Step by Step May 21 2026

Today, if I get frustrated or overwhelmed by the responsibilities with which sobriety has entrusted me, I will slow down to remember gratitude and humility, if for no other reason than I once could not be trusted with the responsibilities that I have in sobriety. Getting sober and, more importantly, recovery have given me a purpose and sense of inclusion that addictive drinking took from me. But although sober and (hopefully) getting better emotionally and spiritually day by day, I must guard against a reckless or stupid moment in which what I have gained is destroyed – by me. Today, even if the candle burns at both ends, I will be grateful that my candle now even has a flame. And our common journey continues.


Step by step. – Chris M., 2014

Father Leo’s - May 16 2026

LIBERTY

“Liberty means responsibility.That is why most men dread it.”

–George Bernard Shaw

The fellowship of recovering addicts and their families rejoice in the freedom of life; the exchange of slavery to a drug or person for liberty; a life of choice, rather than meaningless compulsion.

But with the gift of liberty comes the weight of responsibility. Today I am responsible for my life. No longer can I say I do not know; no longer can I blame others for my disease; no longer can I manipulate in the “playground of denial”.

The spiritual program requires a maturity of lifestyle that involves responsibility – but the joys are immense.

O Master of liberty and responsibility, let me not forget to laugh.

Walk in Dry Places - May 13 2026

Who’s to blame?
Personal responsibility.

Unless we’re unusual, we’ve probably accepted the widespread practice of blaming certain individuals and groups when trouble occurs. Most likely, we’ll also have people whom we blame for our own difficulties: unloving parents, careless teachers, unfair bosses, and others on an endless list.

However accurate it may be, such blame-placing does nothing constructive. It really serves only to reinforce our bitterness and resentment, thus assuring that more of the same “injustices” will come to us.

The real truth is that we have no complete explanation for the world’s individual and social wrongs. While certain individuals are admittedly guilty of wrongdoing, it often turns out that they’ve also been victims of cruelty or neglect. Our goal, as people committed to a spiritual way of life, is to reise above all blame placing while striving for improvement in our own treatment of others.

Though I may read and hear much to the contrary, I’ll resist the notion that certain people or groups must be held accountable for the world’s problems. I’ll focus my attention, this day, on improvement in my own life.

Father Leo’s - May 12 2026

RESPONSIBILITY


“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment and learn again to exercise his will, his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.”

–Albert Schweitzer

God has created me to be a responsible human being and that means that I must seriously consider the choices and decisions that could affect my life and the lives of others. Today I understand that true freedom can only be experienced within the restraints of a responsible life.

For years I blamed other people for my drunken behavior – family, bishops, job, world situations – even God! But the truth was that I lived an irresponsible life around alcohol. I ignored the facts that surrounded my drinking.

Today I make a responsible decision not to drink, and I also take responsibility for my life. I cannot blame other people for the mistakes that I made. My real freedom is experienced in my responsibility.

Give me the freedom to impose my own constraints.

Elder’s Meditation - May 7 2026

“We must all become caretakers of the Earth.”

—- Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders

Mother Earth is the source of all life. We should not only be concerned about the part of the Earth we live on, but we should be concerned about the parts of the Earth that other people live on. The Earth is one great whole. The trees in Brazil generate the air in the Untied States. If the trees are cut in Brazil, it affects the air that all people breathe. Every person needs to conscientiously think about how they respect the Earth. Do we dump our garbage out of the car? Do we poison the water? Do we poison the air? Am I taking on the responsibility of being a caretaker of the Earth?

Great Spirit, today, I will be aware of the Earth. I will be responsible.

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT - April 12 2026

Taking responsibility for the part I play in the cause of my problems frees me to do something about them.
~ Kathy McGraw ~
We used to love to blame other people for the burdens and hurdles in our lives. That someone else was to blame for our personal upset was as obvious to us as rain splashing against the windshield. Yet the longer we looked at others rather than at ourselves, the more stuck we became in old behavior.

We’ve since come to understand that we simply cannot grow, we cannot harvest the fruits of this recovery program, unless we develop a willingness to take responsibility for who we are at every instant of our lives. As we begin taking responsibility for our actions, we feel empowered. We realize that we are who we have chosen to be. And we will be who we decide we want to be. As that reality permeates our consciousness, we will begin to know that our hopes can become real, because the promises in the Big Book are real.

I will feel strengthened by claiming responsibility for all that I am today. Before taking action, I can pause and consider whether I will feel good about my choice.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

A DAY AT A TIME - April 9 2026

Reflection for the Day

Faith is more than our greatest gift; sharing it with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of the Program continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill the immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has placed in our hands. If you pray, why worry? If you worry, why pray?

Today I Pray

Our God is a mighty fortress, a bulwark who never fails us. May we give praise for our deliverance and for our protection. God gives us the gift of faith to share. May we pass it along to others as best we know how and in the loving spirit in which it was given to us.

