Daily Reflections & Daily Readings

MandiH · May 7, 2025, 9:25am

May 7~Daily Reflections

RESPECT FOR OTHERS

Such parts of our story we tell to someone who will understand, yet be unaffected. The rule is we must be hard on ourself, but always considerate of others.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 74

Respect for others is the lesson that I take out of this passage. I must go to any lengths to free myself if I wish to find that peace of mind that I have sought for so long. However, none of this must be done at another’s expense. Selfishness has no place in the A.A. way of life.

When I take the Fifth Step it’s wiser to choose a person with whom I share common aims because if that person does not understand me, my spiritual progress may be delayed and I could be in danger of a relapse. So I ask for divine guidance before choosing the man or woman whom I take into my confidence.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 7, 2025, 9:35am

Today’s big book reflection:

“We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83

Today’s reflection asks this:

Where have I already begun to experience new freedom or happiness, even in small ways—and how can I stay open to more of it today?

For me, I have SO much freedom in my life since working this program. Just quitting wasn’t enough for me-I was not drinking but I was not free for my first 2 years. I’ve been able to do so much differently within myself by releasing the chains that bound me. I get to show up in a better way for others because of the changes I’ve made in my life. Which all came from following this program. I have a happiness I’ve never experienced before in my life today. It’s not perfect, but life isn’t supposed to be. I have the tools I need to live life on life’s terms. And it’s sure pretty freaking great today. My worst day sober is a million times better than my best day drinking was. And I’m grateful for knowing that freedom, happiness, serenity and peace today.

MandiH · May 8, 2025, 9:26am

May 8~Daily Reflections

A RESTING PLACE

All of A.A.'s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than Five. But scarcely any Step is more necessary to longtime sobriety and peace of mind than this one.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55

After writing down my character defects, I was unwilling to talk about them, and decided it was time to stop carrying this burden alone. I needed to confess those defects to someone else. I had read – and been told – I could not stay sober unless I did. Step Five provided me with a feeling of belonging, with humility and serenity when I practiced it in my daily living. It was important to admit my defects of character in the order presented in Step Five: “to God, to ourselves and to another human being.” Admitting to God first paved the way for admission to myself and to another person. As the taking of the Step is described, a feeling of being at one with God and my fellow man brought me to a resting place where I could prepare myself for the remaining Steps toward a full and meaningful sobriety.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 9, 2025, 9:24am

May 9~Daily Reflections

WALKING THROUGH FEAR

If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

When I had taken my Fifth Step, I became aware that all my defects of character stemmed from my need to feel secure and loved. To use my will alone to work on them would have been trying obsessively to solve the problem. In the Sixth Step I intensified the action I had taken in the first three Steps – meditating on the Step by saying it over and over, going to meetings, following my sponsor’s suggestions, reading and searching within myself. During the first three years of sobriety I had a fear of entering an elevator alone. One day I decided I must walk through this fear. I asked for God’s help, entered the elevator, and there in the corner was a lady crying. She said that since her husband had died she was deathly afraid of elevators. I forgot my fear and comforted her. This spiritual experience helped me to see how willingness was the key to working the rest of the Twelve Steps to recovery. God helps those who help themselves.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 10, 2025, 12:12pm

May 10~Daily Reflections

FREE AT LAST

Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility – a word often misunderstood. . . . it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 58

I knew deep inside that if I were ever to be joyous, happy and free, I had to share my past life with some other individual. The joy and relief I experienced after doing so were beyond description. Almost immediately after taking the Fifth Step, I felt free from the bondage of self and the bondage of alcohol. That freedom remains after 36 years, a day at a time. I found that God could do for me what I couldn’t do for myself.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 10, 2025, 1:42pm

Today’s reflection:
“We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 68

Today I’m asked to look at:

Where am I still trying to force outcomes or control situations today? What might happen if I paused, let go, and trusted a greater plan?

I don’t have to have all of the answers. I just have to trust that I’m being guided and will take the next right step in each moment today. My higher power has my back and I don’t need to control anything. I see clearly, thanks to my HP, and I just need to trust there’s a bigger reason and plan in place.

