Daily
Reflections reading May 23rd
Spiritual Health
When
the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p 64
It
is very difficult for me to come to terms with my spiritual illness because of my
great pride, disguised by my material successes and my intellectual power.
Intelligence is not incompatible with humility, provided I place humility
first. To seek prestige and wealth is the ultimate goal for many in the modern
world. To be fashionable and to seem better than I really am is a spiritual
illness. To recognize and to admit my weakness is the beginning of good
spiritual health. It is a sign of spiritual health to be able to ask God every
day to enlighten me, to recognize His will, and to have the strength to execute
it. My spiritual health is excellent when I realize that the better I get, the
more I discover how much help I need from others.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on May 23rd Reading
We have so many tools to help us in recovery, I some times
wonder where I would be without them, my first tool was given to me at my first
meeting, a gift from the group a big book, I was told the answers are all in
there between the covers just open it and start reading
If you need help just ask anyone at any meeting, we are all
here to stay sober, many other tool like books, meetings, sponsor, sayings,
slogans, acronyms, being active the steps, the spirituality of finding a power
greater than oneself and using this power to change
The fellowship is a tool where we come to share our own
experience strength and hope, there are so many more tools to recovery, to a
new way of life living sober, for me to stay sober I need to give back what was
given to me, this is the basics of what AA is all about the fellowship
The 12 steps of recovery and the willingness to change
ourselves For me to find this and with out the steps to guide me into this new
way of looking at myself I would just be a sober drunk and I would still have
the same God like qualities of my past
I had to learning about all 12 of the steps not just step
one I found that higher power and began to get a little sanity thru using step
two then the biggie step three Yes I found the god of my understanding loving
and forgiven God who led me right into steps four and five
Sure was hard looking at myself thru the eyes of another But
in order to use the rest of my spiritual tools I needed to do the inventory and
share it with another human being this is where the third step pray came in to
my live given myself to God
There are many ways we can enrich our spiritual journey
there is no set path we must follow in order to live a spiritual life we need
to look at them all Journaling is one of the most powerful and useful tools I
had in my spiritual toolbox when I wrote in my journals
I was communicating with myself putting my feelings on paper
Where I could not project on them it also helps with the fourth step I felt
like I was sharing my thoughts goals and concerns with myself later to share
with a sponsor
As I dug deeply into my mind I expressed my emotions the
writing helped me to look at my spiritual progress it is great to be able to
sit and read all the earlier writings Then I have the eleventh step prayer of
St Francis this helped me to channel my thoughts and beliefs into a path to
help others
It is better to give that to receive this also helped me to
forgive others and myself meditating made me feel closer to the God of my new
understanding and led me to my spiritual Experience the night I prayed to God
to remove the desire to drink and all that was troubling me
I felt His presents in my life that night I knew He was
doing for me what I could not do myself Felt child like as if He picked me up
into His arms and held me close to Him comforting me tell me every thing is now
going to be alright I am with you
I laid on my mom’s sofa bed for 36 hours to wake up to a
sense of peace what I call total serenity as if the whole world was right and I
could always be at peace Yes that night I believed in a power greater than myself
a sense of interconnectedness with all
And an awareness of the purpose and meaning of life and the
finding personal values Although spirituality is often associated with religion
I believe my personal spirituality was found and developed outside of religion
in the halls of AA
God bless Al M
Please feel free to mail suggestions
or comments
