Episode 216 -- May 9, 2022

Meditation Monday: Get Going

Welcome to Meditation Monday. We're pausing each Monday for a few minutes of reflection and inspiration from the authors of the Hazelden Meditation series of books.

Meditations are daily reflections, prayers, slogans, and phrases intended to offer inspiration and comfort, and—above all—hope to those of us in recovery.

The selections for this second Meditation Monday in May come from two of Hazelden's beloved recovery resources: Easy Does It and Answers in the Heart. Together, today's meditations remind us that recovery is a thing we can enjoy. They invite us to enter this day of recovery with creativity, love for ourselves and others, and positive action.

Easy Does It

Escaping Dullness

Men are disturbed not by things but by the views they take of them.— Epictetus

If everyone in recovery followed the principles of our Twelve Step program exactly the same way, sharing would be dull and boring. The Steps are constant, but each of us in recovery work them differently, to whatever degree gives us the most serenity and spiritual growth.

If all of us lived the guiding principles of recovery by habit, mechanically, without thinking, the routine would become uninteresting and tiring. We must not be afraid of adding new ideas that work for us to the tried-and-true manner of thinking we find in our fellowship. Using our imagination properly will keep recovery continuously fresh and rewarding.

Even far-out ideas can be useful to me if they inspire thinking and prevent complacency.

Answers in the Heart

The great end of life is not knowledge but action. —Thomas Huxley

It is important to gain knowledge as we seek to understand ourselves and others. But we can also get caught up in insisting too much on knowing rather than doing. Maybe we are sometimes too introspective, too hooked on trying to figure everything out.

Often it helps to just get out there and do things. We may feel paralyzed and believe that we can only be "cured" when the moment of illumination arrives. But just undertaking little acts of kindness or daily tasks can set in motion a chain reaction that builds energy and self-confidence. Finish that chore, help a neighbor, send a card, go for a walk with a friend. Yes, we can do it, and it feels good.

Love, too, is action. Love is not just a feeling but a connection, a reaching out, and a communion. Love is doing things for others. At the end of the day, we may wish to write down not only what we have thought and felt, but what we have done—for ourselves and for others.

Let this be a day in which I set in motion loving actions that will help me and others.

About the Author:
Easy Does It was written anonymously.
The authors of Answers in the Heart, a man and a woman, have chosen to remain anonymous. Authorship is shown by the initials PW or SK at the end of each meditation.

Easy Does It: A Book of Daily 12 Step Meditations © 1990 by Anonymous
Answers in the Heart: Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction © 1989 by the authors
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