MandiH · May 11, 2025, 12:10pm

May 11~Daily Reflections

A NEW SENSE OF BELONGING

Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn’t belong.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 57

After four years in A.A. I was able to discover the freedom from the burden of buried emotions that had caused me so much pain. With the help of A.A., and extra counseling, the pain was released and I felt a complete sense of belonging and peace. I also felt a joy and a love of God that I had never experienced before. I am in awe of the power of Step Five.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 11, 2025, 12:13pm

“We clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83

I have a new relationship with my family thanks to doing the step work. When I was drinking, I thought we were perfect. When I stopped, I clearly saw our imperfections. And doing the steps helped me to love us all exactly as we are, perfectly imperfect. And I’m beyond grateful for this today!

MandiH · May 12, 2025, 11:03am

May 11~Daily Reflections

THE PAST IS OVER

A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If . . . Step Four . . .has revealed in stark relief those experiences we’d rather not remember . . . then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55

Whatever is done is over. It cannot be changed. But my attitude about it can be changed through talking with those who have gone before and with sponsors. I can wish the past never was, but if I change my actions in regard to what I have done, my attitude will change. I won’t have to wish the past away. I can change my feelings and attitudes, but only through my actions and the help of my fellow alcoholics.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 12, 2025, 11:13am

“Each day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 85

How can I carry a spirit of service, honesty, or love into the ordinary moments of my day better today?

I’m just coming back into work after being gone at a conference and then having a day off. My work load doesn’t go away-it just builds up on those days so I have 3 days of work to try to do in one.

Today I get to choose…Will I choose a shitty attitude and ruin not only my day with it but also everyone else’s day I come into contact with? Or, do I practice acceptance and gratitude, having faith all will get done and just get started on it?

I choose to do my step 11 and practice these principals in ALL of my affairs. I’ve taken my HP with me today and know it’ll all work out and it’s all good. It’ll be a busy day, but I get to help others today and show up. At the end of today, I’ll have done my best and I’ll show up in a kind way today with happiness and love in my heart instead of resentment and fear.

I get to choose today because of these steps and I’m grateful I can consciously do so and do things differently because these days would send the old me into a negative tailspin all day until I crashed & burned everything around me. My life continues to be different today because I choose to do things differently. And I’m really effing blessed I get to live life in this new way.

MandiH · May 13, 2025, 10:39am

May 13~Daily Reflections

THE EASIER, SOFTER WAY

If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 72

I certainly didn’t leap at the opportunity to face who I was, especially when the pains of my drinking days hung over me like a dark cloud. But I soon heard at the meetings about the fellow member who just didn’t want to take Step Five and kept coming back to meetings, trembling from the horrors of reliving his past. The easier, softer way is to take these Steps to freedom from our fatal disease, and to put our faith in the Fellowship and our Higher Power.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 13, 2025, 10:47am

“We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 133

For me, the steps have provided me a way to become happy, joyous and free. I am rarely anxious, stuck in the past, reactive, angry and frustrated-this has created space to become more happy, joyous and free. But first I had to be willing to do the work and let everything else go. To clean up my side of the street. And I still have to continue to do so-especially with my fears. But I trust that when they arrive, it’s so I can do the work to become happy, joyous and free on a new layer because that’s what I always find if I do the work in the end. Sooooo grateful for this program of recovery and the design for a good life that I’ve been so freely given by the members and program of AA!

MandiH · May 14, 2025, 10:42am

May 14~Daily Reflections

IT’S OKAY TO BE ME

Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. . . . they have turned to easier methods. . . . But they had not learned enough humility. . . .
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 72-73

Humility sounds so much like humiliation, but it really is the ability to look at myself – and honestly accept what I find. I no longer need to be the “smartest” or “dumbest” or any other “est.” Finally, it is okay to be me. It is easier for me to accept myself if I share my whole life. If I cannot share in meetings, then I had better have a sponsor – someone with whom I can share those “certain facts” that could lead me back to a drunk, to death. I need to take all the Steps. I need the Fifth Step to learn true humility. Easier methods do not work.

