September 30

”Service is the rent we pay to be living. It is the very purpose of life and not something to do in your spare time.” Marian Wright Edelman

I know for a fact that most of my life has been spent wondering how I can get what I want. It centered on looking to get what I felt I deserved or what was owed to me. It was certainly not focused on what I had to give, on how I was able to share of myself with others. No, I was very self-centered and concerned first and foremost with my own needs. The thing is, I am not more important that anyone else in this world. The universe does not owe me what I want or desire. My Higher Power certainly has a plan for my life, but it’s not to hand over everything I ask for on a silver platter. Recovery is teaching me that my life is meant to be about service, about looking at what I can do for others. The culmination of the Steps is the 12th, focused on “carrying the message to others” – in other words being of service. I was privileged enough to get a second chance, which obligates me to spread the word and find ways to help others have the same opportunity. Service, like working my program, is not something I do like a job from 9-5, but needs to integrate into the new person I have become.

Affirmation I will seek ways to serve others today, whether in relation to my 12-Step work, or simply as another human being, here to share my talents with those around me.

March 5

”Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” Danny Thomas

Some of the changes I have seen in myself since I have been in recovery seem so simple that in retrospect I cannot fathom how it took me over 25 years to recognize the error of my ways. I think one of the most remarkable differences is how I no longer feel like the centre of the universe. It must be like people who used to believe the Earth was the centre of everything until people like Galileo came around and literally rocked their world. Today life is not all about me, and truthfully, it’s much better that way. Another place where I am noticing a change is in my view of love. A pretty touchy subject for most sex addicts, myself included. But I am beginning to realize that love is not about receiving, but about being in the position to give love, to share it with others, without the expectation of anything in return. The simple desire to express the love that I feel within me. What a strange new feeling, instead of grabbing onto any attention that comes my way, I now seek to share things I have discovered within me.

Affirmation Today I can live my new life, be my new self, and share my goodness with others.