“You told me that recovery was an inside job.”

Three readings. A song that says the rest. And inspiration for whatever this day is here to teach.

A lone surfer riding inside a great curling wave

Read — the readings that opened the day

Walking the Walk

Pamela Gayle White

We’ve all got some balancing act going. Maybe we juggle clarity and criticism; or it could be devotion and credulity, warmth and vagueness, energy and rivalry, precision and a need to control. We struggle to cultivate one and suppress the other, but on our spiritual path, we learn all it takes is a willingness to let go of our patterns as soon as we recognize them. We then take a deep breath and ask to stay open to the Spirit of the Universe to inspire us for our next thought & action.

A Deep Breath of Life

Alan Cohen

In their book, Conscious Loving, Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks put forth the core principle that each partner must take 100 percent responsibility for everything that happens in their relationship and their world. They share how to stay focused by identifying not as a victim of circumstances, but as the source of experience. The whole game changes when we realize the answer is within. Today, I ask for the strength to release anyone else as the source of my experience, to celebrate gratitude and own my responsibility for creating my best life.

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Hazelden Foundation

Meditation for the Day “I must live in the world and yet live apart from God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loose garment. Nothing in the world will seriously upset me, as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may live my inner life with God. I pray that nothing shall invade or destroy that secret place of peace.”

Reflect — Steve L.'s own words

You told me that recovery was an inside job. Instead of rushing about managing every detail on the outside, chasing what I wanted and thought I needed, to sit in meetings and learn to listen to the language of the heart. It was a 180-degree reset from the life I was living.

There were always a million things I wanted to do. I started asking myself what’s really going on? (Years ago, my buddy Rob from North Carolina would always shout out in his southern drawl, “Hey Steve, what’s really going on!” Turmoil, confusion and my need to overreact were often my answer and we’d both laugh out loud. Yes, my insides were a real mess.)

Yesterday was Gail’s day off and I asked her what she wanted to do. That's a real miracle! We started on a 3-mile walk along the canals enjoying the day. My phone rang - it was Jim E. driving telling me his wife GG asked, “who the hell is that walking and for me to put a shirt on!”

Gail & I had the best time, walking, talking, arguing about stupid stuff and laughing. Then we started to work in the yard, and it turned out to be a really great day. Sometimes the best answer is so simple.

Thanks for showing me how to develop an inner life, saving me from yet another trip to Vegas to try and be a star, coming back broke and in deeper despair. I was a monkey-man looking for a monkey-woman too!