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angelov8


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daily meditation and prayer
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Hi everyone,

I'm wanting to add daily (or hourly) meditation and prayer to my step work.  I already do this some without specific words, but I'm feeling that a conscious and focused effort would be helpful.  There's a prayer in the Eleventh step, 12X12,  which I came across while reading my for step work.  It's a little long, and I find I keep thinking about whether I resonate with every line or not.  I have a tendency to analyze and think too much.  Any suggestions? 
The prayer really helps with daily irritations and moodiness.  I was reading about some poems and prayers from Rumi,  about the dissolution of self.  The actual prayers aren't quoted in the article I have.  I feel open to prayers or poems that come from any background or religion.  In meetings last week someone talked about a third step prayer they recite regularly-couldn't find that in 12X12 or BB.
Any ideas or resources or experiences are appreciated,

Angelov8

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SoberSteve


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Please post the prayer in the eleventh step, Im new and have no resources yet, thanks.. where can I get the big AA book and the others etc?

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God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

 

 
jj


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Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi
The Prayer of St.Francis of Assisi is affectionately known as The Eleventh Step Prayer as it appears in the book "12 Steps and 12 Traditions" in the reading for the eleventh step.
It apparently dates from the early part of the 20th century. It was found in Normandy in 1915, written on the back of a holy card of St. Francis. The version that follows is from the "12 and 12"
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace!
That where there is hatred,
I may bring love.
That where there is wrong,
I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
That where there is discord,
I may bring harmony.
That where there is error,
I may bring truth.
That where there is doubt,
I may bring faith.
That where there is despair,
I may bring hope.
That where there are shadows,
I may bring light.
That where there is sadness,
I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort,
than to be comforted.
To understand,
than to be understood.
To love,
than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.


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jj


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THIRD STEP PRAYER used by Dr. Bob

Dear God,
I'm sorry about the mess I've made of my life.
I want to turn away from all the wrong things I've ever done and all the wrong things I've ever been. Please forgive me for it all.
I know You have the power to change my life and can turn me into a winner. Thank You, God for getting my attention long enough to interest me in trying it Your way.
God, please take over the management of my life and everything about me. I am making this conscious decision to turn my will and my life over to Your care and am asking You to please take over all parts of my life.
Please, God, move into my heart. However You do it is Your business, but make Yourself real inside me and fill my awful emptiness. Fill me with your love and Holy Spirit and make me know Your will for me. And now, God, help Yourself to me and keep on doing it. I'm not sure I want You to, but do it anyhow.
I rejoice that I am now a part of Your people, that my uncertainty is gone forever, and that You now have control of my will and my life. Thank You and I praise Your name. Amen.



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cajunhorn


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jj wrote:

 

"THIRD STEP PRAYER used by Dr. Bob

Dear God,
I'm sorry about the mess I've made of my life.
I want to turn away from all the wrong things I've ever done and all the wrong things I've ever been. Please forgive me for it all.
I know You have the power to change my life and can turn me into a winner. Thank You, God for getting my attention long enough to interest me in trying it Your way.
God, please take over the management of my life and everything about me. I am making this conscious decision to turn my will and my life over to Your care and am asking You to please take over all parts of my life.
Please, God, move into my heart. However You do it is Your business, but make Yourself real inside me and fill my awful emptiness. Fill me with your love and Holy Spirit and make me know Your will for me. And now, God, help Yourself to me and keep on doing it. I'm not sure I want You to, but do it anyhow.
I rejoice that I am now a part of Your people, that my uncertainty is gone forever, and that You now have control of my will and my life. Thank You and I praise Your name. Amen."

 

 

 

I have been looking for that in written form for a while.  Thank you!!!  This will be cut and pasted inside of my Big Book ASAP.  Here's a little meditation that has really helped me over the years to remember this is about experience, not understanding...

 

 

THE FORMULA

The mystic was back from the desert.

Tell us, they said, what God is like.

But how could he ever tell them what he had experienced in his heart?

Can God be put into words?

He finally gave them a formula inaccurate, inadequatein the hope that some

might be tempted to experience it for themselves.

