Father Leo’s - 5th October 2025

PRIDE


“The books I haven’t written are better than the books other people have.”

– Cyril V. Connolly

Today I still have to grapple with pride, vanity and conceit. Today, thanks to God and my spiritual program, I am not so preoccupied with self, but the old tapes can still be heard: “Thank God I am not as stupid as her.” “I am blessed in not being like those people.” “I suppose everybody in the room is looking at me.”

Pride is still a big obstacle because it keeps me isolated from people. It emphasizes the difference between me and the world, rather than the commonality. Pride keeps me a prisoner of my ego and develops that cruel and sadistic streak in my nature that I know exists. Pride stops me being grateful because it keeps me too focused on what I am doing and I miss the beauty and splendor of my life. Pride keeps my nose pushed against the picture so I cannot see the portrait!

I can only change this “proudful” attitude by talking about it. The way for me to grow is to “dump it” . . . today.

May I find me in the people I meet and share with.   

Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

PRIDE


“Though pride is not a virtue, it is the parent of many virtues.”

–M. C. Collins

I need to remember that “pride” is not necessarily a negative. It is sensible to have a balanced pride in my sobriety because self-esteem will grow from the pride and respect I give to myself. God has made me and is involved with me and, therefore, I am a beautiful person.

Balanced pride helps me with my appearance, grooming and personal etiquette that comes with clothes, fashion and hairstyles. Pride helps me with my communication skills – I work hard at being understood, speaking out clearly and developing better methods of being understood.

Pride stops me from being taken advantage of, enabling me to say “no” to others while still feeling good about myself. A healthy sense of pride is essential for spiritual growth.

Lord, let me have a realistic appreciation of myself that leads to achievement.

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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

PRIDE


“The books I haven’t written are better than the books other people have.”

– Cyril V. Connolly

Today I still have to grapple with pride, vanity and conceit. Today, thanks to God and my spiritual program, I am not so preoccupied with self, but the old tapes can still be heard: “Thank God I am not as stupid as her.” “I am blessed in not being like those people.” “I suppose everybody in the room is looking at me.”

Pride is still a big obstacle because it keeps me isolated from people. It emphasizes the difference between me and the world, rather than the commonality. Pride keeps me a prisoner of my ego and develops that cruel and sadistic streak in my nature that I know exists. Pride stops me being grateful because it keeps me too focused on what I am doing and I miss the beauty and splendor of my life. Pride keeps my nose pushed against the picture so I cannot see the portrait!

I can only change this “proudful” attitude by talking about it. The way for me to grow is to “dump it” . . . today.

May I find me in the people I meet and share with.    

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #Pride #Recovery

PRIDE

For thousands of years we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted. In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 71

Time and again I approached the Seventh Step, only to fall back and regroup. Something was missing and the impact of the Step escaped me. What had I overlooked? A single word: read but ignored, the foundation of all the Steps, indeed the entire Alcoholics Anonymous program – that word is “humbly”. I understood my shortcomings: I constantly put tasks off; I angered easily; I felt too much self-pity; and thought, why me? Then I remembered, “Pride goeth before the fall,” and I eliminated pride from my life. 

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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Defects #Repairs

Defects and Repairs, p. 140

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor. To the outer world he presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. He wants to enjoy a certain reputation, but knows in his heart he doesn’t deserve it.

<< << << >> >> >>

Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others.

<< << << >> >> >>

“The moral inventory is a cool examination of the damages that occurred to us during life and a sincere effort to look at them in a true perspective. This has the effect of taking the ground glass out of us, the emotional substance that still cuts and inhibits.”

