I was just discussing yesterday in 2 different conversations how I’ve come to learn to surrender to my HP, even when I don’t want to at first. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable, but I typically no longer have to go so far down the scale into a storm before doing so. I fight it sometimes, but I do surrender. Sometimes I have to pray for the willingness to or do step work around my fears or character defects I’m holding on to. But it ALWAYS works out far better if I do. My sponsor often tells me, this is where the rubber meets the road- are you going to do this thing or not? I trust this now as I’ve seen it work best for me time and time again. Far better than I ever could plan myself. In looking back too, I absolutely know I’ve been protected many many times, even when I didn’t believe in a HP. My life has changed greatly due to my conscious connection to my HP and finding the willingness to turn my will over. It’s brought a ton of beauty into my life and I’m grateful I get to do this again today. 
March 10~Daily Reflections
TODAY, IT’S MY CHOICE
. . . we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 62
With the realization and acceptance that I had played a part in the way my life had turned out came a dramatic change in my outlook. It was at this point that the A.A. program began to work for me. In the past I had always blamed others, either God or other people, for my circumstances. I never felt that I had a choice in altering my life. My decisions had been based on fear, pride, or ego. As a result, those decisions led me down a path of self-destruction. Today I try to allow my God to guide me on the road to sanity. I am responsible for my action—or inaction—whatever the consequences may be.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Amen amen amen!!!
When I FINALLY got to a place where I looked at my life and realized I was the only common denominator, I finally realized it was on no one else but me what my life looked like. I had always blamed someone or something else-but it was really me allllllll along. That was my gift of desperation, when I was 2 years sober. I prayed as I had no idea what else to do and asked if there was anyone out there listening to show me the way because I don’t know best. My HP brought me to the program the very next day in a series of undenialable synchronicity. This is when my life truly changed. I fully surrendered to another way of life, because mine wasn’t working. This has been the GREATEST gift in my life as its changed everything for me. It’s not only kept me sober, but it’s helped me to see what makes me tick. To be aware of what is going on inside of me. And that allows me to make different choices. And to see that there is a higher power out there that knows far better than I do.
March 11~Daily Reflections
GOOD ORDERLY DIRECTION
It is when we try to make our will conform with God’s that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 40
All I have to do is look back at my past to see where my self-will has led me. I just don’t know what’s best for me and I believe my Higher Power does. G.O.D., which I define as “Good Orderly Direction,” has never let me down, but I have let myself down quite often. Using my self-will in a situation usually has the same result as forcing the wrong piece into a jigsaw puzzle—exhaustion and frustration.
Step Three opens the door to the rest of the program. When I ask God for guidance I know that whatever happens is the best possible situation, things are exactly as they are supposed to be, even if they aren’t what I want or expect. God does do for me what I cannot do for myself, if I let Him.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
March 12~Daily Reflections
A DAY’S PLAN
On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86
Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear my consciousness with the awareness that I can start my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if necessary.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
March 13~Daily Reflections
A WORLD OF THE SPIRIT
We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
The word “entered” . . . and the phrase “entered into the world of the Spirit” are very significant. They imply action, a beginning, getting into, a prerequisite to maintaining my spiritual growth, the “Spirit” being the immaterial part of me. Barriers to my spiritual growth are self-centeredness and a materialistic focus on worldly things. Spirituality means devotion to spiritual instead of worldly things, it means obedience to God’s will for me. I understand spiritual things to be: unconditional love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and humility. Any time I allow selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear to be a part of me, I block out spiritual things. As I maintain my sobriety, growing spiritually becomes a lifelong process. My goal is spiritual growth, accepting that I’ll never have spiritual perfection.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
This has been the biggest blessing of my life, to enter the world of the spirit. I actually have been given a spirituality business by my higher power to help other people as well. It’s changed everything for me in the last 7 years.
I had lunch with my family this week as I wanted us all to get together, it was for my birthday but held on my sober anniversary. Some of my family still really struggles with my changes. It’s not for them, and that’s ok!! Who I have become is not who I was. I may not fit in everywhere but that’s ok. I’ve been shown I’m not meant to. I’ve entered the world of the spirit and having these soulful connections and conversations is truly a blessing. I’ve seen it enough times now where when someone from my old life is ready for a change, they will reach out to me-I don’t need to force any opinions down anyones throat. I am just me now and people see the way I live and have an avenue to come to me if they want to. I love them regardless.
I get in my own way when I want to take back the wheel. Thy will be done, not my own. I am still not perfect with this. Progress, not perfection. This week I unexpectedly had an enocounter with an old middle school principal who I did not play well with. I had a conversation with him, not realizing at first who he was. I actually bought some chopsticks he made from him, but when the opportunity arose for me to tell him who I was, I didn’t take it. My sponsor and I had a long conversation about this, I have to give myself grace and love for that time in my life. And I need to do the work so I can can make an amends to him and clean my side of the street. It’s got some dirt on it for sure. The beautiful thing is, I get to do this. It isn’t a one and done thing-life still happens and it’s a new layer I get to clean up. And every time I do this work, life gets better. I’m SO grateful for this program and the avenues I’ve been given in my life to do things differently and clean up my life. It continues to change me and life around me. I just had to find the willingness to work it and let it in.