Today I Will Remember

God will not fail us.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

DAILY REFLECTIONS - 3rd April 2026

ACCEPTING OUR HUMANNESS
We finally saw that the inventory should be ours, not the other man’s. So we admitted our wrongs honestly and became willing to set these matters straight.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 222 ~
Why is it that the alcoholic is so unwilling to accept responsibility? I used to drink because of the things that other people did to me. Once I came to A.A. I was told to look at where I had been wrong. What did I have to do with all these different matters? When I simply accepted that I had a part in them, I was able to put it on paper and see it for what it was —humanness. I am not expected to be perfect! I have made errors before and I will make them again. To be honest about them allows me to accept them—and myself—and those with whom I had the differences; from there, recovery is just a short distance ahead. Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services IncWhy no

As Bill Sees It - 1st February 2026

Moral Responsibility, p. 32


“Some strongly object to the A.A. position that alcoholism is an illness. This concept, they feel, removes moral responsibility from alcoholics. As any A.A. knows, this is far from true. We do not use the concept of sickness to absolve our members from responsibility. On the contrary, we use the fact of fatal illness to clamp the heaviest kind of moral obligation onto the sufferer, the obligation to use A.A.’s Twelve Steps to get well.

“In the early days of his drinking, the alcoholic is often guilty of irresponsibility. But once the time of compulsive drinking has arrived, he can’t very well be held fully accountable for his conduct. He then has an obsession that condemns him to drink. and a bodily sensitivity to alcohol that guarantees his final madness and death.

“But when he is made aware of this condition, he is under pressure to accept A.A.’s program of moral regeneration.”
Talk, 1960 

Daily Reflections - 12th September 2025

I AM RESPONSIBLE

For the readiness to take the full consequences of our past acts, and to take responsibility for the well-being of others at the same time, is the very spirit of Step Nine.

 TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 87

In recovery, and through the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, I learn that the very thing I fear is my freedom. It comes from my tendency to recoil from taking responsibility for anything: I deny, I ignore, I blame, I avoid. Then one day, I look, I admit, I accept. The freedom, the healing and the recovery I experience is in the looking, admitting and accepting. I learn to say, “Yes, I am responsible.” When I can speak those words with honesty and sincerity, then I am free.  

Just for today - 8th August 2025

Responsible recovery

“...we accept responsibility for our problems and see that we’re equally responsible for our solutions.”

Basic Text, p. 97

––––=––––

Some of us, well accustomed to leaving our personal responsibilities to others, may attempt the same behavior in recovery. We quickly find out it doesn’t work.

For instance, we are considering making a change in our lives, so we call our sponsor and ask what we should do. Under the guise of seeking direction, we are actually asking our sponsor to assume responsibility for making decisions about our life. Or maybe we’ve been short with someone at a meeting, so we ask that person’s best friend to make our apologies for us. Perhaps we’ve imposed on a friend several times in the last month to cover our service commitment. Could it be that we’ve asked a friend to analyze our behavior and identify our shortcomings, rather than taking our own personal inventory?

Recovery is something that has to be worked for. It isn’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter, nor can we expect our friends or our sponsor to be responsible for the work we must do ourselves. We recover by making our own decisions, doing our own service, and working our own steps. By doing it for ourselves, we receive the rewards.

––––=––––

Just for today: I accept responsibility for my life and my recovery.    

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

~ Page 84 ~

Benefits of Responsibility

“Happily, A.A.’s per capita expenses are very low. For us to fail to meet them would be to evade a responsibility beneficial for us.

“Most alcoholics have said they had no troubles that money would not cure. We are a group that, when drinking, always held out a hand for funds. So when we commence to pay our own service bills, this is a healthy change.”

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

“Because of drinking, my friend Henry had lost a high-salaried job. There remained a fine house—with a budget three times his reduced earnings.

“He could have rented the house for enough to carry it. But no! Henry said he knew that God wanted him to live there, and He would see that the costs were paid. So Henry went on running up bills and glowing with faith. Not surprisingly, his creditors finally took over the place.

Henry can laugh about it now, having learned that God more often helps those who are willing to help themselves.”


~ 1. LETTER, 1960 ~

~ 2. LETTER, 1966 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

~ Page 79 ~

Whose Responsibility?

“An A.A. group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone those of nonalcoholics, in the world around us. The A.A. group is not, for example, a mediator of domestic relations, nor does it furnish personal financial aid to anyone.

“Though a member may sometimes be helped in such matters by his friends in A.A., the primary responsibility for the solutions of all his problems of living and growing rests squarely upon the individual himself. Should an A.A. group attempt this sort of help, its effectiveness and energies would be hopelessly dissipated.

“This is why sobriety—freedom from alcohol—through the teaching and practice of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of the group. If we don’t stick to this cardinal principle, we shall almost certainly collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone.”

~ LETTER, 1966 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

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ELDER'S MEDITATION OF THE DAY #essentialsofrecovery

“The manner with which we walk through life is each man’s most important responsibility, and we should remember this with every new sunrise.”

~ Thomas Yellowtail, CROW ~

Every spiritual person should carry a vision of God’s will in every area of their life. One day at a time, each morning at sunrise, we should spend time praying to the Creator. We should say something like, my Creator, this morning I ask you to show me, in terms I can understand, what you have or me to do. By doing this daily, over time, we will develop an unquestionable vision. Each person is responsible for taking the time to do this. It will bring great joy and peace of mind to those warriors who do.

