There is no total answer

Studying and reading are traditional methods of spiritual growth. With a lifelong routine of study each day, a person or couple grows under the guidance of the sages. Civilization exists because each generation builds upon the progress of the past. We do not have to reinvent the wheel.

After we learn from those who have gone before, we may even discover and create beyond the point where they left off. But if we are in a willful, defiant mood, we may say, "I have to find my own way. I don't feel like learning from anyone." Our individualism then becomes a half-truth, silently trapping us in problems that others have found answers to.

There is no total answer - no total freedom - only continued growth. Daily reading, openness to learn from others' encounters with life, and study of how they faced their most challenging spiritual questions will bring us progress.

Finding fulfillment

 

“We weren’t oriented toward fulfillment; we focused on the emptiness and worthlessness of it all.”

Basic Text, p. 86

There were probably hundreds of times in our active addiction when we wished we could become someone else.  We may have wished we could trade places with someone who owned a nice car or had a larger home, a better job, a more attractive mate—anything but what we had.  So severe was our despair that we could hardly imagine anyone being in worse shape than ourselves.

In recovery, we may find we are experiencing a different sort of envy.  We may continue to compare our insides with others’ outsides and feel as though we still don’t have enough of anything.  We may think everyone, from the newest member to the oldest oldtimer, sounds better at meetings than we do.  We may think that everyone else must be working a better program because they have a better car, a larger home, more money, and so on.

The recovery process experienced through our Twelve Steps will take us from an attitude of envy and low self-esteem to a place of spiritual fulfillment and deep appreciation for what we do have.  We find that we would never willingly trade places with another, for what we have discovered within ourselves is priceless.

 

 Just for today:  There is much to be grateful for in my life.  I will cherish the spiritual fulfillment I have found in recovery.

Behind an able man there are always other able men.

Most of us have had a strong desire in our lives to "do it ourselves." We have had the idea that strength and independence meant we should not rely on or receive help from others. Now, in recovery, we are learning a far more mature and time-honored principle. We find strength to develop to our fullest as members of a community. Maybe we never learned how to ask for help. Perhaps we haven't learned yet how to accept it. It may still be difficult to express our gratitude for the help that brought us where we are today.

In recovery, we get many lessons about these things. If we are actively growing, we will get help from others and give it too. The rewards of recovery give us ample reasons and opportunities to express our gratitude. We are no longer loners. Now we have a network of friends who truly enjoy and enhance each others strength.

Today, I pray for help in learning how to share my strength and to appreciate the strength of others.

Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn't we?

--Rose Kennedy

Some of us have been through an awful lot. We have endured pain and hopelessness. Now we have some choices to make. We can allow our pasts to make us feel bad about ourselves or we can sing after the storm. We can feel proud that we are not giving up, we are not willing to be destroyed.

The past won't change, and the bad things won't magically go away. But we can learn to move forward.

We can put the past where it belongs, close enough so we'll never forget, and far enough away so we don't give it all of our attention. The sun doesn't just make rainbows for other people; they're for us too.

Today let me tell myself that it's okay to feel good about myself.

Being present is an expression of love

When someone we care about is in distress, we may not know what to say. We'd like to make the hurt go away and set everything right, but we feel awkward and powerless.

Sometimes the greatest gift we can give each other is our presence, our attention. As we recover, we become more available emotionally to those we love, less preoccupied with craving and control, and less withdrawn and isolated. Having experienced the healing support of our Twelve Step groups, we can share our strength and hope by simply being there for someone else, whether or not that person is in the program.

We know that each of us must find his or her own answers. There are many times when, much as we'd like to, we can't fix the problems of our friends, children, parents, or other family members. What we can do is show them by our presence that we care and are on their side. We can spend time with them or, if we're geographically separated, we can call or write. And we can be confident that the same Higher Power that supports us is also supporting those we love.

My presence today can make a positive difference to someone dear to me.

Take Time

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day.

I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t take time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task.

“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.  He answered, “You didn’t Ask.”

I wanted to see Joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak.

I wondered why God didn’t show me.

He said, “But You Didn’t Seek.”

I tried to come into God’s Presence;

I tried all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided,

“My child, You Didn’t Knock.”

I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day;

I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray.

Growth

 

"It seems to me that the primary object
of any human being is to grow, as God intended,
that being the nature of all growing things.
Our search must be for what reality we can find,
which includes the best definition and feeling
of love that we can acquire.
If the capability of loving is in the human being,
then it must surely be in his Creator.
Theology helps me in that many of its concepts
cause me to believe that I live in a rational universe
under a loving God,
and that my own irrationality can be chipped away,
little by little.
This is, I suppose, the process of growth
for which we are intended."Bill W., Letter,  1958
c. 1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 295

Thought to Consider . . .

All you have to do to change your life is change your mind.

C H A N G E =  Choosing Honesty Allows New Growth Every day

The best-laid plans

“It is our actions that are important.  We leave the results to our Higher Power.”

Basic Text, p. 91

There’s an old saying we sometimes hear in our meetings:  “If you want to make God laugh, make plans.”  When we hear this we usually laugh, too, but there’s a nervous edge to our laughter.  We wonder if all of our carefully laid plans are doomed to fail.  If we’re planning a big event—a wedding, a return to school, or perhaps a career change—we begin to wonder if our plans are the same as our Higher Power’s plans.  We are capable of working ourselves into such a frenzy of worry over this question that we refuse to make any plans at all.