They seized upon the formula. They made it a sacred text. They imposed it on others as

a holy belief. They went to great pains to spread it in foreign lands. Some even gave their

lives for if.

The mystic was sad. It might have been better if he had said nothing.




 



-- Edited by cajunhorn on Wednesday 15th of July 2009 11:12:41 AM

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BLUESMAN


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Hello Angelov8

Third step Prayer in the BB. is on page 63. paragraph 2
There is also a Seven Step Prayer on page 76. paragraph 2 

I  use pages  BB. 86, 87, 88   on awakening  ,, you could use the serenity prayer to. 

Do the best you can it is not about perfection !  i found that if i am Honest ,Openmind, willinig ,,it works best ,,,goodluck to you


Russell smile



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jodylynn010


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The prayer part is me talking to God. A friend of mine told me about lying in the floor and seeing myself sitting next to God on some rocks beside a river and talking with Him as I would an old and trustworthy friend. When we meditate we are "listening."  In the beginning I found it very hard to quiet my mind. It was suggested to me that I stare into the flame of a candle. I still use that. It really helps me get focused and centered and peaceful. 

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Jane05


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Hello jodylynn

The link below is on this board.  It's a long list of prayers, but I use the ones I need for that day.  I'd like to suggest you keep it simple, I've gotten tangled up in trying to get to heavenly high.  no  Speaking of keeping it simple, I can use our slogans as prayer too. wink

Glad to meet you!!!


http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=42735&p=3&topicID=24420236



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angelov8


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Jane05 wrote:

 

Hello jodylynn

The link below is on this board.  It's a long list of prayers, but I use the ones I need for that day.  I'd like to suggest you keep it simple, I've gotten tangled up in trying to get to heavenly high.  no Speaking of keeping it simple, I can use our slogans as prayer too. wink

Glad to meet you!!!


http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=42735&p=3&topicID=24420236

Thanks for posting the link.  I think using slogans as prayers is as simple and straightforward as it gets. Especially in the first few weeks, I found myself repeating a few of those over and over, when I felt the most overcome with discontent.  Now that I think on it, it was kind of like repeating a mantra which I believe is sometimes done purposely  during meditation.  It wouldn't have occurred to me to classify that as prayer.  However,  the wonderful thing about the steps is the openness and flexibility of the prescription.

Well,  I felt inspired to go to the library after my meeting yesterday.  I took out a book on Rumi and discovered that I do like poetry after all.  AA and my HP are leading me in very interesting an satisfying directions for sure.  My step work has unfolded in this amazingly appropriate and connective way.  Hard to explain.

Went looking for spiritual prayers to help with 3rd step.  This is what I found in the poems:  essentially we don't need prayer to be connected to HP, HP is everywhere and in all of us.  Right now, I would describe the  words of prayer as a way to  turn up the volume, so to speak.  I am beginning to "hear" things and what's really crazy is how I managed to get so cut off before because of the alcohol. Of course, like many, I kept thinking it was  about any/everything else.

In a seemingly weird way, I'm hoping that prayer will help me listen to the music that's all around. (Just watched the movie, August Rush, which to me was about how music is what connects people and things on a deep, possibly cellular, level, kind of like what I understand of aboriginal songlines.

See, it's hard for me to express simply, but I really do feel it that way.  Anyway, Nice to meet you too!



 



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joelo


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This prayer can be heard being recited in Dream Theater's opus five song masterpiece "The 12 Step Suite" ... amazing.

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tistahchrehzyunphuctupdaywuzyea
sabby


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Thankyou so much for this topic. I'm a few months back from an 'experiment' and I've been riding a bit of a high, with bags of enthusiasm which has rapidly faded over the last week or so, coinciding with me letting my daily prayer and meditation slip. When I have a conscious ongoing contact with my higher power and dedicated time each day to properly connect, I feel so calm, caring and full of love. But gradually, without this work (and I have also let the meetings slip) I start to feel irritable, and hard done by and thinking of how others have wronged me (cue the violins)!! What's great and thanks to this programme is that I can recognise when this starts to happen and there is a simple solution of what I need to do - just get back into meetings and the programme, share and pray I can be of help to others.



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