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 73
2. Grapevine, June 1961
3. Letter, 1957

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Step by Step #essentialsofrec #EGO #Pride

Today, I will not take disproportionate pride in any job or thing well done to the extent that I unconsciously elevate myself above others, nor will I embellish any mistake to the degree that my self-confidence is so devastated that I con myself into believing I can do nothing right. Either way, the source of excess pride and a shattered self-image is an ego that is not centered but is too far to the left or right. In the end, egoism is the character defect that, had I been thorough and honest in my Fourth, remains with me. And I ask my Higher Power to strike the proper balance. May I understand that a job well done is no license to toot my own horn and that deep disappointment with myself for making a mistake blinds me to a basic edict of the Program – progress over perfection. Today, I will give up perfection as a goal and leave it to the Power that is truly perfect. And our common journey continues.


Step by step. – Chris M., 2014

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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec #Pride #BillW

Guide to a Better Way, p. 149

Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the Steps require. But we saw that the program really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness of life as we had been living it.

When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.

Implicit throughout A.A.’s Traditions is the confession that our Fellowship has its sins. We admit that we have character defects as a society and that these defects threaten us continually. Our Traditions are a guide to better ways of working and living, and they are to group survival and harmony what A.A.’s Twelve Steps are to each member’s sobriety and peace of mind.

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 25
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 96

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrec #Pride

A.A. Thought For The Day

I’ve noticed that the ones who do the most for A.A. are not
in the habit of boasting about it. The danger of building
myself up too much is that, if I do, I’m in danger of having
a fall. That pattern of thought goes with drinking. If one
side of a boat gets too far up out of the water, it’s liable
to tip over. Building myself up and drinking go together.
One leads to the other. So if I’m going to stay sober, I’ve
got to keep small. Have I got the right perspective on myself?

Meditation For The Day

The way sometimes seems long and weary. So many people today
are weary. The weariness of others must often be shared by me.
The weary and the heavy laden, when they come to me, should
be helped to find the rest that I have found. There is only
one sure cure for world-weariness and that is turning to
spiritual things. In order to help bring about the turning
of the weary world to God, I must dare to suffer, dare to
conquer selfishness in myself, and dare to be filled with
spiritual peace in the face of all the weariness of the world.


Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be a help to discouraged people. I pray
that I may have the courage to help bring about what the
weary world needs but does not know how to get.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrec #Submission #God #Recovery

A.A. Thought For The Day

By submitting to God, we’re released from the power of liquor.
It has no more hold on us. We’re also released from the things
that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And
we’re free to grow into a new life, which is so much better
than the old life that there’s no comparison. This release
gives us serenity and peace with the world. Have I been
released from the power of alcohol?

Meditation For The Day

We know God by spiritual vision. We feel that He is beside us.
We feel His presence. Contact with God is not made by the
senses. Spirit-consciousness replaces sight. Since we cannot
see God, we have to perceive Him by spiritual perception. God
has to span the physical and the spiritual with the gift to us
of spiritual vision. Many persons, though they cannot see God,
have had a clear spiritual consciousness of Him. We are inside
a box of space and time, but we know there must be something
outside of that box, limitless space, eternity of time, and
God.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have a consciousness of God’s presence. I
pray that God will give me spiritual vision.

© 1954, 1975, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrec #Sobriety #AA #Cure

A.A. IS NOT A CURE-ALL

It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a cure-all,
even for alcoholism.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 285

In my early years of sobriety I was full of pride, thinking that A.A. was
the only source of treatment for a good and happy life. It certainly
was the basic ingredient for my sobriety and even today, with over
twelve years in the program, I am very involved in meetings,
sponsorship and service. During the first four years of my recovery, I
found it necessary to seek professional help, since my emotional health
was extremely poor. There are those folks too, who have found
sobriety and happiness in other organizations. A.A. taught me that I
had a choice: to go to any lengths to enhance my sobriety. A.A. may
not be a cure-all for everything, but it is the center of my sober living.

opyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc -

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrec #Pride #Recovery

Page 107 ~

Two Kinds of Pride

The prideful righteousness of “good people” may often be just as destructive as the glaring sins of those who are supposedly not so good.

<< << << >> >> >>

We loved to shout the damaging fact that millions of the “good men of religion” were still killing one another off in the name of God. This all meant, of course, that we had substituted negative for positive thinking.

