Today's Thought - August

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August 1

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

~Brendan Francis

There was a huge slide at the park and Jason was afraid to go on it. There were so many steps to climb to reach the top. All of his friends were climbing up the steps and yelling as they came down the long rolling slide.

"Come on," said his friend Steve. "It's lots of fun!" "Isn't it scary?" asked Jason.

"A little bit," answered Steve, "but you get used to it." He ran off to go again.

Jason walked to the steps of the slide, his heart pounding in his chest. Slowly he placed his foot on the first step and lifted himself up. Courageously he climbed the ladder. When he reached the high platform he felt as if he were standing on top of the world. We can learn from Jason that by taking that first step we can experience many exciting and wonderful things. We have all done it before - on the slide, on a bicycle, in school. Why not again?

What fear can I walk through today?

Today's reading is from the book Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families*

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August 2

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat.

~Lily Tomlin

Alcoholism is a rat race. Drug addiction is a rat race. We were always trying to keep one or two steps ahead of the cat. We were always sneaking around, and everyone was disgusted with us.

Our goal in recovery is to stop acting like a rat and join the human race again. Recovery teaches us sayings like "Easy does it" and "One day at a time." Our sayings remind us to pace ourselves. Our sayings remind us that healing takes time.

We live by human values: honesty, respect for others, fairness, openness, self-respect. We work at just being ourselves. We learn that this is enough. We are enough.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me accept my humanness. I am part of the human race, not the rat race.
Action for the Day

Just for today, I'll pace myself. I'll list ways I often go too fast for my own good. I'll ask friends how they pace themselves.

Today's reading is from the book Keep it Simple: Daily Meditations for Twelve Step Beginnings and Renewal*

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August 3

The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Many of us grew up in situations that required us to be constantly on our guard. We became so keenly attuned to the people around us and how to please them or avoid their anger that we lost contact with our inner messages. Rather than developing skills for drawing on our inner resources, we developed skills for looking outward and reacting to whatever confronted us.

This method of survival may have been necessary in the past while we were under stress, but it doesn't allow us any rest or the possibility of simply following what we know and feel is right. We are learning to know what we think and feel and to express it, even if it isn't always what others want to hear. We can be spontaneous now because we have room for mistakes in our lives. Our relationships are more reliable, and we have more energy from sincerity than from always striving to make a good appearance.

Today, it is more important for me to be sincere than to be on my guard.

Today's reading is from the book Touchstones: A Book of Daily Meditations for Men*

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August 4

Life Is Good in Recovery

Today, I like myself, almost all the time. I have healthy, happy people in my life; I keep the unhealthy ones whom I can't remove from my life on the periphery, where I can love them from afar. I've learned how to accept them for where and who they are, not try to change them. I'm not a perfect partner, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, or friend, but I'm pretty good, and all relevant parties know that I love them with my whole heart and that I am always trying.

They know because I tell them that I love them all the time, and I admit to them when I feel I am falling short. I give myself grace when I don't meet my own standards. I like to think that life is always good and never bad, but I also know that it can be truly great at times as well. Life is a spectrum of goodness in recovery. I'll take it.

From good to great - that's how I choose to view my life.

Today's reading is from the book She Recovers Every Day: Meditations for Women*

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August 5

Accepting change

In recovery, we have much work to do and many lessons to learn as we mend our ways and relationships. Each time we change we grow stronger and freer.

But often we are so attached to our defects and dependencies we are afraid of change, even good change. As suggested in Step Six, our job is to become willing to let change happen when the time is right.

Am I becoming willing to change?

Higher Power, help me to accept the need for change and to fear it less.

I am willing to change today by...

Today's reading is from the book Day by Day: Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts*

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August 6

Hang On to Your Tokens

It may sound corny, but when I got that first AA chip, I slept with it underneath my pillow - like I was waiting for the tooth fairy. Then, when I woke up in the morning, I would check for it and feel so good that it was still right there - that I was still there. I had a token to remind me that I didn't drink or black out the night before - that I had something to look forward to in the new day. I'd clutch it and say a little prayer: "Okay, let’s do this."

