Rise Above the Struggle

Rising above the struggle is as simple as quietly asking for a “second opinion,” so to speak, of the situation that’s got us agitated. There always is another way of looking at a situation. ~ Casey, Karen. Daily Meditations for Practicing The Course. Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Where do you look
when you need Higher Power guidance?
Toward the sky? At the bed spread,
kneeling beside your bed?
Inside of yourself, to an indwelling Spirit?
Wherever you seek your Higher Power,
he/she is near. And simpler to consult
than your text messages.
Relax. You're no longer in charge,
you don'r run the world.
You surrendered, and "Your will,
not mine be done" is a freeing thought.
Relax. Rise above the struggle!

image Copyright : Wavebreak Media Ltd

Recovery Is in the Principles

Tradition Five reminds us that our recovery doesn’t come from simply discussing our problems with each other. It is in the OA message—in our Steps and Traditions—that we find solutions to our problems. Living by these Principles has saved our lives.Honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, self-discipline, love, perseverance, spiritual awareness, service... ~ Overeaters Anonymous. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition.

We recover not as a club,
an interest group, a gathering
of like-minded travelers,
not even as folk with a problem
in common. No, we come
for we share the answer,
the solution to the great challenge
in each of our lives.
And we share twenty-four
principles, the embodiment
of the way out. Twelve Steps
describe the way out, each
embedded in a principle.
Steps One, Two, and Three,
"I can't, God can, I'll let Him"
represent honesty, faith and hope.
Inventory and sharing truths
reside in courage and integrity.
Willingness and humility
lead us through becoming willing
to release character defects
and asking they be taken.
Self-discipline and love
bring us through amends
then perseverance, spiritual awareness
and service set patterns for life after addiction.

Addiction

...addiction is the most powerful psychic enemy of humanity’s desire for God....Addiction also makes idolaters of us all, because it forces us to worship these objects of attachment, thereby preventing us from truly, freely loving God and one another. ~ May, Gerald G. Addiction and Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions (p. 3-4). Harper Collins. Kindle Edition.

Addiction. The most powerful
psychic enemy of humanity's
desire for God?
The American Society of Addiction Medicine
defines: "Addiction is a primary,
chronic disease of brain reward,
motivation, memory and related circuitry.
Dysfunction in these circuits
leads to characteristic biological,
psychological, social and spiritual manifestations."
Certainly spiritual manifestations
as dysfunctional circuitry would echo
the idea. Addiction: compulsive need for
and use of a habit-forming substance.
Do we worship our addictive substances
and/or behaviors? Is it not the power
to which we have abandoned our lives
when we are using? It is our idol,
the object of our adoration!
When we are using can we love God,
ourselves, or our compatriots?

image Copyright : Gennady Kireev

Scales of the Dragon

For my dragon the scales were weight,
making me unattractive, unlovable,
not someone to be sought out
so people would not know I couldn't
remember their names, certainly not
those of their family members.
Added were the crumbs, wrappers,
detritus of life making my car a pigsty.
People spoke often of my giggle
which in my mind meant they saw me
as habitually maniacally laughing.
Surely I was a social pariah 
people sought to avoid at all costs.
I certainly didn't seek out conversations...
I would have said it was to not intrude.
My dragon scales worked well
until I promised a counselor 
I would try Overeaters Anonymous
and getting involved in a worldwide group
of mostly O.A. members I was astounded
people did want to know me,
even those I could see face-to-face.
Twelve years have passed since then
and the dragon scales sloughed off long ago.
The dragon, too, took an exit,
and I can understand I'm an introvert
and when I don't participate in a conversation
it's quite short but not because they 
would choose better friends.

The Real Goal

Not working toward a goal, that is my real goal. ~ M.G.

A goal: the object of a person's ambition
or effort; an aim or desired result.
A goal: what I choose and try to reach
by my own design, capabilities,
adeptness, efforts.
A goal: self reliant desired result.
A goal: Failure to surrender,
to actually pray, not merely
mouth the words, "Not my will
but Thine be done"
Not working toward a goal,
that is my real goal!

image copyright : Maxim Popov

I'm Sorry I Say, "I'm Sorry"

I'm sorry I say, "I'm sorry."
I fully comprehend
what is said, heard, and felt
all around. What was heard
may well be what Daddy meant
when he told Child Me,
"Don't be sorry, don't do it."
Others may hear a platitude,
words that feel flat, meaningless.
It may be heard as sincere
yet trite, reflexive, inadequate.
Perhaps the words feel real
yet unnecessary, quilt-based.
Perhaps the words most dramatically
affect me. I hear what I say, mean it,
but internalize the words
as descriptive not merely apologetic.
Instead I communicate to me,
"I'm despicable, contemptible,
loathsome, and worthless.
I'm sorry I say, "I'm sorry."
I am willing to have God remove
The empty phrase from my repertoire.

