February 12 Step Recovery Readings
| Please post any February 12 step recovery readings you connect with, do this below in the 12 step recovery comment section. |
| Please post any February 12 step recovery readings you connect with, do this below in the 12 step recovery comment section. |
Bobbie
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
When we think about having a drink, we’re thinking of
the kick we get out of drinking, the pleasure, the escape
from boredom, the feeling of self-importance and the
companionship of other drinkers. What we don’t think of
is the letdown, the hangover, the remorse, the waste of
money, and the facing of another day. In other words,
when we think about that first drink, we’re thinking of
all the assets of drinking and none of the liabilities.
What has drinking really got that we haven’t got
in A.A.? Do I believe that the liabilities of drinking outweigh
the assets?
Meditation For The Day
I will start a new life each day. I will put the old
mistakes away and start anew each day. God always offers
me a fresh start. I will not be burdened or anxious. If
God’s forgiveness were only for the righteous and those
who had not sinned, where would be its need? I believe
that God forgives us all our sins, if we are honestly
trying to live today the way He wants us to live. God
forgives us much and we should be very grateful.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that my life may not be spoiled by worry and fear
and selfishness. I pray that I may have a glad, thankful
and humble heart.
Suzy :) Just for today
NA Just For Today
I Can’t – We Can
“We had convinced ourselves that we could make it alone and proceeded to live life on that basis. The results were disastrous and, in the end, each of us had to admit that self-sufficiency was a lie”
Basic Text p. 59
“I can’t, but we can.” This simple but profound truth applies initially to our first need as NA members: Together, we can stay clean, but when we isolate ourselves, we’re in bad company. To recover, we need the support of other addicts.
Self-sufficiency impedes more than just our ability to stay clean. With or without drugs, living on self-will inevitably leads to disaster. We depend on other people for everything from goods and services to love and companionship, yet self-will puts us in constant conflict with those very people. To live a fulfilling life, we need harmony with others.
Other addicts and others in our communities are not the only ones we depend on. Power is not a human attribute, yet we need power to live. We find it in a Power greater than ourselves which provides the guidance and strength we lack on our own. When we pretend to be self-sufficient, we isolate ourselves from the one source of power sufficient to effectively guide us through life: our Higher Power.
Self-sufficiency doesn’t work. We need other addicts; we need other people; and, to live fully, we need a Power greater than our own.
Just for today: I will seek the support of other recovering addicts, harmony with others in my community, and the care of my Higher Power. I can’t, but we can.
Lotte
February 8
Daily Reflections
CONVINCING “MR. HYDE”
Even then, as we hew away, peace and joy will still elude us. That’s
the place so many of us A.A. oldsters have come to. And it’s a hell of a
spot, literally. How shall our unconscious–from which so many of our
fears, compulsions and phony aspirations still stream–be brought into
line with what we actually believe, know and want! How to convince
our dumb, raging and hidden “Mr. Hyde” becomes our main task.
THE BEST OF BILL, pp. 42-43
Regular attendance at meetings, service and helping others is the
recipe that many have tried and found to be successful. Whenever I
stray from these basic principles, my old habits resurface and my old
self also comes back with all its fears and defects. The ultimate goal of
each A.A. member is permanent sobriety, achieved One Day at a
Time.
Suzy :) Just For Today xx
NA Just For Today
Fun!
“In recovery our ideas of fun change”
Basic Text, p. 102
In retrospect, many of us realize that when we used, our ideas of fun were rather bizarre. Some of us would get dressed up and head for the local club. We would dance, drink and do other drugs until the sun rose. On more than one occasion, gun battles broke out. What we then called fun, we now call insanity.
Today, our notion of fun has changed. Fun to us today is a walk along the ocean, watching the dolphins frolic as the sun sets behind them. Fun is going to an NA picnic, or attending the comedy show at an NA convention. Fun is getting dressed up to go to the banquet and not worrying about any gun battles breaking out over who did what to whom.
Through the grace of a Higher Power and the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous, our ideas of fun have changed radically. Today when we are up to see the sun rise, it’s usually because we went to bed early the night before, not because we left a club at six in the morning, eyes bleary from a night of drug use. And if that’s all we have received from Narcotics Anonymous, that would be enough.