I carried that "tangible token" in the pocket of my uniform when I was in the Navy. I took it everywhere. It got me through the in-between times when I didn't have the "intangible tokens" at hand - like the support and love of my group, or being able to talk to anyone about my feelings.

It was important for me to have something powerful to hold on to, something I could see and touch, something to remind me to take it "One day at a time."

Today I give thanks for my tangible and intangible tokens - the everyday reminders that, no matter what challenges arise, I can make it. I can do this.

~Elora K., U.S. Navy, 1997–2007

Today's reading is from the book Leave No One Behind: Daily meditations for Military Service Members and Veterans in Recovery*

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August 7

Reflection for the Day

Sometimes through bitter experience and painful lessons, we learn in our fellowship with others in the program that resentment is our number one enemy. It destroys more of us than anything else. From resentment stems all forms of spiritual disease, for we've been not only mentally and physically ill, but spiritually ill as well. As we recover and as our spiritual illness is remedied, we become well physically and mentally. Am I aware that few things are more bitter than to feel bitter? Do I see that my venom is more poisonous to me than to my victim?
Today I Pray

I ask for help in removing the pile of resentments I have collected. May I learn that resentments are play actors, too; they may be fears - losing a job, a love, an opportunity; they may be hurts or guilty feelings. May I know that my Higher Power is my healer. May I admit my need.
Today I Will Remember

Resentments are rubbish; haul them away.

Today's reading is from the book A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People*

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August 8

"… our lives had become unmanageable."

The busyness of our lives keeps us believing that we are in control, that we are managing just fine. And no doubt there are some things we are handling: Meals are cooked. We haven't missed many days of work. We're on top of the bills too, maybe. But we aren't peaceful. What's wrong?

For many of us, our incessant thinking, running, doing, is what's wrong. We are on a treadmill of activity that passes for good management. We are desperate to show other people that we are just fine. In reality, we are being managed by our obsession to stay busy. If we are busy, our lives don't seem so close to falling apart.

What a gift this program is offering us! We can get off the treadmill. We can slow our thoughts to a more natural pace. We can prioritize the things we must do today. We can follow the example of others who understand our obsession.

I will quietly go about my life today. Doing one thing peacefully is enough to accomplish.

Today's reading is from the book A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance*

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August 9

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.

~Virginia Woolf

We've thrown off many oppressions in the process of embracing our particular identities and, for some of us, in emerging from the prison of active addiction. We want to be happy, joyous, and free. As we seek to fulfill our desires, we may sometimes be confused about the nature of freedom. We may neglect a responsibility or rebel against a commitment that feels as if it's weighing us down.

We may be shortsighted, forgetting that our long-term goals require consistent effort. Freedom does not mean being lax, selfish, or resistant. Self-discipline is not the enemy of pleasure. On the contrary, when we are faithful and steady, pursuing our goals with discipline, we enjoy a sense of mastery and self-esteem. We enjoy true freedom.

Today, in the spirit of freedom, I take one step toward keeping a promise to myself through disciplined action.

Today's reading is from the book Glad Day

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August 10

Relationship Martyrs

Many of us have gone so numb and discounted our feelings so completely that we have gotten out of touch with our needs in relationships.

We can learn to distinguish whose company we enjoy, whether we're talking about friends, business acquaintances, dates, or spouses. We all need to interact with people we might prefer to avoid, but we don't have to force ourselves through long-term or intimate relationships with these people.

We are free to choose friends, dates, spouses. We are free to choose how much time we spend with those people we can't always choose to be around, such as relatives. This is our life. This is it. We can decide how we want to spend our days and hours. We're not enslaved. We're not trapped. And not one of us is without options. We may not see our options clearly. Although we may have to struggle through shame and learn to own our power, we can learn to spend our valuable hours and days with the people we enjoy and choose to be with.

God, help me value my time and life. Help me place value on how I feel being around certain people. Guide me as I learn to develop healthy, intimate, sharing relationships with people. Help me give myself the freedom to experiment, explore, and learn who I am and who I can be in my relationships.

Today's reading is from the book The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency*

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August 11

Meditation is a mental discipline that enables us to do one thing at a time.

