Daily Reflections - April 6 2026

A LIFETIME PROCESS

We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people. . . .

–ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52

These words remind me that I have more problems than alcohol, that alcohol is only a symptom of a more pervasive disease. When I stopped drinking I began a lifetime process of recovery from unruly emotions, painful relationships, and unmanageable situations.  This process is too much for most of us without help from a Higher Power and our friends in the Fellowship.  When I began working the Steps of the A.A. program, many of these tangled threads unraveled but, little by little, the most broken places of my life straightened out. One day at a time, almost imperceptibly, I healed. Like a thermostat being turned down, my fears diminished. I began to experience moments of contentment. My emotions became less volatile. I am now once again a part of the human family. 

JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrecovery

The Process

“This program has become a part of me…. I understand more clearly the things that are happening in my life today I no longer fight the process.”

~ Basic Text, p. 162 ~

In active addiction, things happened seemingly without rhyme or reason. We just “did things”; often without knowing why or what the results would be. Life had little value or meaning.

The Twelve Step process gives meaning to our lives; in working the steps, we come to accept both the dark and the bright sides of ourselves. We strip away the denial that kept us from comprehending addiction’s affect on us. We honestly examine ourselves, picking out the patterns in our thoughts, our feelings, and our behavior We gain humility and perspective by fully disclosing ourselves to another human being. In seeking to have our shortcomings removed, we develop a working appreciation of our own powerlessness and the strength provided by a Power greater than we are. With our enhanced understanding of ourselves, we gain greater insight into and acceptance of others.

The Twelve Steps are the key to a process we call “life”: In working the steps, they become a part of us—and we become a part of the life around us. Our world is no longer meaningless; we understand more about what happens in our lives today. We no longer fight the process. Today, in working the steps, we live it.

Just for today: Life is a process; the Twelve Steps are the key. Today, I will use the steps to participate in that process, understanding and enjoying myself and my recovery.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #relationships #misery

A LIFETIME PROCESS

We were having trouble with personal relationships, we
couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey
to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we
had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we
were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people. . . .

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52

These words remind me that I have more problems than
alcohol, that alcohol is only a symptom of a more
pervasive disease. When I stopped drinking I began a
lifetime process of recovery from unruly emotions,
painful relationships, and unmanageable situations.
This process is too much for most of us without help
from a Higher Power and our friends in the Fellowship.
When I began working the Steps of the A.A. program,
many of these tangled threads unravelled but, little
by little, the most broken places of my life
straightened out. One day at a time, almost
imperceptibly, I healed. Like a thermostat being
turned down, my fears diminished. I began to experience
moments of contentment. My emotions became less
volatile. I am now once again a part of the human family.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc
 

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One Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

LOOKING AT THE STARS

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Oscar Wilde

Before I made the Twelve Steps part of my life, I considered myself to have been in the gutter. My weight had doubled, I was in a major depression, and I was going through the motions of life. Those looking at me from afar saw only a perfect marriage, a perfect career, a perfect home, and perfect children. Although I was blessed, the disease I suffered from day in and day out made it quite obvious to anyone who truly knew me that I was not “looking at the stars.” It took my first sponsor to start the healing process for me.

As I began to work Steps One, Two and Three, I felt “different.” Nothing had changed . . . everything had changed. It’s hard to describe because outwardly I looked the same … but my entire being opened up. Weight began to come off because I was able to focus on a plan of eating. I found my feelings returned … the ability to love and accept love came back. My spirituality blossomed once again. I truly felt alive.

One day at a time…
I want to remember each time I find myself in the gutter and giving up hope … to look at the stars … and remember that my program works if I will just work it.
~ Mari 

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DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery

“HOLD BACK NOTHING”

The real tests of the situation are your own willingness to confide and your full confidence in the one with whom you you share your first accurate self-survey. . . . Provided you hold back nothing, your sense of relief will mount from minute to minute. The dammed-up emotions of years break out of their confinement, and miraculously vanish as soon as they are exposed. As the pain subsides, a healing tranquility takes its place.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS p. 61-62,

A tiny kernel of locked-in feelings began to unfold when I first attended A.A. meetings and self-knowledge then became a learning task for me. This new self-understanding brought about a change in my responses to life’s situations. I realized I had the right to make choices in my life, and the inner dictatorship of habits slowly lost its grip.  I believe that if I seek God I can find a better way to live and I ask Him daily to assist me in living a sober life.


Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc 

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EASY DOES IT #essentialsofrecovery

CHANGE

Change is a process, not an event.

~ Anonymous 

Recovery from our disease does not happen overnight. We may experience an event that stops our compulsion immediately, but recovery is not an event. There are many more things to do than just stop. We hear some people relate great and dramatic moments of spiritual experience when they are utterly and completely changed. If this is so, we are happy for them. But most of us experience a gradual spiritual awakening.

If we do things in order, we can realize certain benefits. No one element equals change, but all the elements taken together are change. We did not grow up all at once. We will not recover all at once. There is a real joy in our Fellowship in watching this process in a newcomer. The slow process of change happens week after week. Sometimes it is like watching the hands of a clock; you don’t see them move, but time changes.

My recovery program is based on change as a process and not an event. If change is a single event, then it happens once and it’s over. That doesn’t allow for continuing growth.

©1990 by Anonymous, Published by Hazelden 

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A Day At A Time #essentialsofrecovery

Reflection For The Day

Everybody wants to be somebody;  nobody wants to grow.”  

Goethe.

I ask myself sometimes, as we all do;  “Who am I?”   “Where am I?”  “Where am I going?”  “What’s it all about?”  The learning and growing process is usually slow.  But eventually our seeking always brings a finding.  What seem like great mysteries often turn out to be enshrined in complete simplicity.  Have I accepted the fact that my willingness to grow is the essence of my spiritual development?

Today I Pray

God give me patience and the perseverance to keep on hoeing the long row, even when the end of it is out of sight.  The principles of The Program are my almanac for growing, even more than the harvesting.  The harvest will come, abundant enough to share, if I can stick to my garden tending.

Today I Will Remember

Getting there, not being there. 

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