Daily Recovery Readings - November

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November 4

Daily Reflections

A DAILY DISCIPLINE

, . . when they [self-examination, meditation and prayer] are logically related and
interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 98

The last three Steps of the program invoke God's loving discipline upon my willful nature.
If I devote just a few moments every night to a review of the highlights of my day, along
with an acknowledgment of those aspects that didn't please me so much, I gain a personal
history of myself, one that is essential to my growth, or lack of it, and to ask in prayerful
meditation to be relieved of those continuing shortcomings that cause me pain. Meditation
and prayer also teach me the art of focusing and listening. I find that the turmoil of the day
gets tuned out as I pray for His will and guidance. The practice of asking Him to help
me in my strivings for perfection puts a new slant on the tedium of any day, because I know
there is honor in any job done well. The daily discipline of prayer and meditation will keep
me in fit spiritual condition, able to face whatever the day brings - without the thought of a
drink.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I can do things that I never did before. Liquor took away my initiative and my ambition. I
couldn't get up the steam to start anything. I let things slide. When I was drunk, I was too
inert to even comb my hair. Now I can sit down and do something. I can write letters that
need to be written, I can make telephone calls that should be made. I can work in my
garden. I can pursue my hobbies. I have the urge to create something, that creative urge
that was completely stifled by alcohol. Have I recovered my initiative?

Meditation For The Day

"In Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand are pleasures forever." We cannot
find true happiness by looking for it. Seeking pleasure does not bring happiness in the long
run, only disillusionment. Do not seek to have this fullness of joy by seeking pleasure. It
cannot be done that way. Happiness is a by-product of living the right kind of life. True
happiness comes as a result of living in all respects the way you believe God wants you to
live, with regard to your self and to other people.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not always seek pleasure as a goal. I pray that I may be content with the
happiness that comes when I do the right thing.

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As Bill Sees It

Is Happiness The Goal?, p. 306

"I don't think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet
the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit
what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge?

"On my view, we of this world are pupils in a great school of life. It is
intended that we try to grow, and that we try to help our fellow travelers
to grow in the kind of love that makes no demands. In short, we try to
move toward the image and likeness of God as we understand Him.

"When pain comes, we are expected to learn from it willingly, and help
others to learn. When happiness comes, we accept it as a gift, and
thank God for it."

Letter, 1950

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Walk In Dry Places

The Gift of Sensitivity
Facing reality
Some of us complain about being too sensitive, or others may tell us so. This sets us up for all kinds of hurts, both real and imaginary.
In drinking, we actually dulled any sensitivity, though we thought we were expressing more feelings. This dulling of our sensitive nature blinded us to the damage we were doing.
In sobriety, we are learning that sensitivity is a gift that we can channel wisely. It can make us more aware of the feelings and needs of others. It can help us become a part of the group.
Like all gifts, sensitivity has its downside. It can make us vulnerable to problems that do not belong to us, and it can lead us into the trap of worrying about things we can do nothing about. But sensitivity is generally good, and in sobriety we can become better people because of it.
I 'll take great satisfaction today in the full use of my senses, including that part of me that perceives and expresses deep feelings.

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Keep It Simple

Each day comes bearing its gifts. Untie the ribbons.
---Ruth Ann Schabacker
How full life can be! We can untie the ribbons on this gift by keeping our spirits open.
Open to life. Open to how much our Higher Power love us.
Who knows what the gifts the day may bring? Maybe it brings a solution to a problem.
Maybe it brings the smile of a child. Maybe we’ll find a new friend. Whatever gifts the day brings, we must be able to receive them. How do we do this? We keep our spirit open and lively through prayer and meditation. Then we’ll be awake to see the beauty and the wonders life holds for us.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, remind me to pray to You often. Remind me to stop and listen to You. Remind me that You love me very much.
Action for the Day: At the end of the day, I’ll take time to list the gifts I’ve been given today. This will be first on my list: I am sober.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Beginnings are apt to be shadowy. --Rachel Carson
When we embark on a new career, open an unfamiliar door, begin a loving relationship, we can seldom see nor can we even anticipate where the experience may take us. At best we can see only what this day brings. We can trust with certainty that we will be safely led through the "shadows."
To make gains in this life we must venture forth to new places, contact new people, chance new experiences. Even though we may be fearful of the new, we must go forward. It's comforting to remember that we never take any step alone. It is our destiny to experience many new beginnings. And a dimension of the growth process is to develop trust that each of these experiences will in time comfort us and offer us the knowledge our inner self awaits. Without the new beginnings we are unable to fulfill the purpose for which we've been created.
No new beginning is more than we can handle. Every new beginning is needed by our developing selves, and we are ready for whatever comes.
I will look to my new beginnings gladly. They are special to the growth I am now ready for.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

The Doctor's Opinion

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks—drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.

pp. xxviii-xxix

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Women Suffer Too

Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period.

When I entered a sanitarium for prolonged and intensive psychiatric treatment, I was convinced that I was having a serious mental breakdown. I wanted help, and I tried to cooperate. As the treatment progressed I began to get a picture of myself, of the temperament that had caused me so much trouble. I had been hypersensitive, shy, idealistic. My inability to accept the harsh realities of life had resulted in a disillusioned cynic, clothed in a protective armor against the world's misunderstanding. That armor had turned into prison walls, locking me in loneliness—and fear. All I had left was an iron determination to live my own life in spite of the alien world—and here I was, an inwardly frightened, outwardly defiant woman, who desperately needed a prop to keep going.

p. 204

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

Furthermore, how shall we come to terms with seeming failure or success? Can we now accept and adjust to either without despair or pride? Can we accept poverty, sickness, loneliness, and bereavement with courage and serenity? Can we steadfastly content ourselves with the humbler, yet sometimes more durable, satisfactions when the brighter, more glittering achievements are denied us?
The A.A. answer to these questions about living is "Yes, all of these things are possible." We know this because we see monotony, pain, and even calamity turned to good use by those who keep on trying to practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps. And if these are facts of life for the many alcoholics who have recovered in A.A., they can become the facts of life for many more.

p. 112

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You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.
--Oliver Goldsmith

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
--Mother Teresa

May I love myself, as God loves me. May I love others, as God loves them.
--Shelley

As you walk through life, you are building your own reference material. This material is
called a memory. Make the most of yours by making them mean something.
--unknown

Silence is the great revelation.
--Lao Tzu

"We need to build downtime into our lives, so that we can have solitude without feeling
overcome with guilt."
--Melody Beattie

This is a great day to be sober, patient, tolerant, kindly and loving.
--unknown

C A R E = Comforting And Reassuring Each other.

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

TEACHING

"I hear and I forget. I see and I
remember. I do and I
understand."
-- Chinese Proverb

I suppose the best way to learn a thing is to do it, practice it, demonstrate it, make it real in
our lives. Spirituality needs to be experienced, not talked about. You cannot learn
spirituality, get spirituality from a famous guru, read and acquire spirituality from a
book--spirituality needs to be discovered in our lives. It needs to be found in body,
sexuality, sweat, anger, morning exercise and kneeling in prayer and gratitude at the end
of the day.

God, may You be real in my life.

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Proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The
boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will
praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the
LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore
my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will
not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made
known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal
pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly
lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

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Daily Inspiration

Be creative in what you have to do today to bring enjoyment to this moment and make your work will feel less like work. Lord, help me become inspirational in my ordinary responsibilities so that I am able to make my place more interesting and exciting.

Those that least deserve your love are the ones that need it the most. Lord, may I have the humbleness of spirit to reach out even when my feelings may be hurt.