~Max Picard

The logic is simple enough: If your plate is full, stop piling on more. When we consistently have too many things to think about and do, we can become ragged and dysfunctional. When we get in that spot, what helps is to pull back from all of it and allow but a single thought.

It may be the loving face of someone dear to us. It may be a nature scene that we have enjoyed - a mountain view or a beach, a bunch of spring flowers or a waterfall. As we develop the mental discipline to focus on a single thought, we become able to hold it for minutes instead of seconds. And when our time of quiet contemplation is over, we find that our lists and our schedules have not devoured us after all, and that we are better able to deal with our projects - if we take them on one at a time.

I will become aware of wasting my energy by dealing with too many things at one time.

Today's reading is from the book Days of Healing, Days of Joy: Daily Meditations for Adult Children*

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August 12

I've looked inside both good and bad, evil and righteousness, and have seen hope and felt fear.

~Erik Johnson

A friend in recovery, taken from us before his time, wrote this quotation. His heart gave out; some say because it had grown too big for his body. But he died sober, living his dream. In the time he had been sober, he gave much to those he loved. He knew life was paradoxical. He knew that each of us has two sides, and life demands that we choose and be responsible for our choices.

We need to choose love and choose hope. In doing so, we will always be turning our will and lives over to the care of our Higher Power. These were Erik's choices.
Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me live life with respect and dignity. Help me honor those of us who have gone before.

Watch over all of us, and help me to not just find hope and love, but to be living examples of hope and love.
Today's Action

Today I will call someone who is important to me and tell that person how important he or she is to me and why.

Today's reading is from the book God Grant Me: More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple*

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August 13

So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

~Will Rogers

It is a challenge to live in the present, but Step Ten gives us a way to do just that. It is a maintenance step, a way to stay true to ourselves. As we continue to take inventory of our attitudes and behavior, we find ourselves growing in self-acceptance and self-love. In the past, the last thing we wanted to do was be honest. Now, possessing serenity and faith, we can see that our shortcomings are only that: shortcomings. They are part of who we are, and every part of ourselves is important.

Taking a personal inventory is not a way to sit in judgment of ourselves. Rather, it enables us to examine our behavior with honesty and gentleness. It is an affirmation that growth is a process; we do it throughout our lives. Taking time for a personal inventory is a way to say that our needs are important, our good points are important, and our character defects are important. We are whole people, lovable just as we are.

I will take time for an inventory today. I will admit my wrongs, give myself credit for my accomplishments, and give the day to God with gratitude.

Today's reading is from the book Answers in the Heart

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August 14

Today Is the Now

I've shut the door on yesterday
And thrown the key away.
Tomorrow holds no fears for me
Since I have found today.

~Vivian Y. Laramore

Living in the now is one of the most important ways of finding lasting recovery. One of the favorite slogans to be followed is "One day at a time." We willingly accept the fact that yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow is only an expectation. When we have finished with yesterday and have no fear of tomorrow, we can be assured that we can truly be content with each new today.

Living in the now is an acceptance of life's realities. Honesty is the key to being happy throughout each day as it comes. Today surely is the "first day of the rest of our lives." It can be, if lived with gratitude, love, and honesty, the best day yet in our newly found today.

Today truly can be that wonderful exciting day that yesterday, I eagerly called "tomorrow". I can greet every today by exclaiming, "This day can be the start of the best years of my life."

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*

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August 15

The baby learning to walk falls a lot.

~Kathleen Rowe

We are developing new attitudes, new behaviors, new patterns for nearly every activity in our lives. We can't be expected to master them immediately. The commitment to make progress on a daily basis is quite enough.

We won't be perfect. Ever. The determination to keep improving is as close to perfection as we need ever come. The challenge is in the effort. The growth is in the effort too. We are in this program to grow and change. It will happen, sometimes in spite of ourselves, if we keep showing up to do the footwork.

Falling while learning to put a better foot forward is expected. The learning process is just that: a process. A little effort, one day at a time, will hone our new skills. In no time, we will look back on our old selves with disbelief. How did we come so far, so fast?

I may make plenty of mistakes today. I can accept that I'm learning and moving forward.

Today's reading is from the book A Woman's Spirit: More meditations for Women*