From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.

MandiH · May 14, 2025, 11:05am

I always find exactly what I need within the big book-even if I don’t always like it lol.

“We are undisciplined, so we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 88

Where can I practice simple discipline today—like pausing, praying, or being honest—without trying to be perfect?

Ugh. Lol. I read this to myself and say wtf-there is NO WAY my HP doesn’t speak to me through this book.

I do my best to follow this program and to practice these principals in all of my affairs. But, there are still absolutely times I’m not disciplined still. It’s typically more in areas I don’t have this same road map-like in my diet and my health. I have a bunch of testing I’m currently beginning and only a few results are in, but my autoimmune results (and some others) are not favorable.

I’ve waived my white flag. I’ve been asking for help for months. I’m following the guidance I’ve been getting. I don’t have answers yet. I know more will be revealed, but I’m impatient and want answers of what to do now vs the reality being that it will likely take months from now to arrive. The answers I’ve been getting and trying aren’t working.

So, I need to be disciplined about giving it to my HP. Which, is what I’ve been doing starting this testing and even more since seeing some of my test results. I felt the fear for a few minutes last night as I started looking up my results meanings on dr google. Within 5 minutes of that I had to stop, I immediately prayed and gave it up to god.

Where I need help today is by not allowing myself to give up. The last few weeks I’ve felt off. Discouraged. Frustrated that what I do isn’t helping my weight. It’s like I try to do everything right, but it isn’t working and no one can make sense of it. So, I’ve stopped tracking what I eat, feeling like it doesn’t matter. I’ve become undisciplined the last few weeks. I can see today that’s my default mode, and reading this I can understand why. So, today I am owning that shit and will begin tracking again and staying as on the beam as I can while I wait for more insight to arrive.

I’m effing grateful for this program and getting EXACTLY what I need from it, when I need it.

MandiH · May 15, 2025, 10:42am

May 15~Daily Reflections

KNOW GOD; KNOW PEACE

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. . . . But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 66

Know God;

Know peace.

No God;

No peace.

MandiH · May 16, 2025, 9:11am

May 16~Daily Reflections

WE FORGIVE . . .

Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled Step Five that we inwardly knew we’d be able to receive forgiveness and give it, too.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 58

What a great feeling forgiveness is! What a revelation about my emotional, psychological and spiritual nature. All it takes is willingness to forgive; God will do the rest.

MandiH · May 16, 2025, 9:18am

Forgiving others and myself instead of holding onto the resentments and all those heavy feelings was the first time I had ever in my life felt so light and free. Doing this step changed everything for me!

I do have to continue to take this action when things come up because it’s not a one and done thing forever, but I’m so grateful I have this program that shows me how to do this-otherwise holding onto resentments can be precisely what takes me out.

Forgiveness of myself and others is key. Sometimes I need to pray for the willingness to do so, but it always arrives eventually.

MandiH · May 17, 2025, 12:07pm

Daily Reflections

. . . AND FORGIVE

Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others – also myself.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 268

Forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others are just two currents in the same river, both hindered or shut off completely by the dam of resentment. Once that dam is lifted, both currents can flow. The Steps of A.A. allow me to see how resentment has built up and subsequently blocked off this flow in my life. The Steps provide a way by which my resentments may – by the grace of God as I understand Him – be lifted. It is as a result of this solution that I can find the necessary grace which enables me to forgive myself and others.

MandiH · May 17, 2025, 12:11pm

I love this so much! Its absolutely true and I love how it’s put. Not forgiving blocks the flow of life. As it truly does. Some of the forgiveness I’ve had to find it within myself has been HARD to find, but when I take my HP with me and ask for the willingness to do so, it always arrives.

MandiH · May 18, 2025, 9:34am

May 18~Daily Reflections

FREEDOM TO BE ME

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 83

My first true freedom is the freedom not to have to take a drink today. If I truly want it, I will work the Twelve Steps and the happiness of this freedom will come to me through the Steps – sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. Other freedoms will follow, and inventorying them is a new happiness. I had a new freedom today, the freedom to be me. I have the freedom to be the best me I have ever been.