Dependent Anonymous P 37
January 21
Where does the spirit live?
Inside or outside
Things remembered, made things,
Things unmade.
∼Seamus Heaney
We pray in the morning to turn our will over to the God of our understanding. But if we take our will back, where can the Spirit of God live? We need to align our will to that of our Higher Power’s, that is, the Spirit of God manifested within us. When we take back control of our will, the Spirit has no place to express Itself. Our sponsors tell us to pray and meditate in order to hear the voice of the Spirit that dwells within. We cannot take for granted that our Higher Power is working within us if we do not ask each day for that to happen. When we search for God, we turn to where the Spirit lives, and come to know that it lives within and works throughout us.
I allow the Spirit of God,
as I understand the Spirit, to
manifest in and through me.
[W]e are developing a habit of self-examination, meditation and prayer that allows us to continue to grow in recovery and trusting God. Our spirit is awakened to the reality of God's abiding presence.
∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 77
January 22
The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been, is but the twilight of the dawn. ∼H.G. Wells
Each day is the beginning of our new life as we practice living it without the use of mind-affecting chemicals. We often hear, “Each day is a new beginning,” and, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Does this mean that we forget the past and it counts for naught? Maybe being chemically dependent and walking through a living hell was not the past we wanted to base our new beginning on each day, but our past was, and continues to be, the beginning of this beginning. Without our past, we could not embark on today in this particular way. It took every single bit of our past to turn us into the strong, dedicated people we are today. For most of us, most of the time, we are pretty much in love with our new, clean, and sober beginnings.
Anytime I choose, I can begin today over again,
making any past the beginning
of a new beginning.
I recognize that my past is why I'm here today, and I accept that I can't change the things I did because they were meant to be. Those past events brought me down so I could look inside.
∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 216
January 23
Whenever a mind is simple, it is able to receive divine wisdom. ∼Ralph Waldo Emerson
Many 12-step slogans and acronyms are not very politically correct like KISS—Keep It Simple Stupid. This can offend newcomers because they think they are being called “stupid.” At a time when experts are frantic to build our self-esteem, this sounds inappropriate. But our recovery is based on facts, not pop psychology, and we find that the slogans are often wisdom written in shorthand. After all, how smart is it to analyze, justify, and rationalize ourselves into paralysis? That is just what happens when we get so smart that we begin to read between the lines, looking for what is really meant, rather than the simple words on the page. The politically correct can tweak the KISS acronym to: “Keep It Simple Smarty” or “Sweetheart” or “Keep It Super Simple.” Yet, no matter how we say it, if we are not keeping it simple, then we are pretty stupid!
I keep it simple and surrender.
It was pop psychology time, and I didn't have the foggiest notion of what was going on. I was dazed and confused, a walking contradiction —"partly truth and partly fiction," as I think a songwriter once wrote.
∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 357
January 24
I don't think happiness is a remedy for unhappiness, like there, that was unhappy, now this is happy! ∼Nigella Lawson
Our society emphasizes that we ought to be happy on the whole, as a whole. Happiness is presented as the only “healthy” state of being. You have to be happy and that’s it! Life is not happy or unhappy in such a black and white manner. If we’re not happy, society often insists that something must be wrong. Yet, unhappiness is not a symptom of sickness. Instead, being unhappy is an expression of life—a natural reaction to situations we don’t like. It is a natural reaction to frustration, disappointments, unrequited love, and the bumps along the highway of life. It is healthy to be unhappy when life throws us curves. We mustn’t take in the message to be unhappy about being unhappy. Only chronic and unexplained unhappiness needs to be viewed as if “something is wrong.”
When unhappy, I live with only
one unhappiness, not two. I refuse to be
unhappy about being unhappy.
Throughout my using days I would always say, "I just want to be happy."
∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 184
January 25
We too need to get over the questions that focus on the past and on the pain—“Why did this happen to me”’ —and ask instead the question which opens doors to the future: “Now that this has happened, what shall I do about it?” ∼Harold S. Kushner
Why him or her, why me, why now, why this way? “Why, why, why” is the loser’s chant. The question “why” keeps us focused on explanations, not resolutions. Once we stop analyzing why, we can ask the question that carries the solution within itself. “What do I do now?” This question places our focus in the present so we can reclaim our life, not simply lament it. We have found that if the addict within can get us asking the wrong questions, it won’t have to worry about our recovery-oriented answers! We learn to drop the questions that focus on blame and the past and to ask questions that contain the answers within the question such as, “What do I …?” and “How can I …?” We do not receive the right answer when we ask the wrong question.
I ask not “why” this or that has happened,
but “how” to deal with it now.
We ask three questions: Am I paying attention to my spiritual needs? Am I passing on what I've received? Am I living in the principles I've come to hold dear.
∼Chemically Dependent Anonymous P 84
January 26
Just for today I shall be unafraid. Particularly, I shall be unafraid to be happy, to enjoy what is good, what is beautiful, and what is lovely in life. ∼Father John Doe
In
