02/03 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
The Program enables us to discover two roadblocks that keep us from seeing the value and comfort of the spiritual approach: self-justification and self-righteousness.  The first grimly assures me that I'm always right.  The second mistakenly comforts me with the delusion that I'm better than other people -- "holier than thou."  JUST FOR TODAY, WILL I PAUSE ABRUPTLY WHILE RATIONALIZING AND ASK MYSELF, "WHY AM I DOING THIS? IS THIS SELF-JUSTIFICATION REALLY HONEST?"

TODAY I PRAY
May I overcome the need to be "always right" and know the cleansing feeling of release that comes with admitting, openly, a mistake.  May I be wary of setting myself up as an example of self-control and fortitude, and give credit where it is due -- to a Higher Power.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
To err is human, but I need to admit it.

02/02 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
Looking back, I realize just how much of my life has been spent in dwelling upon the faults of others.  It provided much self-satisfaction, to be sure, but I see now just how subtle and actually perverse the process became.  After all was said and done, the net effect of dwelling on the so-called faults of others was self-granted permission to remain comfortably unaware of my own defects.  DO I STILL POINT MY FINGER AT OTHERS AND THUS SELF-DECEPTIVELY OVERLOOK MY OWN SHORTCOMINGS?

TODAY I PRAY
May I see that my preoccupation with the faults of others is really a smokescreen to keep me from taking a hard look at my own, as well as a way to bolster my own failing ego.  May I check out the "why's" of my blaming.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
Blame-saying
Is game-playing

02/01 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
The longer I'm in The Program, the more clearly I see why it's important for me to understand why I do what I do, and say what I say.  In the process, I'm coming to realize what kind of person I really am.  I see now, for example, that it's for easier to be honest with other people than with myself.  I'm learning, also, that we're all hampered by our need to justify our actions and words.  HAVE I TAKEN AN INVENTORY OF MYSELF AS SUGGESTED IN THE TWELVE STEPS?  HAVE I ADMITTED MY FAULTS TO MYSELF, TO GOD, AND TO ANOTHER HUMAN BEING?

TODAY I PRAY
May I not be stalled in my recovery process by the enormity of The Program's Fourth Step, taking a moral inventory of myself, or by admitting these shortcomings to myself, to God and to another human being.  May I know that honesty to myself about myself is all-important.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
I cannot mend if I bend the truth.

01/29 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
I used to imagine my life as a grotesque abstract painting: a montage of crises framed by end-upon-end catastrophes.  My days all were grey and my thoughts greyer still.  I was haunted by dread and nameless fears.  I was filled with self-loathing.  I had no idea who I was, what I was, or why I was.   I miss none of those feelings.  Today, step by step, I am discovering myself and learning that I can be free to be me.  AM I GRATEFUL FOR MY NEW LIFE?  HAVE I TAKEN THE TIME TO THANK GOD TODAY FOR THE FACT THAT I AM CLEAN AND SOBER -- AND ALIVE?

TODAY I PRAY
May calm come to me after the turmoil and nightmares of the past.  As my fears and self-hatred dissipate, may the things of the spirit replace them.  For in the spiritual world, as in the material world, there is no empty space.  May I be filled with the spirit of my Higher Power.

TODAY I WILL REMEMBER
Morning scatters nightmares.