August 18th

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Remember Mindfulness – feel your body from top to toes

Trust in a Higher Power

In the book The Outsider, the hero Meursault is shown as a cold-bloodied murderer awaiting execution who says that he has only a little time left and he doesn’t want to waste it on God. That is an astonishingly arrogant statement. The author, Albert Camus is trying to shock the reader, but he is also saying somewhat bleakly, that total honesty, and uncompromising self-sufficiency is the only answer, if you believe God does not exist. Camus does not want this to be the case, indeed he spent his life attempting to transcend nihilism. Believing in a Higher Power allows us to feel we are connected. Do I feel I am not alone?

Blaise Pascal’s thoughts on the existence of God are known as Pascal’s Wager: If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that he exists. This is a sensible approach, but much better to believe completely in a Higher Power. Today, I reflect on the further words of Pascal: there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 17th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your whole body gradually

Life as a prayer

You pray in your distress and in your need, would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance. Kahlil Gibran.
We have so much to be grateful for, it should be a pleasure to express our thank but prayer is a twoway system. If you can say hello to your next-door neighbour, surely you can say ‘good morning and ‘good night’ to your Higher Power. Do I have a a regular connection with my Higher Power?

Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God. St Teresa of Avila. If we make prayer a mental task or even a vocal performance, then we are missing the whole point. God is here on earth, involved in everything we do. As St Teresa also said:

Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses the world.

She makes it sound as if everything we do each day is a kind of offering in prayer. It is.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 16th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly


Connection


Prayer is a multipurpose tool. Spiritual teacher
Anthony de Mello told the story of the poor farmer
who found himself stuck in the remote countryside
without his prayer book. The simple man could not
remember any prayers from the book, so he made this
simple offering: Lord, I am without my prayer book
and my memory is so bad that I cannot remember
any. So, I will recite the alphabet five times very
slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can
put the letters together to form the prayers I want
to say, but can’t. In other words, sincerity and
connection are more important than mere words.
Whatever my concept of a Higher Power, I need to
establish lines of communication. Do I
understand that in spiritual matters, words are less
vital than communication?


A rich businessman living in London some years ago
would keep a permanently open telephone line to his
mother in Italy so they could chat whenever they
felt like it. Prayer does not have to be a ritual, it
can happen at any time, but the more
permanent the connection, the better. Today I
will establish an open connection with my
Higher Power.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 15th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – enjoy the moment


Recovery requires maintenance


We’re not in Kansas anymore.
The Wizard of Oz.
Indeed, we are not. We are in recovery and Oz is our
Rehab. The cyclone that threw little Dorothy into a
whole new world has been likened to the storm
created by addiction. The Scarecrow that she meets
(who needs a brain), the Tin Man (who needs a
heart) and the Lion (who needs courage) remind us
of the essentials required for change to happen.
The Wicked Witch is of course, our addiction. On
this day in 1939, The Wizard of Oz premiered in
Hollywood. I don’t know why so many children’s
stories seem to be metaphors for addiction, perhaps
it is in the eye of the beholder. Am I grateful today
that I can reflect on stories of all kinds without any
negative feelings?


Many things require maintenance including
physical health, relationships and beliefs. I must
maintain my recovery seriously. The Wicked Witch
may not get me if I don’t, but addiction certainly
will. Today I ask God for the wisdom not to minimise the need to maintain my recovery.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 14th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably


Power of example


Richmond Walker wrote the Twenty-four Hours a
Day AA meditation book, published in 1954. It has
sold over ten million copies. Richmond was a
member of the first AA group in Boston, USA and died
in 1965 after twenty-two years of sobriety. An artist and
a poet as well as a dedicated family man, he is a great
example of service freely given. The Little Black
Book, as it is known, was officially published by the
Hazelden Foundation in an amicable arrangement
with Alcoholics Anonymous. Richmond did not profit
financially, and his name did not appear as author.
Am I ready to do service unselfishly?


