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Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 30th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly

HALT

In April, we looked at courage, honesty, integrity, giving, helping others and the joy of recovery. These positive attributes do not just appear, we must work for them, and we must ask for help. Our main motivation at first is fear – addiction will kill us unless we take positive action. Soon other motivations appear, to keep us on the right path: we don’t want to disappoint our friends who offered the hand of friendship, we don’t want to lose the new happiness we are starting to feel, and we do want to be true to our Higher Power. Later on, the siren call of our old addiction will become so tiny that we don’t notice it at all but for now, there is still work to be done. There are no holidays from recovery. Do I understand that recovery is for life – that, however good I am feeling, I must remain vigilant?

HALT (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired) are the four things to avoid in early recovery. We could find ourselves in any (or all) of those states at any time. If we do, what should be our response? We should have a plan to deal with it – a person to call or a meeting to attend. Our great good fortune is that we are members of a worldwide support system. We must ask for help, so that we see how to help others, when the time comes. Today I remind myself to ask for help when I feel the need.

Today I Will……………………………………………

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 28th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – review expectations

Denial

When you decide to quit addictive behaviour and face up to reality, you are essentially casting off your denial – the twisted mental process that allowed you to continue your addiction for so long although you knew it was wrong. Sobering up means accepting three essential truths:

  • This is what your behaviour was like
  • This is how it makes others think about you
  • This is how it makes you feel about yourself.

Facing reality can be painful – nobody likes hearing other people’s criticism, however justified. The thing that gives us encouragement is that we have a plan for putting things right – the Twelve Step programme. With this plan and the help of our Higher Power, reality does not seem so painful.

The moment we decide to sober up is a hugely important milestone. The road ahead may be arduous, but we have a roadmap and a guide. All that is left to do is to make the first move. Today I thank God for giving me the necessities for my recovery journey.

Today I Will

Daily Reading of Recovery Days April 27th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly

New ideas

Addiction means giving up everything else for the sake of having just one thing. Recovery is about giving up just one thing for the sake of regaining everything else. It should be so easy to choose between addiction and recovery, but so many of us cannot let go, so as to make the right choice. It’s like the old monkey trap story – the monkey’s hand fits through the hole to pick up the rice but the hand with the rice can’t fit back out. For the monkey, like us, it’s a mind problem – not being able to let go of old ideas. Am I ready to let go of old attitudes and embrace new ideas?

The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones.

Maynard Keynes.

We don’t want to give up our old ways because we can’t imagine that anything else would work for us. We can’t imagine life without our drug or behaviour of choice, and we certainly can’t imagine enjoying life without it. Today I ask God for the strength of mind and insight, to be able to let go of the old attitudes that are stopping me from embracing the new.

Today I Will

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 26th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your whole body gradually

Learning life’s lessons

Anyone in recovery who reads Alice in Wonderland would be likely to see it as an allegory about addiction. A solitary young girl disappears down a rabbit hole into a sometimes- frightening fantasy world where she discovers mind and body- altering substances. It is also a story about self-discovery: Who in the world am I? she asks. She learns too about growing up and making the right choices. By the end of the book, Alice is behaving like an adult: It’s no use going back to yesterday, she says, because I was a different person then. The book can help us understand how to deal with the challenges of growing up, although there is no evidence that the author Lewis Carroll had addiction in mind. Am I open to learning some simple lessons in life from all kinds of sources?

We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad. How do you know I’m mad? said Alice.

You must be, said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here. But let me tell you something. The best people usually are.  Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland.

Such wise words of acceptance. I’ve heard very similar things at AA meetings. Today I ask God for the wisdom to know that I have an illness that is mental, physical, and spiritual, but I can live with it.

Today I Will…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 25th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly

Happy recovery

What can we do to make recovery a joyful experience? For a start, we can shed some burdens:

  • Make sure that we have addressed the past and made amends
  • We must do Steps Four to Seven
  • Stop worrying about the future and focus on today
  • Hand life’s daily problems over to a Higher Power.

Having shed these three burdens, we can try some new ideas:

  • Cultivate friendships, perhaps in the fellowships
  • Explore new interests
  • Discover the pleasure in helping others.

We should always remember that happiness comes as a result of good actions. Am I ready to build a happy recovery, with the help of my Twelve Step group?

The American psychologist M Scott Peck, in his book The Road Less Travelled, spoke about the blessing of alcoholism because it puts people into a visible state of crisis for which there is a ready- made therapeutic community – an AA group. How fortunate we are to have the fellowships. I ask God today for the enthusiasm to build a contented and meaningful recovery.