After we came to A.A., we had to recognize that this trait had been an ego-feeding proposition. In belaboring the sins of some religious people, we could feel superior to all of them. Moreover, we could avoid looking at some of our own shortcomings.

Self-righteousness, the very thing that we had contemptuously condemned in others, was our own besetting evil. This phony form of respectability was our undoing, so far as faith was concerned. But finally, driven to A.A., we learned better.

~ 1. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961 ~
~ 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 30 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc

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Walk in Dry Places #essentialsofrec #pride #sickness

The Barrier of Sick Pride
Sharing Feelings

Pride can be either sick or healthy. It’s sick pride that keeps us in bondage to alcohol. It’s healthy pride that emerges when we have high self-esteem. Finding the right path in sobriety always involves a battle to keep sick pride out of our lives.

What if I’m at a discussion meeting and I feel reluctant to admit that certain character defects are still giving me trouble? Can this be sick pride carrying on the pretense that I have risen above such problems? What if someone takes issue with a point I’ve tried to make in a discussion? Does sick pride cause me to react in self-defense?

We learn in the 12 Step program that we gain nothing by attempting to conceal our character defects from our fellow members. We gain everything by sharing our true feelings and letting others know we are vulnerable human beings. There is never any need to defend or explain anything we’ve tried to say in a meeting. The real message always comes through in our attitude, and it will reach those for whom it’s intended.

I’ll check myself today to see if sick pride is dictating what I say and do. The more I can let others see me as I really am, the more honest my relationships will be.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation

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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrec #Pride #Virtues #FrLeo

PRIDE
“Though pride is not a virtue, it is the parent of many virtues.”

–M. C. Collins
I need to remember that “pride” is not necessarily a negative. It is
sensible to have a balanced pride in my sobriety because self-esteem
will grow from the pride and respect I give to myself. God has made
me and is involved with me and, therefore, I am a beautiful person.

Balanced pride helps me with my appearance, grooming and personal
etiquette that comes with clothes, fashion and hairstyles. Pride helps
me with my communication skills – I work hard at being understood,
speaking out clearly and developing better methods of being
understood.

Pride stops me from being taken advantage of, enabling me to say
“no” to others while still feeling good about myself. A healthy sense of
pride is essential for spiritual growth.

Lord, let me have a realistic appreciation of myself that leads to achievement.

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Daily Reflections

FALSE PRIDE, p.209


Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help.

-12 & 12, p. 75

Many false notions operate in false pride. The need for direction to live a decent life is satisfied by the hope experienced in the A.A. Fellowship. Those who have walked the way for years–a day at a time–say that a God centered life has limitless possibilities for personal growth. This being so, much hope is transmitted by the elder A.A.s.

I thank my Higher Power for letting me know that He works through other people, and I thank Him for our trusted servants in the Fellowship who aid new members to reject their false ideals and to adopt those which lead to a life of compassion and trust. The elders in A.A. challenge the newcomers to “Come To”– so that they can “Come to Believe.” I ask my Higher Power to help my unbelief.

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Daily Reflections

PRIDE


For thousands of years we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted. In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living.

-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 71

Time and again I approached the Seventh Step, only to fall back and regroup. Something was missing and the impact of the Step escaped me. What had I overlooked? A single word: read but ignored, the foundation of all the Steps, indeed the entire Alcoholics Anonymous program – that word is “humbly”. I understood my shortcomings: I constantly put tasks off; I angered easily; I felt too much self-pity; and thought, why me? Then I remembered, “Pride goeth before the fall,” and I eliminated pride from my life.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrecovery

A.A. Thought For The Day

I had to show off and boast so that people would think I amounted to something, when, of course, both they and I knew that I really didn’t amount to anything. I didn’t fool anybody.  Although I’ve been sober for quite a while, the old habit of building myself up is still with me. I still have a tendency to think too well of myself and to pretend to be more than I really am. Am I always in danger of becoming conceited just because I’m sober?

