Buddhism & the Twelve Steps
DAILY REFLECTIONS
Preface
Introduction
January 1“Keep Coming Back”
January 2 “Keep Coming Back…to the Breath”
January 3 “Powerless”
January 4 “Wanting recovery”
January 5 “Hitting bottom”
January 6 “The First Noble Truth”
January 7 “Powerless over thoughts”
January 8 “Mindfulness and Denial”
January 9 “Surrender and Unmanageability”
January 10 “Breathing in, breathing out”
January 11 “Relapse”
January 12 “Fear of Change”
January 13 “Not helpless”
January 14 “Thirst: the Second Noble Truth”
January 15 “Right View”
January 16 “Denial”
January 17 “A Moment of Clarity”
January 18 “Identity”
January 19 “Counting breaths”
January 20 “Right Intention”
January 21 “Lovingkindness”
January 22 “Cost-Benefit”
January 23 “Sila”
January 24 “Triggers: HALT”
January 25 “Triggers: Family”
January 26 “Triggers: Intimate Relationships”
January 27 “Triggers: Work”
January 28 “Hindrances”
January 29 “Antidote to Desire: Disenchantment”
January 30 “Body Scan”
January 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
February 1 “Came to believe”
February 2 “The Third Noble Truth: Suffering Can End”
February 3 “Sitting”
February 4 “Restored to Sanity”
February 5 “The Hindrances: Skeptical Doubt”
February 6 “Persistence”
February 7 “Attitudes of Mindfulness: Non-Judging”
February 8 “Karma and Change”
February 9 “Impermanence”
February 10 “Mindful Self-Compassion”
February 11 “The Phenomenon of Craving”
February 12 “Two Benefits of Mindfulness”
February 13 “Breaking Down the Breath”
February 14 “Love”
February 15 “Disaster Thinking”
February 16 “Control”
February 17 “Faithless”
February 18 “The Power of Faith”
February 19 “Dharma”
February 20 Spacious Mind: Hearing”
February 21 “Don’t Know”
February 22 “Restored”
February 23 “Daily Recollections: Aging”
February 24 “Good Enough”
February 25 “Training the Body”
February 26 “Working with Difficult Sensations”
February 27 Exploring Sensations”
February 28 “Spiritual Awakening”
February 29 “Leap Year”
March 1 “Turning it over”
March 2 “Acceptance”
March 3 “Our will”
March 4 “…and our lives”
March 5 “The Practice of Letting Go”
March 6 “Making a Decision”
March 7 “The Higher Power of Dharma”
March 8 “Not Unhappy”
March 9 “Training the Mind”
March 10 “Understanding God”
March 11 “Beginner’s Mind”
March 12 “Refuge in Buddha”
March 13 “Refuge in Dharma”
March 14 “Refuge in Sangha”
March 15 “Loving-kindness: Dear Ones”
March 16 “Clinging”
March 17 “Relapse”
March 18 “Recovery from Relapse”
March 19 “Emotional Karma”
March 20 “The Power of Non-Doing”
March 21 “Deepening Our Practice”
March 22 “Deepening Our Recovery”
March 23 “Attitudes of Mindfulness: Patience“
March 24 “Tracking”
March 25 “Honesty”
March 26 “Open-mindedness”
March 27 “Willingness”
March 28 “Depression”
March 29 “Smile”
March 30 “Commitment”
March 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
April 1 “Buddhist Inventory”
April 2 “The First Precept”
April 3 “Forgiveness Practice: Ourselves”
April 4 “The First Hindrance: Desire”
April 5 “The Second Precept”
April 6 “Awakening Factors: Mindfulness”
April 7 “Meditative Inventory”
April 8 “The Second Hindrance: Aversion”
April 9 “Antidote to Aversion: Loving-kindness”
April 10 “Paramitas: Generosity”
April 11 “Daily Recollections: Sickness”
April 12 “Noting”
April 13 “Awakening Factors: Investigation”
April 14 “The Third Precept”
April 15 “Living with Our Sexuality”
April 16 “Feeling Feelings”
April 17 “Feeling Impermanence”
April 18 “Self-Care”
April 19 “Hang In”
April 20 “Third Hindrance: Sloth and Torpor”
April 21 “Balancing Energy”
April 22 “Inventory as Trigger”
April 23 “Forgiveness: Others”
April 24 “Hindrances: Restlessness”
April 25 “Antidotes to Restlessness”
April 26 “Meditating in the Body not the Mind”
April 27 “The Fifth Precept”
April 28 “A Buddhist Glass of Wine”
April 29 “The Gift We Give”
April 30 “Spiritual Awakening”
May 1 “Self-revealing”
May 2 “Speaking the truth”
May 3 “In a Timely Manner”
May 4 “Useful and Kind”
May 5 “Mindful Speech”
May 6 “Meditating Together”
May 7 “Sharing Inventory”
May 8 “Mindful Listening”
May 9 “Listening to Inventory”
May 10 “Noting Desire and Aversion”
May 11 “Habitual Thoughts of Desire and Aversion”
May 12 “Fourth Precept”
May 13 “Harsh Speech”
May 14 “Saccharine Speech”
May 15 “Relative and Universal Truth”
May 16 “Easy to Admonish”
May 17 “Compassion for All Beings”
May 18 “Working with Anger”
May 19 “Internally and Externally”
May 20 “Looking Good”
May 21 “Back to Basics”
May 22 “Sinking Mind”
May 23 “Interrupting the Karmic Flow”
May 24 “Stepping Outside”
May 25 “Advice”
May 26 “Meetings are Meditation”
May 27 “Sharing Meditation with Others”
May 28 “Limits of Sharing”
May 29 “Breaking Anonymity”
May 30 “Self-judgment”
May 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
June 1 “Who Removes What?”
