Most kids hear what you say; some kids
do what you say; but all kids do what
you do.
_______Kathleen Casey Theisen


We are role models for many people: our children, our co-workers,
other women in the program. Step Twelve encourages us to set
good examples for anyone who might be looking on. Living a
principled life takes practice, and progress, not perfection, is
hoped for.

Abstinence has offered us a new set of tools for shaping our
behavior. No longer must we regret what we did yesterday or
last week. We are learning to monitor our actions, but even
more importantly, we are defining our values. They, in turn,
influence what we say and do.

Thoughtful responses to the situations we encounter require
conscious attention to those events. We need reminding,
perhaps, that our behavior is continuously telling others who we
are, what we value, and how we view the people close to us. All
of us, consciously or otherwise, imitate behavior patterns of persons
we admire. Unfortunately, we sometimes mimic unfavorable behavior, too.

There are those casting their attention our way. The opportunity
to model favorable behavior awaits us.


People will follow my lead. I shall walk softly, humbly
and lovingly.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 3

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

It is good to have an end to journey towards;
but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
_____Ursula K LeGuin


Goals give direction to our lives. We need to know who we are
and where we want to go. But the trip itself, the steps we travel,
offer us daily satisfaction moment by moment-fulfillment, if we'd
but realize it. Too often we keep our sights on the goal's completion,
rather than the process-the day-to-day living that makes the
completion possible.

How often do we think, "When I finish college, I'll feel stronger."
Or, "After the divorce is final, I can get back to work." Or even,
"When I land that promotion, my troubles will be over." Life will
begin "when" - or so it seems in our minds. And when this attitude
controls our thinking, we pass up our opportunity to live, altogether.

Looking back on goals already completed in our lives, what so
quickly follows the end of a job well done is a let-down. And how
sad that the hours, the days, the weeks, maybe even the months
we toiled are gone, with little sense of all they could have meant.

I will not forget that every moment of every day I can
be God-centered and joyous. The goal I'm striving
toward will carry with it a special gift; it will offer the
growing person within me an extra thrill, if I've attended
to the journey as much as its end.

Each Day a New Beginning - March 4

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

Loving, like prayer, is a power as well as a
process. It's curative. It is creative.
_________Zona Gale


The expression of love softens us and the ones we love. It
opens a channel between us. It invites an intimate response
that closes distances.

It feels good to express love, whether through a smile, a touch,
or a prayer. It heightens our sense of being alive. Acknowledging
another's presence means that we, too, are acknowledged. Each
of us is familiar with feeling forgotten, unnoticed, or taken for
granted, and recognition assures us all that we haven't been
overlooked.

Knowing we are loved may be the key to our doing the things we
fear. Love supports us to charge ahead, and we can support
others to charge ahead. We know that if we fail, we have
someone to turn to.

Love heals. It strengthens, making us courageous both when
we receive it and when we give it. Knowing we are loved makes
our existence special. It affirms that we count in another's life.
We need to honor our friends by assuring them of their specialness,
too.


I need others. I need to strengthen my supports, my connections
to others for the security, even success, of each of us. I can
express my love today, and assure my loved ones that they are
needed. Then, they and I will surge ahead with new life.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 5

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

Life is made up of desires that seem big
and vital one minute, and little and absurd
the next. I guess we get what's best for
us in the end.
_______________Alice Caldwell Rice


It is often said that we will be granted our heart's "pure desires."
When we have many unmet desires, maybe we should be grateful.
Wants, ultimately not for our own good, can open the way to many
unneeded and painful experiences.

How often we sit, wishing for a better job, a more loving relationship,
a different weather forecast. How seldom we take positive advantage
of what is at hand, not realizing that whatever is, right now, is the
ticket to the next act in the drama of our lives.

We have before us a very limited picture. We cannot possibly know
just what we need to travel the distance that's in store for us. Our
desires, when they are pure, will carry us to the right destination.
They are inspired. But the desires that are motivated by our selfish
egos will lead us astray. Many times in the past we did not give
up those dreams. And the painful memories linger.


Desiring God's will is my most fruitful desire. It's also what
is best for me; what I need. All things are working for good
when I let my higher power determine my desires.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 6

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

Parents can only give good advice or put
them on the right paths, but the final
forming of a person's character lies in
their own hands.
_______________Anne Frank


We must take responsibility for ourselves, for who we become,
for how we live each day. The temptation to blame others may
be ever present. And much of our past adds up to wasted days
or years perhaps, because we did blame someone else for the
unhappiness in our lives.

We may have blamed our own parents for not loving us enough.
We may have labeled our husbands as the villains. Other poeple
did affect us. That's true. However, we chose, you and I, to
let them control us, overwhelm us, shame us. We always had
other options, but we didn't choose them.