Making Room

We make room in our hearts for more each time we give away what we really want. ~ Casey, Karen. Daily Meditations for Practicing The Course. Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.
If you have a resentment you want to be free of, if you will pray for the person or the thing that you resent, you will be free. If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you will be free. ~ A.A. World Services Inc. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition. A.A. World Services, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

What you give, you receive,
and it's what you give that you receive.
Giving love you get it.
Giving respect, you get respect.
And praying for someone to receive
that which you want in your own life
gives it right back to you.
Peace, sanity, health, abundance,
make room for it in your life
then give it away to receive it.

It's Private,You Know

I'm a private person,
have always been.
There's no way I'd tell
my deepest, darkest secrets.
But I told my sponsor
and she said it was my story
but when I was asked to be the speaker
at a meeting I ought to share it.
I was terrified but I did what she said.
That was a month ago, and I'm known
around here. You know, it's amazing.
Nobody not there has mentioned it.
Somehow it's true, that whole big group
knows how to keep a secret!

image copyright : Dean Drobot

SALT

"Smiled A Little Then Stopped"You don't need to be tacky,
to put someone down
just to make yourself seem witty.
In the past I might have laughed
or if I liked the object of your ridicule
more thanI cared for you,
I might have given you a taste
of the trash you were spewing.
But I'm happy to say I'm not that me now,
so I will love you, spread good vibes,
and, loving you, have more love
to keep and to give, so I'll watch you become
the salt of the earth.

It's My Choice

In Al-Anon I discovered that I don’t have to react just because I have been provoked, and I don’t have to take harsh words to heart. I can remember that they are coming from someone who may be in pain, and try to show a little compassion. I certainly don’t have to allow them to provoke me into doing anything I don’t want to do. ~ Family Groups, Al-Anon. Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II. Al-Anon Family Groups. Kindle Edition. 

No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and dangerous. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

We invite love when we freely and honestly give it.
I won’t look for love today. I will just give it.
It will bless me tenfold. And what I give
will come back to me. I can change the world
if I love completely and allow God to manage
through me, if I surrender completely.

Creating Conscious Contact

We improve our “conscious contact” with our Higher Power or guiding spirit in stillness, by temporarily setting aside our desire to figure everything out. ~ Covington, Stephanie S. A Woman's Way through the Twelve Steps (p. 171). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Step 11 reads, "Sought through prayer
and meditation to improve
our conscious contact with God
as we understood Him,
praying only for knowledge
of His will for us
and the power to carry that out."
Improve our constant contact?
How do we start it?
The first thought is Psalm 46:10
but there's more threat than comfort
in "Be still and know" in context.
How do we learn?
It's called meditation and prayer.
But, having a degree
in Christian Education,
I didn't know when I got to Recovery.
God, teach me to meditate?
Paul told the church at Philippi,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is just,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Jesus, very early in the morning
while it was still dark,
went to a desolate place, and prayed.
The Psalms speak for God,
"I will instruct you and teach you
in the way you should go;
I will counsel you
with my eye upon you.
As God's sheep He instructs us
and teaches us
in the way we should go;
He counsels us
with His eye on us.
But the how question remains.
The answer is to be quiet, be aware,
and become.

Copyright : Ivan Kruk

Cherish the Awful

Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have—the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them. ~ World Service, Alcoholics Anonymous. The Big Book and A Study Guide of the 12 Steps. Anonymous Publishing. Kindle Edition.

We hated ourselves when we wallowed
in food fog day after day, when
people were in our way, meddling,
telling us what we knew but swallowed
along with the binges, could hate
the clerk who knew us, knew what
we would order, how many days
we'd done it again. We despised them
because we loathed ourselves,
how unmanageable our lives,
how powerless over food.
But we're not that person now.
and admitting the nightmare we lived,
exposing the darkness of the abyss,
can actually help others like us
to understand at last the life
that awaits when we surrender
and the horror becomes
a gift we can give of daily joy
amid the serenity of surrender.

