Each Day a Renewed Beginning: Meditations for a Peaceful Journey

By Karen Casey

Daily Inspirational Quotes to Help You Find True Peace

“An important reminder of the simple truths which can bring us to a peaceful mind and heart.”—Becca Anderson, author of Prayers For Calm

#1 New Release in Eastern Philosophy, Taoism

Everyone deserves a peaceful journey, regardless of age or gender, religious affiliation, or political preference. With more than 3.5 million copies sold, this beautifully curated collection of daily motivational quotes about life seeks to influence the way you live the next 24 hours. The result of more peaceful days? A more peaceful planet.

Peace is always possible, even in the midst of a storm. By sharing a meditation for each day of the year, author Karen Casey speaks to the common experience, shared struggles, and unique strengths of those who seek support and spiritual growth in recovery. Featuring daily inspirational quotes about finding peace and honoring love, this positive thinking book offers the perfect touchstone at this crucial time in history—a time when millions are seeking quiet moments and mindful meditation.

Today can open the door to a new way of living. Love can be a powerful influence in our lives. It’s the total absence of judgment. It’s pure acceptance. It is the inner voice reminding us that all is well and God is present, right here and right now. The overwhelming peace we feel is all the evidence we need of God’s constancy. The expression of love quiets our minds and we are flooded with inner peace. How much gentler our lives would be if we dispensed with all expressions but love. But we don’t live in a world that truly values peace. What if we can turn away from constant judgment and offer love instead, in every situation?

If you’re looking for inspirational books, mindful gifts, quotes about thinking positive, or mindfulness books for adults—or enjoyed books like A Year of Positive Thinking and 5-Minute Daily Meditations—then you’ll love Each Day a Renewed Beginning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781642505672

Karen Casey

Karen Casey has sold over 3 million books that draw upon meditations, motivations, and religion to guide and support women throughout the world. Based in Minneapolis since 1964, Casey is an elementary school teacher turned Ph.D. Casey published the first of twenty-eight books, Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women, with Hazelden Publishing in 1982. Casey has spoken to tens of thousands world-wide over her forty years as a writer. Through each new experience, her gratitude and commitment grow to continue doing what brings joy to her life. Additional notable works from Karen Casey include 52 Ways to Live the Course in Miracles: Cultivate a Simpler, Slower, More Love-Filled Life, Let Go Now: Embrace Detachment as a Path to Freedom, and A Life of My Own: Meditations on Hope and Acceptance.

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Praise for Each Day a Renewed Beginning

An important reminder of the simple truths which can bring us to a peaceful mind and heart.

—Becca Anderson, author of Prayers for Calm

"Karen Casey is a wise woman, writing more than twenty books based on her own experiences, including her long-time spiritual practices with the 12 steps and A Course in Miracles. Her writing and her speaking have affected millions of lives. As she became older, she shared with us her own trials and stresses and offered ways to stay centered in the present. As the world seemed to become crazier and crazier, she offered a still place to breathe and make good decisions about what we could control and how we can do it."

—Jan Johnson, Publisher Emerita Conari Press

Each Day

a Renewed

Beginning

Meditations for a Peaceful Journey

Karen Casey

Coral Gables

Copyright © 2021 by Karen Casey

Published by Conari Press an imprint of Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Gabrielle Mechaber

Layout & Design: Morgane Leoni

Cover Photo: © wittybear / Adobe Stock

Interior Flowers Illustrations: © airmel / Adobe Stock

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Each Day a Renewed Beginning: Meditations for a Peaceful Journey

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2021934476

ISBN: (p) 978-1-64250-566-5, (e) 978-1-64250-567-2

BISAC category code PHI023000, PHILOSOPHY / Taoist

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Closing Thoughts

About the Author

Foreword

There is a saying attributed to many different people that the days go slow and the years go fast. That may well be true, and sometimes it might be the other way around. But the real truth is that in recovery, in living each day, even each hour, there is no time but the present time. And there is no one who is responsible for how we live those days and hours except ourselves.

Many years ago, Karen Casey wrote a book called Each Day a New Beginning. That book has helped thousands, maybe millions, of people since. It’s a book to turn to every day—when we’re trying to live in the present, trying to deal with our daily lives without creating blame, drama, or more stress. One of the first daily meditation books of its kind, it has become a classic.

I first met Karen shortly after Each Day a New Beginning was published. We became work friends, as the line of books she was publishing (and for some of them, also writing) was being copublished by the publisher where I was the editorial director. Every time I spoke with Karen in those early days, I felt more centered and grounded. And so often I took away a practical piece of wisdom or a small practice that improved my daily life.