June 2 “Whose Defects?”
June 3 “What Defects?”
June 4 “Ready or Not”
June 5 “Intention to Change”
June 6 “Getting Ready: Feeling”
June 7 “Breathing with Feeling”
June 8 “Depressed about Depression”
June 9 “Right Livelihood”
June 10 “There Is a Body”
June 11 “Loving-kindness: The Neutral Person”
June 12 “Challenges to Loving-kindness”
June 13 “We Are Not saints”
June 14 “Naming Feelings”
June 15 “Embracing Joy”
June 16 “Embracing Fun”
June 17 “Fear of Change”
June 18 “Who Am I?
June 19 “Probing Self”
June 20 “Radiating Energy”
June 21 “Wounds”
June 22 “Holding Our Wounds”
June 23 “Repeatedly”
June 24 “Efforting”
June 25 “Wings”
June 26 “Living the Steps”
June 27 “Attitudes of Mindfulness: Letting Go”
June 28 “Exploring Difficult Sensations in Meditation”
June 29 “Working with Others’ Pain”
June 30 “Spiritual Awakening”
July 1 “How Do I Let Go?”
July 2 “Right View to Let Go”
July 3“Humbly”
July 4 “Interdependence Day”
July 5 “Intention and Renunciation”
July 6 “Letting Go of Self”
July 7 “Standing Meditation”
July 8 “Beseeching the Law of Karma”
July 9 “A New Life”
July 10 “Too Much Letting Go”
July 11 “The Momentum of Desire”
July 12 “Karma and the Precepts”
July 13 “Elements of Cultivating Meditation”
July 14 “Sitting Like a Mountain, Melting Like Snow”
July 15 “How We Let Go: Mindfulness”
July 16 “How We Let Go: Concentration”
July 17 “How We Let Go: Love”
July 18 “How We Let Go: Contemplation”
July 19 “The Karma of Thoughts”
July 20 “Dis-identifying with Thoughts”
July 21 Letting Go of Thoughts: Replacing”
July 22 “Letting Go of Thoughts: Seeing the Danger”
July 23 “Letting Go of Thoughts: Calming”
July 24 “Equanimity”
July 25 “Freedom”
July 26 “Perfection”
July 27 “Letting Thoughts Come and Go”
July 28 “Energy and Mindfulness”
July 29 “Energy and Health”
July 30 “Daily Kindness”
July 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
August 1 “The List”
August 2 “Willingness”
August 3 “Practicing with Preferences”
August 4 “The Harm”
August 5 “Harming Ourselves”
August 6 “The End of Isolation”
August 7 “Attachment to Dear Ones”
August 8 “Willing to Forgive”
August 9 “Holding on to the Past”
August 10 “Arousing Positive Energy”
August 11 “Not-self”
August 12 “Your Many Selves”
August 13 “Calming Breath”
August 14 “The Feeling Self”
August 15 “EcoDharma”
August 16 “Practice: Metta for the Earth”
August 17 Right Effort: Avoiding”
August 18 “Right Effort: Abandoning”
August 19 “Right Effort: Cultivating”
August 20 “Right Effort: Maintaining”
August 21 “Maintaining Recovery”
August 22 “Wounds”
August 23 “Feeling Fear”
August 24 “Naming vs. Non-naming”
August 25 “Naming Our Condition”
August 26 “The Practice of Non-naming”
August 27 “Thoughts Aren’t Facts”
August 28 “Do Addicts Fit into the Buddhist Community?”
