It hasn’t been easy to work out this relationship with Max. – The physician wasn’t hooked, he thought–he just prescribed drugs medically indicated for his many ailments. Responsible behavior builds gladness of heart. Today, I will weigh my behavior carefully. Our own fulfillment is the by-product of the accumulation of our own responsible actions. Emotional immaturity is slow to depart, but every responsible action we take gives us the courage for another–and then another. Most of us in this recovery program have behaved irresponsibly for much of our lives. Learning to behave responsibly takes practice. Controlling our own behavior is a big enough job. We are each powerless over others, which relieves us of a great burden. And serenity is the goal we are seeking in this recovery program, in this life. Wanting to control other people, to make them live as we’d have them live, makes the attainment of serenity impossible. Our own ways are the only ways that should matter to us. There are as many ways to live and grow as there are people. Help me to admit and accept my illness, so the healing can begin.Īction for the Day: Today, I’ll work to make the WE of the program even stronger. Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me to join the WE of the program. The “we” of the program helps us live outside ourselves. It makes us a member of a living, growing group of people. The “we” of the program makes us whole again. This little word says a lot about the Twelve Steps. I will meet reasonable standards without permitting myself to become tense or strained. I will not expect impossible things from myself today. If my performance and actions this day are good enough, it maybe that they are as good as they have to be or as God wants them to be. In some manufacturing fields, there is a useful saying that serves as a guideline for inspectors: “Good enough is best.” If something is good enough for its intended purpose, it may be equal to the best. What is this but a secret desire to be better than others, to occupy a superior position that will enable us to look down on others and, at the same time, to receive their approval and admiration? While we should develop good standards and values for our lives, we place an impossible demand on ourselves by wanting to be perfect in every way. More likely, it meant that we had grandiose ideas of the perfect people we wanted to be, but felt deep inadequacy about our failure to meet these high standards. This did not mean that we did things perfectly or always met high standards. We often declare that we suffered from perfectionism while we were drinking. Our old-time attitude of “all or nothing” will have to be abandoned. So we shall have to settle, respecting most of our problems, for a very gradual progress, punctuated sometimes by heavy setbacks. Hence, in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love.
#24 HOUR A DAY BOOK FREE#
Nobody can, for example, become completely free from fear, anger and pride. But the moment we carry these attitudes into our emotional problems, we find that only relative results are possible. In fact, they usually do and they must, else we could have no life at all. I pray that I may be fit to receive God’s power in my life.Īcceptance and faith are capable of producing 100 percent sobriety. I pray that I may face and accept whatever discipline is necessary.
I believe that this power is a mighty power when used in the right way. I will welcome this training, for without it God cannot give me his power. I know that the goodness of my life is a necessary foundation for its usefulness. Can I afford ever to forget this, even for one minute? Everything I have, my whole life depends on that one thing. Nothing in the world is as important to me as my own sobriety. I am convinced that my whole life depends on not taking that first drink. The most important decision I ever made was my decision to give up drinking. Keeping sober is the most important thing in my life.
When I stopped fighting anybody or anything, I started on the path to sobriety, serenity and peace. In surrender I found victory – victory over my selfish self-indulgence, victory over my stubborn resistance to life as it was given to me. When alcohol influenced every facet of my life, when bottles became the symbol of all my self-indulgence and permissiveness, when I came to realize that, by myself, I could do nothing to overcome the power of alcohol, I realized I had no recourse except surrender. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built. We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength.
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