Have a Frog!

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” ~ Mark Twain

I'll never take Twain's advice
but internalizing a frog
very early in the day
does make excellent sense
as long as the frog is an acronym
and internalizing it is to acquire
Full Reliance On God.
Nothing worse, but only better
for yours this day if you
have this FROG within!

Copyright : Grzegorz Gust

To Live Lovingly

You have your specific work just as I have had mine. But in both of our lives we do share the same mission: to live lovingly. We are one and the same in that pursuit, and that's a pleasing thought. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 1320-1321). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Our specific task, to live lovingly.
A task is a piece of work
to be done or undertaken.
The work implies work imposed
by a person in authority
or an employer or by circumstance.
It resembles a ToDo list,
and you probably have a task list
on your computer or cell phone
if not in an old-fashioned notebook
or sticky notes.
However you remember,
remember to live lovingly today!

Trusting Strangers

At the end of the meeting
after we've talked about our shame,
our failures, our defects,
the leader calmly reads
the admonition, "Please remember
our commitment to honor
each other’s anonymity.
What you hear here,
whom you see here,
when you leave here,
let it stay here."
and everyone chants,
“Hear, hear!”
But what of the strangers
who came for the first time...
and what if the realize
someone has recognized them
because of the office they hold
in that town? Can the strangers
really be trusted?
It's not like they're therapists
who could lose their license.
The voice agreement with words,
"The purpose of this anonymity
is to protect all members
and stress that everyone
in the meetings are of equal value."
But that was eighty years ago.
What happens when they
get on Facebook and spew
the gossip fodder?
Years later I don't really
know how it works,
I just know it does,
“Hear, hear!”

Daddy's Little Boy

But I'm a girl!
Maybe I liked firetrucks
better than dolls.
Maybe my three sisters
acted more like Mother expected.
Maybe I didn't iron well,
even pillowcases.
Maybe my washed dishes
testified to what had been contained.
Maybe I mixed clothes with others
creating dissonance.
Maybe I found comfort in food too often.
Maybe only clothes marked "husky" fit.
Maybe comfort foods became reflexive,
then habitual, then compulsive.
Maybe the husky became three or four
or five X's and the scales screamed
"three hundred" and the love all around me
was unheard through my self-hatred.
Maybe half a century after
"Daddy's little boy" I found
a group of people who called themselves
Compulsive Overeaters
and, in the Rooms of Recovery,
I could recognize I'd been loved
all those years.

My Favorite Step

Twelve Steps, each essential,
each necessary for Recovery.
Can there be a favorite?
Maybe tomorrow another will
claim the glory, but always high,
always deserving special favor
is the Tenth..."continued
to take personal inventory
and when we were wrong,
promptly admitted it."
Why? Because of the word
"continued!" It says from now on,
for the rest of my life,
I'll look at the day I'm living,
work the first nine steps
as to any dis-ease during the day,
any issues, and fix the matter
so I can end the day in serenity.
in alignment, in recovery
and greet the new day
with the miracle in place.

              Copyright : Oliver Shirra

Mutual Friends

Sarah and Sadie were old friends
usually together when in public.
One day I was with my sister Jan
who had lived here for years,
many more than I had.
We were at an outdoor market
and the turned a corner
to almost collide with Sarah and Sadie.
We laughed and I introduced Jan to them,
and she was surprised I knew them and she didn't.
She asked how we had met,
and while I sought a good answer
Linda walked up and knew everyone
except Jan. That was too much,
and Jan pressed for an answer.
She knew of course I was in O.A.
but it would be wrong to say they all were.
I finally dodged the issue and truthfully said,
"We all have mutual friends!"

Copyright : Kirsty Pargeter  

Loneliness

I didn’t call it distrust, but what else kept me always on guard, saying only what others wanted to hear, often doing nothing for fear of displeasing? I walked on timid feet. ~ Anonymous, Overeaters. For Today (Kindle Locations 717-719). Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition.

Trust is freedom from fear.
Loneliness may be ours
but unknown by that name.
It's being in a crowd,
or beside those we live with
but with nobody we know,
at least with no one we feel
knows us, understands us.
We walk on eggshells,
constantly vigilant,
anticipating attack.
If the statement.
"I walk on timid feet"
strikes a cord, rings true,
you are living a life of loneliness.
The woman who wrote as George Elliot
perhaps described us all when she said,
"What loneliness is more lonely
than distrust?"
We who have lived lives
of quiet desperation
are fortunate when we find
a fellowship of our peers
to banish the loneliness
of a crowd and fill our lives
with brotherhood.

