“We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 59 (Step Three)
Where in my life today can I let go of control and trust that I am being guided and supported? In allllll the ways really. I’m grateful for this reminder again today. 
June 9~Daily Reflections
LIVING IN THE NOW
First, we try living in the now just in order to stay sober — and it works. Once the idea has become a part of our thinking, we find that living life in 24-hour segments is an effective and satisfying way to handle many other matters as well.
LIVING SOBER, p. 7
“One Day At A Time.” To a newcomer this and other one-liners of A.A. may seem ridiculous. The passwords of the A.A. Fellowship can become lifelines in moments of stress. Each day can be like a rose unfurling according to the plan of a Power greater than myself. My program should be planted in the right location, just as it will need to be groomed, nourished, and protected from disease. My planting will require patience, and my realizing that some flowers will be more perfect than others. Each stage of the petals’ unfolding can bring wonder and delight if I do not interfere or let my expectations override my acceptance — and this brings serenity.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
“Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 62
Where is self-centered fear showing up in my thinking or behavior today—and how can I shift my focus to being of service instead?
Freedom often begins when we turn our attention outward—with humility, willingness, and love.
My neighbor came by yesterday and brought his tractor to help us with a huge pile of dirt we needed to distribute. We were doing it by hand and he saw that we could use some help, so he offered it. Then he headed to the airport to pick up some people as he also volunteers at the Travis Mills foundation. He does great things for people, but one thing he said stuck with me. He said just being in the presence of Travis at times helps him SO much, and it’s truly a gift.
I think being part of a bigger whole and doing what we can to help others, really helps us in big ways too. I’ve shifted recently to focus more on my own health, but the more I learn, I’m already giving back to others with the same issues that they haven’t figured out how to successfully navigate. It’s a circle, giving help, accepting help and not having it just be alllllll about us. My home life reflects this too and life is far better. In my alcoholism, everything was ALL about me and I was miserable. I think there’s a correlation there and I’m grateful to be part of the solutions today. Progress, not perfection.
June 10~Daily Reflections
IMPATIENT? TRY LEVITATING
We reacted more strongly to frustrations than normal people.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 111
Impatience with other people is one of my principal failings. Following a slow car in a no-passing lane, or waiting in a restaurant for the check, drives me to distraction. Before I give God a chance to slow me down, I explode, and that’s what I call being quicker than God. That repeated experience gave me an idea. I thought if I could look down on these events from God’s point of view, I might better control my feelings and behavior. I tried it and when I encountered the next slow driver, I levitated and looked down on the other car and upon myself. I saw an elderly couple driving along, happily chatting about their grandchildren. They were followed by me — bug-eyed and red of face — who had no time schedule to meet anyway. I looked so silly that I dropped back into reality and slowed down. Seeing things from God’s angle of vision can be very relaxing.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
“We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 88
I love this line. It’s a great reminder that I can do SO much more in my life when I surrender to my HP. And, I have a ton more time when I’m not trying to be the entire orchestrator for everyone and everything. It was such a waste of time, energy and life really. Today I get to live differently because of this program and I am grateful for that today.
June 11~Daily Reflections
FAMILY OBLIGATIONS
. . . a spiritual life which does not include. . . family obligations may not be so perfect after all.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 129
I can be doing great in the program — applying it at meetings, at work, and in service activities — and find that things have gone to pieces at home. I expect my loved ones to understand, but they cannot. I expect them to see and value my progress, but they don’t — unless I show them. Do I neglect their needs and desires for my attention and concern? When I’m around them, am I irritable or boring? Are my “amends” a mumbled “Sorry,” or do they take the form of patience and tolerance? Do I preach to them, trying to reform or “fix” them? Have I ever really cleaned house with them? “The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it”(Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83).
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
“We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 85
What am I doing today to maintain my spiritual condition—am I pausing, praying, connecting, or serving?
For me, this also includes connecting with my recovery. Reading, meetings, talking with other alcoholics, calling my sponsor, being open about when things feel off, and continuing to do the work. As well as connecting to my HP. This is the stuff that keeps me further from a drink daily. If I stop doing the work, it stops working. For me, when I feel off, like a victim, am unhappy, full of resentment and fear, etc- this is where my alcoholism really starts in on me. If I allow any of that to continue, I’m closer to a drink than I sometimes realize. So I do my best to do the work, call my sponsor to work through it to let that go and do whatever it takes to end my day sober. This is my plan for each day, whatever it takes to end my day sober and all else comes secondary. I’m grateful for this daily reprieve by doing these things as I’m still sober today because of it.
June 12~Daily Reflections
FORMING TRUE PARTNERSHIPS
But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53
Can these words apply to me, am I still unable to form a true partnership with another human being? What a terrible handicap that would be for me to carry into my sober life! In my sobriety I will meditate and pray to discover how I may be a trusted friend and companion.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
This one hits home. I used to think I was a great partner and friend, but everyone else was the problem…ha! No, it was me. I was a people pleaser with no boundaries. I was inauthentic. I didn’t know how to have truly good relationships. My recovery required me to step away from almost all of my relationships for a while so I could heal and learn new ways of living. And as I truly changed and made my amends, I’ve been doing things very differently in all of my relationships and my affairs. They are different, but they are real and they are far better! Even when it’s challenging, I wouldn’t want to go back to my old ways of life. I’m grateful for this area of renewal today. Recovery really has changed EVERYTHING.
June 13~Daily Reflections
LIVING OUR AMENDS
“Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The entire family is, to some extent, ill.”