My Creator, give me the vision, today, of what you want me to do. 

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

~ Page 79 ~

Whose Responsibility?

“An A.A. group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone those of nonalcoholics, in the world around us. The A.A. group is not, for example, a mediator of domestic relations, nor does it furnish personal financial aid to anyone.

“Though a member may sometimes be helped in such matters by his friends in A.A., the primary responsibility for the solutions of all his problems of living and growing rests squarely upon the individual himself. Should an A.A. group attempt this sort of help, its effectiveness and energies would be hopelessly dissipated.

“This is why sobriety—freedom from alcohol—through the teaching and practice of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of the group. If we don’t stick to this cardinal principle, we shall almost certainly collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone.”

~ LETTER, 1966 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

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EASY DOES IT #essentialsofrecovery

RESPONSIBILITY

Faith is our greatest gift; its sharing with others, our greatest responsibility.

~ Anonymous 

Places and things never wronged us. We justify old actions when we blame other things for what we once did to ourselves. This can cause us to return to old behaviours.

We want to give up all stinking thinking. We cannot safely act the way we think we are expected to, but we can work at being ourselves.

We take risks only if they aim at spiritual progress. We become assertive only in seeking whatever can help us grow. Above all, we must try to stop being a “blame thrower” and start shouldering our responsibilities. If we react with compassion, understanding, and love then we will achieve spiritual progress. If we let ourselves be hurt or angry or full of self-pity, we achieve no growth and accept no responsibility.

It’s not always what happens that is my responsibility; it’s how I react to what happens.

©1990 by Anonymous. All rights reserved. Published by Hazelden. 

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery

WEEDING THE GARDEN

The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115 ~

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort.

Every now and then I pause to take a good look at my progress. More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting where I thought I had made my final pass with the blade. As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed (it’s easier when they are young), I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labors are rewarded. My sobriety grows and bears fruit.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrecovery

Powerlessness, Personal Responsibility

“Through our inability to accept personal responsibilities, we were actually creating our own problems.”

~ Basic Text, p. 13 ~

When we refuse to take responsibility for our lives, we give away all of our personal power. We need to remember that we are powerless over our addiction, not our personal behavior.

Many of us have misused the concept of powerlessness to avoid making decisions or to hold onto things we had outgrown. We have claimed powerlessness over our own actions. We have blamed others for our circumstances rather than taking positive action to change those circumstances. If we continue to avoid responsibility by claiming that we are “powerless;” we set ourselves up for the same despair and misery we experienced in our active addiction. The potential for spending our recovery years feeling like victims is very real.

Instead of living our lives by default, we can learn how to make responsible choices and take risks. We may make mistakes, but we can learn from these mistakes. A heightened awareness of ourselves and an increased willingness to accept personal responsibility gives us the freedom to change, to make choices, and to grow.

Just for today: My feelings, actions, and choices are mine. I will accept responsibility for them.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrecovery

WHEN OTHERS DON’T PERFORM

Personal Responsibility

There will be times when other people will disappoint us—either intentionally or because of indifference or incompetence. If we have been counting on them, their nonperformance can cause us real anger and frustration.

Our growth, however, should teach us that such failures are part of life. While never losing trust in others, we must accept them as fallible people. Their mistakes and lapses come from the human shortcomings all of us have.

Our best course is to live without expecting too much from others. They are not here to please or satisfy us. It’s possible, too, that we’ve been unrealistic in some of our expectations and have set ourselves up for disappointments.

Our personal responsibility is to do our best even when others fall short of our expectations. At the same time, we can grow by becoming more reliable and dependable ourselves.

We cannot use another’s failure as an excuse for negligence on our part.

Today I’ll expect the best, but I will know that I also have the spiritual resources to deal with the worst that can happen.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation 

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WALK IN DRY PLACES #essentialsofrec #Responsibility #Actions #Recovery

RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS

Maturity

The practice of scapegoating goes way back to biblical times. It’s easier to blame others for our problems than to take personal responsibility for facing and solving these problems.

In the AA program, however, there’s nothing that serves as a basis for blaming others. In every way, AA insists that alcoholics take personal responsibility—not only for finding and maintaining sobriety, but also for past wrongs and personal shortcomings. This is a difficult change for alcoholics who have believed that many of their problems were caused by others.

But being forced to take responsibility for our actions is a blessing in disguise. It fairly shouts the good news that we can take charge of our lives despite what others think and do. With God’s help, we can change ourselves into the people we ought to be. We are fortunate that life is arranged to give us this personal responsibility— where would we be if our recovery depended only on others?

We also learn that this responsibility is not limited to our drinking. We are responsible for everything we think and do, and we have the power to make improvements in our lives beginning today.

I will go through the day without blaming others for my problems. I will feel grateful today that I am responsible, that personal responsibility is part of my God-given free will.

© 1996 by Hazelden Foundation

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