AA is the guide to my Higher Power
Recovery gives many benefits such as those related in the 12 promises of recovery. Each and every member of any 12 Step Fellowship has things they value.
One day I began to think about what I liked about recovery. I excluded the 12 Steps, Traditions and Promises and came up with a simply worded list.
This was my list on that day.
12 Things I like about recovery

No more domestic violence
No fear of the police
Economic stability
Better libido and sexual enjoyment
A Higher Power that helps me in all of life
Better relationships with family
Wake up without a hangover – every day
A Fellowship that is my second family
Clear, rational thinking
No deep, crippling depression
No chronic, hurtful anger or resentments
I can laugh at myself.

That was couple of…

See the original post:
12 Things I like About Recovery

Large Print
Since 1954, Twenty-Four Hours a Day has become a stable force in the recovery of many alcoholics throughout the world. With over six and a half million copies in print (the original text has been revised), this “little black book” offers daily thoughts, meditations, and prayers for living a clean and sober life.
A spiritual resource with practical applications to fit our daily lives.
“For yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision” is part of the Sanskrit proverb quoted at the beginning of the book which has become one of the basic building blocks for a life of sobriety.
In addition to a thought, meditation and prayer for each day of the year, this handy, pocket-sized volume also contains the Serenity Prayer and the 12 Steps and 12 Tradit…

Read more from the original source:
Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Just for today I'm going to sit
Meditations and affirmations just for today …

Today I will not strike back: If someone is rude, if someone is impatient, if someone is unkind…. I will not respond in a like manner.
Today I will ask my Higher Power to bless my “enemy”: If I come across someone who treats me harshly or unfairly, I will quietly ask My Higher Power to bless that individual. I understand the “enemy” could be a family member, neighbour, co-worker or stranger.
Today I will be careful about what I say: I will carefully choose and guard my words being certain that I do not spread gossip.
Today I will go the extra mile: I will find ways to help share the burden of another person.
Today I will forgive: I will forgive any hurts or injuries that come …

Read more from the original source:
Inspiration Today

In 12 Step recovery we talk about using prayer and meditation “to improve our conscious contact with a higher power,” as we understand it.
It is not necessary to believe in a metaphysical higher power in order to recover, nor is it necessary to believe that prayer involves communicating with one. The concepts and the practice, however, are important. We must be able to admit to ourselves that we do not know everything, and that we cannot – in and of ourselves – cause our recovery to happen. We require guidance from sources experienced in the practical techniques of recovery – a “higher power” in that context, regardless of what we want to call it.
More at; Thoughts on the Eleventh Step

See also;
12 Spiritual Questions
Wayne Dyer Excuses Begone!
A Woman’s Sp…

Read more from the original source:
Sought Through Prayer & Meditation

Step Eleven: Cultivating conscious contact with a Higher Power
In 1938, an alcoholic stockbroker named Bill W. declared his intention to write a book about an obscure new program of recovery from alcoholism. The program, which included twelve suggested steps, was unabashedly spiritual. Bill’s goal was to present this aspect of the program in terms so simple and so practical that one alcoholic could easily explain it to another.
Today there are more than 25 million copies of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA World Services, Inc.) in print. And Bill managed to distill the essence of spiritual practice into the 32 words of Step Eleven: “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.”
Before practicing the Twelve Steps, Bill had been a skeptic about spiritual matters. This personal history of doubt qualified him to answer atheists, agnostics, and other AA newcomers who rebelled at any suggestion of prayer or meditation, let alone belief in God.
Bill’s response to objections was pragmatic: Just try it. You’ll discover that Step Eleven works, and that “almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who have never tried it enough.”
Specific instructions for receiving spiritual direction through prayer and meditation are included on pages 85-88 of Alcoholics Anonymous, also known as the Big Book. These are organized under three basic headings: what to do in the morning, throughout the day, and at night.
“On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead,” notes the Big Book. “We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”
Of course, people in recovery often face uncertainty. Even when we’re open to good orderly direction, we can still be unclear about moment-to-moment choices in daily life.
In response, the Big Book suggests that we “relax and take it easy.” Instead of struggling, we can wait patiently for an answer to come. Over time, we’ll find that “what used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind.”
The Big Book further suggests that we end our morning meditation with a prayer to receive guidance throughout the day for the next action to take. And the sum total of our needs in this area can be summarized in one phrase: Thy will, not mine, be done.
Fred Holmquist, director of the Lodge Program at Hazelden, emphasizes the timing of morning meditation and prayer.
“The directions for what to do on awakening are truly about what to do on awakening,” says Holmquist. “These are not things to be done on going to the bathroom, on making coffee, or on feeding the cat. Rather, it’s on awakening that I do a litmus test of my spiritual condition by thinking about the 24 hours ahead. If I’m already full of self-pity, dishonesty, or self-seeking motives, then this is a practice that literally gets me out of bed on the right foot.”
After grounding our day in morning practice, we can stay open to guidance throughout the day at work or home. When we’re feeling emotionally unbalanced or confused, we can simply stop for a moment and ask our Higher Power for an appropriate thought or action.
The Big Book also includes a list of questions to ask at night as we review and end each day. For example:

Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid?
Do we owe an apology?
Have we kept something to ourselves that should be discussed with another person at once?

“In the earlier Steps, I clean up the wreckage of the past,” Holmquist says. “In Step Eleven, I clean up the wreckage of today—how my imperfections as a human complicate my life. This Step defines what it means to completely give ourselves to this simple program.”
From; Alive & Free is a health column that offers information to help prevent and address addiction and substance abuse problems. It is provided by Hazelden, a nonprofit agency based in Center City, Minn.
See also;

12 Step Sponsor
12-Step Speaker Tape Links
23rd Psalm for Recovery
AA Offers Recovery Not Religion
Subscribe to Recovery Is Sexy by e-Mail

Subscribe to Recovery Is Sexy by Email (Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com)

See more here:
Conscious contact with a higher power