Essentials Of Recovery

Daily Reflections - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:30:00 +0000

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.

Just For Today - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:28:00 +0000

Friends And Amends—Keeping It Simple

“We made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

Step Nine

In every relationship, we don’t always handle things the way we would have hoped. But friendships don’t have to end when we make mistakes; instead, we can make amends. If we are sincerely willing to accept the responsibilities involved in friendship and make the amends we owe, those friendships can become stronger and richer than ever.

Making amends is simple. We approach the person we have harmed and say, “I was wrong.” Sometimes we avoid getting to the point, evading an admission of our own part in the affair. But that frustrates the intent of the Ninth Step. To make effective amends, we have to keep it simple: we admit our part, and leave it at that.

There will be times when our friends won’t accept our amends. Perhaps they need time to process what has happened. If that is the case, we must give them that time. After all, we were the ones in the wrong, not them. We have done our part; the rest is out of our hands.

Just for today: I want to be a responsible friend. I will strive to keep it simple when making amends.

As Bill Sees It - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:24:00 +0000

Two Roads for the Oldtimer, p. 138

The founders of many groups ultimately divide into two classes
known in A.A. slang as “elder statesmen” and “bleeding deacons.”

The elder statesman sees the wisdom of the group’s decision to run
itself and holds no resentment over his reduced status. His judgment,
fortified by considerable experience, is sound; he is willing to sit
quietly on the side lines patiently awaiting developments.

The bleeding deacon is just as surely convinced that the group cannot
get along without him. He constantly connives for re-election to
office and continues to be consumed with self-pity. Nearly every
oldtimer in our Society has gone through this process in some degree.
Happily, most of them survive and live to become elder statesmen.
They become the real and permanent leadership of A.A.

12 & 12, p. 135

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:24:00 +0000

A.A. Thought For The Day

We’re in A.A. for two main reasons: to keep sober ourselves
and to help others to keep sober. It’s a well known fact
that helping others is a big part of keeping sober yourself.
It’s also been proved that it’s very hard to keep sober all
by yourself. A lot of people have tried it and failed. They
come to a few A.A. meetings and then stay sober alone for a
few months, but usually they eventually get drunk. Do I know
that I can’t stay sober successfully alone?

Meditation For The Day

Look by faith into that place beyond space or time where God
dwells and whence you came and to which you shall eventually
return. “Look unto Him and be saved.” To look beyond material
things is within the power of everyone’s imagination. Faith’s
look saves you from despair. Faith’s look saves you from worry
and care. Faith’s look brings a peace beyond all understanding.
Faith’s look brings you all the strength you need. Faith’s look
gives you a new and vital power and a wonderful peace and
serenity.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may have faith’s look. I pray that by faith I
may look beyond the now to eternal life.

Walk in Dry Places - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:22:00 +0000

No Limits on our Higher power
The Spiritual Way

One ancient saying claims that “with God, all things are possible.” That’s quite a statement, one we may claim to believe without living as though we do.

What it really mens is that God exists outside the conditions and restrictions that make our own lives so limited. The more we can move into conscious contact with God, the more freedom and power we will experience.

It might be said that all real human progress is the same order. Every advancement in science really reveals more information about God and the universe. We are always discovering new possibilites for humankind as we stretch the frontiers of knowledge.
Our most serious lag is in learning to understand ourselves and each other. It is humbling to realize taht the ideas we’re using in Twelve Step programs have been around for centuries. Fced with impossible problmes, we must remember that God can solve these problmes if only we ask.

I’ll follow today the old idea of working as if everything depended on me and believing as if everything depended on God.

Keep It Simple - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:20:00 +0000

You cannot plan the future by the past.

—Edmund Burke

We got tried of how we were living. We honestly looked at our life. We saw that alcohol and other drugs controlled our life. We met others who understood us. And we came to believe that a Power
greater than ourselves could help us. We turned our will and our life over to this Power. In so doing, we learned that life doesn't take place in the past or in the future. We find our program in the present.

Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll leave the past in the past.
I pray that I’ll walk into each moment with my Higher Power.

Action for the Day: The only time we revisit the past is when we tell our story. Today, I’ll tell my story to someone. I’ll tell what really happened. I’ll tell what life is like now.

Father Leo’s - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:18:00 +0000

FAITH

“Faith has need of the whole truth.”

–Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Faith is a journey that ends in God. Our understanding of imperfection
teaches us to look beyond ourselves into the truth that is yet to be
revealed. Our daily attitude adjustments bring us, step by step, to that
truth and freedom that awaits us in the future.

