12 Step Spiritual Readings – March
| Feel free to post any of this months readings or spiritual quotes you connect with in the comment section. Monday 1st March through to Wednesday 31st March. |
| Feel free to post any of this months readings or spiritual quotes you connect with in the comment section. Monday 1st March through to Wednesday 31st March. |
Siobhan
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself.
“Don’t reach out and take that problem back. You’ve given it to God
and there’s nothing you can do about it.” So I forget about the
drink. One of the most important parts of the A.A. program is to give
our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out
and take the problem back to ourselves. If we let God have it and
keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we’ll stay sober. Have
I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?
Meditation For The Day
Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop
my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently,
perseveringly, lovingly, patiently, and hopefully. By keeping them, every
mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of
spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is
the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God is to find
life and healing and strength.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that God’s spirit may be everything to my soul. I pray that
God’s spirit may grow within me.
California Colin :)
NA Just For Today
Anxiety Attack?
“[The] Power that brought us to this program is still with us and will continue to guide us if we allow it.”
Basic Text, p. 26
Ever had a panic attack? Everywhere we turn, life’s demands overwhelm us. We’re paralyzed, and we don’t know what to do about it. How do we break an anxiety attack?
First, we stop. We can’t deal with everything at once, so we stop for a moment to let things settle. Then we take a “spot inventory” of the things that are bothering us. We examine each item, asking ourselves this question: “How important is it, really?” In most cases, we’ll find that most of our fears and concerns don’t need our immediate attention. We can put those aside, and focus on the issues that really need to be resolved right away. Then we stop again and ask ourselves, “Who’s in control here, anyway?” This helps remind us that our Higher Power is in control.
We seek our Higher Power’s will for the situation, whatever it is. We can do this in any number of ways: through prayer, talks with our sponsor or NA friends, or by attending a meeting and asking others to share their experience. When our Higher Power’s will becomes clear to us, we pray for the ability to carry it out. Finally, we take action.
Anxiety attacks need not paralyze us. We can utilize the resources of the NA program to deal with anything that comes our way.
Just for today: My Higher Power has not brought me all this way in recovery only to abandon me! When anxiety strikes, I will take specific steps to seek God’s continuing care and guidance.
Jim
Alcoholics Anonymous – Fourth Edition Stories
Jim’s Story
This physician, one of the earliest members of A.A.’s first black group, tells of how freedom came as he worked among his people.
The next morning I went up for arraignment. Vi was very kind and explained to the jury that I was basically a fine fellow and a good husband but that I drank too much and that she thought I had lost my mind and should be committed to an asylum. The judge said that if she felt that way, he would confine me for thirty days’ examination and observation. There was no observation. There might have been some investigation. The closest I came to a psychiatrist during that time was an intern who came to take blood tests. After the trial, I got big-hearted again and felt that I should do something in payment for Vi’s kindness to me; so I left Washington and went to Seattle to work. I was there about three weeks, and then I got restless and started to tramp across the country, here and there, until I finally wound up in Pennsylvania, in a steel mill.
p. 241
Sheila
March 8
Daily Reflections
TURNING IT OVER
Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has,
without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn’t it true
that in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to
turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of
Alcoholics Anonymous? . . . Any willing newcomer feels sure A.A. is
the only safe harbor for the foundering vessel he has become. Now if this is
not turning one’s will and life over to a newfound Providence, then what
is it?
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35
Submission to God was the first step to my recovery. I believe our
Fellowship seeks a spirituality open to a new kinship with God. As I
exert myself to follow the path of the Steps, I sense a freedom that
gives me the ability to think for myself. My addiction confined me
without any release and hindered my ability to be released from my
self-confinement, but A.A. assures me of a way to go forward.
Mutual sharing, concern and caring for others is our natural gift to
each other and mine is strengthened as my attitude toward God
changes. I learn to submit to God’s will in my life, to have self-respect,
and to keep both of these attitudes by giving away what I receive.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today
Learning To Love Ourselves
“What we want most is to feel good about ourselves.”
Basic Text, p. 97
“We’ll love you until you can learn to love yourself!” These words, heard so often in our meetings, promise a day we look forward to eagerly – the day when we’ll know how to love ourselves.
Self-esteem, we all want this elusive quality as soon as we hear about it. Some of us seem to stumble upon it accidentally, while others embark on a course of action complete with affirmations made to our reflections in the mirror. But fix-it-yourself techniques and trendy psychological cures can only take us so far.
There are some definite, practical steps we can take to show love for ourselves, whether we “feel” that love or not. We can take care of our personal responsibilities. We can do nice things for ourselves, as we would for a lover or a friend. We can start paying attention to our own needs. We can even pay attention to the qualities that we cherish in our friends – qualities like intelligence and humor – and look for those same qualities in ourselves. We’re sure to find that we really are lovable people, and once we do that, we’re well on our way.
