DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery

A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART

I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37 ~

I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful and of how important gratitude is to our sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has given me through the A.A. program and am glad I can give back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others—in our Fellowship, my family and my community. For all of this, I have “a full and thankful heart.”

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrec #Recovery #God #Thanks

Reflection For The Day

“To stand on one leg and prove God’s existence is a very different thing,” wrote Soren Kierkegaard, “from going down on one’s knees and thanking Him.” It is my confidence in a Higher Power, working in me, which today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I can’t bring this about by relying on myself and my own limited ideas. Have I begun to thank God every night?

Today I Pray

May I remember constantly that it is my belief in my Higher Power that flips the switch to release the power in me. Whenever I falter in my faith, that power is shut off. I pray for undiminished faith, so that this power — give by God and regenerated by my own belief in it — may always be available to me as the source of my strength.

Today I Will Remember

Faith regenerate God-given Power.

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KEEP IT SIMPLE #essentialsofrec #Blessi9ngs #Recovery #Thanks

We give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.

~ Sacred ritual chant ~

Good things keep happening to us. We are sober. We can think clearly. We can see progress on how we handle our problems. We have friends. We have love. We have hope.

We are starting to love ourselves. We are starting to feel joy. Our fears are getting smaller. We are starting to trust our new way of life. Our new life brings good things to us. It brings blessings every day. We are beginning to expect them. But we’re still surprised at how good life can be. What a difference from the days before we entered our program!

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, thank-you for the blessings You keep on giving me. And thanks for whatever today will bring.

Action for the Day

One way to give thanks for my blessings is to share them with others. How can I share my recovery today?

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrec #Gratitude #Thanks

A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART

I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37 ~

I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful and of how important gratitude is to our sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has given me through the A.A. program and am glad I can give back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others—in our Fellowship, my family and my community. For all of this, I have “a full and thankful heart.”

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc

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TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY #essentialsofrec #Gratitude #Thanks

A.A. Thought for the Day

By having quiet times each morning, we come to depend on God’s help during the day, especially if we should be tempted to take a drink. And we can honestly thank Him each night for the strength He has given us. So our faith is strengthened by these quiet times of prayer. By listening to other members, by working with other alcoholics, by times of quiet meditation, our faith in God gradually becomes strong. Have I turned my drink problem entirely over to God, without reservations?

Meditation for the Day

It seems as though, when God wants to express to men what He is like, He makes a very beautiful character. Think of a personality as God’s expression of character attributes. Be as fit an expression of Godlike character as you can. When the beauty of a person’s character is impressed upon us, it leaves an image which in turn reflects through our own actions. So look for beauty of character in those around you.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may look at great souls until their beauty of character becomes a part of my soul. I pray that I may reflect this character in my own life.

© 1954, 1975, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation

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A THANKFUL HEART

I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

~ AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37 

My sponsor told me that I should be a grateful alcoholic and always have “an attitude of gratitude”—that gratitude was the basic ingredient of humility, that humility was the basic ingredient of anonymity and that “anonymity was the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” As a result of this guidance, I start every morning on my knees, thanking God for three things: I’m alive, I’m sober, and I’m a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Then I try to live an “attitude of gratitude” and thoroughly enjoy another twenty-four hours of the A.A. way of life. A.A. is not something I joined; it’s something I live.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc

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KEEP IT SIMPLE #essentialsofrecovery

I thank God for my handicaps, for through them, I have found myself, my work and my God.

~ Helen Keller ~

None of us ever wanted to be addicts. It’s not what we would choose to be—just as no one would choose to be blind and deaf. Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf, told of how her problems became her biggest gift. Through them, she found true meaning in her life.

We can accept our handicap—our addiction—and learn from it. The truth is, we’re all handicapped in some way. Recovery is about facing our addiction and learning to live with it. When we see we can’t do things alone, we see the need for a Higher Power.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me see myself as I really am. Give to me the serenity that comes from accepting my handicaps.

Action for the Day

Today, I’ll list all the ways I am handicapped. I’ll ask myself, “What gift does each of these hold for me?”

Copyright © 1988 by Hazelden Foundation 

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AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

PAGE 37

A Full and Thankful Heart

One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine — both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of living.

