Daily Recovery Readings
November 10, 2018

Daily Reflection

A SENSE OF BELONGING

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105

That’s what it is — belonging! After a session of meditation I knew that the feeling I was experiencing was a sense of belonging because I was so relaxed. I felt quieter inside, more willing to discard little irritations. I appreciated my sense of humor. What I also experience in my daily practice is the sheer pleasure of belonging to the creative flow of God’s world. How propitious for us that prayer and meditation are written right into our
A.A. way of life.

Big Book Quote

“I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was a crushing blow.”

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 42~

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I am less self centered. The world used to revolve around me at the center. I cared more about myself, my own needs and desires, my own pleasure, my own way, than I did about the whole rest of the world. What happened to me was more important than anything else I could think of. I was selfishly trying to be happy and therefore I was unhappy most of the time. I have found that selfishly seeking pleasure does not bring true happiness. Thinking of myself all the time cut me off from the best in life. A.A. taught me to care less about myself and more about the other fellow. Am I less self-centered?

Meditation For The Day

When something happens to upset you and you are discouraged, try to feel that life’s difficulties and troubles are not intended to arrest your progress in the spiritual life, but to test your strength and increase your determination to keep going. Whatever it is that must be met, you are to either overcome it or use it. Nothing should daunt you for long, nor should any difficulty overcome or conquer you. God’s strength will always be there, waiting for you to use it. Nothing can be too great to be overcome, or if not overcome, then used.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may know that there can be no failure with God.
I pray that with His help I may live a more victorious life.

Keep It Simple

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.—Will Rogers

The greatest adventure ever is recovery, and action is what’s important in recovery. That’s
because the Twelve Steps are full of action. The whole world has now opened up to us. At
times, this will scare us. But we aren’t alone. Our Higher Power is there to help us. All we
have to ask ourselves is, “Would this action keep me in touch with my Higher Power?” If the
answer is yes, then we take action. If the answer is no, then we don’t.

In recovery, we’ll be busy. We admit our wrongs. We take inventories. We seek answers. We
ask for help. We are to get as much as we can out of life. We can’t sit and watch; we have to
get out and live life.

Prayer for the Day:
Higher Power, You gave me a second chance at life. Help me use it and not let my fear stop.

Action for the Day:
Today, I’ll five things I want to do but I’m afraid to try. I’ll talk to someone I trust about how I can do these things.

Each Day A New Beginning

Because society would rather we always wore a pretty face, women have been trained to cut off anger. –Nancy Friday

Anger is an emotion. Not a bad one, nor a good one; it simply exists when particular conditions in our lives are not met as we’d hoped. We can get free of our anger if we choose to take action appropriate to it. Anger can be a healthy prompter of action. But when no action is taken, anger turns inward, negatively

influencing our perceptions of all experiences, all human interaction.

We need to befriend all of our emotions. We need to trust that they all can serve us when we befriend them, learn from them, act in healthy concert with them. Our emotions reveal the many faces of our soul. And all are valid, deserving respect and acceptance. They are all representative of the inner self.

Because we are less at home with anger, it becomes more powerful. When we deny it, it doesn’t disappear. It surfaces in unrelated circumstances, complicating our lives in unnecessary ways. We can learn to enjoy our anger by celebrating the positive action it prompts. We can cherish the growth that accompanies it, when we take the steps we need to.

It’s okay for me to be angry today. It’s growthful, if I use it for good.

Elder’s Meditation

“The battle for Indian children will be won in the classroom, not on the streets or on horses. The students of today are our warriors of tomorrow.”
— Wilma P. Mankiller, CHEROKEE

The world is constantly changing. One of the strengths of Indian people has been our adaptability. In today’s world, education is what we need to survive. We need doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists. We can become these things and still live in a cultural way. We need to live in two worlds; the educated world and the Indian cultural world. Education will help protect our land, our people’s health, and provide knowledge for our people. We must teach reading, writing, and arithmetic. Also, we must teach the language, the culture, the ceremony, and the tradition of our people.

Creator, let me remember You are my teacher.

Daily Horoscope – Cancer

Implementing subtle but powerful changes can happen without interference now. Consider the smoothness of this energetic shift the parting gift of the independent Sagittarius Moon’s free-flowing trine to innovative Uranus. Don’t stress today over whether a modification will last. Be grateful for the opportunities to evolve and for your eagerness to begin a new set of routines. Author Leni Zumas wrote, “I am fascinated by tiny, incremental changes, almost imperceptible shifts in how people orient themselves in the world, because those are in some ways the most hopeful.”