...and together we'll walk these steps.

drawing by Katrina Edwards

Glorious

Worthy of praise or admiration?
Having a striking beauty or splendor?
Could I ever be glorious?
It feels like the answer is NEVER EVER!!
but if someone else answered that question
(about them) that way, I'd scoff.
So if I'm to assume I'm as worthy,
as glorious, as anyone I know, 
I'll go find a mirror
and tell it, "Hello, glorious!"

Tired of Anger

"They" say...you know which they...
You probably have them, too.
But I keep reading that negative emotions
I feel are a choice I make...that I can choose
to respond to negative with negative,
the old "he made me mad!"
But the option is to love him,
to pour it out on him, on his words,
on the flame. The love becomes
a blanket smothering the fire,
leaving a carpet of love,
the anger doused.

The Big Project

The key to overcoming our negative feelings is to say to ourselves that we are capable of finishing our projects. We must say it over and over until we start believing it’s true. Then we can attack the assignment with vitality and positive energy we didn’t know we had. ~ Anonymous. Today's Gift: Daily Meditations for Families (Hazelden Meditation Series). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Ask and you will receive,
seek and you will receive,
knock and the door will be opened.
Believe you can do it and you can.
If you think you can do it you can
but if you do not believe you can do it,
you're right then, as  well.
Your positive action
combined with positive thinking
results in success.
Replace negative thoughts
with positive ones,
you'll have positive results.
Nothing happens to you,
it happens for you.
Face the sunshine so you won't
see shadows.
I have positive results to achieve.
Do you have a task needing
positive thinking?

Go With Grace

If he had a choice, and he did, he'd go with grace. ~ Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart's Blood

It's your choice. It's ALWAYS your choice.
Grace, also known as love...
or fear, known at various times as anger,
ridicule, disdain, abuse, sarcasm...
If you have a choice, and you always
have a choice, choose love and grace
rather than the negative iterations of fear.

SALT

"Smiled A Little Then Stopped"
You don't need to be tacky,
to put someone down
just to make yourself seem witty.
In the past I might have laughed
or if I liked the object of your ridicule
more than I cared for you,
I might have given you a taste
of the trash you were spewing.
But I'm happy to say I'm not that me now,
so I will love you, spread good vibes,
and, loving you, have more love
to keep and to give, so I'll watch you become
the salt of the earth.

A Loftier Ambition

There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher. ~ Henry Van Dyke

Ambition from the world's standpoint
is to make more money than you need,
to have strangers address you by name,
to wield power in the world or a major portion.
But that power is meaningless
in the long run. Ambition that matters
is to touch hurting people whether or not
they know your name or even whose touch
made a difference.

I've Got It

God knows exactly what I need and has already given it to me. My job is to keep it simple and ask for God’s help in relieving me of the extra stuff—the shortcomings that keep me tied down. ~ Family Groups, Al-Anon. Courage to Change—One Day at a Time in Al‑Anon II. Al-Anon Family Groups. Kindle Edition.

I love the understanding I need ask nothing of God,
that I've already received it all. An unlimited supply.
That whatever blocks the path, keeps what I want
out of reach, is merely surfeit, excess, surplus
I'm ready to prune. Anger, jealousy, anxiety,
greed, impatience, procrastination, dishonesty...
all those things I'm completely ready
to have God remove. Those things are snags,
hurdles, stumbling blocks. Who would think to keep them
when releasing them opens the path to love,
to peace, to acceptance, delight, the comfortable arms of God?
God's gifts are mine, all mine, and yours, all yours
for accepting!

No ACCIDENT

We are not on this path accidentally. We have not been introduced to these truths accidentally. There is nothing about our lives so far that is accidental. And tomorrow will prove to be no different. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 545-547). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

How did you get to the rooms of Recovery?
Were years of misery a requisite to your arrival?
If so, be grateful for them, for these rooms
are the best place you can be...or maybe
it's just that the long road here was worth the stress
because these amazing rooms, the destination
makes it right. It was not an accident we got here
but this midpoint in the journey was in the plans
from the beginning. And that remains true...
as delighted as we are to have found this place,
that to come is even better. But we have a role,
a part in the plan and we move forward
in accordance with the plan by giving love
which comes tight back to us and as good as this feels
we've got giant steps toward what is best,
easy steps as we live theseTwelve Steps.
Glory be the reality that awaits us!