Today is a new day. Recovery has opened up our options. We
are learning who we are and how we want to live our lives. How
exhilarating to know that you and I can take today and put our
own special flavor in it. We can meet our personal needs. We
can, with anticipation, chart our course. The days of passivity
are over, if we choose to move ahead with this day.


I will look to this day. Every day is a new beginning.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 7

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

To create is to boggle the mind and alter
the mood. Once the urge has surged, it
maintains its own momentum. We may go
along for the ride, but when we attempt to
steer the course, the momentum dies.
_________Sue Atchley Ebaugh


A sense of spiritual well-being warms us when we are selfless,
when we step away from our obsessing egos, when we let our
pure, unfettered desires direct our thoughts and our steps. Our
egos may be keeping us caged in old behavior, old fears. Egos
struggle for self-preservation; unfortunately, it's our old,
unhealthy self the ego is preserving.

The Steps make it possible for us to unload our baggage from
earlier days, baggage that intrudes on our perceptions of today's
events. The Steps clear the path so we can move responsibly
forward.

Living creatively is living in the thick of the flow, trusting the
flow, spontaneously moving with the flow, not controlling the
flow. We are Spirit-full when we let ourselves roll forward,
resisting not, doubting not. And our greatest contributions
will be discovered when our ego takes a rest.


My creativity awaits my discovery. It's there. I will
release it from the clutches of my ego.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 8

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

I want to get you excited about who you
are, what you are, what you have, and
what can still be for you. I want to inspire
you to see that you can go far beyond
where you are right now.
_______________________Virginia Satir


Deciding to recover was our first step. That decision meant we did
not want to go beyond where we were. We did want something
better for ourselves. And at times, in fleeting moments, we have
been excited about who we are and our prospects for a better life.

The excitement and the inspiration come and go; they are seldom
stationary. We can actively create the excitement and inspiration.
We need not wait for them to come to us. That's one of the choices
we have as human beings, as women.

Passively waiting for "the good life" is past behavior. Each day,
this day, we can set our sights on reaching a goal-we can take
a step, or two, toward that goal. Progress is there for the making -
achievement is there for the taking.

Whatever our hearts' pure desires, we can move toward that goal.
We are what we need to be. We have what we need to move ahead.


Today, I will let my excitement for life's possibilities
spur me on.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 9

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

It is healthier to see the good points of
others than to analyze our own bad ones.
_________Francoise Sagan


Looking for the good in others is good for one's soul. Self-respect,
self-love grows each time we openly acknowledge another's
admirable qualities. Comparisons we make of ourselves with others,
focusing on how we fail to measure up (another woman is prettier,
thinner, more intelligent, has a better sense of humor, attracts men,
and on and on) is a common experience. And we come away from
the comparison feeling generally inadequate and unloving toward
the other woman.

It is a spiritual truth that our love for and praise of others will
improve ouor own self-image. It will rub off on us, so-to-speak.
An improved self-image diminishes whatever bad qualities one has
imagined.

Praise softens. Criticism hardens. We can become all that we want
to become. We can draw the love of others to us as we more willingly
offer love and praise. We have an opportunity to help one another
as we help ourselves grow in the self-love that is so necessary to
the successful living of each day.


I will see the good points in others today. And I will
give praise.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 10

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

The influence of a beautiful, helpful,
hopeful character is contagious, and
may revolutionize a whole town.
____________________Eleanor H. Porter


We have met certain people who inspired laughter, hope, or changes
in us, or those close to us. We look forward to seeing them. We
leave their presence believing in ourselves, aware that we can tackle
whatever problems had us immobilized. That special gift to inspire is
ours for the taking, too. The inspiration comes from God.

We can look to God for the strength we need. It will come. We can
look also to God for direction, for the steps we need to take today.
And then wait. Those persons who inspire us have developed a
secure connection to God. And it's their connection that comes
through them to inspire us.

We can take some time today, before the demands overwhelm us, to
weave our connection to our higher power. When that contact is
secure, we won't have to await inspiration from another person to
forge ahead with our plans. The inspiration will live within us, and it
will beckon us onward. Our way will be illuminated.


I shall meditate upon this. Conscious contact with God is
only a prayer away. My life will be brightened. My burdens
will be lifted. My hopes will become realities, whenever I
look to God for the gift of inspiration.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 11

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

Love is not getting, but giving. It is sacrifice.
And sacrifice is glorious!
_____________Joanna Field


How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we
trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies
love-especially theirs for us. But love is something far different
from either attention or control. Far different.

Love frees others from our grasp-and lets them return on their own.
Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without
regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates us, and connects us to the
people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.

Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And
we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more
on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another
invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which
trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.

Love inspires-ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way,
lessons our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.


I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will
bless me tenfold.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 12

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

People need joy. Quite as much as clothing.
Some of them need it far more.
____________Margaret Collier Graham


Life is not without pain and travail. They are necessary to new
awareness which prompts growth. And the gift of growth is joy.
Pain and joy are thus intertwined. It is possible to feel only the
burden of pain and not the exhilaration of joy, however.

