Daily Recovery Readings
April 14, 2023
Daily Reflection
THE “NUMBER ONE OFFENDER”
Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 64
As I look at myself practicing the Fourth Step, it is easy to gloss over the wrong that I have done, because I can easily see it as a question of “getting even” for a wrong done to me. If I continue to relive my old hurt, it is a resentment and resentment bars the sunlight from my soul.
If I continue to relive hurts and hates, I will hurt and hate myself. After years in the dark of resentments, I have found the sunlight. I must let go of resentments; I cannot afford them.
Big Book Quote
Argument and fault-finding are to be avoided like the plague.
– Pg. 98 – Working With Others
24 Hours a Day – The Little Black Book
A.A. Thought For The Day
A police captain once told about certain cases he had come
across in his police work. The cause of the tragedy in each
case was drunkenness. He told his audience about a man who
got into an argument with his wife while he was drunk and beat
her to death. Then he went out and drank some more. The police
captain also told about a woman who got too near the edge of
an old quarry hole when she was drunk and fell one hundred
and fifty feet to her death. When I read or hear these stories,
do I think about our motto: “But for the grace of God”?
Meditation For The Day
I must keep balance by keeping spiritual things at the center
of my life. God will give me this poise and balance if I pray
for it. This poise will give me power in dealing with the lives
of others. This balance will manifest itself more and more in
my own life. I should keep material things in their proper place
and keep spiritual things at the center of my life. Then I will
be at peace amid the distractions of everyday living.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may dwell with God at the center of my life.
I pray that I may keep that inner peace at the center of
my being.
The Language of Letting Go – Codependency
Perfectionism
Today I am growing in my awareness that my mind, body and spirit need exercise and nourishment. Through prayer and meditation, exercise and reading, I am developing a personal program for physical, mental and spiritual growth. –Ruth Fishel
Recovery from codependency is an individual process that necessitates making mistakes, struggling through problems, and facing tough issues.
Expecting ourselves to be perfect slows this process; it puts us in a guilty and anxious state. Expecting others to be perfect is equally destructive; it makes others feel ashamed and may interfere with their growth.
People are human and vulnerable, and that is wonderful. We can accept and cherish that idea. Expecting others to be perfect puts us in that codependent state of moral superiority. Expecting ourselves to be perfect makes us feel rigid and inferior.
We can let go of both ideas.
We do not need to go to the other extreme; tolerating anything people throw our way. We can still expect appropriate, responsible behavior from ourselves. But most of us can afford to loosen up a bit. And when we stop expecting others to be perfect, we may discover that they’re doing much better than we thought. When we stop expecting ourselves to be perfect, well discover the beauty in ourselves.
Today, I will practice tolerance, acceptance, and love of others as they are, and myself as I am. I will strive for that balance between expecting too much and expecting too little from others and myself.
Touchstone – Men’s Meditation
A person who is looking for something doesn’t travel very fast. –E. B. White
What do men really want? What are we seeking? Many of us have felt driven and still feel restless or compulsive at times. We frantically followed our impulses to self-destructive extremes. Even those painful actions of our past were motivated, at the bottom line, by a spiritual search. What did we really seek in the bottle, or in the passionate bed, or in our work? Slowing down enough every day to let ourselves know what we are looking for gives us a much better chance of finding it.
Today we can slow down by taking twenty minutes for solitude and quiet, for meditation or prayer. We can call a friend simply for a moment of contact. We might read something to give ourselves some ideas to ponder, or we can listen to music which will transport us to another world. Perhaps we can simply walk more slowly from our cars or the bus stop to our homes. Often it is not the events in our lives that bring change but the space between events.
Today, I will try to remember that slowing down may help me find what I am seeking.
Elder’s Meditation
“The base of all things is love, respect.”
–Vickie Downey, TEWA/Tesuque Pueblo
The greatest weapon of any Spiritual Warrior is love. Love will change minds; love will forgive; love will let go; love will cause good luck; love will heal; love will cry; love will get rid of resentments; love will overcome fear. Love loves love. Any human who is loving will be guaranteed respect. Respect loves love. We need to love and respect ourselves.
Grandmother, Grandfather, today, lead me on the path of love.
Daily Horoscope – Cancer
Your own inner monologue might be too mean to you today. A mistake could induce worry or guilty, and potentially, you’ll obsess over what you did wrong or what you could have done to change it. You may fall into the tendency to beat yourself up if you don’t reach a certain standard that you hold for yourself, but focusing on what you’re doing wrong or yelling at yourself can easily invite more mistakes — especially when you’re nervous. Be kind to yourself.
The Wandering Enigma 