Just for today: I will do something today that helps me recognize and feel love for myself.
Mary
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
By having quiet times each morning, we come to depend on
God’s help during the day, especially if we should be
tempted to take a drink. And we can honestly thank Him
each night for the strength He has given us. So our faith
is strengthened by these quiet times of prayer. By
listening to other members, by working with other
alcoholics, by times of quiet meditation, our faith in
God gradually becomes strong. Have I turned my drink
problem entirely over to God, without reservations?
Meditation For The Day
It seems as though, when God wants to express to men what
He is like, He makes a very beautiful character. Think of
a personality as God’s expression of character attributes.
Be as fit an expression of Godlike character as you can.
When the beauty of a person’s character is impressed upon us,
it leaves an image which in turn reflects through our own
actions. So look for beauty of character in those around
you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may look at great beauty of souls until their
beauty of character becomes a part of my soul. I pray that I
may reflect this character in my own life.
Ruthie xx
Keep It Simple
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.—AA saying
Before recovery, we never thought we had enough alcohol or other drugs. More would make us feel better, we thought. Sometimes, we are like this in recovery too. We know we need to change, so we want to do it all right now. If we can just change ourselves totally, we’ll feel better, we think.
But we can’t change all at once. If we ask our Higher Power to take charge of our lives, we’ll have the chance to change a little at a time. We’ll learn the right things when we need to know them.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me fix what needs fixing today.
Action for the Day: I’ll make a list of what is broken. Which things on my list can I fix today?
Carly (New York)
March 23
Daily Reflections
. . . AND NO MORE RESERVATIONS
We have seen the truth again and again: “Once an
alcoholic, always an alcoholic.”. . . If we are
planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation
of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we
will be immune to alcohol. . . . To be gravely affected,
one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor
take the quantities some of us have. This is
particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics
often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond
recall in a few years.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33
These words are underlined in my book. They are true for
men and women alcoholics. On many occasions I’ve turned
to this page and reflected on this passage. I need never
fool myself by recalling my sometimes differing drinking
patterns, or by believing I am “cured.” I like to think
that, if sobriety is God’s gift to me, then my sober
life is my gift to God. I hope that God is as happy with
His gift as I am with mine.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today
I Can’t, But We Can
“From the isolation of our addiction, we find a fellowship of people with a common bond… Our faith, strength, and hope come from people sharing their recovery…”
Basic Text, pg.94-95
Admit no weakness, conceal all shortcomings, deny every failure, go it alone-that was the creed many of us followed. We denied that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable, despite all evidence to the contrary. Many of us took our First Step only when we had evidence that addicts could recover in Narcotics Anonymous.
In NA, we find others who’ve been in the same predicament, with the same needs, who’ve found tools that work for them. These addicts are willing to share those tools with us and gibe us the emotional support we need as we learn to use them. Recovering addicts know how important the help of others can be because they’ve been given that help themselves. When we become a part of Narcotics Anonymous, we join a society of addicts like ourselves, a group of people who know that we help one another recover.
Just for today: I will join in the bond of recovery. I will find the experience, strength, and hope I need in the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous.
Debs x
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
When we were drinking, we used to be ashamed of the past. Remorse
is terrible mental punishment: ashamed of ourselves for the things
we’ve said and done, afraid to face people because of what they might
think of us, afraid of the consequences of what we did when we were
drunk. In A.A. we forget about the past. Do I believe that God has
forgiven me for everything I’ve done in the past, no matter how black
it was, provided I’m honestly trying to do the right thing today?
Meditation For The Day
God’s spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no
plans, no impulses, no emotions, that He does not know about. You can
hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to
that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of
others. God sees in secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in
harmony with the Divine Spirit, doing your best to live the way you
believe God wants you to live, you will be at peace.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may always feel God’s presence. I pray that I may realize
this Presence constantly all through the day.
Seamus
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.”
When alcoholism strikes, very unnatural situations may develop which work against marriage partnership and compatible union. If the man is affected, the wife must become the head of the house, often the breadwinner. As matters get worse, the husband becomes a sick and irresponsible child who needs to be looked after and extricated from endless scrapes and impasses. Very gradually, and usually without any realization of the fact, the wife is forced to become the mother of an erring boy. And if she had a strong maternal instinct to begin with, the situation is aggravated. Obviously not much partnership can exist under these conditions. The wife usually goes on doing the best she knows how, but meanwhile the alcoholic alternately loves and hates her maternal care. A pattern is thereby established that may take a lot of undoing later on. Nevertheless, under the influence of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, these situations are often set right.*
*In adopted form, the Steps are also used by Al-Anon/Alateen Family Groups. Not a part of A.A., this worldwide fellowship consists of spouses and other relatives or friends of alcoholics (in A.A. or still drinking.) Its headquarters address is 1600 Corporate Landing Parkway, Virginia Beach, VA 23454-5617.
pp. 117-118