Sufficient today to know that we are not God and nobody has all the
answers. The hardest part of being a human being is accepting the
limitations of our lives. Things happen without our involvement. We
need not be there for existence to happen; there is life beyond me! God
holds the world together, not me. Truth is in me but also beyond me. In
this sense my faith is enriched by others, and at some point in the
future we will all become ONE in truth.

As I look to the future I see the Oneness of tomorrow.

A Day at a Time - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:16:00 +0000

Reflection for the Day

I considered myself a “loner” in the days when I was actively addicted. Although I was often with other people – saw them, heard them, touched them – most of my important dialogues were with my inner self. I was certain that nobody else would ever understand. Considering my former opinion of myself, it’s likely that I didn’t want anybody to understand. I smiled through gritted teeth even as I was dying on the inside.

Have my insides begun to match my outside since I’ve been in The Program?

Today I Pray

May my physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual selves become one, a whole person again. I thank my Higher Power for showing me how to match my outside to my inside, to laugh when I feel like laughing, to cry when I feel sad, to recognize my own anger or fear or guilt. I pray for wholeness.

Today I Will Remember

I am becoming whole.

Hazelden Foundation

One Day At A Time - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:14:00 +0000

STEP ELEVEN

“Be like the bird that, passing on her flight
awhile on boughs too slight,
feels them give way beneath her,
and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings. ”

~ Victor Hugo

Step eleven tells us to seek “through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” For me, that is a daily, some times, minute by minute task. As a food addict and compulsive overeater I face temptation daily and need to be in fit spiritual condition to resist. I do this by making a daily conscious contact with the God of my understanding. Then I am connected when I need the fox hole prayers like, “Help me!” or “I’m in trouble!”

Step eleven for me is a spiritual discipline to be practiced daily. I do not do that perfectly, but I aspire to connect daily with my God. As I connect I pray for His will for my life and the power to carry that out. It is easy to get selfish with my prayers and step eleven helps me with this. There are certain things that I know are His will, such as attending meetings, talking to my sponsor, using the tools and staying connected to my God. If I am unsure, I pray for God’s will and leave the rest to Him.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will maintain a fit spiritual condition by connecting with the God of my understanding.

~ Carolyn

Elder’s Meditation - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:12:00 +0000

“…Grandmother the Earth. That power is here all the time. It is continuous, and nobody controls it.”

–Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

There are certain powers that the human being has no choice but to obey. We cannot negotiate or barter with this power. Our choice is either to conform or to live out of harmony. Whatever our choice, it will be the end result in our lives that we notice. So it is with the powers of the Earth which produce life. The Earth has the life force power. If anyone plants a seed, the seed will grow. The Earth treats everyone equally. The human cannot interfere, only obey. We should all show great respect for the Earth and Her powers.

Great Spirit, today, let me honor and respect the power of the Grandmother, the Earth.

Today’s Gift - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:10:00 +0000

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

–Thomas Fuller

We have all seen adventure movies in which the heroes or villains are caught on a bridge that collapses. As they fall to whatever lies below, they are perhaps able to climb to one side or the other. But for the time being, their ability to cross between the two sides is gone.
When we have been hurt by people in our lives, or when we have hurt others, mutual forgiveness is needed in order to rebuild the trust between us. It is very much like rebuilding a bridge–one piece at a time. We take cautious steps at first–testing the safety and strength of our bridge.
When two people have become separated by loss or anger, it is forgiveness that can rebuild the bridge between them. Forgiveness needs time and so does the rebuilding of trust.

Can I begin to rebuild a friendship today?

Step by Step - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:09:00 +0000

Today, I will not take disproportionate pride in any job or thing well done to the extent that I unconsciously elevate myself above others, nor will I embellish any mistake to the degree that my self-confidence is so devastated that I con myself into believing I can do nothing right. Either way, the source of excess pride and a shattered self-image is an ego that is not centered but is too far to the left or right. In the end, egoism is the character defect that, had I been thorough and honest in my Fourth, remains with me. And I ask my Higher Power to strike the proper balance. May I understand that a job well done is no license to toot my own horn and that deep disappointment with myself for making a mistake blinds me to a basic edict of the Program – progress over perfection. Today, I will give up perfection as a goal and leave it to the Power that is truly perfect. And our common journey continues.