Just for today: I will have fun in my recovery!
Arnie :)
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
After that first drink, we had a single track mind. It
was like a railroad train. The first drink started it
off and it kept going on the single track until it got
to the end of the line, drunkenness. We knew this would
happen when we sat down at a bar to have the first drink,
but still we couldn’t keep away from liquor. Our will-power
was gone. We had become helpless and hopeless before the
power of alcohol. It’s not the second drink or the tenth
drink that does the damage. It’s the first drink. Will I ever
take that first drink again?
Meditation For The Day
I must keep a time apart with God every day. Gradually I
will be transformed mentally and spiritually. It is not the
praying so much as just being in God’s presence. The
strengthening and curative powers of this I cannot
understand, but I can experience them. The poor, sick
world would be cured if every day each soul waited before
God for the inspiration to live aright. My greatest
spiritual growth occurs in this time apart with God.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may faithfully keep a quiet time apart with
God. I pray that I may grow spiritually each day.
Christine x
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Ten – “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.”
But in other instances only the closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy, rationalization, has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really didn’t.
p. 94
William
Alcoholics Anonymous – Fourth Edition
BILL’S STORY
While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me. Perhaps I could help some of them. They in turn might work with others.
My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that.
pp. 14-15
Terence
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
I go to the A.A. meetings because it helps me in my
business of keeping sober. And I try to help other
alcoholics when I can, because that’s my part of my
business of keeping sober. I also have a partner in
this business and that’s God. I pray to Him every
day to help me keep sober. As long as I keep in mind
that liquor can never be my friend again, but is now
my deadly enemy, and as long as I remember that my
main business is keeping sober and that it’s the most
important thing in my life, I believe that I’ll be
prepared for that crucial moment when the idea of
having a drink pops into my mind. When that idea
comes, will I be able to resist it and not take that drink?
Meditation For The Day
I will be more afraid of spirit-unrest, of soul-
disturbance, of any ruffling of the mind, than of
earthquake or fire. When I feel the calm of my spirit
has been broken by emotional upset, then I must steal
away alone with God, until my heart sings and all is
strong and calm again. Uncalm times are the only times
when evil can find an entrance. I will beware of
unguarded spots of unrest. I will try to keep calm, no
matter what turmoil surrounds me.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that no emotional upset will hinder God’s power
in my life. I pray that I may keep a calm spirit and a
steady heart.
Suzy :) Just For Today xx
NA Just For Today
Sick As Our Secrets
“It would be tragic to write [out an inventory only to] shove it in a drawer These defects grow in the dark and die in the light of exposure.”
Basic Text, p. 31
How many times have we heard it said that we are only as sick as our secrets? While many members choose not to use meetings to share the intimate details of their lives, it is important that we each discover what works best for us. What about those behaviors we have carried into our recovery that, if discovered, would cause us shame? How much are we comfortable disclosing, and to whom? If we are uncomfortable sharing some details of our lives in meetings, to whom do we turn?
We have found the answer to these questions in sponsorship. Although a relationship with a sponsor takes time to build, it is important that we come to trust our sponsor enough to be completely honest. Our defects only have power as long as they stay hidden. If we want to be free of those defects, we must uncover them. Secrets are only secrets until we share them with another human being.
Just for today: I will uncover my secrets. I will practice being honest with my sponsor.
Manuel :)
February 26
Daily Reflections
NO ORDINARY SUCCESS STORY
A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the
word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under
grace, into spiritual progress.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 35
Upon entering A.A. I listened to others talk about the
reality of their drinking: loneliness, terror and pain.
As I listened further, I soon heard a description of a
very different kind–the reality of sobriety. It is a
reality of freedom and happiness, of purpose and
direction, and of serenity and peace with God,
ourselves and others. By attending meetings, I am
reintroduced to that reality, over and over. I see it
in the eyes and hear it in the voices of those around
me. By working the program I find the direction and
strength with which to make it mine. The joy of A.A.
is that this new reality is available to me.