But the simple fact is that we really don’t know whether our Higher Power’s plans for our lives are carved in stone or not.  Most of us have opinions about fate and destiny but, whether we believe in such theories or not, we still have a responsibility to live our lives and make plans for the future.  If we refuse to accept responsibility for our lives, we’re still making plans—plans for a shallow, boring existence.

Understanding humility

“Humility is a result of getting honest with ourselves.” Basic Text, p. 36 Humility was an idea so foreign to most of us that we ignored it as long as we could.  When we first saw the word “humbly” ahead in Step Seven, we may have figured it meant we had quite a bit of humiliation in store.  Perhaps we chose to look it up in the dictionary, only to become even more confused by the definition.  We didn’t understand how “lowliness and subservience” applied to recovery. To be humble does not mean we are the lowest form of life.  On the contrary, becoming humble means we attain a realistic view of ourselves and where we fit in the world.  We grow into a state of awareness founded on our acceptance of all aspects of ourselves.  We neither deny our good qualities nor overemphasize our defects.  We honestly accept who we are.

God’s guidance

“Our Higher Power is accessible to us at all times.  We receive guidance when we ask for knowledge of God’s will for us.”

Basic Text, p. 95

It’s not always easy to make the right decision.  This is especially true for addicts learning to live by spiritual principles for the first time.  In addiction, we developed self-destructive, anti-social impulses.  When conflict arose, we took our cues from those negative impulses.  Our disease didn’t prepare us to make sound decisions.

Today, to find the direction we need, we ask our Higher Power.  We stop; we pray; and, quietly, we listen within for guidance.  We’ve come to believe that we can rely on a Power greater than ourselves.  That Power is accessible to us whenever we need it.  All we need do is pray for knowledge of our God’s will for us and the power to carry it out.

Each time we do this, each time we find direction amidst our confusion, our faith grows.  The more we rely on our Higher Power, the easier it becomes to ask for direction.  We’ve found the Power we were lacking in our addiction, a Power that is available to us at all times.  To find the direction we need to live fully and grow spiritually, all we have to do is maintain contact with the God of our understanding.

Just for today:
My Higher Power is a source of spiritual guidance within me that I can always draw upon.  When I lack direction today, I will ask for knowledge of my Higher Power’s will.

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter

--E. E. Cummings

One of the true gifts of recovery is that we learn to laugh again. No matter how beat up our spirits have been by our addiction, no matter how heavy or hard our hearts have become, one day we find ourselves laughing. The lightness in our hearts lets us know life is good.

It may happen in a meeting as we suddenly stop taking ourselves so seriously. It may happen as we learn to socialize again and share a joke or score a goal in a group of our new friends. It may happen as we look into the eyes of someone who loves us and our hearts bubble over with joy.

Laughter heals us. It is one of our heart's songs. There is always some in our life, somewhere - and we need only look in order to find it.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, please give me something today that will tickle me with joy or humor. Help me give in to the urge to laugh. I know my laughter is music to your ears.

Today's Action

When I notice something to laugh or smile about today, I will share it with others. Humor and joy are meant to be shared.

from the book God Grant Me Meditations-

KEEPING OPTIMISM AFLOAT

The other Steps can keep most of us sober and somehow functioning.
But Step Eleven can keep us growing. . . .
THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 240

A sober alcoholic finds it much easier to be optimistic about life. Optimism is the natural result of my finding myself gradually able to make the best, rather than the worst, of each situation. As my physical sobriety continues, I come out of the fog, gain a clearer perspective and am better able to determine what courses of action to take. As vital as physical sobriety is, I can achieve a greater potential for myself by developing an ever-increasing willingness to avail myself of the guidance and direction of a Higher Power. My ability to do so comes from my learning--and practicing--the principles of the A.A. program. The melding of my physical and spiritual sobriety produces the substance of a more positive life.

Serenity Prayer

In 1941, a news clipping was called to our attention by a New York member.
In an obituary notice from a local paper, there appeared these words:
"God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can,
and the wisdom to know the difference." Never had we seen so much AA in so few words.
With amazing speed the Serenity Prayer came into general use.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 108


The prayer became more widely known after being brought to the attention of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1941 by an early member. The co-founder, William Griffith Wilson, and the staff liked the prayer and had it printed out in modified form and handed around. It has been part of Alcoholics Anonymous ever since, and has also been used in other twelve-step programs. Grapevine, The International Journal of Alcoholics Anonymous, identified Niebuhr as the author (January 1950, pp. 6–7), and the AA web site continues to identify Niebuhr as the author.

Thought to Ponder . . .
Life is fragile, handle with prayer.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O P E = Hang On; Pray Every day.

Defining good in my life is up to me.

We've heard, "Life is as good as we make it," but this sounds far too simplistic. We look at friends, family, and co-workers and often see much unhappiness. If it's up to us to make life good, why do so few take advantage of the opportunity?

It's not that we don't want happiness. All of us do. But many of us mistakenly think happiness comes from outside ourselves. For example, when other people shower us with love, we're happy. When the boss compliments our work, we're happy. On the other hand, relying on our inner wisdom to tell us we're worthy and believing we are worthy are untapped skills for most of us. Fortunately, we are in the right place to acquire these skills.

Twelve Step programs will teach us, if we are ready to take responsibility for our own happiness. Our program friends are learning how to rely on their inner wisdom and their God, and we are learning from their example.
It's really only a simple change in perspective. It's looking within, not without, for knowledge of our worth. There's no mystery to it. We can do it just as they are doing it.

I will monitor how I evaluate my experiences today. Living peacefully and happily is up to me.