Step by step. – Chris M., 2014

The Eye Opener - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:06:00 +0000

Think back to those days when we would creep off to our dens where we were holed up, and there like animals try to satisfy our appetites alone – so horribly alone. Just drinking, drink after drink, and dying slowly of despair. If we had a friend in the world, we didn’t know it. We just wanted to drink and die alone.

It was people who brought us out of this pit, people of marvelous sympathy and understanding and now, joining hands with these people, we have learned the joy of living – not alone but with, and a part of a community, of people.

Hazelden Foundation

DAILY ZEN - May 18 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:02:00 +0000

In seeking the essence of the Way,
one should quiet the mind
and penetrate to the depths.
Silently wander within
and clearly see the origin
of all things, obscured by nothing.
The mind is boundless and formless,
just as the pure water
contains the essence of autumn.
It is glistening white and lustrously bright
in the same way that
moonlight envelops the entire night.

- Hung-chih (12th c)

Daily TAO - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:02:00 +0000

SCHOLASTICISM

Ocean inside a skull-cup,
Seeking the universal code in letters.
The mind is like a flower on icy water :
An eye within the petals.

The intellect is one of the thorniest problems for a spiritual aspirant. One cannot do without it — indeed, it is essential — and yet one cannot allow it to remain totally dominant. The intellect must be fully developed before it is brought to a point of neutrality. Unless this is done, it will act as a block, and there will not be any ultimate spiritual success.

Scholarship is thus an important first step. Education is a means of gaining access to the conventional world, of satisfying our curiosity, and of avoiding superstitious tendencies. There can be no talk of delving into philosophical mysteries if one has not even satisfied one’s curiosity about nature, civilization, mathematics, and language. But once mental cultivation is achieved, one must focus increasingly on a part of the mind that is far beyond the scholarly.

The intellect uses discrimination, categorization, and dualistic distinctions in highly sophisticated ways. By contrast, spiritual contemplation involves no discrimination, no categorization, and no dualism, so it has very little need for scholasticism. It is pure action that requires the totality of our inner beings. It needs pure involvement, no mere study. The proper use of the intellect is to give it free play, develop it to an extraordinary degree, and yet to leave it behind when spiritual action is required. A sage knows how to balance and combine both.

Joe H. - Sharing at the Pacific Group in 1990

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 10:41:00 +0000

Alcoholics Anonymous - Big Book

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 10:29:00 +0000

We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse.

Perhaps there is a better way-we think so. For we are now on a different basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.

We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.

Now about sex. Many of needed an overhauling there. But above all, we tried to be sensible on this question. It's so easy to get way off the track. Here we find human opinions running to extremes-absurd extremes, perhaps. One set of voices cry that sex is a lust of our lower nature, a base necessity of procreation. Then we have the voices who cry for sex and more sex; who bewail the institution of marriage; who think that most of the troubles of the race are traceable to sex causes. They think we do not have enough of it, or that it isn't the right kind. They see its significance everywhere. One school would allow man no flavor for his fare and the other would have us all on a straight pepper diet. We want to stay out of this controversy. We do not want to be the arbiter of anyone's sex conduct. We all have sex problems. We'd hardly be human if we didn't. What can we do about them?

~Chapter 5 How It Works (pg 68 & top 69)

Father Leo’s - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sun, 17 May 2026 03:00:00 +0000

TOLERANCE

“Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.”

–Joshua Liebman

Today I am able to tolerate people, listen to what they are saying and if I do not agree with them, it is okay! I do not have to agree with a person to tolerate or befriend him.

This is a new attitude for me and is part of my spiritual program. When I was drinking, I would not listen to people who had ideas different to mine. I would not tolerate people who had a different philosophy on life. Other religions were discounted as being cultish, crude or superstitious. I have learned that my disease of alcoholism made me very arrogant and narrow in my attitude to life – I rejected two-thirds of the world as being heretical!

Today I can tolerate and learn from people who view God, the world and morality differently from me. Spirituality is teaching me to be open and accepting.

Lord, may I find traces of Your love in different philosophies and religions.

Daily Reflections - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:30:00 +0000

. . . . AND FORGIVE

Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others–also myself.

AS BILL SEE 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.

Just For Today - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:28:00 +0000

“Defects”

“We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”

Step Six
After taking the Fifth Step, many of us spend some time considering “the exact nature of our wrongs” and the part they’d played in making us who we were. What would our lives be like without, say, our arrogance?

