In her book Fearless Relationships: Simple Rules for Lifelong Contentment, Karen Casey offers insightful advice on how to heal ourselves and mend our relationships. In this excerpt, Casey explains how improving our relationships involves and includes improving ourselves as well. Growth means accepting responsibility for how we—and our relationships—evolve.

For decades, the book A Program for You: A Guide to the Big Book's Design for Living has helped millions of people understand and apply the Twelve Steps to their lives and find an authentic path to recovery. In this excerpt, the authors ask us to be honest about our "willingness" when it comes to recovery and challenge us to let go of the defects of character that can keep us stuck in old patterns and afraid of the future.

In her book A Woman's Way Through the Twelve Steps, Dr. Stephanie Covington guides readers through the Twelve Step journey through the lens of women's perspective—including her own recovery story. In this excerpt, Covington notes that seeing our patterns doesn't make them change. To do that we need to learn how to let them go.

In his book Twelve Step Sponsorship: How It Works, author and sponsor Hamilton B. writes for both sponsors and sponsees about how to work the Steps together. In this excerpt he explores the heart of Step Six: whether we're ready to have our Higher Power take away the defects of character that we identified in Step Four and that we admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being in Step Five.

In their book, Drop the Rock: Removing Character Defects Bill P and Todd W study Steps Six and Seven. This excerpt focuses on Step Six, in which we "became willing to ask God to help us remove our defects of character."

A pair of short meditations selected from late May entries in two of Hazelden Publishing's popular meditation series of books: A Life of My Own and Today I Will Do One Thing. Today's Meditation Monday selections invite us to seek and find emotional support for our recovery.

In her book Conscious Service: Ten Ways to Reclaim Your Calling, Move beyond Burnout, and Make a Difference without Sacrificing Yourself, Elizabeth Bishop offers practical tools for self-connection and self-care. In this excerpt, she describes how to build supportive relationships before we need them. Tapping the insights and support of "Safe Sounding Boards" can help us navigate difficult situations without losing our cool or threatening our recovery.

A pair of short meditations selected from late May entries in two of Hazelden Publishing's popular meditation series of books: A Day at a Time and If You Leave Me, Can I Come with You? Today's Meditation Monday selections challenge us to reach out when we need help and stay honest about reality in what we say and do.

In his book Passages Through Recovery: An Action Plan for Preventing Relapse, Terence Gorski describes six stages of challenge we face in moving from active addiction to sobriety. This excerpt offers a seven-step method for managing stress and solving problems during the stabilization stage of recovery.

A pair of short meditations selected from mid-May entries in two of Hazelden Publishing's classic meditation series of books: Day by Day and Twenty-Four Hours a Day. Today's Meditation Monday selections invite us to cultivate patience, learn to avoid overreacting, and share the load with others.