June-12 topics

Jun 12, 2024
5 min read

This is my Tradition 5/7, step 12

Pancake Marathon

I don't know when I'm going to gain this freedom, other than right now, Serenity upon itself, to know a new freedom and a new happiness; leaving me to not regret the past nor was to show the door on it. it's as if I've always had this since a freedom, Serenity and yet still I find myself in those moments of pain where there is no gain until I focus on the solution to have a gain within the freedom that I'm already here to have gain; For maybe that's what a spiritual waking really is all about today I'm free.

You may think that there are a thousand different things being done in recovery, really there's just a thousand different ways of saying a few simple things.

acronyms and SLOGANS: Organized by Pancake Marathon

stay teachable as You can't think your way into a new way of living...you have to live your way into a new way of thinking as then it is Willingness is the key; it is your willingness to then set you upon the new path of the life you want to be part of. To love, to have hope, so that we can stop going nuts; to be able to find trust that god is able to help us in time.

Acronyms

LOVE: Let Others Voluntarily Evolve
HOPE: Happy Our Program Exists
NUTS: Not Using The Steps
TRUST: Try Relying Upon Steps and Traditions
GOD: Good Orderly Direction
TIME: This I Must Experience

Slogans

stay teachable
You can't think your way into a new way of living...you have to live your way into a new way of thinking
Willingness is the key

Slogans are wisdom written in shorthand and Acronyms are just the sum/the Virtues, of all that wisdom: WISDOM: When In Self, Discover Our Motives

Slogans (underlined ) blog page Acronyms (bold) blog page Principles (italic): A.A. files

Step 12/to give where credit is due I got all of these readings from "recovery HQ" _ but I put them in a Living life on life's terms and to Better care of the message and you can actually find all of them in Daily Readings and Inspirations

Spiritual principle a day: Kindness Reflected in Our Growth

Page 169

". . . we learn that people see goodness in us that perhaps we don't see in ourselves. Our fellows reflect us back to ourselves and show us how we have changed."

Living Clean, Chapter 2, "Connection to Others"

In our first days clean, most of us feel utterly horrible about ourselves. We're sick from withdrawals. We hate everybody whether we know them or not. We're ashamed, mostly because we got caught. We're pissed off at jails, institutions, and, in some cases, not dying. Our outlook on the future is just as dark: We have to go to these stupid meetings for the rest of our lives and we can never use drugs again. And we have to give, give, give to the meeting, to each other, to our dad who messed us up in the first place because of his using, to the old lady who lives in the flat downstairs even though she's mean to us. And we have to be nice all the time and talk about our problems and listen to other people's problems and help other addicts who are more messed up than we are. Being even slightly positive about our future requires an impossible effort.

Eventually, our resistance cracks. We "do the deal"--meetings, sponsor, Steps, service--and we're there for newcomers. We find a Higher Power and start praying and meditating. We forgive Dad and make sure he has all his meds (and we don't take any of them). We gratefully accept our elderly neighbor's terrible holiday fruitcake and pick up her yappy little dog's poo when she doesn't. When she criticizes our new tattoo, we smile instead of plotting her death. Sometimes we do these things begrudgingly, but mostly it's second nature now.

On occasion, people notice. After we share a few IPs with a newcomer, an oldtimer who remembers who we were when we first came in hugs us (longer than usual) and looks deeply into our eyes, tears brimming. "What's up?" we ask. It's awkward.

"You," the member tells us, "are so different. Sooooooo different."

We protest. "Aww, come on!" All we did was give someone an IP! But our resistance to this also cracks. We do the right thing, say "thanks," and hug them back.

——— ——— ——— ——— ———

I'll aim to be kind and generous today. If someone points it out, I'll say "thanks." I can acknowledge them and acknowledge that I've changed.

Keep It Simple: The lust for power is not rooted in strength, but to weakness.

We believed Alcohol or other drugs could help us control our happiness. But now we’re learning to rely on faith for our happiness. Faith is about leaving things to our Higher Power's control. Instead of wanting the control ourselves, we trust our Higher Power will help us handle things that come along.
In recovery, we work at having more faith. Faith in a Higher Power. Faith in the Steps. Faith in our groups. Faith that our lives will get better, if we don't use chemicals and we work an honest recovery program. Faith makes life a lot easier.

NA Just For Today: A Vision Of Hope

"Yes, we are a vision of hope..." Basic Text, p. 51
By the time we reached the end of our road, many of us had lost all hope for a life without the use of drugs. We believed we were destined to die from our disease. What an inspiration it was, then, coming to our first meeting and seeing a room full of addicts who were staying clean! A clean addict is, indeed, a vision of hope.
Today, we give that same hope to others. The newcomers see the joyful light in our eyes, notice how we carry ourselves, listen to us speak in meetings, and often want what we have found. They believe in us until they learn to believe in themselves.
Newcomers hear us carry a message of hope to them. They tend to see us through "rose-colored glasses," They don't always recognize our struggle with a particular character defect or our difficulties with improving our conscious contact with our Higher Power. It takes them time to realize that we, the "old timers" with three or six or ten years clean, often place personalities before principles or suffer from some other unsightly character defects. Yes, the newcomer sometimes places us on a pedestal. It is good, though, to openly admit the nature of our struggles in recovery for, in time, the newcomer will be walking
through those same trials. And that newcomer will remember that others walked through that difficulty and stayed clean.
Just for today: I will remember that I am a beacon to all who follow in my path, a vision of hope.

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.

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