March 14~Daily Reflections
THE KEYSTONE
He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 62
A keystone is the wedge-shaped piece at the highest part of an arch that locks the other pieces in place. The “other pieces” are Steps One, Two, and Four through Twelve. In one sense this sounds like Step Three is the most important Step, that the other eleven depend on the third for support. In reality however, Step Three is just one of twelve. It is the keystone, but without eleven other stones to build the base and arms, keystone or not, there will be no arch. Through daily working of all Twelve Steps, I find that triumphant arch waiting for me to pass through to another day of freedom.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
March 15~Daily Reflections
THE GOD IDEA
When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52
Like a blind man gradually being restored to sight, I slowly groped my way to the Third Step. Having realized that only a Power greater than myself could rescue me from the hopeless abyss I was in, I knew that this was a Power that I had to grasp, and that it would be my anchor in the midst of a sea of woes. Even though my faith at that time was minuscule, it was big enough to make me see that it was time for me to discard my reliance on my prideful ego and replace it with the steadying strength that could only come from a Power far greater than myself.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
I truly used to think that it was weak to depend on a higher power. That people just needed something to believe in for when they died…boy how WRONG I was. Condemnation prior to investigation.
It turns out that my connection to my higher power is actually most important thing in my own life now. This is what changes my life on a daily basis. I had a God-sized hole in my life and I’ve tried to fill it with ALL the things. Nothing ever worked. I relied on external things instead of looking inside and connecting to my HP. I have discovered a new layer of this just this past week-that stuff runs DEEP. This has truly been the greatest gift and blessing that this program has offered me. The ability to trust in and foster that connection.
March 16~Daily Reflections
AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM
My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. . . . “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 12
I remember the times I looked up into the sky and reflected on who started it all, and how. When I came to A.A., an understanding of some description of the spiritual dimension became a necessary adjunct to a stable sobriety. After reading a variety of versions, including the scientific, of a great explosion, I went for simplicity and made the God of my understanding the Great Power that made the explosion possible. With the vastness of the universe under His command, He would, no doubt, be able to guide my thinking and actions if I was prepared to accept His guidance. But I could not expect help if I turned my back on that help and went my own way. I became willing to believe and I have had 26 years of stable and satisfying sobriety.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
AA has given me the freedom of choice. The freedom to have my own conception, and this is what has helped me grow the most. “GOD” for me at one time stood for a Group Of Drunks-it was powerful to listen to those with long term sobriety when I had 4 months alcohol free and thought I knew everything still lol. My conception has changed over time. But I wasn’t forced to believe anything, except that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity. I dipped my toes into the water at times but I really took a leap of faith when I asked for help as I knew I needed it and AA literally arrived on my doorstep the next morning. I am forever changed by this and I am grateful to this program for giving me the encouragement and freedom to believe as well as connect to my higher power.
March 17~Daily Reflections
MYSTERIOUS WAYS
. . . out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does “move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105
After losing my career, family and health, I remained unconvinced that my way of life needed a second look. My drinking and other drug use were killing me, but I had never met a recovering person or an A.A. member. I thought I was destined to die alone and that I deserved it. At the peak of my despair, my infant son became critically ill with a rare disease. Doctors’ efforts to help him proved useless. I redoubled my efforts to block my feelings, but now the alcohol had stopped working. I was left staring into God’s eyes, begging for help. My introduction to A.A. came within days, through an odd series of coincidences, and I have remained sober ever since. My son lived and his disease is in remission. The entire episode convinced me of my powerlessness and the unmanageability of my life. Today my son and I thank God for His intervention.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
March 18~Daily Reflections
REAL INDEPENDENCE
The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 36
I start with a little willingness to trust God and He causes that willingness to grow. The more willingness I have, the more trust I gain, and the more trust I gain, the more willingness I have. My dependence on God grows as my trust in Him grows. Before I became willing, I depended on myself for all my needs and I was restricted by my incompleteness. Through my willingness to depend upon my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, all my needs are provided for by Someone Who knows me better than I know myself—even the needs I may not realize, as well as the ones yet to come. Only Someone Who knows me that well could bring me to be myself and to help me fill the need in someone else that only I am meant to fill. There never will be another exactly like me. And that is real independence.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
It’s so funny to me how when I run my life on self-will, how effed up it gets.
The thing is, this is absolutely true. The more I rely on my higher power, the more I KNOW I can handle life.
