Working a Spiritual Program of Recovery

The AA Big Book is a design for living which offers a spiritual program of recovery from our addiction.  Our sobriety depends on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.

When we are living in recovery, we have sanity. When we are living sanely, we are freed from our mental obsession.  Freed from the mental obsession, we are then able to carry the message to those who still suffer and to practice these principles in all our affairs. We are living in the Sunlight of the Spirit.

How can this be done practically?

You start by learning a special technique with your alarm clock — You set it one hour earlier than usual, and when it rings you get up.

Do not underestimate (a) the importance and (b) the difficulty of this simple technique.

It is important because it enables you to get what you absolutely need in order to get going on a new way of life — that is time.

Time is a precious commodity that once it is gone, we can never get it back.

It seems simple and easy,  but it is not. Setting aside this one hour is a challenge. One must be willing to devote one hour of time without the automatic feedback or instant gratification of what is to be gained to offset your loss.

Trust the process.

This morning hour of conscience contact with the God of your understanding requires dedication and discipline. Over time, it will create a deep and fundamental change in your relationship with yourself, others and God: the only relationships that we have in our life.

What do you do with the hour?

Follow a basic schedule, which can consist of three (3) periods of twenty (20) minutes each.

• In the first period you read.
• In the second period you pray or meditate.
• In the third period you exercise.

Remember when you are reading program literature that you are studying for know-how and not just fun.

There is a great bunch of stuff to choose from out there — and a lot of this literature is tremendously intriguing and fascinating, but all of it has a desperately serious underlying purpose: to communicate to you the reality of God and give you practical knowledge as to how to live from day-to-day.

From your reading you can learn how to get started in praying, meditating, and exercising. Soon you will be able to learn from, and also to help, other people, and that will really begin to change your life.

Prayer and meditation are our principal means of conscious contact with God.  It says in the A.A. Twelve and Twelve “There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakeable foundation for life.”

Follow the above program faithfully for only one month. See what happens!

Based on http://www.alladdictsanonymous.org