“It has been said that prayer is talking to God and meditation is listening to God.”

– Life with Hope, third edition, page 54

I tried to meditate 25 years ago on the dirty carpet of a church basement next to a noisy breathing fellow. I operated for the next 25 years believing that meditation was not for me. After a six year relapse that brought me to the depths of isolation from others—and especially God—I threw myself into my program of recovery, willing to do anything my sponsor suggested.

I am so grateful to have come to meditation again. I started by attending the amazing meditation meetings in my district. I found that when I focused on my breathing and let my thoughts come and go without fixating on them, a quietness or stillness came to me. I had tried to achieve this state by using marijuana, but it never quite worked. I avail myself of guided meditations online, some are as brief as three minutes. Gradually I am learning to find that state without these tools, but I am so grateful to have the help.

Now, as a daily practice and particularly in times of stress, I have access to quieting my mind, releasing anxiety, and listening for my right path. Marijuana slowed me down mentally, but it didn’t ease the incessant chatter and doubt that blocked me from my Higher Power. Finding the still, small voice that has always been there for me helps me be more compassionate to myself and others as we walk through this life.

Final thought: Today, I cultivate more loving relationships by sitting in stillness with my Higher Power.