Procrastination

An extensive Tenth Step inventory might focus on one particular character defect, behavior pattern, or area of life. ~ Overeaters Anonymous. The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, Second Edition. Overeaters Anonymous, Inc. Kindle Edition.

If you've read Recovery Daily Dose a while
you're read the definition of procrastination
as chronic low-intensity fear. My scan
found ten times in the past. That it's the title
chosen today indicates it remains a burr
under my saddle. So, is the reading today
prescient, did the next selection quit instructing
and start meddling? Maybe, but I think
of a wise old lawyer I knew. He would sit
in a Texas courtroom and with the Bronx boyhood
embedded in his speech say, of defendants
charged with fleeing to elude say,
"But they're CRIMINALS, that's their JOOOB!"
And I read Recovery literature for that reason.
"It should meddle. That's why I'm reading it."My character defect of the day is procrastination.
Naming it as fear is enlightening but solves nothing
if I continue to ignore things I promised to do months ago.
So, to begin this during morning readings
only to return near bedtime then to escape to
stupid computer games, a vice appearing
in these poems a precious eight times,
is to gain nothing from the process.
I've identified two character defects,
or behavior patterns to be addressed.
What benefit has procrastination given me?
It keeps me from feeling incompetent, inadequate.
What benefit have computer games given me?
In moderation, they are a diversion
allowing ideas to develop in the background.
I'm ready to be a mature adult
and to have them removed.
They have reached the point they
My Creator, I am now willing
that You should have all of me,
good and bad. I pray
that You now remove from me
every single defect of character
which stands in the way of my usefulness
to You and my fellows.
Grant me strength,
as I go out from here,
to do Your bidding.Another reading today
reassured me I'm moving
in the right direction:

My sense of failure is a sure sign that I am growing in the new life. It is only struggle that hurts. In sloth—physical, mental, or spiritual—there is no sense of failure or discomfort. ~ Anonymous. Twenty Four Hours A Day: Meditations (p. 36). Hazelden Publishing. Kindle Edition.

from:https://www.youthareawesome.com

My Will

Father, my will is Yours. And I am safe, untroubled and serene, in endless joy, because it is Your Will that it be so. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

There is an exception to what
the program slogan says
in the spirit of Step 11,
"Thy will, not mine, be done."
How can that be?
It happens when you understand
and hold the truth dear
that your surrender can be so complete
that you accept God's will
and align yourself so completely
that God's will has become your own.
Then you can say,  "Thy will,
which is mine as well, be done."

I'm Not Asking for Forgiveness

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~ Step 9

I have realized I was unfair to you
last May when you suggested a change
in our agreement and I made it personal
and criticized you rather than the idea.
That was unkind and uncalled for
and I regret my part in making it
an uncomfortable conversation.
If you are interested I'm ready,
now or when you choose,
to consider the idea calmly.
No matter what your decision is,
I want you to know I was out of place
and that I regret it.

Copyright : Aleksandr Davydov

It's in the Pause

It’s in the pause that we receive the words we need to hear or the nudge to follow one path or another. It’s in the pause that we are assured of the love and the direction that everyone on our path needs too. ~ Casey , Karen. 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life (Kindle Locations 896-898). Red Wheel Weiser. Kindle Edition.

Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out.
Pray. Pause. Go inside and fix breakfast.
Pray as you work in the kitchen,
surrender your day to God
“not my will but yours.”
Start your day with the computer
not with games but with Recovery readings
soak in the wisdom to guide your day
pausing after each, absorbing.
Pause often, seeking his guidance,
choosing the best path, the best thoughts
to guide your day. Go through the day
pausing often and at the end of the day,
go through it again, pausing thankfully
for a day well lived.

Start with the Promise

God has promised He will hear my call, and answer me Himself. Let me but learn from my experience that this is true, and faith in Him must surely come to me. ~ Schucman, Dr. Helen. A Course in Miracles. Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition.

1 John 5:14 says, "This is the confidence we have
in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us."
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says,"Then you will call on me
and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me
when you seek me with all your heart."
Isaiah 65:24 says, “It shall come to pass
that before they call, I will answer;
and while they are still speaking, I will hear”
Start with the promise. Call out to God.
Practice often, finding it true.Believe
and God is there. ready, eager,
to meet your needs. Try until you know
God's right there to meet your needs.