[bluidkiti]

June 22

Daily Reflections

TODAY, I'M FREE

This brought me to the good healthy realization that there
were plenty of situations left in the world over which I
had no personal power--that if I was so ready to admit that
to be the case with alcohol, so I must make the same
admission with respect to much else. I would have to be
still and know that He, not I, was God.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 114

I am learning to practice acceptance in all circumstances
of my life, so that I may enjoy peace of mind. At one time
life was a constant battle because I felt I had to go through
each day fighting myself, and everyone else. Eventually, this
became a losing battle. I ended up getting drunk and crying
over my misery. When I began to let go and let God take over
my life I began to have peace of mind. Today, I am free. I
do not have to fight anybody or anything anymore.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

If you have any doubt, just ask any of the older members of
the A.A. group, and they will readily tell you that since they
turned their lives over to the care of God as they understand
Him, many of their problems have been banished into the
forgotten yesterdays. When you allow yourself to be upset over
one thing, you succeed only in opening the door to the coming
of hundreds of other upsetting things. Am I allowing myself to
be upset over little things?

Meditation For The Day

I would do well not to think of the Red Sea of difficulties
that lies ahead. I am sure that when I come to that Red Sea,
the waters will part and I will be given all the power I need
to face and overcome many difficulties and meet what is in
store for me with courage. I believe that I will pass through
that Red Sea to the promised land, the land of the spirit where
many souls meet in perfect comradeship. I believe that when
that time comes, I will be freed of all the dross of material
things and find peace.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may face the future with courage. I pray that I
may be given strength to face both life and death fearlessly.

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As Bill Sees It

Roots of Reality, p. 173

We started upon a personal inventory, Step Four. A business which takes no regular
inventory usually goes broke. Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a
fact-facing process. It is an effort to discover the truth about the stock in trade. One
object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and
without regret. If the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool
himself about values.

We had to do exactly the same thing with our lives. We had to take stock honestly.

<< << << >> >> >>

"Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual serenity, as I have
excellent reason to know. Roots of reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will
hold fast despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy us, or which we would
use to destroy ourselves."

1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 64
2. Letter, 1949

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Walk In Dry Places

Faking it, and then making it
Finding the Spirit of the Thing.
We’re sometimes advised to “fake it until you make it.” But how can anything false really lead us to recovery? Aren’t we told that this is an honest program?
We’re not being dishonest by pushing ourselves to become actively involved in AA. The self-help movements have told us for years that we have to form an image of what we want to be in order to reach our goals. We are forming an image that corresponds to the sober people we want to be. We are actually rehearsing sober living and working to accept a picture of sobriety in our heart of hearts.
There’s also much to be said for “faking it” enough to attend meetings and try to benefit from association with people….. even those we don’t like. This puts us in line for the change we really need.
A lot of members say that they “white-knuckled it” during the first months or years of sobriety. If this worked to bring recovery, it had to be the right approach.
Even if there is rebellion within, today I’ll talk and act like the sober person I want to be.

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Keep It Simple

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.---St. Augustine.
We started recovering the minute we admitted we were powerless over our illness. We crossed over from dishonesty to honesty.
Often, we don't see what power honestly has. Maybe we still aren't sure that being honest is best for us. It is! This is why the authors of the Big Book ask us to be totally honest from the start.
Just as denial is what makes addiction work, honesty is what makes recovery work.
Honesty means self-respect. Honesty heals. Honesty let us look people in the eyes. What comfort we'll feel as we deeper into our program.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I'll let go totally. I pray that I'll keep no secrets that could put my sobriety at risk.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll read the first three pages of "How It Works" in the Big Book.

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Each Day a New Beginning

I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others. --Amelia Earhart
Fear of failure plagues many women, not just those who get into trouble with drugs, alcohol, food. Those of us in this recovery program may still fear failure. Halting our addiction doesn't solve all our problems, but it does allow us to realistically take stock of our assets. Knowing our assets and accepting them provides the confidence we need to attempt a project, to strive for a goal.
Another plus of this recovery program is the help available from our groups and our higher power. All things become possible when we understand we are not alone. Seeing other women strive and succeed or strive, fail, and strive again, undefeated, creates an energy flow that can spur us on, if we choose. Feeling good about others' accomplishments can motivate each of us.
Today, I will pay particular attention to the accomplishments of other women, those close to me and those I read or hear about. I will believe their example and feel the forward push.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 10 - To Employers

Your man may be trusted. Long experience with alcoholic excuses naturally arouses suspicion. When his wife next calls saying he is sick, you may jump to the conclusion he is drunk. If he is, and is still trying to recover, he will tell you about it even if it means the loss of his job. For he knows he must be honest if he would live at all. He will appreciated knowing you are not bothering your head about him, that you are not suspicious nor are you trying to run his life so he will be shielded from temptation to drink. If he is conscientiously following the program of recovery he can go anywhere your business may call him.

pp. 146-147

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Five - "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed in stark relief those experiences we'd rather not remember, if we have come to know how wrong thinking and action
have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.

p. 55

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As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you
only get to play one round.
--Ben Hogan

"Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are
infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you."
--Oscar Wilde

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it
seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up
then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.
--Harriet Beecher Stowe

My partnership with God is steady, strong and certain.
--SweetyZee

I let go of everything that is unkind and seek to enter the spirit of
kindness, and compassion.
--SweetyZee

"The measure of our life is not whether others know our name, but
whether we have touched the lives of others."
--author unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

INDIVIDUALITY

"You'll never really know what I
mean and I'll never really know
exactly what you mean."
--Mike Nichols

There is a certain loneliness in life with which we must all live;
perhaps this is the price of individuality. I am not always sure that I
know what I am feeling or thinking and so I know I cannot be
absolutely sure of what you are feeling or thinking. Today when I say
"I know how you feel", it is with this reservation.

Another problem I face daily is finding words to express what I feel --
language seems so inadequate. Words, although bridges to meaning,
are often barriers to understanding. What I mean by what I say is
often misunderstood.

This awareness provides me with the stimulus to be more precise,
explicit and creative in my methods of communication and
understanding. Today I consider more seriously what the other person
is trying to say, rather than just listening to the words. Because I am
sensitive to my difficulties in being understood, I am becoming patient
with my neighbor.

Teach us never to become victims of our language.

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"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and ONLY Son, so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the
skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice
like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. How
priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find
refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of
your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with
you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your
love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in
heart.
Psalms 36:5-10

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Daily Inspiration

We will live life fully only when we become aware of our own inner power which is our connection with God. Lord, the more I rely on You, the more I am able to accomplish.

When you need to calm your emotions, stop and turn to God. Lord, I know that You are my help right now and will show me simple answers to what seems complicated and impossible.