As Psychedelics in Recovery is inclusive to many varieties of recovery, the following are different prayers and meditations that some of our members have found to be useful in their various recovery paths.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Dear Lord, I admit that I am powerless over alcohol. I admit that my life is unmanageable when I try to control it. Help me this day to understand the true meaning of powerlessness. Remove from me all denial of my alcoholism. Amen.
AA First Step Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Serenity Prayer Short Form
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Serenity Prayer Long Form-Reinhold Niebuhr
courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference,
living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time;
taking this world as it is and not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.
God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!
AA Third Step Prayer
My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good & bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you & my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here to do Your bidding.
AA Seventh Step Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Eleventh Step Prayer – Often attributed to St Francis but actually from the 1800s
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Lords Prayer
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
Dr Bobs Prayer
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.
Tradition 2 prayer
Higher Power. I understand that you make your voice heard in a group conscience. I ask you to remind
me that the life of my program and, therefore, my own recovery depends upon my willingness to put the group’s welfare above my own will. Where I disagree with the common view of my fellows in service allow me to state my case honestly and respectfully. Allow me to listen to and consider the views of others. May I state my view and support all group decisions, including the ones I might disagree with. Your will, not mine, be done.
God, please help me set aside everything I think I know about myself, my addictions, the 12 steps, the big book (recovery) and especially you; So that I may have an open mind and a new experience of all these things. Please let me see the truth.
Set Aside Prayer
Narcotics Anonymous
Take my will and my life, guide me in my recovery, show me how to live.
NA Third Step Prayer
Debtors/Underearners Anonymous
Dear God, I surrender my financial affairs and money concerns to your Divine care and love. I ask that you remove my worries, anxieties, and fears about money and replace them with faith. I pray to know that abundance and prosperity are my true state of being. I have only to look to nature to see proof of the abundance you provide. Help me to be grateful for all that I now have in my life and be willing and able to learn to manage my finances wisely and to seek help where needed. And finally, I ask you to help me understand my purpose in life and to act on that purpose with courage and strength by doing work I love. Please help me use my skills and knowledge to be of service in the world.
Financial Prayer
Thank you, Higher Power for helping me realize Thy Will, not mine, be done.
Eastern/Buddhist/Recovery Dharma/Refuge Recovery
May I be serene, accepting those things I cannot change: the Four Noble Truths, impermanence, dependent origination, not-self, and past karma. May I be courageous, changing those things I can by being mindful in the present moment so that my thoughts, words, and actions will bring greater joy and not harm myself or others now or in the future. May I be wise, knowing the difference between skillful and unskillful action.
Buddhist Serenity Prayer
Give me energy for my heart to turn to the spiritual. Give me energy for the spiritual to become a way. Give me energy for this way to dispel confusion. Give me energy for confusion to arise as wisdom.
Gampopa – 12th century Tibetan master
Native American/Indigenous Peoples/Wellbriety
Oh Great Spirit whose voice in the winds I hear, And whose breath gives life to all the world- Hear me.
Great Spirit Prayer – –Mitakuye Oyasin
Before you I come One of your many children. I am small & weak. Your strength & wisdom I need.
Let me walk in beauty & make my eyes ever behold the sunset. Make my heart respect all You have made, & my ears sharp to hear Your voice. Make me wise that I may know all You have taught my people, The lessons You have hidden in every rock. I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy – myself. Make me ready to stand before You with clean & straight eyes, So when life fades as the fading sunset, may my spirit stand before You without shame.
ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics or Dysfunction)
I put my hand in yours, and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness. No longer must we each depend upon our own unsteady will power. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than ours.
ACA Closing Prayer
General/Unspecified Prayers
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will
Thomas Merton Prayer
does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.