Today I Will

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 22nd by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly

Progress, not perfection

Active addiction leads to a form of soul sickness. People become a poor imitation of the person they once were. But on sobering up, they come to themselves, as they come to their senses. The addicted self is not the real self. To some extent we are dual personalities who need to become whole again. That means to regain our integrity. It will require courage, honesty and realism but with the help of our Higher Power, it can be done. Carl Jung said in his letter to Bill W: Alcoholism is a spiritual disease the basis of which is man’s yearning for wholeness. Am I ready to regain my true integrity?

Many of us sought for completeness and wholeness in our addiction, but no addictive behaviour can provide such a thing. We can only find meaning and purpose in life through a belief in a Higher Power and the knowledge that we are doing what is right. Perfection is not required, only steady progress. Today I ask that I will do my best in everything I attempt and that every choice that I make today will be the best for the recovery of others and of myself.

Today I Will……………………………………………………………………………..

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 21st by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – send positive thoughts

Respect for others

Ordinary people don’t make a fuss about life – kids, work, school, stress, relationships, tiredness, kindness. The humdrum realities of life’s daily struggle require a special kind of dedication and commitment. Without belittling the amazing deeds of say, soldiers in combat, the single person raising a family on benefit while perhaps recovering from addiction will never receive a medal or a long service pension. Perhaps they will never be thanked or remembered except by the few whose lives they touched and made better, with an unsolicited act of kindness. Do I respect my fellow men and women and help them whenever I can?

Selfishness and a rampant ego make it extremely hard to perform unsolicited acts of kindness. They probably make it extremely hard as well, to really love someone. But if we cannot give love, how can we expect to receive it? Christianity teaches that to love is to suffer because the sublime feeling of love is inevitably going to make us unhappy, if only one day, by its absence. When a loved one suffers, we suffer too. And when a loved one recovers, we rejoice in that recovery. But to suffer in silence can be to offend a loved one. Love and suffering are connected. That is no bad thing. Today I will remember that love and suffering are connected.

Today I Will………………………………………………………………………………………….

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 20th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – enjoy the moment

Step Four

This is me and what I have done. Step Four can be described in this way. It is also known as the Step of courage. Addicts are subject to the same emotional upheavals as everyone else – we just haven’t handled them too well in the past. Chapter Ten of the Big Book talks about this: The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, anger, and fear. Courage comes in facing this fact, asking for help, deciding to take action and dealing with life’s daily challenges in a new, open and direct manner. Step Four starts the process, where we reveal how it is that we are the problem, nobody else is to blame. Do I accept that I am the problem and nobody else?

A person who has had much experience of hardships and pain is likely to be able to meet challenges better than a person for whom life has always been easy. Sometimes our past suffering can be our greatest strength. But we must not minimise it. In recovery, I must never forget the pain and suffering I caused because I never want to repeat the experience. Today I ask God to help me always to remember the bad times in my life so that I never repeat them.

Today I Will……………………………………………………………………..

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 18th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your whole body gradually

Self-improvement

When we think about self-improvement, it’s difficult not to recall Lisa Simpson saying: It’s a long, arduous journey of personal and spiritual discovery. Very few of us are fine the way we are and some of us know it. The paradox is that we have to first accept ourselves the way we are before we can make any changes. Self- improvement is a very legitimate goal for most of us. The Twelve Steps are all about it. If you think that you can achieve happy sobriety without doing any work on yourself, perhaps by taking some ‘miracle pill’, then by all means try. But for those of us who struggle with dishonesty, selfishness, self-pity, and other character defects, it may not work. Do I have a realistic view of myself?

I must try not to take myself too seriously. Addiction is a life-or-death disease, but it can be successfully managed. Normal life is not all about doom and gloom. We use comedy to get perspective and sometimes to help us accept difficult truths. I must keep an open mind always and remind myself that often laughter is the best medicine. Today I ask God to preserve my sense of humour so that I may improve my insight into life’s problems.

Today I Will……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Daily Reading from Recovery Days April 16th by Chris B

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On this day in 1879, St Bernadette of Lourdes died, aged 35

Courage

Courage is found in unlikely places. St Bernadette of Lourdes suffered pain from tuberculosis for most of her short life. She also endured harsh treatment as a child brought up in poverty. Her miraculous visions at Lourdes were not believed at first, but she was steadfast and brave when people ridiculed her. She said that great suffering and great love are connected and give meaning to life. She never ceased to be grateful and humble and spent her last years as a nun helping others. She displayed all the qualities that recovering addicted people need. Do I recognise the need for love, courage, gratitude, humility and helping others?

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. That’s the beauty of being alive. We can always start all over again and enjoy God’s amazing opportunities bestowed on us. Have faith in him always.

St Bernadette.

Today I ask God that I may live according to the example of St Bernadette.