The writer of the Little Black Book continues the tone
set in the AA Big Book, first published some fifteen
years earlier: This is what I found, this is what I did,
do you wish to do the same, with God’s help? The
book does not advocate any specific religion. If I
wish to grow spiritually, then there could hardly
be a better method.. Today I give thanks for the
power of example in my recovery.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 13th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – breathe slowly


A day at a time


‘A Day at a Time’ is the best-known slogan in the
Twelve Step movement. It goes right back to the
beginnings of AA when Bill W and Dr Bob visited
a hospitalised alcoholic in 1935, soon after Dr Bob
himself sobered up. The ‘third man’ was called
Bill D. Talking together, they agreed that anyone
could quit for twenty-four hours. That’s what we’re
talking about, just a day at a time, said the two
founders. Bill D would reminisce about the
moment years later, in happy sobriety. He never
drank again after that first meeting. The slogan
refers not just to staying sober ‘a day at a time’ but
to living one’s life on that basis. Am I living my
life ‘a day at a time?’


If I take things a day at a time, I can do away with
all the remorse and resentment of the past and I can
avoid anxiety about tomorrow. Today is
manageable because I know that I will get
through it, whatever happens, with guidance
from my Higher Power. Today I give thanks for
the wisdom and example of so many brave
men and women who showed me the way, a day
at a time.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 12th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – relax your whole body gradually


Love


Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together. For the
pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and
the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
Kahlil Gibran.


Love, says Gibran, is about nurturing one another without being codependent. As we grow spiritually, we also grow in self-reliance. The selflessness of real love is at odds with the obsessive desire that romantic love produces. Love is a strong emotion and the newly sober are encouraged to attend to other aspects of their recovery first. There is of course another form of love – that of one’s fellow human beings who deserve all the love we can give in their struggle in sobriety. Can I extend the hand of love to my fellow humans who are addicted?

When you love you should not say, ‘God is in my heart’
but rather, ‘I am in the heart of God.’
Kahlil Gibran.
If I am in love, I know I am alive. Today I give thanks that I can experience love.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 11th by Chris B

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Giving up control

The Twelve Steps are a list of positive actions designed to retrain us in a certain way. They do not demand virtuous feelings or qualities such as honesty, gratitude, empathy, love and understanding – it’s taken for granted that these will come into our lives if we work the Steps diligently. God is mentioned three times, as is the term ‘Power greater than ourselves’. The wording of Step Twelve highlights the probability that anyone completing the Steps will experience a spiritual awakening as a result. This should not alarm anyone sincerely wanting change, because it is only through embracing new ideas that change happens. Am I sincere in my wish to change?

The idea of letting go of control over one’s life can be frightening but, as an addicted person, I have already lost control – my addiction has taken over. Accepting this, I feel relief. But, by handing over to my Higher Power, I will gain something better – guidance.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 10th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – close eyes briefly

Power of example

The characters in the Winnie the Pooh books make a good therapy group. It’s quite a well-known view that they all present with some form of diagnosable mental illness: Pooh (ADD), Tigger (ADHD), Rabbit (OCD), Roo (Autism), Eeyore (Depression), Piglet (Anxiety) and Christopher Robin (Schizophrenia). This anthropomorphic cast and their stories are a brilliant allegory of real life and also a great learning tool for anyone with social awkwardness or anxieties. The characters interact with each other naturally and are ready to listen and to learn. As a collective example of honesty, openness and willingness to change, they take some beating. They also demonstrate how a therapeutic community heal its members through power of example and unconditional positive regard. Can I learn from the example of others?

Promise me you’ll always remember you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh. That is quite a good description of the Serenity Prayer’s message. Today I give thanks for the healing power of the example of others.

Daily Reading from Recovery Days August 9th by Chris B

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Remember Mindfulness – sit comfortably

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr.

There are very few situations that occur, to which saying the Serenity Prayer is not a helpful response. The prayer seems to shed light over all difficulties. Prayer itself can have various effects – it helps us to focus and formulate our thoughts, it can give reassurance and calm to troubled minds and of course it can produce results. The simple act of saying the Serenity Prayer can be a soothing influence. The prayer offers us acceptance, courage and wisdom as a solution to life’s problems. It’s not a new idea but it can work for anyone, addicted or not. Do I say the Serenity Prayer regularly?

The Serenity Prayer leads me to look inside myself. The source of all my unhappiness is myself – my scheming and responses to life and its problems.
Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung.

The Serenity Prayer takes me back to reality.