Daily Recovery Readings - August

[bluidkiti]

August 17

Daily Reflections

RIGHTING THE HARM

In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has
not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 79

Have you ever thought that the harm you did a business associate, or
perhaps a family member, was so slight that it really didn't deserve an
apology because they probably wouldn't remember it anyway? If that
person, and the wrong done to him, keeps coming to mind, time and
again, causing an uneasy or perhaps guilty feeling, then I put that
person's name at the top of my "amends list," and become willing to
make a sincere apology, knowing I will feel calm and relaxed about
that person once this very important part of my recovery is
accomplished.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic, a spiritual experience
seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster. To be
doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not
always easy alternatives to face. But we have to face the fact that we
must find a spiritual basis of life--or else. Lack of power is our
dilemma. We have to find a power by which we can live, and it has to
be a power greater than ourselves." Have I found that power by which
I can live?

Meditation For The Day

Sunshine is the laughter of nature. Live out in the sunshine. The sun
and air are good medicine. Nature is a good nurse for tired bodies. Let
her have her way with you. God's grace is like the sunshine. Let your
whole being be enwrapped in the Divine spirit. Faith is the soul's
breathing in of the Divine spirit. It makes glad the hearts of human
beings. The Divine spirit heals and cures the mind. Let it have its way
and all will be well.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may live in the sunshine of God's spirit. I pray that my
mind and soul may be energized by it.

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As Bill Sees It

Day of Homecoming, p. 229

"As sobriety means long life and happiness for the individual, so
does unity mean exactly the same thing to our Society as a whole.
Unified we live; disunited we shall perish."

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"We must think deeply of all those sick ones still to come to A.A. As
they try to make their return to faith and to life, we want them to
find everything in A.A. that we have found, and yet more, if that
be possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort to preserve A.A.'s
constant effectiveness and spiritual strength will ever be too great
to hold us in full readiness for the day of their homecoming."

1. Letter, 1949
2. Talk, 1959

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Walk In Dry Places

Whom Should we Respect?
Respecting others.
While having dinner in a nice restaurant, my friends and I realized that we were treating the young man
bussing the table with cold indifference. He appeared to be unsure of
himself, doing his work with apprehension and a lack of
confidence.
Here was an example of a person who needed silent encouragement. He
needed to be assured that his performance of honest, useful work was
respected and appreciated. He also needed to be reminded that he
had opportunities to continue developing and using his talents.
Perhaps we, as patrons of the restaurant, could provide that.
Sometimes this encouragement can simply be expressed in the way we act
and feel toward people. If it is genuine and based on good spiritual
principles, it will be understood. It's actually a form of
practicing the principles of the Twelve Steps in all our affairs.
At the same time, we practice identifying with every person we
meet.
I'll try to take note of every person I come in contact with today, knowing that everyone needs support and encouragement. I can do my part to provide that.

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Keep It Simple

Words that do not match deeds are not important.---Ernesto Ch'e Guevara
What we do can be much more important than what we say. We tend to talk about things we want to do. We need to also be people who do things we talk about. We are not spiritual people unless our actions are spiritual.
Many of us used to be "all or nothing" people. That made us afraid to take the big projects. But now we can get things done, if we take one step at a time. We're not "all or nothing" people anymore. We're people who are changing and growing a little every day. And each day our deeds match our words a little better.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me live fully today. Help me not to talk to much about what I want to do. Give me the gift of patience, so I can be pleased with my progress.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll list the things that I say I'd like to do. What is one thing I can do today to make each of them happen? I'll take one step today to match my life to my dreams.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as it is, is the only way of being happy. --Jennie Jerome Churchill
We are generally so certain that we know what's best for ourselves. And we are just as often certain that what we think is best will guarantee happiness. Perhaps we should reflect on all the times in the past when our wishes didn't come true--fortunately.
Did any one of us expect to be doing today, what we each are doing? We may have expected children, a particular kind of home, a certain career, but did we really anticipate all that life has wrought? Addiction, and then recovery from it, was probably not in our pictures. But it does fit into the big picture. The happiness we experience today probably doesn't visit us in the way we anticipated a few years back. But it is measured out according to our needs. The choice to be happy with what is, is ours to make, every moment.
I can take life as it is, and trust that it is just right, just what it needs to be. The big picture guarantees me lasting happiness. Today's experiences will move me a step closer.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM

Let him tell you about it: “I was much impressed with what you fellows said about alcoholism, and I frankly did not believe it would be possible for me to drink again. I rather appreciated your ideas about the subtle insanity which precedes the first drink, but I was confident it could not happen to me after what I had learned. I reasoned I was not so far advanced as most of you fellows, that I had been usually successful in licking my other personal problems, and that I would therefore be successful where you men failed. I felt I had every right to be self-confident, that it would be only a matter of exercising my will power and keeping on guard.

p. 40

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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."

After taking this preliminary trial at making amends, we may enjoy such a sense of relief that we conclude our task is finished. We will want to rest on our laurels. The temptation to skip the more humiliating and dreaded meetings that still remain may be great. We will often manufacture plausible excuses for dodging these issues entirely. Or we may just procrastinate, telling ourselves the time is not yet, when in reality we have already passed up many a fine chance to right a serious wrong. Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion.

p. 85

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"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road.
They get run over."
--Anuerin Bevan

"You cannot plan the future by the past."
--Edmund Burke

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
--Saint Thomas Aquinas

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make the best of it as
it is, is the only way of being happy.
--Jennie Jerome Churchill

It's not the load that breaks you down...it's the way you carry it.
--unknown

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the
universe.
--Marcus Aurelius

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

COURAGE

"Nothing will ever be attempted
if all possible objections must
be first overcome."
-- Samuel Johnson

There was a time when I never attempted anything because I said it
"can't" be done. I could never get sober. I could never stand up to my
drunken friends. I could never face my buried secrets. I could never
stop gambling. I could never change my eating habits or stop using
cocaine.

Then I heard the confidence and hope that was reflected in people who
were recovering from these same problems. I heard people talk about
what it was like, what happened and what it is like now. They told me I
didn't mean "can't", I meant "won't"! They told me to take a risk,
think positive, try. Today, yesterday's objections are mere memories.

Thank You for showing me the light at the end of the tunnel. May I
continue to walk in the light.

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I call on the Lord in my distress and He answers me.
Psalm 120:1

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we
do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

"However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no
mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.'"
I Corinthians 2:9

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Daily Inspiration

Pray together as a family and share each other's joys and burdens. Lord, he is not heavy. He's my brother.

If you feel the need to get even, try getting even with those that have helped you. Lord, free me from any thoughts of revenge because this only shuts the door to my own happiness.