I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

~ GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

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Built by the One and the Many, p. 155


We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who, through so many friends and through so many means and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice of the spirit in which we are now dwelling–this cathedral whose foundations already rest upon the corners of the earth.

On its great floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery. On the side walls, the buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity for as long as God may will it so. Eager hearts and hands have lifted the spire of our cathedral into its place. That spire bears the name of service. May it ever point straight upward toward God.

“It is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and in our ability to carry A.A.’s message everywhere. It is to the many, indeed, it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings.”

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 234

2. Talk, 1959

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We give thanks for unknown blessings already
on their way.

~ Sacred ritual chant ~

Good things keep happening to us. We are sober. We can think clearly. We can see progress on how we handle our problems. We have friends. We have love. We have hope.

We are starting to love ourselves. We are starting to feel joy. Our fears are getting smaller. We are starting to trust our new way of life. Our new life brings good things to us. It brings blessings every day. We are beginning to expect them. But we’re still surprised at how good life can be. What a difference from the days before we entered our program!

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, thank-you for the blessings You keep on giving me. And thanks for whatever today will bring.

Action for the Day

One way to give thanks for my blessings is to share them with others. How can I share my recovery today?

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

The expression of praise as thanksgiving, gratitude, and joy is among the most powerful forms of affirmation.

~ Catherine Ponder ~

Praise inevitably has a multiple effect. It positively acknowledges another human being, enhancing his or her well-being, while making us feel good. This offering of love, which is the substance of praise, heals all who share in its circle.

We can see the effects of affirmation in the women we admire. We can discern its absence too, particularly among those who struggle. How difficult is it to give small acknowledgments to those we care about? Making a habit of this heals our own inner wounds too.

Affirming a friend or ourselves connects us to the spirit residing within. That bond fills in our empty spaces, making us whole and healed. Our security as women grows as we praise one another.

I will freely offer my love in the form of praise to the wonderful friends on my path today.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

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ONE DAY AT A TIME #essentialsofrecovery

GRATITUDE

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “Thank you,” that would suffice.

~ Meister Eckhart 

I spent most of my life blaming my circumstances and those around me for the way I felt, for my eating problem and for my terrible life in general. There was nothing good in my life at all and I viewed everything through a dark cloud of negativity. I couldn’t see anything good in my life, and life became totally unbearable. Poor me, I thought. It really wasn’t fair that I had been made to suffer the way I had, and I felt awash with self-pity. The more sorry I felt for myself, the more I ate, and the more I ate, the worse I felt; it became a vicious circle.

When I was brought to my knees by this disease and came into the fellowship, I was forced to take stock and look honestly at my life. For the first time ever I considered the losses and difficult situations in my life that I had perceived as unfair and negative. In each case there had been amazing gains. For example, the car accident I’d been in hadn’t been my fault at all. In fact, it became the catalyst that enabled me to change careers. One of the bereavements that I had brought a wonderful and special friend into my life. And so it went. Before, I had bemoaned my fate as a compulsive overeater. Now, I am actually grateful to be a compulsive overeater, because without my disease I never would have a wonderful program that helps me to live my life sanely and serenely, nor would I have all the very special people who love and support me through thick and thin.

One Day at a Time . . .

I am grateful for all the wonderful miracles that have happened in my life as a result of this program … may I never forget to thank my Higher Power for all these wonderful blessings.

~ Sharon S.  

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Give Thanks, p.266

Though I still find it difficult to accept today’s pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity–as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do–I can give thanks for present pain nevertheless.

I find the willingness to do this by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering–lessons which have led to the blessings I now enjoy. I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism, the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride, have often led me to God’s grace, and so to a new freedom.

Grapevine, March 1962 

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Today’s Gift #essentialsofrecovery

I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun.

—Katharine Hepburn

The first good news each day is that we wake up. We are breathing. Our heats are beating, our minds working. The adventure of living begins. What does the day hold in store? We have no way of knowing what surprises lie in wait for us today.

We may look forward, not just to the expected, but to the unexpected. Whom shall we meet? What will we see? What will we learn? How will we be entertained? What changes to help others will come our way? What chances to love and be loved?