Sure, arrogance had kept us apart from our fellows, preventing us from enjoying and learning from them. But arrogance had also served us well, propping up our ego in the face of critically low self-esteem. What advantage would be gained if our arrogance were removed, and what support would we be left with?

With arrogance gone, we would be one step closer to being restored to our proper place among others. We would become capable of appreciating their company and their wisdom and their challenges as their equals. Our support and guidance would come, if we chose, from the care offered us by our Higher Power; “low self-esteem” would cease to be an issue.

One by one, we examined our character defects this way, and found them all defective—after all, that’s why they’re called defects. And were we entirely ready to have God remove all of them? Yes.

Just for today: I will thoroughly consider all my defects of character to discover whether I am ready to have the God of my understanding remove them.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:26:00 +0000

A.A. Thought For The Day

A lot of well-meaning people treat alcoholics like the priest and the Levite. They pass by on the other side by scorning them and telling them what low people they are, with no willpower. Whereas, they really have fallen for alcohol, in the same way as the man in the story fell among robbers. And the member of A.A. who is working with others is like the Good Samaritan. Am I moved with compassion? Do I take care of another alcoholic whenever I can?

Meditation For The Day

I must constantly live in preparation for something better to come. All of life is a preparation for something better. I must anticipate the morning to come. I must feel, in the night of sorrow, that understanding joy that tells of confident expectation of better things to come. “Sorrow may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Know that God has something better in store for you, as long as you are making yourself ready for it. All your existence in this world is a training for a better life to come.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that when life is over, I will return to an eternal, space-less life with God. I pray that I may make this life a preparation for a better life to come.

As Bill Sees It - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:24:00 +0000

Domination and Demand, p. 176

The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being. Our egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls. Either we insist upon dominating people we know, or we depend upon them far too much.

If we lean too heavily on people, they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human, too, and cannot possibly meet our incessant demands. In this way our insecurity grows and festers.

When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own willful desires, they revolt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a sense of persecution, and a desire to retaliate.

My dependency meant demand — a demand for the possession and control of other people and the conditions surrounding me.

1. 12 & 12, p. 53
2. Grapevine, January 1958

Walk in Dry Places - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:20:00 +0000

Rehearsing Outcomes
Serenity
Imagination is undeniably a human faculty that accounts for much progress. Compulsive people, however, can use imagination in a most destructive way.

One destructive practice is that of rehearsing i our minds the outcome of some treat or problem, usually expecting the worst. While we should not avoid facing real problems, it’s wrong to assume that the worst will always happen. This tendency to anticipate the worst possible outcome can actually produce the very outcome we’d like to avoid, thus making it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We can deal with such pessimistic thinking by reminding ourselves that God is in charge and will bring our good to pass in just the right way. If we’re going to rehearse anything, let it be an outcome that includes the best for everybody, including ourselves.

I’ll expect the best today, knowing that all outcomes and results are in God’s hands.

Keep It Simple - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:20:00 +0000

Each day provides its own gifts.

—Ruth P. Freedman

Spiritual growth is the greatest gift we can receive. And we earn it through taking risks. There is much risk involved in working the Steps: The risk of admitting that we’re out of control. The risk of turning our will and lives over to a Power greater than ourselves. The risk of letting go of character defects. The risk of making amends to people we’ve harmed. The risk of admitting our wrongs. The risk of telling our stories as we carry the message of hope. To grow spiritually, we need these adventures. These challenges. These risk.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to take the risks that I need in order to grow.

Action for the Day: I will look at today as an adventure with my Higher Power. I will list the fears I’ll need to let go of.

A Day At A Time - May 17 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Essentialsofrecovery) — Sat, 16 May 2026 23:16:00 +0000

Reflection For The Day

If we felt guilty, degraded or ashamed or either our addiction itself or the things we did while “under the influence,” that served to magnify our feelings of being outcasts. On occasion, we secretly feared or actually believed that we deserved every painful feeling: we thought, at times, that we truly were outsiders. The dark tunnel of our lives seemed formidable and unending. We couldn’t even voice our feelings and could hardly bear to think about them. So we soon drank or used again. Do I remember well what it used to be like?

Today I Pray

May I remember how often, during my days of using chemicals, I felt alone with my shame and guilt. The phony jollity of a drinking party or the shallow relationships struck up at a bar could not keep me from feeling like an outsider. May I appreciate the chance to make new friends through the fellowship of the group. May I know that my relationships now will be saner, less dependent, more mature.

Today I Will Remember

Thank God for new Friends.