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 122
It is important for me to realize that, as an alcoholic, I not only hurt myself, but also those around me. Making amends to my family, and to the families of alcoholics still suffering, will always be important. Understanding the havoc I created and trying to repair the destruction, will be a lifelong endeavor. The example of my sobriety may give others hope, and faith to help themselves.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sometimes we realize this is true quickly, other times slowly. I always knew the booze was going to kill my dad, so I was loud and vocal about not wanting him to drink. I’d dump out his alcohol, beg him not to drink and would tell him how it would end, even when I was very young. It clearly impacted me. My son wasn’t the same with me when I would drink, but it wasn’t because it didn’t impact him-it just looked different. But to think he wasn’t impacted was a lie I told myself at first, until I did the steps with my sponsor. Having to look at that was hard and my amends with him was huge. But also freeing for both of us. I get to choose a new way of living that doesn’t cause that same damage to those I love today and for that, I’m grateful.
June 14~Daily Reflections
WHEN THE GOING GETS ROUGH
It is a design for living that works in rough going.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 15
When I came to A.A., I realized that A.A. worked wonderfully to help keep me sober. But could it work on real life problems, not concerned with drinking? I had my doubts. After being sober for more than two years I got my answer. I lost my job, developed physical problems, my diabetic father lost a leg, and someone I loved left me for another — and all of this happened during a two-week period. Reality crashed in, yet A.A. was there to support, comfort, and strengthen me. The principles I had learned during my early days of sobriety became a mainstay of my life, for not only did I come through, but I never stopped being able to help newcomers. A.A. taught me not to be overwhelmed, but rather to accept and understand my life as it unfolded.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
June 15~Daily Reflections
MAKING A.A. YOUR HIGHER POWER
“. . .You can . . . make A.A. itself your ‘higher power.’ Here’s a very large group of people who have solved their alcohol problem. . . . many members . . . have crossed the threshold just this way. . . . their faith broadened and deepened. . . . transformed, they came to believe in a Higher Power. . . .”
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 27-28
No one was greater than I, at least in my eyes, when I was drinking. Nevertheless, I couldn’t smile at myself in the mirror, so I came to A.A. where, with others, I heard talk of a Higher Power. I couldn’t accept the concept of a Higher Power because I believed God was cruel and unloving. In desperation I chose a table, a tree, then my A.A. group, as my Higher Power. Time passed, my life improved, and I began to wonder about this Higher Power. Gradually, with patience, humility and a lot of questions, I came to believe in God. Now my relationship with my Higher Power gives me the strength to live a happy, sober life.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Amen!! I referred to God as Group Of Drunks for a time in AA. They helped me in ways I couldn’t help myself, and they had what I wanted. God spoke through those AA members to me all the time.
“We do not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83
Today is a day I am reminiscing on my past. On my own father, those who have been father figures in my life and even my friends & family who I’ve watched grow up to be incredible fathers themselves.
My relationship with my dad wasn’t great. He wasn’t home a lot and when he was, he wasn’t really present. Alcohol was his priority and I always used to ask why I wasn’t enough. But the greatest gift of my recovery has truly been knowing it was NEVER about me. That man loved me more than anyone else in this world, he just had his own shit he never recovered from and in the end it took him out at only age 45. I can see my relationship with my dad in a whole new way today and see him as a person and soul in a whole new way, thanks to this program. And that is the greatest gift I never saw coming by working with other alcoholics and doing the step work. Today I feel truly blessed and grateful that my dad was my dad.
June 16~Daily Reflections
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 46
Open-mindedness to concepts of a Higher Power can open doors to the spirit. Often I find the human spirit in various dogmas and faiths. I can be spiritual in the sharing of myself. The sharing of self joins me to the human race and brings me closer to God, as I understand Him.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
“We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 75
Something my sponsor’s husband says is, “If we feel distant from God, we were the ones to move away-but we can always get closer again” and I find that fitting. Sometimes I feel in perfect alignment and connection with my HP. Other times, I am resting on my laurels because I haven’t been doing more than the bare minimums in my day to connect. But there is always that broad highway avaliable, should I choose to do the work to be on that path. It’s up to me to decide how to live my life. But it sure is better when walking hand in hand with my HP.
June 17~Daily Reflections
“DEEP DOWN WITHIN US”
We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. . . search diligently within yourself. . . . With this attitude you cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 55
It was out of the depths of loneliness, depression and despair that I sought the help of A.A. As I recovered and began to face the emptiness and ruin of my life, I began to open myself to the possibility of the healing that recovery offers through the A.A. program. By coming to meetings, staying sober, and taking the Steps, I had the opportunity to listen with increasing attentiveness to the depths of my soul. Daily I waited, in hope and gratitude, for that sure belief and steadfast love I had longed for in my life. In this process, I met my God, as I understand Him.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear.”
— Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 145
Amen!!! I find this to be SO true. When I am irritable, discontent, feeling frustrated or even like a victim-I am sliding closer and closer to a drink. Same with living in fear, jealousy, and resentments. I have to practice these principals in ALL of my affairs to stay sober and live a better life. It works if I work it.
June 18~Daily Reflections
A FELLOWSHIP OF FREEDOM
. . . if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 50
When I no longer live under the dictates of another or of alcohol, I live in a new freedom. When I release the past and all the excess baggage I have carried for so very long, I come to know freedom. I have been introduced into a life and a fellowship of freedom. The Steps are a “recommended” way of finding a new life, there are no commands or dictates in A.A. I am free to serve from desire rather than decree. There is the understanding that I will benefit from the growth of other members and I take what I learn and bring it back to the group. The “common welfare” finds room to grow in the society of personal freedom.
From the book Daily Reflections.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.