I think back to my old life and how I always felt SO stuck. Like I couldn’t do anything about the shit I was living in-I thought I would just need to suffer through it. And life instead always got worse until I was finally ready to make a change.
Now, I still can get fearful about things and changes, but I KNOW I have what it takes to get through them with my higher power. I no longer feel like I’m a victim of life’s circumstances. If things don’t work out, I now know I can just move along if that’s what I feel is the best course of action.
It all works out as long as I take my HP with me. I’m not in it alone. I ask for guidance and I do my best to get me out of the way and follow it. But I’m not scared anymore to leave things behind and cling to what isn’t good for me because at the end of the day, I have what I truly need most in my life within that connection. I’ve seen it work for me time and time again so I trust it completely today.
March 19~Daily Reflections
PRAYER: IT WORKS
It has been well said that “almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough.”
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97
Having grown up in an agnostic household, I felt somewhat foolish when I first tried praying. I knew there was a Higher Power working in my life—how else was I staying sober?—but I certainly wasn’t convinced he/she/it wanted to hear my prayers. People who had what I wanted said prayer was an important part of practicing the program, so I persevered. With a commitment to daily prayer, I was amazed to find myself becoming more serene and comfortable with my place in the world. In other words, life became easier and less of a struggle. I’m still not sure who, or what, listens to my prayers, but I’d never stop saying them for the simple reason that they work.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
I feel this one to my soul!
Prayer was not a way of life for me growing up, it was a foreign concept to me.
I used to have recurring dreams about my dad dying when I was young-it was always in a car and I distinctly remember writing a poem to him saying if he kept drinking, he would die before my 14th birthday. A month and a half prior, he died when he crashed his car on the way home from the bar.
So, when I was pregnant with my son, I began having recurring dreams about him drowning. I prayed then for his safety, literally every single day until he was 5, because the dreams continued. I prayed mostly to my dad to keep him safe as I didn’t know there was anything else out there, but I knew he was.
There came a day when my mom, who can not swim, took him to the ocean with a friend. They were out on a rock and the tide came in FAST. Before they got back, a river of water opened up between them and the shore that had to be crossed. Mom was up to her neck in the water, luckily her friend was able to them both across safely. After that day, I said all I can do is give it up and trust that he will be ok-I prayed for this and that was the last time I ever had that dream or prayed for him to not drown. I had to trust in this and let go of my fears around this.
When I was 36, I learned Reiki. This opened up more for me, because when you literally feel the energy from a higher source flowing through your body and hands, it’s pretty hard to deny there is something far greater than me out there.
I remember one year, I was feeling a strong pull to buy this big buddah statue for my birthday and there came a day I felt guided to do reiki on it and I thought, that’s weird-but ok. It was powerful, far more powerful than it was on a person so I asked who I was connected to. I heard, “My name is Uriel, and you came here to love”.
When I researched this, Uriel turns out to be an archangel. I was creeped out, but also intrigued.
The following year on New Years Day, I was guided to our family land where I grew up. I ended up walking and kept coming across all of these old beer cans in the woods-this was from my dad when we used to live there. Eventually I came to a stream on the property, and I sat to meditate. The sun shined SO brightly on my face, and I heard this time, “My name is Michael, I will protect you but it is now time to move”. I went home that day and asked my roommate who Michael was-he got white, had tears running down his face and asked why I asked that. I said, I have no idea-who is Michael. He told me that he’s an archangel that when he experienced a car crash he died in, Michael and Gabriel grabbed him by the arms and lifted him out of the blackness and back into the light, and he came back to life.
When I prayed at age 38 to be shown the way to whoever was listening because I clearly was the problem, I was brought to AA the very next day.
I knew there was more out there but had no idea who I was praying to. It’s changed for me over time. But AA has given me the freedom to continue to choose my higher power based on my own understanding. The more I pray for guidance and then give in to take the action to follow the guidance I recieve, the more I’ve trusted in it. Today I live by it, and everything in life is better than it was. And as I continue to do this, life keeps getting better!
I had no idea this was all going to come out this morning lol. But, nothing happens on accident and I needed to share this today. As a matter of fact, just last night I had a visit from an angel in the sky
Your post have me chills. Then to see it end with that pic, blows me away. Just wow!
Truthbumps! It’s powerful stuff, a power far greater than ourselves and it’s truly incredible to be able to witness the miracles it brings into life. 
Love you Lisa!
March 20~Daily Reflections
LOVE AND TOLERANCE
Love and tolerance of others is our code.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84
I have found that I have to forgive others in all situations to maintain any real spiritual progress. The vital importance of forgiving may not be obvious to me at first sight, but my studies tell me that every great spiritual teacher has insisted strongly upon it.
I must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in my heart. I do this not for the other persons’ sake, but for my own sake. Resentment, anger, or a desire to see someone punished, are things that rot my soul. Such things fasten my troubles to me with chains. They tie me to other problems that have nothing to do with my original problem.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.