November 6
Understanding Humility

“Humility is a result of getting honest with ourselves.” Basic Text p. 35

Humility was an idea so foreign to most of us that we ignored it as long as we could. When we first saw the word “humbly” ahead in Step Seven, we may have figured it meant we had quite a bit of humiliation in store. Perhaps we chose to look it up in the dictionary, only to become even more confused by the definition. We didn’t understand how “lowliness and subservience” applied to recovery.

To be humble does not mean we are the lowest form of life. On the contrary, becoming humble means we attain a realistic view of ourselves and where we fit in the world. We grow into a state of awareness founded on our acceptance of all aspects of ourselves. We neither deny our good qualities nor overemphasize our defects. We honestly accept who we are.

No one of us will ever attain a state of perfect humility. But we can certainly strive to honestly admit our faults, accept our assets, and rely on our Higher Power as a source of strength. Humility doesn’t mean we have to crawl life’s path on our hands and knees; it just means we must admit we cannot recover on our own. We need each other and, above all, we need the power of a loving God.

Just for today: To be humble, I will honestly accept all facets of myself, seeing my true place in the world. For the strength I need to fill that place, I will rely on the God of my understanding.

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. . TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 96

The first words I speak when arising in the morning are, “I arise, O God, to do Thy will.” This is the shortest prayer I know and it is deeply ingrained in me. Prayer doesn’t change God’s attitude toward me; it changes my attitude toward God. As distinguished from prayer, meditation is a quiet time, without words. To be centered is to be physically relaxed, emotionally calm, mentally focused and spiritually aware. One way to keep the channel open and to improve my conscious contact with God is to maintain a grateful attitude. On the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in my life. The instant I start cursing things in my life, however, the flow of good stops. God did not interrupt the flow; my own negativity did.

MY MIND

The Just for Today and Daily Reflections for this beautiful Friday have really made me take a step back and look at my recovery. Sometimes to fill that void, the place where I do not feel apart of, I use outside things, such as drugs (past), clothing, food, money, or anything to make me feel better than. Today I was thinking about how I am the only person those things matter too. Like I think that in my mind, my disease tells me that void needs to be filled, like I will die if it isn’t, but the truth is that I will survive. If I allow myself to step out of myself and look at the things I have and am able to see just how lucky I am, that fills the void. Knowing that God has given me a second chance makes it okay. I need to keep my contact with my God through prayer and meditation just as the Daily Reflection for today says. I believe that through that prayer and spiritual stability I am able to learn humility and know that I am not alone, and that I don’t need to fill that void. With God I am always loved, always accepted, and that truly comes out in meetings if I let it. The unconditional love and support that happens in the rooms is God working in action. Today I will remember that I am loved and my void is filled, I just need to keep in contact with God to feel it in my daily life.