Readings

For Today:

"Nothing is to be had for nothing." Epictetus

"Why is it so much harder for me? I go to meetins, but I still don't have what attracted me in the fist place. Let me look honestly at what I'm doing and failing to do:
-Do I have a sponsor - one who has what I want/
-Do I really listen at meetings, and try to contribute?
-Am I working the program beyond step three?
-Am I trying to practice the principles of the program at home and at work as well as in OA
-Do I have a personal concept of a higher power that works for me?
-Am I still trying to diet, i.e. manipulate and control muyfood and my weight?
-do I follow suggestions such as 'weigh only once a month'?
-have I ever called a newcomer, or another OA member/
-Do I give some form of service?
-Do I ever express gratitude for having come this far?

For today: I can begin now to follow those directions that seem to work for others, and that I have been resisting.

--

Voices of Recovery

"Just for today i will have a quiet half hour all by myself and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective on my life." Just For Today

"When I was new in OA, my sponsor suggested that, at a minimum, I give God the first fifteen minutes of each morning as my Step Eleven. She said that if I did, god would take care of the rest of the day, including my abstinence. I did that minimum, and my life improved. Soon it became obvious that I needed the willingness to do more than the minimum - in every aspect of my recovery. As a result, I learned to carry Step Eleven from the sacred space of my morning into every aspect of my day: shopping, working, cooking, eating, and even standing in line at the post office.
The more we do, the more we get back. As I began, to the very best of my ability, to practice spiritual principles in all my affairs, miracles of healing began to happen. I became eager to try everything my sponsor and the Big Book suggested. Abstinence became easy, and I became hungry for a principle-based life. The miracles kept happening and have never stopped. It really does work when we work it!"

I know for me, I need to do lots more than 15 minutes. Maybe I'm a certain kind of sick... But that's okay! I'm happy to find the time since it's helping me so much. And maybe through me, others!

--

In This Moment

"In This Moment, I feel sane and serene.

The first time I faced Step Two, I had trouble believing that a Higher Power could change my life. yet, I saw lives that had been transformed. In the rooms, I heard people share that their lives had once been as desolate as mine. Yet, they seemed to have something that I did not. I came to believe that whatever caused the change in them could cause the same changes in me. At first, I made my Twelve Step group my Higher Power, This gave me a start. As time went by and i progressed through the Twelve Steps, I began to notice that I was changing. I came to believe in a power greater than myself. And I found serenity."

--

The Language of Letting Go

"Strength
"We don't always have to be STRONG to be strong. Sometimes, our strength is expressed in being vulnerable. Sometimes, we need to fall apart to regroup and stay on track.
We all have days when we cannot push any harder, cannot hold back self-doubt, cannot stop focusing on fear, cannot be STRONG.
There are days when we cannot focus on being responsible. Occasionally we don't want to get out of our pajamas. Sometimes we cry in front of people. We expose our tiredness, irritability, or anger.
Those days are okay. They are just okay.
Part of taking care of ourselves means we give ourselves permission to 'fall apart' when we need to. We do not have to be perpetual towers of strength. We are strong. We have proven that. Our strength will continue if we allow ourselves the courage to feel scared, weak, and vulnerable when we need to experience those feelings.

Today, God, help me to know that it is okay to allow myself to be human. Help me not to feel guilty or punish myself when i need to 'fall apart.'"

Wow. That's hard. I feel apart far too much and am really trying not to.
Hmmmm.

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