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Recovery Food

Just For Today

Up Or Down

'This is our road to spiritual growth. We change every day.... This growth is not the result of wishing but of action and prayer.'

Basic Text, p. 35-36

Our spiritual condition is never static; if it's not growing, it's decaying. If we stand still, our spiritual progress will lose its upward momentum. Gradually, our growth will slow, then halt, then reverse itself. Our tolerance will wear thin; our willingness to serve others will wane; our minds will narrow and close. Before long, we'll be right back where we started: in conflict with everyone and everything around us, unable to bear even ourselves.

Our only option is to actively participate in our program of spiritual growth. We pray, seeking knowledge greater than our own from a Power greater than ourselves. We open our minds and keep them open, becoming teachable and taking advantage of what others have to share with us. We demonstrate our willingness to try new ideas and new ways of doing things, experiencing life in a whole new way. Our spiritual progress picks up speed and momentum, driven by the Higher Power we are coming to understand better each day.

Up or down - it's one or the other, with very little in between, where spiritual growth is concerned. Recovery is not fueled by wishing and dreaming, we've discovered, but by prayer and action.

Just for today: The only constant in my spiritual condition is change. I cannot rely on yesterday's program. Today, I seek new spiritual growth through prayer and action.

pg. 238

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Recovery Movies

Recovery Based Movies

Here's a list of recommended videos in Alcoholism and Recovery, chosen by your Guide for their outstanding quality. As a result of a commercial relationship between About.com., its Guides and BigStar.com, these titles can be purchased directly from BigStar.com by following the links below. (Note: BigStar.com is solely responsible for fulfillment of video orders placed through these links.)

28 Days
Perennial good girl Sandra Bullock is surprisingly believable as a party girl in need of a wake-up call.

A Cry for Love
Two educated, successful young people with drug abuse problems fall in love and help each other in their addictions. Susan Blakely and Powers Boothe.

A Woman Under the Influence
An extremely gritty, unsentimental portrait of human existence. Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, Matthew Cassel.

Affliction
A bleak New England tale of a man trying to come to terms with abuse and corruption. Nick Nolte, James Coburn, Sissy Spacek.

Barfly
The besotted adventures of skid-row writer Henry who begins a turbulent yet caring romance with fellow barfly Wanda. Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway.

Clean and Sober
A real-estate salesman whose addiction to drugs and alcohol is destroying his life, reluctantly enters a detoxification program. Michael Keaton.

Come Back, Little Sheba
A boarder stirs seeds of contempt between a housewife and her husband, a washed-up alcoholic doctor. Burt Lancaster, Shirley Booth.

Days of Wine and Roses
A failed public relations flack convinces his wife that the couple that drinks together, stays together. Five Academy Award nominations. Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick.

Days of Wine and Roses
This is the original 1958 "Playhouse 90" production of J.P. Miller's classic drama. With Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie.

Drunks
Dramatizes an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, from beginning to end, as (fictional) characters discuss their bout with the bottle. Richard Lewis, Faye Dunaway.

I'll Cry Tomorrow
The life of Broadway's Lillian Roth, who sank into alcoholism and then recovered. Best Actress Nomination, Susan Hayward.

I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can
A potent and timely drama dealing with a professional woman's efforts to rid herself of her destructive dependency on tranquilizers. Jill Clayburgh

Leaving Las Vegas
An alcoholic movie executive decides to drive to Las Vegas and commit suicide by drinking himself to death. Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue.

Less Than Zero
Drama about the wealthy, nihilistic, and drug-using young adults of Los Angeles. Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey, Jr.

M.A.D.D.
A grieving mother takes on a seemingly uncaring judicial system in this emotional movie based on the true story of Candy Lightner, the founder of M.A.D.D. Mariette Hartley

My Name is Bill W.
In his Emmy Award-winning performance, James Woods gives an unforgettably moving portrayal of Bill Wilson, founder of A.A. JoBeth Williams as Lois.

One for the Road
Michael Madsen makes his acting debut as an alcoholic who finally hits bottom when his family leaves him, and, in despair, turns to a phone-book preacher for help.

Only When I Laugh
Georgia, who's just spent three months at a clinic for alcoholism, now faces putting her life back together. Marsha Mason, Kristy McNichol, James Coco.

Rush
Undercover narcotics officers, partners who become addicts as they infiltrate the local drug scene. Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Shattered Spirits
An alcoholic causes pain and anguish for himself and his family.. Jason Patric, Martin Sheen, Melinda Dillon.

Stuart Saves His Family
Based on Al Franken's highly successful "Saturday Night Live" skit, "Stuart Saves His Family" is a biting satire about people's dependence on various 12-step programs.

The Lost Weekend
This classic film chronicles three days in the life of an alcoholic writer whose self-destructive binges wreak havoc on his life and loved ones. Best Picture, 1945.

Trees Lounge
An acclaimed, often-comic examination of a 31-year-old, unemployed barfly auto mechanic's pathetic non-existence.

When a Man Loves a Woman
A picture-perfect family is threatened by the wife's dependence on alcohol Andy Garcia, Meg Ryan.

Wired
A film adaptation of Bob Woodward's bestseller "Wired," a biography of comedian/actor John Belushi.

The Twelve Steps		The Twelve Traditions
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptlym admitted it. 11. Sought though prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.		1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity. 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. 3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. 4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole. 5. Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. 6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose. 7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. 8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers. 9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve. 10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy. 11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films. 12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.