August 29 “Love, Love, Love”
August 30 “More on the Fifth Precept”
August 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
September 1 “Making Amends”
September 2 “Wherever Possible”
September 3 “Injuring Them or Others”
September 4 “Buddhism and Amends”
September 5 “Asking Forgiveness”
September 6 “Our Side of the Street”
September 7 “Not a Theory”
September 8 “Painstaking”
September 9 “Do Not Be Bothered”
September 10 “A New Freedom”
September 11 “A New Happiness”
September 12 “Not Regret the Past”
September 13 “Knowing Peace”
September 14 “Our Experience Can Benefit Others”
September 15 “Uselessness and Self-Pity”
September 16 “Gaining Interest in Others”
September 17 “Compassion for Those Who Do Harm”
September 18 “Amends for Ourselves”
September 19 “The Practice of Amends to Ourselves”
September 20 “Fear of People”
September 21 “Fear of Economic Insecurity”
September 22 “Intuition”
September 23“What We Could Not Do for Ourselves”
September 24 “Healing the World”
September 25 “Refresher”
September 26 “Looking Up”
September 27 “Attitudes of Mindfulness: Acceptance”
September 28 “Routine”
September 29 “Retreat”
September 30 “Spiritual Awakening”
October 1 “Continuing Inventory”
October 2 “Promptly”
October 3 “Self-Reflection”
October 4 “Balanced Inventory”
October 5 “Maintenance”
October 6 “Keep It Simple”
October 7 “Daily Practice Inventory”
October 8 “Stale”
October 9 “Fresh”
October 10 “Showing Up”
October 11 “Able to Be Irritated”
October 12 “The Cycle of Depression”
October 13 “Identifying with the Body”
October 14 “Mudita: Sympathetic Joy”
October 15 “Daily Review”
October 16 “Meeting Deep Suffering”
October 17 “Elements of Self-Care”
October 18 “Inventory Risks”
October 19 “Metta: The Difficult Person”
October 20 “Risks of Meditation”
October 21 “Why Am I Doing This?”
October 22 “Not-Self”
October 23 “Mantra Meditation”
October 24 Domestic Harmony”
October 25 “An Archetypal Path: Steps 1-3”
October 26 “An Archetypal Path: Steps 4-7”
October 27 “An Archetypal Path: Steps 8-9“
October 28 “An Archetypal Path: Steps 10-12“
October 29 “Friends”
October 30 “Sickness, Old Age, and Death”
October 31 “Spiritual Awakening”
November 1 “Sought”
November 2 “What Is Meditation?”
November 3 “What Is Prayer?”
November 4 “Conscious Contact”
November 5 “As We Understood It”
November 6 “The Will of God”
November 7 “Power”
November 8 “Choiceless Awareness”
November 9 “The Experience of Insight”
November 10 “The Steps Through Meditation: One, Two, and Three”
November 11 “The Steps Through Meditation: Four and Five”
November 12 “The Steps Through Meditation: Six and Seven”
November 13 “The Steps Through Meditation: Eight, Nine, and Ten”
November 14 “The Steps Through Meditation: Twelve”
November 15 “Challenges of Meditation: Stillness”
November 16 “Challenges of Meditation: Rushing Thoughts”
November 17 “Challenges of Meditation: Anxiety”
November 18 “Challenges of Meditation: Boredom”
November 19 “The Habits of Mind”
November 20 “The Spirit of Recovery”
November 21 “Keep Going”
November 22 “Outside Issues”
November 23 “The Next Right Thing”
November 24 “Being a Friend”
November 25 “Attitudes of Mindfulness: Non-identification”
November 26 “Perspective”
November 27 “Meditation Is Not a Recovery Program”
November 28 “The Practice of Study”
November 29 “Heir to My Karma”
November 30 “Spiritual Awakening”
December 1 “Spiritual Awakening”
December 2 “As the Result”
December 3 “Carrying the Message”
December 4 “Carrying the Dharma”
December 5 Principles: Honesty”
December 6 “Principles: Faith”
December 7 “Principles: Willingness”
December 8 “Principles: Humility”
December 9 “Principles: Service”
December 10 “Meditation Ritual”
December 11 “All Our Affairs”
December 12 “The Allure of Pleasure”
December 13 “Unworthy”
December 14 “The Spiritual Foundation”
December 15 “Morality and Compassion”
December 16 “The Effort of Showing Up”
December 17 “Mental Purification”
December 18 “Holiday Relapse”
December 19 “All Those Thoughts”
December 20 “Decisions, Decisions”
December 21 “Principles before Personalities”
December 22 “Ghosts”
December 23 “The Good News”
December 24 “Holy Days”
December 25 “Generosity”
December 26 “Staying on Track”
December 27 “Mood Swings”
December 28 “Having Fun”
December 29 “No Matter What”
December 30 “Looking Back”
December 31“Looking Ahead”