful learning experience (not to mention it provided a good idea for this meditation topic!). Life’s too short for cheap whine, n’est past?

One Day at a Time . . .

I will look at life from a positive point of view.

~ Rob R. ~

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

WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrec #Vision #Attitude

A VISION FOR YOU

A Positive Attitude

One of the methods that helps in recovery is to see yourself as a sober person living a clean life. This is the “vision for you” that the society’s founders offered in AA’s early days, and it’s still powerful today.

While being careful to avoid self-will, we can use this method with great success in living each day. Along with seeing ourselves sober, we can see ourselves living and working according to the best principles we know. We can see a business relationship improving. We can see some longstanding problems being solved. We can see a brighter side to negative situations that have persisted in spite of our best efforts to change them.

One author also talked about “seeing God on both sides of the table in any business negotiation.” We desire success, of course, but it’s also important to know that any negotiation ought to be successful for both parties. If we’re really practicing spiritual principles in all of our affairs, there should be no desire to outmaneuver another per-son in any negotiation. There is always a price that is fair and satisfactory for both parties, and there are always terms suitable for both sides.

I will go through this day visualizing it as I think it should be according to the highest and best principles I know. I will put aside self-will and see everybody benefiting from any negotiation in which I am involved.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec

A Day At A Time #essentialsofrec #Positivity #Temper

Reflection For The Day

When a person says something rash or ugly, we sometimes say they are “forgetting themselves,” meaning they’re forgetting heir best selves in a sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury. If I remember the kind of person I want to be,m hopefully I won’t “forget myself” and yield to a fit of temper. I’ll believe that the positive always defeats the negative: courage over comes fear; patience overcomes anger and irritability; love overcomes hatred. Am I always striving for improvement?

Today I Pray

Today I ask that God, to Whom all things are possible, help me turn negatives into positives — anger into super-energy, fear into a chance to be courageous, hatred into love. May I take time out of remember examples of such positive-groom-negative transformations from the whole of my lifetime. Uppermost is God’s miracle; my freedom from the slavery of addiction.

Today I Will Remember

Turn negatives into positives.


© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
 

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A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Blessings #Positivity #Recovery

Reflection for the Day

Today I will take the time to list the positive aspects of my new life and the blessings that accompany the miracles of my recovery. I will be grateful for the seemingly simple ability to eat normally, to fall asleep with a feeling of contentment, to awaken with a gladness to be alive. I will be grateful for the ability to face life on life’s terms—with peace of mind, self-respect, and full possession of all my faculties. On a daily basis, do I count my blessings? Do I seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understand Him?

Today I Pray

On this day of love-giving, may I count all the good things in my life and give thanks for them. May I take no blessing for granted, including the beating of my own heart and the fresh feel of new air as I breathe.

Today I Will Remember

To count—and consider—my blessings.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

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EASY DOES IT #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Serenity

SERENITY

Give me, kind Heaven, a private station ~ a mind serene for contemplation.

~ Alexander Pope 

Serenity must be a permanent state of mind, not a temporary experience. We know that some degree of serenity must be present before acceptance is possible. Acceptance is an ongoing act required for any success in a recovery program. Therefore, it is obvious that we can’t afford to settle for merely feeling at peace.

Peace of mind is a mood we can create for ourselves only. Peace leaves as an attitude changes. Serenity is a life-time possession because it is not only with us but also within us. It cannot be taken away.

Serenity is positive. It is not a placid or negative state of being. It is a positive force for good.

Today, I’ll remember serenity comes and lasts when I stay tuned to God’s will and the principles of the Program.

©1990 by Anonymous, Published by Hazelden

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ONE DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Positivity #Thinking

POSITIVE THINKING

“We could accomplish many more things
if we did not think of them as impossible”
~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

(from his “Lettres à M. de Malesherbes)

I have spent a lifetime dieting. My life can be easily separated into two sections: the dieting periods and the non-dieting, or bingeing, periods. When I first start losing weight, I am positive about it, to the point where, if I go clothes shopping, I even buy things in smaller sizes because soon I won’t be as big as I am. This works fine while I’m losing weight, but when I reach a plateau and remain at the same weight level for a while, or even worse, gain a bit, I start to think that I’ll never lose the weight I need to lose, that my sticking to a “diet” for the rest of my life is nigh to impossible.

Well, with stinking thinking like this, I’m defeated before I’ve even started. Through this program, I’ve learned that anything is possible. First of all, it’s true that sticking to a diet for the rest of my life would be an impossible feat, but in program we don’t “go on diets.” We follow a sensible eating plan, and this plan should be flexible enough that it IS something we can follow indefinitely. Secondly, I have to correct my time spans. Instead of thinking of it as “the rest of my life,” I have the option to think of it as “One Day at a Time,” and we can do anything for just one day, can’t we?

One day at a time …

I remember that’s all it takes…one day at a time.

~ Marjee ~

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

TURNING NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If you will bear this in mind. I think that your slip will have the effect of kicking you upstairs, instead of down.

AS BILL SEES IT , p. 184

In keeping with the pain and adversity which our founders encountered and overcame in establishing A.A., Bill W. sent us a clear message: a relapse can provide a positive experience toward abstinence and a lifetime of recovery.  A relapse brings truth to what we hear repeatedly in meetings – “Don’t take that first drink!” It reinforces the belief in the progressive nature of the disease, and it drives home the need for, and beauty of, humility in our spiritual program. Simple truths come in complicated ways to me when I become ego driven.
 

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery

One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

“I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.”

–James Arthur Baldwin

What did I think about before I was in recovery? I worried about what others thought of me. I thought of what and when I could eat next. I picked apart the way others’ bodies looked, while being jealous of them. I didn’t know that thinking of negative things brought my energy level down. I thought self-discipline meant disciplining myself — which meant mentally beating myself up.

My Higher Power has shown me a way of thinking that was new to me, but is age old — positive thoughts. Thinking positive brings me to a level of serenity. When my mind wanders, I can bring it back. When I find myself obsessing over something negative, I can work the first three steps with it. I am powerless over negativity. I have a HP who can remove it from me. I choose to let my HP direct my thoughts. And then let myself to think of something else.

One day at a time…

I choose to think positively. The result is serenity.

Nancy F. 

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

A DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection for the Day

Why don’t I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities? Why not think about victories, instead of defeats—about the ways in which I am gentle and kind? It’s always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything I’ve done, said, or felt. Just for today, I’ll spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life. Do I have the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray

Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude. If I am a child of God, created in God’s image, there must be goodness in me. I will think about that goodness, and the ways it manifests itself. I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts. I will respect what is God’s. I will respect myself.

Today I Will Remember

Self-respect is respect for God.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation 

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery

TURNING NEGATIVE TO POSITIVE

Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If you will bear this in mind. I think that your slip will have the effect of kicking you upstairs, instead of down.

-AS BILL SEES IT , p. 184


In keeping with the pain and adversity which our founders encountered and overcame in establishing A.A., Bill W. sent us a clear message: a relapse can provide a positive experience toward abstinence and a lifetime of recovery. A relapse brings truth to what we hear repeatedly in meetings – “Don’t take that first drink!” It reinforces the belief in the progressive nature of the disease, and it drives home the need for, and beauty of, humility in our spiritual program. Simple truths come in complicated ways to me when I become ego driven.

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