Tag Archives: Daily inspiration

Daily Reading of Recovery Days January 10th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close your eyes

Reaching out


Asking for help also has a wider significance,
because it is part of the process of re-connecting with
others, which is essential to the recovery process. If
we do not ask for help, we are saying that we are
going to do this alone and very few can manage that.
The Responsibility Statement, often read out at AA
Meetings, tells us that it is members’ responsibility
to offer support whenever anyone, anywhere, asks –
just as they themselves have been helped. Am I ready
to reach out for help when I need it?

Just as fellowship members take responsibility for
extending the hand of help to others, so must I take
personal responsibility for my recovery by asking for
help when I need it. Doing nothing should not be an
option, because that seems like old behaviour and
the victim role. Recovery is about doing things
differently. May I fully take responsibility for my new
life and recognise when I must take action to assert
my legitimate needs rather than doing nothing.

Daily Reading of Recovery Days January 9th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – breathe calmly

Alcoholics Anonymous

What better connection can there be than an AA
meeting? The wisdom of the old-timers is that in
early sobriety, you should never be hungry, angry,
lonely, or tired. If you are heading towards any or
even all those states, an AA meeting will probably
get your emotions back in balance and provide
some tea and biscuits too. Just knowing that to be
the case can have a calming effect. The AA
programme comes with no guarantees, but few
people with a desire to stop drinking, attend an AA
meeting without feeling better at the end. Do I
appreciate that AA provides the answer to most of
my everyday problems?

My Higher Power will help me when I ask. Usually,
the help will come through other people – their
kindness, support, and the power of their example.
But connection is basically a two-way arrangement.
I must be there for others in their time of need, to
show the same kindness and compassion that they
give to me. Today I will remember the words of St
Teresa of Avila:
Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on
earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he
looks with compassion on this world. St Teresa.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 8th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your body

Asking for help

Help, I’ve got a problem! The simplified version of
Step One begins like that, with good reason.
Learning to ride a bicycle for the first time, you
would probably ask for help without shame or
hesitation. Yet something stops us asking for help to
learn sobriety. Once again, our pride is to blame.
People in recovery know that it does them good to
help others and clearly, they are the people to ask
because they are demonstrably getting it right. Step
Two is about asking for help because we cannot do
this alone. Do I see the sense in asking for help?

If I am rigorously honest, I will recognise the need
for outside help. When I am dealing with something
as powerful as addiction, I need to find the most
powerful help available – my Higher Power, which
works not by a flash of light, but through other
people. There is no easy way – I must swallow my
pride and ask for help when I am struggling.
Perhaps a phone call. It could be the most important
call I ever make. May I have the honesty to
recognise when I am struggling, so that I may
overcome my pride and reach out to ask for help.

Daily Reading from recovery Days January 7th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – send positivity

Willingness to change

And Acceptance is the answer to all my problems
today. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s
world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism,
I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely
on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to
concentrate not so much on what needs to be
changed in the world as on what needs to be
changed in me and in my attitudes. AA Big Book.
Am I ready to ask my Higher Power to help me
change the things I can?


Accepting my powerlessness effectively means that I
need to look to a Higher Power for help. Handing
over control to something intangible like this feels
alien yet it must be done. I must now give up the
struggle and hand it over. Once I have done so, I
will feel relief. I am grateful to my Higher Power for
giving me this guidance. Today I hand myself over
to my Higher Power and give thanks for the help
given to me where I could not help myself

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 5th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – review expectations


Surrender


Acceptance involves surrender. This does not mean
allowing others to take advantage of you, it simply
means being realistic.
Surrender may be the necessary foundation for
recovery but sometimes we fight it. Most of us look
back after some clean time and wonder why on earth
we fought so hard to deny our powerlessness when
surrender is what saved our lives. Just For Today,
Narcotics Anonymous.
Have I truly surrendered?

The paradox of surrender is that it turns out to be
where recovery begins. Something in our ego
makes it seem shameful and weak to
surrender, the ultimate defeat in our constant yet
pointless inner struggle. But the perceived
surrender where it is true and comprehensive, is in
fact victory, over our self-indulgence, pride and yes,
our ego itself. Today I ask God for the grace to
surrender my ego and fully accept the things I
cannot change.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 3rd by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your body


Step One


Acceptance is an attitude of mind and without it, we
cannot find true serenity. Reinhold Niebuhr’s
Serenity Prayer has helped many people find inner
peace. Life can seem at times unbearably stressful
and unmanageable. Acceptance of Step One –
taking things exactly as they are – can be the key
that unlocks the door to lasting change and
contentment. Do I fully admit that my life has
become unmanageable?