Before seeking help to change our lives, many of us were heavily
burdened by pain. But we were unable to open ourselves to the
knowledge made possible by that pain. We were on a treadmill,
accumulating painful experiences at every step, unable to capture
the joy that was ever present.

We can have hope. Joy does await each of us today. We must
open our eyes to it, just as we must open our hearts to one
another. We must be willing to peel away the layers of pain to
expose the core, the seedling of joy. And we need joy in our
lives, just as surely as we need rest and a good diet. We need
the light heart that joy fosters for a better perspective on the
many experiences we'll face today, and every day.


Recovery has given me this new option. It guarantees
me that every hurdle will be lightened. The knowledge
that joy is inherent, within every experience, is mine,
now and forever.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 13

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

The child is an almost universal symbol
for the soul's transformation. The child
is whole, not yet divided...When we
would heal the mind...we ask this child
to speak to us.
______________Susan Griffin


Was there ever a time when we did not feel divided from ourselves?
Occasionally we get a glimpse of what such spiritual wholeness
would be like, but most of the time we struggle with feelings of
conflict, unevenness, a divided heart. Perhaps "the child" is a
metaphor for a spiritual guide, like our own higher power, that
can help us in our journey toward self-acceptance.

"I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent." If we can
be happy with this proud, funny boast then perhaps we can stop
berating ourselves for our imperfections. If we dwell on our own
contradictory impulses we give them too much importance, too
much power.


Let me trust to my glimpses of harmony and wholeness
and be grateful for the richness of my spirit.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 14

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

Flattery is so necessary to all of us that we
flatter one another just to be flattered in
return.
____________Marjorie Bowen


We are all deserving of unconditional love and acceptance. And all
the people in our lives, past and present, deserve our unconditional
love and acceptance too. However, it's doubtful that we either
feel it all of the time from others or give it away.

It's human of us to find fault-to have expectations that are too high.
But for this we pay a price. Instead of experiencing our lives serenely,
contentedly, flowing with what is, we often criticize, judge, and feel
generally disgruntled throughout the day. What a waste! We do have
another choice, fortunately. We can let go and let God, and live and
let live. Also we can recall, today and every day, that we are all
special individuals in this world who are loved, fully, by our Creator.

The greatest contribution we can make to the lives of others is to
be affirming. We can let our spouse, children, and friends know we
care about them. That we love and accept them. The love that we
also long for will come back to us. We thrill at being affirmed. And
we will thrill at affirming.


It feels good to help another feel appreciated. Love
and acceptance is my lifeline, from God around us all.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 15

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

True intimacy with another human being can
only be experienced when you have found
true peace within yourself.
________________________Angela L. Wozniak


Intimacy means disclosure-full expression of ourselves to another
person. Nothing held back. All bared. There are risks, of course:
rejection, criticism, perhaps ridicule. But the comfort we feel within
is directly proportional to the peace we've come to know.

Each day we commit ourselves to recovery, we find a little more
peace. Each conversation we have with our higher power brings
us a little more security. Each time we turn our full attention to
another person's needs, we feel our own burdens lightened.

Peace comes in stages. As we continue to accept our powerless-
ness, the depth of our peace increases. Turning more often to a
power greater than ourselves eases our resistance to whatever
condition prevails. Forgiving ourselves and others, daily, heightens
our appreciation of all life and enhances our humility. Therein lies
peace.

We each are a necessary part of the creative spirit prevailing in
this world. The details of our lives are well in hand. We can be
at peace. Who we are is who we need to be.


Intimacy lets me help someone else also live a full and
peace-filled life. I will reach out to someone today.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 16

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey

A woman who is loved always has success.
_________Vicki Baum


Being loved, and knowing that we are loved, assures us of
our connection to the world outside of ourselves. It affirms
us as participants in the bigger picture. And all of us need
to know that we count-that what we say and do matters to
others-that we are contributing in an important way.

Often we feel unloved, however. And we search for love. We
may have begged for love and still didn't feel it. We have
probably become very self-centered in our search. Fortunately,
the program helps us to give love to others; the paradox is that
love is returned, tenfold.

The wonders of love are many. Love is a healing balm for wounds.
And it nurtures, both the one loving and the one loved. Love is an
energizer. It spurs us on to successes in work and in play. Love
multiplies. If we aren't feeling loved, we can love someone else-
and love will visit us, too.

We can help the woman in our lives find the successes they
deserve. The confidence to tackle new situations is packaged in
the gift of love. We need to help one another count.


My love of another is a contributing factor in her
success. Her loving gratitude will enhance my own
endeavors. I will take a moment, today, with a
friend who needs my love.


Each Day a New Beginning - March 17

__________________
The Ego Seeks The Destination
The Soul Seeks The Journey