Just For Today
Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts
May 30
Loneliness vs. being alone
"Sharing with others keeps us from feeling isolated and alone."
Basic Text, p.81
There is a difference between being alone and being lonely.
Being lonely is a state of the heart, an emptiness that makes us feel sad
and sometimes hopeless. Loneliness is not always alleviated when we enter
into relationships or surround ourselves with others. Some of us are lonely
even in a room full of people. Many of us came to Narcotics Anonymous out of
the desperate loneliness of our addiction. After coming to meetings, we
begin to make new friends, and often our feelings of loneliness ease. But
many of us must contend with loneliness throughout our recovery.
What is the cure for loneliness? The best cure is to begin a relationship
with a Higher Power that can help fill the emptiness of our heart. We find
that when we have a belief in a Higher Power, we never have to feel lonely.
We can be alone more comfortably when we have a conscious contact with a God
of our understanding.
We often find deep fulfillment in our interactions with others as we
progress in our recovery. Yet we also find that, the closer we draw to our
Higher Power, the less we need to surround ourselves with others. We begin
to find a spirit within us that is our constant companion as we continue to
explore and deepen our connection with a Power greater than ourselves. We
realize we are spiritually connected with something bigger than we are.
Just for today: I will take comfort in my conscious contact with a Higher
Power. I am never alone.
Psalm 139
Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down
and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where
I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say
a word, you already know it. You are all around me—in front and in back—and
have put your hand on me. Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I
can understand.
Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I
go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are
there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the
sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me.
I could say, "The darkness will hide me. Let the light around me turn into
night." But even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is as light as
the day; darkness and light are the same to you.
You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother's body. I praise you
because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is
wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took
shape in my mother's body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as
it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before
I was one day old.
God, your thoughts are precious to me. They are so many! If I could count
them, they would be more than all the grains of sand. When I wake up, I am
still with you.
"Is the midnight closing round you?
Are the shadows dark and long?
Ask Him to come close beside you,
And He'll give you a new, sweet song.
He'll give it and sing it with you;
And when weakness lets it down,
He'll take up the broken cadence,
And blend it with His own.
"And many a rapturous minstrel
Among those sons of light,
Will say of His sweetest music
'I learned it in the night.'
And many a rolling anthem,
That fills the Father's home,
Sobbed out its first rehearsal,
In the shade of a darkened room."
"For as long as space endures,
And for as long as living beings remain,
Until then may I, too, abide
To dispel the misery of the world."
~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama~
Peace.
Bill
A Group of Recovering Friends
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BillsPlace/
Footprints and Daily Archive
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8nqeu/BillsPlace/BillsPlaceArchive.html
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My Homepage
http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/haven/index.html
Pics of Family and Friends
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ARNA Album
http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/haven/slideshow/ArnaAlbum/ArnaAlbumTh...
ntro.html
My Music Page
http://www.angelfire.com/music6/sequoian/Welcome.html
MySpace
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Put yourself on my map.
Let me see where you are.
http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellation_map
<http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellation_map&mapid=2215210> &mapid=2215210
Agents of God Montage
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=1895873a7fa75330862d31
<http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=1895873a7fa75330862d31&skin_id=0...
ource=otm&utm_medium=text_url> &skin_id=0&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
My Darlin' Pookie Girl
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=5675896eec82bcc60003e7
<http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=5675896eec82bcc60003e7&skin_id=6...
_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url>
&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
Bill's Place at Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/billebud
Music Bill Likes
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This is a list of applications that your group is subscribed to.
If you decide to use the map to show where you're from I suggest you use
"000 No Street" in the Street field.
Please use the "Birthdays" app for Clean dates.
Address <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BillsPlace/app/addressbook> Book
A dynamic, online address book that allows group members to stay in touch.
Birthdays <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BillsPlace/app/birthdays>
See a birthday list for your group.
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View and contribute to a list of the group's favorite Favorite 12 Step
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See where other group members live and share where you are from. But only
share as much as you are comfortable with.
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Ask questions, provide answers
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