Life is difficult, it always will be. How we deal with
life’s problems defines us. In the case of addiction,
the problem lies within us, not in the bottle or the
pill. It is a tragic fact that many addicted people go
to an early grave because they have not faced the
problem of themselves. They are stuck in denial and
unable to be honest with themselves. Acceptance
and honesty must go together, otherwise the
foundations of recovery will crumble. We are
dealing with a disease that brooks no compromises
and acceptance is where we must begin. May I fully
embrace the process of acceptance because it is the
key to a way of seeing that will bring me a new
freedom.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days January 2nd by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably


Letting down defences


When we fully accept ourselves and life on life’s
terms, we will no longer feel vulnerable because we
have nothing more to hide. By letting down our
defences, we feel a sense of relief. The important
thing is how we have responded. By showing to the
world how we deal with our faults and defects, we
become a power for good. Demonstrating how we
manage our imperfections is a far more effective
example to others than trying to portray ourselves as
faultless. Have I fully let down my defences?

One of the paradoxes of recovery is that when we let
down our defences and become vulnerable, we also
open ourselves to change. We must be completely
willing to change.
When you really want something, the whole
universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
Paolo Coelho.
The idea of change may seem daunting, but we only
need to take small steps because recovery is a
journey, not a destination. May I release myself from
the self-inflicted pain of my resistance to reality;
may I learn to see and accept life as it really is.

Daily Reading from recovery Days December 31st by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably

Mindfulness

Another year awaits us. How do we feel? Take a few
moments to reflect on the past year and focus on the
good that has come from it. Ignore the bad – be
grateful for the good. Where would we be today if we
were not in the programme? Recovery shows us a
different path, where we recognise the peace that
comes from doing our best and the contentment
that comes from a sense of belonging and
appreciating small things around us. Am I grateful
to be alive, clean and sober, just for today?

Take a moment of mindfulness, at the cusp of this
new year to be thankful for your life and reflect on
the beauty of your surroundings this present
moment, as the great American poet William
Stafford did:
Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
Sound from outside fills the air?
…What can anyone give you greater than now,
Starting here, right in this room,
When you turn around? William Stafford.
Today I thank my Higher Power for helping me to
appreciate all the beauty and wisdom in the world

Daily Reading from Recovery Days December 30th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – Feel your muscles from top to toes

Procrastination


Procrastination is often said to be the thief of time,
but it can also be the slayer of opportunity.
Underneath this attitude is often fear of negative
consequences. It is a form of denial that some of us
will recognise in addictive behaviour and like most
denial, it merely postpones the inevitable. We
damage relationships with others, and we often
damage our own mental and spiritual health when
we procrastinate. At first it may seem the softer,
easier option but it can lead to far worse situations.
Am I resolved to banish procrastination?

Not only am I prone to procrastination, I am also a
very impatient person. This kind of paradoxical
character is normally found in very small children,
and they usually grow out of it quite easily. Now
that I am in recovery I must grow up and put away
childish things. Opportunities appear and I must
grasp them. I am blessed that I have a second
chance at life, but few other opportunities are
offered on a repeat basis. From now on my motto is
carpe diem (seize the day). I live life to the fullest.
Today I ask for wisdom to make maximum use of
my second chance at life.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days December 28th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – breathe slowly


A quick fix is the goal of the immature person. A lot
of people are able to stop addictive behaviour while
outside pressures are not great, but when things get
difficult, they do not have the resources or the
maturity to handle the situation and the quick fix of
their drug or behaviour of choice seems to be the
only solution. That is why recovery from addiction
requires mental and spiritual adjustments as well as
physical ones. Just as crash dieting and hastily
cramming our heads with knowledge don’t usually
provide lasting solutions, so addiction recovery is
best when not rushed. Have I learned that the quick
fix is never an answer to my problems?

In recovery, I am establishing a new relationship
with myself – the most important relationship that I
have. I must proceed with care and insight. I must
learn to love myself because unless I do, I will not be
able to love others. I must be comfortable with my
own company so that I can travel alone with myself,
in perfect contentment. I ask my Higher Power to
guide me to be comfortable inside my skin.