Daily Recovery Readings - March

[bluidkiti]

March 8, 2014

Daily Reflections

TURNING IT OVER

Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has,
without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn't it true
that in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to
turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of
Alcoholics Anonymous? . . . Any willing newcomer feels sure A.A. is
the only safe harbor for the foundering vessel he has become. Now if this is
not turning one's will and life over to a newfound Providence, then what
is it?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35

Submission to God was the first step to my recovery. I believe our
Fellowship seeks a spirituality open to a new kinship with God. As I
exert myself to follow the path of the Steps, I sense a freedom that
gives me the ability to think for myself. My addiction confined me
without any release and hindered my ability to be released from my
self-confinement, but A.A. assures me of a way to go forward.
Mutual sharing, concern and caring for others is our natural gift to
each other and mine is strengthened as my attitude toward God
changes. I learn to submit to God's will in my life, to have self-respect,
and to keep both of these attitudes by giving away what I receive.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

We must go to A.A. meetings regularly. We must learn to think
differently. We must change from alcoholic thinking to sober
thinking. We must reeducate our minds. We must try to help other
alcoholics. We must cooperate with God by spending at least as much
time and energy on the A.A. program as we did on drinking. We must
follow the A.A. program to the best of our ability. Have I turned my
alcoholic problem over to God and am I cooperating with Him?

Meditation For The Day

The joy of true fellowship shall be mine in full measure. I will revel in
the joy of real fellowship. There will come back a wonderful joy, if I
share in fellowship now. Fellowship among spiritually minded people
is the embodiment of God's purpose for this world. To realize this will
bring me a new life-joy. If I share in humanity's joy and travail, a
great blessing will be mine. I can truly live a life not of earth, but a
heaven-life here and now.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be helped and healed by true spiritual fellowship. I
pray that I may sense His presence in spiritual fellowship with His
children.

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As Bill Sees It

Thousands of "Founders", p. 67

"While I thank God that I was privileged to be an early member of
A.A., I honestly wish that the word 'founder' could be eliminated
from the A.A. vocabulary.

"When you get right down to it, everyone who has done any amount
of successful Twelfth Step work is bound to be the founder of a new
life for other alcoholics."

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

"A.A. was not invented! Its basis were brought to us through the
experience and wisdom of many great friends. We simply borrowed
and adapted their ideas."

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

"Thankfully, we have accepted the devoted services of many
nonalcoholics. We owe our very lives to the men and women of
medicine and religion. And, speaking for Dr. Bob and myself, I
gratefully declare that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois,
neither of us could have lived to see A.A.'s beginning."

1. Letter, 1945
2. Letter, 1966
3. Letter, 1966

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Walk in Dry Places

What Do I project? ___ Personal Relations.
Were we ever told that our problems with other people really started within ourselves? If we have trouble getting along with another person, for example, is it because we are projecting mixed signals of fear and suspicion toward that person? We tend to reap what we sow----- we get back the attitudes we project.

At the same time, however, we can't take total responsibility for the way others treat us or behave toward us. We cannot reform or control impossible people. When dealing with impossible people, we have control over our own feelings and responses. This helps us avoid potential trouble and enables us to deal with difficult situations.

But the principle of sowing what we reap….. that is, getting back what we project… can really be proved by the person whose resentments and bitterness have driven away most of his or her friends. A simple change of attitude on our part can bring startling change for the better in there responses of others. With practice, the principle also applies to the broad area of human relations in many ways. For purposes of inventory, therefore, we should always look first at ourselves and our own thoughts and feelings when we find ourselves in a bad situation with others.

…….I will take care today to see that my thoughts and feeling toward others reflect what I want in my own life.

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Keep It Simple

We lose the fear of making decisions, great and small, as we realize that should our choice prove wrong we can, if we will, learn from experience.---Bill W.
As our disease grew, we often felt like any decision we made was wrong. We felt like wrong people. We lost self-respect, because deep inside we knew that, for us alcohol and other drugs was wrong. We went against our spirit. Now we go with our spirit. We follow what we think our Higher Power want for us. Now we learn from our mistakes. Another wonderful gift has been given back to us: the gift of learning. From that gift, we stop playing God. How free it feels!
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, You have taken away my illness and replaced it with many wonderful gifts. I thank You for everything, even my mistakes.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll share with a friend my mistakes of the past week.

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Each Day a New Beginning

To create is to boggle the mind and alter the mood. Once the urge has surged, it maintains its own momentum. We may go along for the ride, but when we attempt to steer the course, the momentum dies. --Sue Atchley Ebaugh
A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless, when we step away from our obsessing egos, when we let our pure, unfettered desires direct our thoughts and our steps. Our egos may be keeping us caged in old behavior, old fears. Egos struggle for self-preservation; unfortunately, it's our old, unhealthy self the ego is preserving.
The Steps make it possible for us to unload our baggage from earlier days, baggage that intrudes on our perceptions of today's events. The Steps clear the path so we can move responsibly forward.
Living creatively is living in the thick of the flow, trusting the flow, spontaneously moving with the flow, not controlling the flow. We are Spirit-full when we let ourselves roll forward, resisting not, doubting not. And our greatest contributions will be discovered when our ego takes a rest.
My creativity awaits my discovery. It's there. I will release it from the clutches of my ego.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

We know these suggestions are sometimes difficult to follow, but you will save many a heartbreak if you can succeed in observing them. Your husband may come to appreciate your reasonableness and patience. This may lay the groundwork for a friendly talk about his alcoholic problem. Try to have him bring up the subject himself. Be sure you are not critical during such a discussion. Attempt instead, to put yourself in his place. Let him see that you want to be helpful rather than critical.

p. 111

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

This, in brief, in the process by which A.A.'s Tradition Eleven was constructed. To us, however, it represents far more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.

p. 183

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There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and
lifting people up.
--John Andrew Holme

Keeping hearts happy is a lot like keeping bodies happy. We need to
feed our hearts well through reading, prayer, and meditation, and to
exercise them by loving.
--Jane Nakken

The Twelve Steps have powerfully guided me from just surviving to
living.
--Elizabeth Farrell

God's gifts are slowly revealed.
--Michele Fedderly

God is with us in every problem we face.
--Naoko Ezaki

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DOUBT

"Sixty years ago I knew
everything; now I know nothing;
education is a progressive
discovery of our own
ignorance."
-- Will Durant

Spirituality is the art of knowing that we do not know. It is waking up
in the morning with our eyes fully opened and awaiting the adventure
of the new day. New things, new theories, new facts are being
discovered every day and it makes for a glorious, confusing and
exciting world.

There was a time when I could not say this; a time when knowledge
and facts were collected and regurgitated. I used knowledge to
protect myself from the challenge and inconsistencies of life. God had
to be not only a proven fact but evidenced in theories and dogmas ---
the mystery was lost.

Today I believe that God cannot be contained by dogma and rules.
The doubts have become part of my faith. The state of "not
knowing" becomes creative and stimulating. My relationship with
God today is real. To "not know" is the beginning of wisdom.

You, who have spoken through the wind and the fire, speak through
my doubts.

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God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:5

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7

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Daily Inspiration

Often times the happiness you seek is already near at hand. Lord, help me to appreciate what I already have because You never stop blessing me even when I don't notice.

When you can't seem to be a shining example, at least twinkle a little. Lord, when I am weary, You are there. When I am weak, You are there. When I stumble, You are always ready to pick me up.