One Day At A Time May 21 2026

THOUGHTS

“The universe is transformation;
our lives are what our thoughts make it.”

~ Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
The power of our thoughts is astounding, and my negative thoughts kept me in chains for many years. I was constantly thinking of what was not right, what I didn't do right, what needs of mine went unmet. My life was miserable by my own making. My own thoughts kept me in a prison of negativity. The only person who had the key was me. For many years I stayed locked in, not knowing the key was in my possession..

When I came to the program I learned that I had responsibility for my “side of the street.” I finally came to understand that I was able to change my thinking, one day at a time. It was a slow process. It took a life-time to learn negative thinking patterns, and it took years to learn positive thinking patterns. Using the tools of the program was the key to re-educating my mind. At meetings I heard positive statements that others made about themselves and me. Reading program literature was always a positive experience. As I chose nurturing, loving sponsors, they affirmed me and my baby steps toward wholeness and healing. All of these, and other tools, worked slowly to bring about an awareness that I held the key to my own prison door and gave me the courage to take the key and free myself from negativity..

One day at a time…

I will choose positive thoughts and actions that bring me freedom.

~ Carolyn H.

A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

Our inner journey is a transformative process. It involves becoming who we already are in essence and letting go of the phony in favor of the authentic self.

~ Mary Norton Gordon ~

Wearing the right face for every occasion was a goal many of us strived to master in years past. Quite likely we succeeded too. We were accomplished at reading the faces of others, discerning who we needed to be in order to please them. Our worth seemed dependent on pleasing them.

Recovery doesn’t mean we stop pleasing others. Learning to love others unconditionally, thus inspiring joy in them, is a benefit of recovery. But pleasing ourselves is of utmost importance too, and we can feel good about ourselves only if we are living honest lives. That means wearing the face that matches who we really are inside.

Our lives become less confusing as we learn to 11*veal our true selves. When we stop trying to be the person we think others want us to be, we will find more time to simply love them for the person they are, and to love ourselves too.

I will please others simply by loving them as they are today. I can be honest and loving just being me.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

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Around the Year With Emmet Fox #essentialsofrec #Emmet #Fox #Transformation

CLAIM YOUR WINGS

To me the butterfly teaches the most important lesson that we human beings ever have to learn. You all know his story. He lived what seemed to him a very long time as a worm - what we call the humble caterpillar. Now the life of a caterpillar could be taken as the very type and symbol of restriction. He lives on a green leaf in the forest, and that is about all he knows.

Then one day the little caterpillar finds certain strange stirrings going on within himself. The old green leaf, for some reason, no longer seems sufficient. He becomes moody and discontented, but - and this is the vital point - it is divine discontent. He feels the need for a bigger, finer, and more interesting life. His instincts tell him that where there is true desire there must be fulfillment.

And so the wonderful thing happens: the butterfly emerges beautiful, graceful, now endowed with wings, and instead of crawling about on a restricted leaf, he soars above the trees, above the forest itself - free, unrestricted, his own True Self.

...Eye hath not see, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

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Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrecovery

Transforming garbage.
Handling the past

Left to itself, nature takes ordinary garbage and transforms it into useful nutrients that help sustain life. It’s usually poor human action that makes garbage a problem.

Our mental and emotional garbage takes the forms of bad memories, festering resentments, and useless regrets. We waste time berating ourselves and others about bad decisions and experiences that are behind us.

The magic of the 12 Step program is that we can use it to transform this mental garbage into useful experience. A past mistake can become as asset when we share it with others. Pain and suffering can teach a lesson that helps all of us to grow. By forgiving others, a resentment can be turned into a friendship.

I’ll resolve today not to worry about garbage any longer than it takes to identify it and release it to my Higher Power for transformation.

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DAILY ZEN #essentialsofrecovery

One of the major aims and purposes of religious practice for the individual is an inner transformation from an undisciplined, untamed, and unfocused state of mind towards one that is disciplined, tamed and balanced.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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EASY DOES IT #essentialsofrecovery

TRANSFORMATION

Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator.

~ Robert F. Kennedy ~

We humbly ask God in our Seventh Step to remove our shortcomings. We are asking God to do in other parts of our lives what He has done to our addiction. Each moment we experience freedom from our disease, we acknowledge God’s Power. Many of us lost our desire for our addiction quickly. Others waged a long and painful battle to reach a point of surrender. How will God work on our shortcomings? Will it be immediate or will it be over time?

Our Fellowship suggests that we live our lives one day at a time. Personal change occurs but one day at a time. We must resist the temptation to set God’s clock to fast forward. The long-sought-after changes will occur in ways we cannot predict and should not expect.

I have not been the best judge as to what is good for me. I must trust God in all things, even those that are most personal to me.

©1990 by Anonymous, Published by Hazelden 

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A WOMAN’S SPIRIT #essentialsofrecovery

We can’t create transformational spiritual experiences by sheer will, but we can encourage them by being open to them.

~ Veronica Ray ~

How does one define a spiritual experience? Perhaps the most we can say is that we know, oftentimes very subtly, that something wonderful has happened. We suddenly sense that we are safe, in good hands, and the pain or turmoil of our lives is passing.

