I have a picture of this written guidance meditation throughout the blog. It is also included in some of the 10th Step Inventories. However, it has never been posted separately. I find it very useful to use this format when I am doing Two Way Prayer one on one with someone, or even when I am alone. So, please forgive me if I am being redundant. I am trying to find an easier way to retrieve this when needed. 

The references at the bottom of the post explore the historical roots of prayer, meditation, quiet time and written guidance from the Oxford Group and the early days of program. From a historical perspective, it is very interesting. I hope that everyone will enjoy reading them!

WRITTEN GUIDANCE & WESTERN MEDITATION

Meditation in the language of the Big Book means concentrated thought, specifically about what happened over the previous 24 hours and what needs correcting and about what I am going to do over the next 24 hours.

Directions:

Choose a quiet place. Take this time to silently connect to God and feel His presence. Breathe naturally and be with what is.

Meditate or repeat an inspirational phase or word of your choice, which could include the serenity prayer, the 3^rd step or 7^th step prayers.

Take a moment to be grateful for all the good that was done for you and for all of the blessings that you have received.

Create a positive visualization – imagine God’s Goodness, blessings, kindness, and compassion flowing into you like fresh water from a spring.

Set your intension by writing a question that you would like intuitive guidance on. OR another way is to just set your intension by stating: “God, please show me what I need to know so that I can be free from wrong motives and do Your will throughout the day.”

Listen to your thoughts and cultivate awareness. As thoughts come into your mind, write then down. Guidance can take the form of images, thoughts, feelings, or inspiration.

Stop writing when the flow of thoughts slows down.

Examine what you have written down. What is the voice of addiction and what is the voice of recovery?

Test each thought using the 4 Standards to separate God thoughts from self-thoughts.

• Are these thoughts completely honest, pure, unselfish, and loving?
• Are these thoughts in line with our duties to our family and country?
• Are these thoughts in line with our understanding of the teachings found in our spiritual literature?

Discuss what you have written with another person.

Commit to acting on “God thoughts” and discard the “self-thoughts.”

Honesty: not deceiving others or ourselves.

Unselfishness: a commitment to fairness and justice and a willingness to share.

Purity: freedom from being controlled by our desires or our fears and insecurities

Love: a quality of the heart which lies at the root of all the core values: a readiness to let go of hatred and jealousy; a commitment to forgive and to be compassionate.

There is so much information posted on the blog about Two Way Prayer and it’s historical roots in program. Please explore!

I hope that this post will be of service to others.

With blessings,

Shira

References

This is of course the pamphlet that popularized current the practice of Two Way Prayer, thanks to Wally P.

How To Listen to God – reformatted 7-24-21

This is the original opensource copy of What is the Oxford Group

original what is the Oxford Group

This is another version that has been updated by http://www.stepstudy.org. It is easier to read because it is not a scanned copy of the original book.

What is the Oxford Group

This is a list of the references in the AA literature on Quiet Time and Written Guidance

QuietTimeGuidanceandStepWorkTimingPassages_12052012

For fun, I have decided to post here other Oxford Group historical books that discussed either the 4 Absolutes, Quiet Time or the importance of daily devotions. They are all open source documents and available elsewhere on line. However, I think that it is nice to have them in one spot.

WHEN_MAN_LISTENS_CECIL_ROSE

The Eight Points of the Oxford Group 

For Sinner Only by Russell, Arthur James

I was a pagan from stepstudy.org

There are other historical books on the Oxford Group and I highly recommend this site, stepstudy.org. I am afraid that something is going on with WordPress so I am unable to link to other sites as easily in the past. (I could also be getting old, that is another possibility 🙂 )

This is one of the original books available on Two Way Prayer.

God Calling complete opensource

I found the sequel to this book that is also opensource.

God At Eventide A Companion Volume to God Calling

There were many other books available when the Oxford Group started on prayer, quiet time and written guidance. This is one that I found that is opensource

The guidance of God by Eleanor Napier Forde 1920

It seems like I am not the only one who has noticed that there is much more literature on Quiet Time than just the pamphlet How to Listen to God. I came across a great site, which has an interesting post on the topic.  For reasons which I don’t understand, I cannot embed the link. I am including the full link below.

Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, Oxford Group, and Early A.A. | mauihistorian (wordpress.com)

Finally, this is one of my favorite sites on the differences between Eastern and Western meditation. Most people think of meditation as something Eastern and Buddhist. In fact, the AABB doesn’t talk about how to practice meditation because meditation was considered a normal part of people’s spiritual life.  Everyone knew what it was. It didn’t require any further explanation. I am including the full link below because WordPress is giving me a hard time posting links these days. I cannot figure out what changed.

https://www.meditatecenter.com/eastern-meditation-mindfulness-meditation/

Of course, there is even more literature available. However, I am trying to be kind and to avoid overwhelming everyone. 

I hope everyone enjoys this list of historical references!