Now that our eyes are opened to today’s beauty, let us remain alert for new sights. Let us cry when sad, smile when touched, and laugh at what is funny in a whole new lifetime before us.

What can I be thankful for today? 

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Reflection For The Day

Based on their collective experience, The Program’s founders suggested a prayer to be said when taking the Third Step –  and making a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.  “God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.  Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will.  Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy Love, and Thy way of life.  May I do Thy will always!”  Have I abandoned myself to God as I understood Him?

Today I pray

I praise my Higher Power for my freedom to find my own understanding of God.  May my life be God’s whether i think of Him as a Father whose hand and spirit I can touch with an upward reach of my own, or as a universal Spirit that I can merge with as the hard outlines of my “self”begin to melt, or as a core of Divine and absolute goodness inside myself.  May I know Him well, whether I find Him within me, without me or in all things everywhere.

Today I Will Remember

I thank God, as I understand Him, for my understanding of Him. 

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Built by the One and the Many, p. 155

We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who, through so many friends and through so many means and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice of the spirit in which we are now dwelling–this cathedral whose foundations already rest upon the corners of the earth.

On its great floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery. On the side walls, the buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity for as long as God may will it so. Eager hearts and hands have lifted the spire of our cathedral into its place. That spire bears the name of service. May it ever point straight upward toward God.

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

“It is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and in our ability to carry A.A.’s message everywhere. It is to the many, indeed, it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings.”

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 234
2. Talk, 1959

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrec #Habit #happy Recovery

I always have two lists: things I’m happy about and things I’m not. It’s my choice which list I focus on.
~ Anne Arthur ~
Why do we all too eagerly see the glass as half- empty rather than as half-full? It need not be a habit that we are stuck with forever. All of us feel helpless at times to change our vision of life. Discouragement and self-pity become comfortable, and we fear that discarding them will leave us vulnerable.

Seeing the glass as half-empty is a sign that our attitude is holding us back. Unfortunately, a bad attitude is seductive. It’s as though we find pleasure, perverse though it may be, in feeling sorry for ourselves. Sometimes we even imagine staying in that place forever. It’s then that we need the warmth of loving friends, and it’s no accident that we are surrounded by them in this fellowship.

We may, at first, try to ignore those reaching toward us, but we will soon feel their presence. We can thank God for the inspiration to adjust our attitude.

If I reach out lovingly to someone else today, I will not need a nudge from my Higher Power to adjust my attitude.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrec #Recovery #AA #Praise #Women

The expression of praise as thanksgiving, gratitude, and joy is among the most powerful forms of affirmation.
~ Catherine Ponder 

Praise inevitably has a multiple effect. It positively acknowledges another human being, enhancing his or her well-being, while making us feel good. This offering of love, which is the substance of praise, heals all who share in its circle.

We can see the effects of affirmation in the women we admire. We can discern its absence too, particularly among those who struggle. How difficult is it to give small acknowledgments to those we care about? Making a habit of this heals our own inner wounds too.

Affirming a friend or ourselves connects us to the spirit residing within. That bond fills in our empty spaces, making us whole and healed. Our security as women grows as we praise one another.

I will freely offer my love in the form of praise to the wonderful friends on my path today.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

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  24
September

Give Thanks, p.266

Though I still find it difficult to accept today’s pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity–as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do–I can give thanks for present pain nevertheless.

I find the willingness to do this by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering–lessons which have led to the blessings I now enjoy. I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism, the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride, have often led me to God’s grace, and so to a new freedom.

Grapevine, March 1962

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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Thanks

4
May 

Built by the One and the Many, p. 155

We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who, through so many friends and through so many means and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice of the spirit in which we are now dwelling–this cathedral whose foundations already rest upon the corners of the earth.

On its great floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery. On the side walls, the buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity for as long as God may will it so. Eager hearts and hands have lifted the spire of our cathedral into its place. That spire bears the name of service. May it ever point straight upward toward God.

“It is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and in our ability to carry A.A.’s message everywhere. It is to the many, indeed, it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings.”

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 234
2. Talk, 1959

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