Daily Recovery Readings
July 23, 2021
Daily Reflection
I ASK GOD TO DECIDE
“I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows.”
— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76
Having admitted my powerlessness and made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as I understand Him, I don’t decide which defects get removed, or the order in which defects get removed, or the time frame in which they get removed. I ask God to decide which defects stand in the way of my usefulness to Him and to others, and then I humbly ask Him to remove them.
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Big Book Quote
“An illness of this sort and we have come to believe it an illness, involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life.”
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 18~
24 Hours a Day – The Little Black Book
Thought for the Day
We should remember that all A.A.’s have “clay feet.” We should not set any member upon a pedestal and mark her or him out as a perfect A.A. It’s not fair to the person to be singled out in this fashion and if the person is wise she or he will not wish it. If the person we single out as an ideal A.A. has a fall, we are in danger of falling, too. Without exception, we are all only one drink away from a drunk, no matter how long we have been in A.A. Nobody is entirely safe. A.A. itself should be our ideal, not any particular member of it. Am I putting my trust in A.A. principles and not in any one member of the group?
Meditation for the Day
The inward peace that comes from trust in God truly passes all understanding. That peace no one can take from you. No person has the power to disturb that inner peace. But you must be careful not to let in the world’s worries and distractions. You must try not to give entrance to fears and despondency. You must refuse to open the door to distractions that disturb your inward peace. Make it a point to allow nothing today to disturb your inner peace, your heart-calm.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not allow those about me to spoil my peace of mind. I pray that I may keep a deep inner calm throughout the day.
The Language of Letting Go – Codependency
Making It Happen
Stop trying so hard to make it happen.
Stop doing so much, if doing so much is wearing you out or not achieving the desired results. Stop thinking so much and so hard about it. Stop worrying so about it. Stop trying to force, to manipulate, to coerce, or to make it happen.
Making things happen is controlling. We can take positive action to help things happen. We can do our part. But many of us do much more than our part. We overstep the boundaries from caring and doing our part into controlling, caretaking, and coercing.
Controlling is self-defeating. It doesn’t work. By overextending ourselves to make something happen, we may actually be stopping it from happening.
Do your part in relaxed, peaceful harmony. Then let it go. Just let it go. Force yourself to let it go, if necessary. “Act as if.” Put as much energy into letting go as you have into trying to control. You’ll get much better results.
It may not happen. It may not happen the way we wanted it to and hoped it would. But our controlling wouldn’t have made it happen either.
Learn to let things happen because that’s what they’ll do anyway. And while we’re waiting to see what happens, we’ll be happier and so will those around us.
Today, I will stop forcing things to happen. Instead, I will allow things to happen naturally. If I catch myself trying to force events or control people, I will stop and figure out a way to detach.
Touchstone – Men’s Meditation
He that to what he sees, adds observation, and to what he reads, reflection, is in the right road to knowledge.
—Caleb Colton
We are not just feathers blown on the winds of a powerless life. We bring ourselves to our experiences. The dynamics of learning include, first, what happens – what we see or read or hear – and, second, what we make of it. So in our observations and reflections we consider what an event means to us.
As men in a spiritual program, we need some time to think and reflect. That is, we need time away from the phone, away from interruptions and work, where we can let ourselves learn and grow from our experiences. Some men get that by leaving the radio off while driving alone, others get it on the bus, others light a candle in a quiet room at home and meditate. In this way we are conscious and aware of what is happening in our lives and we bring our wisdom to it. Through time, we deepen and grow stronger as we grow older rather than only accumulating more experiences.
Today, I will reflect on the meaning of my experiences and bring my wisdom to them.
Elder’s Meditation
“…the greatest strength is in gentleness.”
–Leon Shenandoah, ONONDAGA
Our Elders have taught us many lessons about becoming a Warrior and how to think and act like one. We have been told about the power of gentleness. We have been told about the power of the stillness. Physical power is about effort. Mental power is the opposite. It’s about being effortless or less any effort. Gentleness is one of the greatest attributes of the Warrior and one of the greatest mental powers. It takes a lot of love to be gentle. Gentleness is not an ego word. Gentleness is the weapon of the Great Spirit.
My Creator, today I will be gentle with myself and with others. I will listen to the whisper of my heart and learn the power of being gentle.
Daily Horoscope – Cancer
Speaking up may help defuse a power struggle quietly brewing in one of your close relationships. Part of the problem might be a money issue, but that particular aspect could be closer to a solution than you think if you just talk to the other person. What could require more work is unraveling the atmosphere of secrecy that made it hard to initiate the conversation. Start by seriously asking yourself whether you are always a safe person for others to talk to.
The Wandering Enigma 