Big Book

A.A. Thought for the Day

For the past two months we have been studying passages and steps from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Now why not read the book itself again? It is essential that the A.A. program become part of us. We must have its essentials at our fingertips. We cannot study the Big Book too much or too often. The more we read it and study it, the better equipped we are to think A.A., act A.A., and live A.A. We cannot know too much about the program. The chances are that we will never know enough. But we can make as much of it our own as possible. How much of the Big Book have I thoroughly mastered?

Meditation for the Day

We need to accept the difficulties and disciplines of life so as to fully share the common life of other people. Many things that we must accept in life are not to be taken so much as being necessary for us personally, as to be experienced in order that we may share in the sufferings and problems of humanity. We need sympathy and understanding. We must share many of the experiences of life, in order to understand and sympathize with others. Unless we have been through the same experiences, we cannot understand other people or their makeup well enough to be able to help them.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may accept everything that comes my way as a part of life. I pray that I may make use of it in helping other people.
 

Foundation of sobriety

On the foundation of sobriety, we can build a life of honesty, unselfishness, faith in God, and love of our fellow human beings. We’ll never fully reach these goals, but the adventure of building that kind of a life is so much better than the merry-go-round of our old drinking life that there’s no comparison. We come into AA to get sober, but if we stay long enough we learn a new way of living. We become honest with ourselves and with other people. We learn to think more about others and less about ourselves. And we learn to rely on the constant help of a Higher Power. Am I living the way of honesty, unselfishness, and faith?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that God had already seen my heart’s needs before I cried to Him, before I was conscious of those needs myself. I believe that God was already preparing the answer. God does not have to be petitioned with sighs and tears and much speaking. He has already anticipated my every want and need. I will try to see this, as His plans unfold in my life.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may understand my real wants and needs. I pray that my understanding of those needs and wants may help to bring the answer to them.

Phone Call

 

If you were going to die soon and had only one call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

~Stephen Levine

When we were in the depths of our addiction, we could not be truly present in our relationships. We could not do the work of being caring and responsible. We were too focused on using alcohol or drugs to change our own feelings.

Now that we are sober, we can change. We clean up our messes when we work Steps Eight and Nine. We list the people we have harmed, think about it, and then we make amends to them.

Cleaning up our old messes makes us free to start over. We keep a better eye on our own behavior as we take our inventory every day in Step Ten, and we become decent, real human beings. We make real friends. Family members begin to trust us with their love. Our new sober life gradually fills up with people.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me be a real human being today. Help me understand my importance to others and treat my relationships with the respect they deserve.

Today's Action

I will imagine that I don’t have long to live and have only one call I can make. Who will I call, and what will I say? And why am I waiting? I will make that call today. If I need support, I will get it from a friend.

from the book God Grant Me, More Daily Meditations

Detaching in Love

Detachment is a key to recovery from codependency. It strengthens our healthy relationships—the ones that we want to grow and flourish. It benefits our difficult relationships— the ones that are teaching us to cope. It helps us!

Detachment is not something we do once. It’s a daily behavior in recovery. We learn it when we’re beginning our recovery from codependency and adult children issues. And we continue to practice it along the way as we grow and change, and as our relationships grow and change.

We learn to let go of people we love, people we like, and those we don’t particularly care for. We separate ourselves, and our process, from others and their process.

We relinquish our tight hold and our need to control in our relationships. We take responsibility for ourselves; we allow others to do the same. We detach with the understanding that life is unfolding exactly as it needs to, for others and ourselves. The way life unfolds is good, even when it hurts. And ultimately, we can benefit from even the most difficult situations. We do this with the understanding that a Power greater than ourselves is in charge, and all is well.

Today, I will apply the concept of detachment, to the best of my ability, in my relationships. If I can’t let go completely, I’ll try to “hang on loose.”

 

Act "as if."

You've got to get up every morning
With a smile on your face,
And show the world all the love in your heart.
Then people gonna treat you better.
You're gonna find, yes, you will,
That you're beautiful as you feel.

~Carole King

Act "as if." There's magic in behaving the way we want to be, even though we don't yet feel it. The behavior seems to lead the way. The attitude, the mental state, follows.

Many days we may not get up with love in our hearts for our family, our friends, our co-workers. We may, in fact, want them to show their love for us first. But if we reach out, give love unconditionally, focus on another's needs, love will return tenfold. And the act of loving them will lift our own spirits. We will know love; we will feel love for ourselves and the many other persons close to us.

The attitude we cultivate, whether one of love or selfishness, inferiority or superiority, will determine how the events of our lives affect us. The principle is so simple. If we meet life with love, with a smile, we'll find love and something to smile about.

My attitude will make this day what it becomes. Meeting it head­ on, with love, will assure me of a lovely day.

10 Meditations For Today

Blame

Fair play is primarily not blaming others for anything that is wrong with us.

~Eric Hoffer

It’s tempting to blame others for our problems. Recovery asks us to answer for our actions. Admitting we are powerless over alcohol and other drugs is a start. Each of the Twelve Steps asks us to answer for our actions in some way. The program shows us how to do this.

Over time, we see that being responsible for our actions is the best way to live. Our self-confidence grows as we become more responsible. We start to see just how much we can do. We have gone from being drunks to being responsible people. If we can do this, then we can do anything!

Prayer for the Day

Impatience!

 

~Michel de Montaigne

Our program isn’t working. We are misunderstood. Nothing’s going well at work. We just can’t see it through. Why doesn’t someone help us?

Impatience! We become fretful and blame others for our shortcomings.

Impatience! We lose touch with the tempo of life and our own particular rhythm.

Impatience! We are convinced our addiction will never stop tormenting us.

Let’s slow down and get back in touch with life’s movement. We know that all things have their season and their motion and their end. It may feel like winter, but spring will come and then summer. Nothing remains static; everything changes and grows. There is a pattern to all life—including ours—if we are patient enough to discern it.

I need to slow down to get in touch with the rhythms of my life and of life outside me.