Meditation For The Day

I cannot ascertain the spiritual with my intellect. I can only do it by my own faith and spiritual faculties. I must think of God more with my heart than with my head. I can breathe in God’s very spirit in the life around me. I can keep my eyes turned toward the good things in the world. I am shut up in a box of space and time, but I can open a window in that box by faith.  I can empty my mind of all the limitations of material things.  I can sense the Eternal.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that whatever is good I may have. I pray that I may leave to God the choice of what good will come to me.

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery

A.A. IS NOT A CURE-ALL

It would be a product of false pride to claim that A. A. is a cure-all, even for alcoholism

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 285 ~

In my early years of sobriety I was full of pride, thinking that A. A. was the only source of treatment for a good and happy life. It certainly was the basic ingredient for my sobriety and even today, with over twelve years in the program, I am very involved in meetings, sponsorship and service. During the first four years of my recovery, I found it necessary to seek professional help, since my emotional health was extremely poor. There are those folks too, who have found sobriety and happiness in other organizations. A.A. taught me that I had a choice: to go to any lengths to enhance my sobriety. A.A. may not be a cure-all for everything, but it is the center of my sober living.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

~ Page 107 ~

Two Kinds of Pride

The prideful righteousness of “good people” may often be just as destructive as the glaring sins of those who are supposedly not so good.

<< << << >> >> >>

We loved to shout the damaging fact that millions of the “good men of religion” were still killing one another off in the name of God. This all meant, of course, that we had substituted negative for positive thinking.

After we came to A.A., we had to recognize that this trait had been an ego-feeding proposition. In belaboring the sins of some religious people, we could feel superior to all of them. Moreover, we could avoid looking at some of our own shortcomings.

Self-righteousness, the very thing that we had contemptuously condemned in others, was our own besetting evil. This phony form of respectability was our undoing, so far as faith was concerned. But finally, driven to A.A., we learned better.

~ 1. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961 ~
~ 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 30 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

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Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

PRIDE


“The books I haven’t written are better than the books other people have.”

– Cyril V. Connolly

Today I still have to grapple with pride, vanity and conceit. Today, thanks to God and my spiritual program, I am not so preoccupied with self, but the old tapes can still be heard: “Thank God I am not as stupid as her.” “I am blessed in not being like those people.” “I suppose everybody in the room is looking at me.”

Pride is still a big obstacle because it keeps me isolated from people. It emphasizes the difference between me and the world, rather than the commonality. Pride keeps me a prisoner of my ego and develops that cruel and sadistic streak in my nature that I know exists. Pride stops me being grateful because it keeps me too focused on what I am doing and I miss the beauty and splendor of my life. Pride keeps my nose pushed against the picture so I cannot see the portrait!

I can only change this “proudful” attitude by talking about it. The way for me to grow is to “dump it” . . . today.

May I find me in the people I meet and share with.

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

Father Leo’s Daily Meditation #essentialsofrecovery

PRIDE


“The books I haven’t written are better than the books other people have.”

– Cyril V. Connolly

Today I still have to grapple with pride, vanity and conceit. Today, thanks to God and my spiritual program, I am not so preoccupied with self, but the old tapes can still be heard: “Thank God I am not as stupid as her.” “I am blessed in not being like those people.” “I suppose everybody in the room is looking at me.”

Pride is still a big obstacle because it keeps me isolated from people. It emphasizes the difference between me and the world, rather than the commonality. Pride keeps me a prisoner of my ego and develops that cruel and sadistic streak in my nature that I know exists. Pride stops me being grateful because it keeps me too focused on what I am doing and I miss the beauty and splendor of my life. Pride keeps my nose pushed against the picture so I cannot see the portrait!

I can only change this “proudful” attitude by talking about it. The way for me to grow is to “dump it” . . . today.

May I find me in the people I meet and share with. 

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Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery