Daily Recovery Readings - September

[bluidkiti]

September 10

Daily Reflections

RECOVERY BY PROXY?

They [the Promises] will always materialize if we work for them.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS p. 84

Sometimes I think: "Making these amends is going too far! No one
should have to humble himself like that!" However, it is this very
humbling of myself that brings me that much closer to the sunlight of
the spirit. A.A. is the only hope I have if I am to continue healing and
gain a life of happiness, friendship and harmony.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Here are answers to the question of how a person can live without
liquor and be happy: "The things we put in place of drinking are more
than substitutes for it. One is the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In this company, you find release from care, boredom, and worry. Your
imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The
most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Among other
A.A.s you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with
new and wonderful ties." Does life mean something to me now?

Meditation For The Day

Do you want the full and complete satisfaction that you find in serving
God and all the satisfactions of the world also? It is not easy to serve
both God and the world. It is difficult to claim the rewards of both. If
you work for God, you will still have great rewards in the world. But
you must be prepared to sometimes stand apart from the world. You
cannot always turn to the world and expect all the rewards that life
has to offer. If you are trying sincerely to serve God, you will have
other and greater rewards than the world has to offer.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not expect too much from the world. I pray that I
may also be content with the rewards that come from serving God.

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As Bill Sees It

Alone No More, p.252

Alcoholism was a lonely business, even though we were surrounded
by people who loved us. But when our self-will had driven
everybody away and our isolation became complete, we commenced
to play the big shot in cheap barrooms. Failing even in this, we
had to fare forth alone on the street to depend upon the charity of
passers-by.

We were trying to find emotional security either by dominating or by
being dependent upon others. Even when our fortunes had not totally
ebbed, we nevertheless found ourselves alone in the world. We still
vainly tried to be secure by some unhealthy sort of domination or
dependence.

For those of us who were like that, A.A. has a very special meaning. In
this Fellowship we begin to learn right relations with people who
understand us; we don't have to be alone any more.

12 & 12, pp. 116-117

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Walk In Dry Places

Watch those feelings
Feelings.
In AA's early years, there was very little talk about "feelings' or "emotions."
The phrase "getting in touch with your feelings" had not been popularized, yet
the AA pioneers knew that bitter and resentful feelings were destructive, while
warm and optimistic feelings enhanced sobriety.
Now we know that feelings are extremely are extremely important for groups as
well as individuals. We know that some AA groups can give off feelings that make
them more attractive than others. Some groups are considered "cold," while
others are "warm." Such differences are rooted in the feelings of each member
of the group.
How can we be sure that our feelings will make our groups warm and inviting to
others? We can "tune" our feelings by looking at our attitudes. If we are truly
dedicated to our principles and want to share them with others, the feelings we
project will be welcoming. Whatever we really feel will be expressed in our daily
affairs and in our group activities.
I'll check my attitude today for good feelings as I go about my work and activities.
These feelings will, in turn, send out signals that everyone can understand and appreciate.

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Keep It Simple

If you want a thing done “right,” you have to do it yourself.---Anonymous
We addicts can be very picky. We think there’s only one way to do things. It’s our way,
But we call it the right way. When we think like this, three things happen. First, we put
down other people. Second, we end up doing all the work. Third, everyone feels bad.
The other person feels hurt that we don’t respect him or her. And we feel angry
because we “had” to do all the work.
We need to know that there are many ways to do things. It’s okay when others don’t
do things our way. Their way probably works just fine for them. If they want your
advice they’ll ask for it.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me accept other people and their ways.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll watch how other people do things. Maybe I’ll
learn a better way to do some things.

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Each Day a New Beginning

It isn't for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for the long uphill
climb back to sanity and faith and security. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Most of us are on a long uphill climb at this moment. It is a climb we are making
together, and yet a climb we can't do for each other. I can reach out my hand to you,
and you can grasp my hand in return. But my steps are my own, just as you, too, can
only take one-step at a time.
For brief periods we skip, even run, along the uphill path. The rocks and the occasional
boulder momentarily trip us up. We need patience and trust that the summit is still
achievable. We can help one another have patience. We can remind one another to trust.
We look back at the periods that devastated us so long ago. And now we are here.
We have climbed this far. We are stronger, saner, and more secure. Each step makes
easier the next step--each step puts us on more solid ground.
I may run into some rocks or even a boulder today. I have stepped around them
in the past. I will do so again.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Alcoholic Anonymous Number Three

Pioneer member of Akron's Group No. 1, the first A.A. group in the world. He kept the faith; therefore, he and countless others found a new life.

Before my drinking had cut me down completely, I achieved a considerable measure of success, having been a City Councilman for five years and a financial director of Kenmore, a suburb later taken into the city itself. But, of course, this all went up the spout with my increased drinking. So, at the time Dr. Bob and Bill came along I had about run out my strength.

p. 182

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Nine - "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

There can only be one consideration which should qualify our desire for a complete disclosure of the damage we have done. That will arise in the occasional situation where to make a full revelation would seriously harm the one to whom we are making amends. Or--quite as important--other people. We cannot, for example, unload a detailed account of extramarital adventuring upon the shoulders of our unsuspecting wife or husband. And even in those cases where such a matter must be discussed, let's try to avoid harming third parties, whoever they may be. It does not lighten our burden when we recklessly make the crosses of others heavier.

p. 86

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Today, I will be open to growing in my understanding of my Higher
Power. I will be open to letting go of old, limiting, negative beliefs
about God. No matter how I understand God, I will be grateful that
God understands me.
--Melody Beattie

We are enrolled in a full time, informal school called, "Life." Each day
of this school, we have the opportunity to learn lessons. We may like
the lessons or hate them, but they are part of the curriculum. The
greatest lessons we learn are about love and fear, that every action is
either an expression of love, or a call for love. And the great blessing
is that every lesson repeats itself until we learn it.
--Mary Manin Morrissey

I have all the time in the world to do God's Will for me today. I trust
that my Higher Power is filling me with all the energy that I need for
these 24 hours.
--Ruth Fishel

Those who withhold forgiveness only withhold it from themselves."
--Paul Ferrini

Happiness is an inside job.
--Unknown

Do you want to be happy or do you want to be right?
--Gerald Jampolsky

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

NEIGHBORS

"The good neighbor looks beyond
the external accidents and
discerns those inner qualities that
make all men human and,
therefore, brothers."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a drunk I said cruel things about other people. My prejudices hid
my fears and insecurities. I condemned in others what I saw in myself.
I deflected attention from me by the name-calling others: sick
manipulations. "Neighbor" was only a word that I could spell and
interpret, useful for religious homilies or pretentious innuendoes but
not something I really experienced.

Today I am able to be the "good neighbor" to many people, known and
unknown. My recovery has brought people into my life. Relationships
mean something; friends are important; the world is one. Black, Asian,
Hispanic -- all add a variety to my life that enable me to get in touch
with buried feelings of my "difference". In the stranger I discover
something of myself; the foreigner has become both friend and
neighbor.

God, I never cease to be amazed at the mystery and variety that is
"me".

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But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already
has?"
Romans 8:24

"One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to
be poor, yet has great wealth."
Proverbs 13:7

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Daily Inspiration

If a person or a situation causes you to feel insecure, you have forgotten who you really are. Lord, You are my Father. I am Your child. How can I ever feel like less.

God gives abundantly to those who pass His gifts on to others.
Lord, let Your blessings flow in to me and then out from me. I will neither be selfish nor let my gifts stagnate.