Our spiritual guide or our Higher Power is always with us, always trying to help us, always acting as a protector and teacher. Unfortunately, many of us can’t quiet our minds enough to capture the essence of God’s presence in all our experiences, the mundane as well as the obviously significant. Making the Second Step of this program the foundation for daily living opens us to the myriad possibilities for the spiritual experiences we seek. “Coming to believe” is right next to “believing.” Believing is next to knowing.

My life is on a spiritual plane. God’s presence, thus my safety, is as close as my next thought today.

© 1994 by Hazelden Foundation 

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Daily Tao / 290 – Transformation #essentialsofrecovery

You hurt me years ago;
My wounds bled for years.
Now you are back,
But I am not the same.


In the past, warriors fought by striking the same points that acupuncturists use. One famous swordsman nearly died in a duel in which his opponent attacked him in such a way. After that, the swordsman became a wanderer and tried to renounce the martial life. Years later, his enemy found him and challenged him to duel again. They fought. In the first flurry of blows, the aggressor stepped back in surprise. The swordsman smiled and said, “I trained for twenty years to move my vulnerable spots.” With that, he was finally able to triumph.

Spirituality is a process of inner healing. The wounds of the past can be the greatest obstacles for self-cultivation unless we find them all and heal them. This task can take years, but we must accomplish it.

In many cases, our wounds were inflicted by other people — enemies. This is subtle. Our enemies can be others on the street, or people much more intimate with us : parents, teachers, siblings, lovers, friends.

If we move away from such people and succeed in our practice, they will have no chance to come back in our lives. How can they? We change whatever made us vulnerable in the first place.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day #essentialsofrec #Love #Transformation

A.A. Thought For The Day

Some more things I do not miss since becoming dry: running all over town to find a bar open to get that “pick-me-up”; meeting my friends and trying to cover up that I feel awful; looking at myself in a mirror and calling myself a dam* fool; struggling with myself to snap out of it for two or three days; wondering what it is all about. I’m positive I don’t miss these things, am I not?

Meditation For The Day

Love is the power that transforms your life. Try to love your family and your friends and then try to love everybody that you possibly can, even the “sinners and publicans” everybody. Love for God is an even greater thing. it is the result of gratitude to God and it is the acknowledgment of the blessing that God has sent you. Love for God acknowledges His gifts and leaves the way open for God to shower yet more blessings on your thankful heart. Say “Thank you, God,” until it becomes a habit.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may try to love God and all people. I pray that I may continually thank God for all His blessings.

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Daily Tao / 290 – Transformation #essentialsofrec #transformation #Tao #Taoism #Zen

17
October


You hurt me years ago;
My wounds bled for years.
Now you are back,
But I am not the same.


In the past, warriors fought by striking the same points that acupuncturists use. One famous swordsman nearly died in a duel in which his opponent attacked him in such a way. After that, the swordsman became a wanderer and tried to renounce the martial life. Years later, his enemy found him and challenged him to duel again. They fought. In the first flurry of blows, the aggressor stepped back in surprise. The swordsman smiled and said, “I trained for twenty years to move my vulnerable spots.” With that, he was finally able to triumph.

Spirituality is a process of inner healing. The wounds of the past can be the greatest obstacles for self-cultivation unless we find them all and heal them. This task can take years, but we must accomplish it.

In many cases, our wounds were inflicted by other people — enemies. This is subtle. Our enemies can be others on the street, or people much more intimate with us : parents, teachers, siblings, lovers, friends.

If we move away from such people and succeed in our practice, they will have no chance to come back in our lives. How can they? We change whatever made us vulnerable in the first place.

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As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec #recovery #transformation #BillW

10
October 

Ourselves as Individuals, p.281

There is only one sure test of all spiritual experiences: “By their fruits, ye shall know them.”

This is why I think we should question no one’s transformation–whether it be sudden or gradual. Nor should we demand anyone’s special type for ourselves, because experience suggests that we are apt to receive whatever may be the most useful for our own needs.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when making an inventory, will need to determine what his individual character defects are. Having found the shoes that fit, he ought to step into them and walk with new confidence that he is at last on the right track.

1. Grapevine, July 1963
2. Twelve and Twelve, p.48

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Today’s Gift from Hazelden #essentialsofrec #Transformation #Power

17
September



The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it.

— Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

It’s awesome, the power we each wield in the life that unfolds before us. The inclination of our thoughts invites that which we encounter, which is that which we expect to find. What we can become or experience is limited only by our imagination. Our dreams shine like beacons in the dimness of our minds.

Just as our thoughts can nurture positive experiences and outcomes, negative episodes might be drawn to us, too. We can be sure, though, that we use this individual power to create the flavor of each day as it’s met.

Our attitude is the by-product of our thoughts. It is in our attitude that we discover strength or weakness, hope or anxiety, determination or frustration. Alone, we determine whether our attitude will be loving or jaundiced.

The breadth of personal power is awesome. Today will be what I choose to make it. No more and no less.

From the book:

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg. © 1983, 1991 by

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