Karen Casey is a wise woman who has written more than twenty books based on her own experiences, including her long-time spiritual practices with the 12 steps and A Course in Miracles. Her writing and her speaking have affected millions of lives. As she became older, she shared with us her own trials and stresses and offered ways to stay centered in the present. As the world seemed to become crazier and crazier, she offered a still place to breathe and make good decisions about what we could control and how we can do it.

When I was the publisher at Conari Press, I was privileged with the opportunity to edit and publish several of Karen’s books, including All We Have Is, All We Need—even that title makes me pay attention. Or Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, what a concept!

Karen Casey has been one of the wise women of my life, and with Each Day a Renewed Beginning, she continues in that role for me and I trust for you—for all of us who value a simple and profound daily practice that can bring us sanity and peace, teach us our own worth, and help us go out into the world to make it a better place in myriad daily ways. Most of all, her words teach us to live in the moment of our days, whatever they may bring.

—Jan Johnson,

Publisher Emerita, Conari Press

Introduction

What a thrill it is to be greeting you from the pages of another meditation book, one of a dozen meditation books I have written since I walked through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous in 1976. My first daily book, Each Day a New Beginning, was for women in 12-step recovery. It was penned in 1981; over the intervening years, I have written several additional books dealing with myriad life struggles, and I have had many. But the meditation genre called to me again in 2020 in this time of Covid. My own quarantine became the perfect opportunity to seek the voice of God and find the solace I so desperately needed. What you now hold is the culmination of that precious time away with God.

Writing has always been how I best communicated with God, regardless of the kind of book I was called to write. But in this most recent endeavor, being called to write specifically about the peaceful journey, how to cultivate it and then maintain it, has kept me in a place of quiet gratitude and daily well-being. And that’s what I needed more than anything else. I hope this book offers peace and a sense of well-being to you as well when you open it each day for a few quiet minutes away.

My own journey with God hasn’t always been easy. I didn’t grow up in a family that had a formal religious or spiritual practice. The occasional Sunday morning at church more or less covered it. And when we gathered with the extended family for a holiday meal, an oftentimes drunk uncle said a meandering grace before we passed the potatoes. I had no idea what I was missing out on, that is, until I came into the rooms of recovery where I was guided to find a connection to a Higher Power.

I wasn’t at all sure at that time that developing a relationship with a God of my understanding was feasible, let alone desirable. What others seemed so eager and able to do escaped me, and I struggled. My struggle wasn’t to stay sober but to stay calm and trusting that I was on the right path and all was well. Others fervently tried to give me what they had, but to no avail. It wasn’t until I lived through a failed attempt at suicide that I began to feel the presence of the God who had always been there. And then we began our connection through the written word, one that wholly sustains me when I turn my attention in His direction each day.

I find it interesting the measures to which God is willing to go to get our attention. I surely don’t mean to imply that God initiated the suicide attempt, but He interrupted me in its midst when He sent Pat, a woman I had never seen before, to my door. Her words were the turning point for me. And my life began to include God in a way that had never before been true. However, my conversations were often tucked in the middle of the words I happened to be writing. I’ve never doubted that God chose this path as the right one for me. And thirty-one books later, He has continued to choose it.

It has occurred to me on many occasions that my inability to have children was part and parcel of the work that has been my life. I have birthed thirty-one children. And each one was as special as the one preceding it. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that I have been as proud of my books as a mother is of her children, but I do know that each one has felt quite miraculous to me. Indeed, God does work in mysterious ways.

I’m not sure what your approach to reading a daily meditation book is, but there are no wrong ways to do it. Opening the book at random is what some prefer to do. Starting by reading the messages on those special days in one’s life, like birthdays, anniversaries, or significant past and future events appeals to some who have written to me over the years. Read it however makes the most sense to you. Reading the same favored, comforting message over and over is also quite appropriate. Help with finding peace however you can is what this book hopes to offer you.

I do believe we are all called to fulfill specific tasks in this life. I am thrilled that mine has been as a writer. From the first book, up to and including this one, I knew I was answering God’s call. It’s my hope that you will find as much solace in the reading of these daily meditations as I did in the writing of them. We all deserve peace of mind. We all deserve to live free of doubt. We all deserve to know that God is walking every step of our journey with us. And we all deserve to live free of fear every moment of every day. Those are the intentions of this book. May you experience each of them daily.

May love and joy fill your peaceful heart from this day forward.

—Karen

May, 2021

We are always in the right place at the right time.

What a comforting idea this is; it’s one I cherish and repeat to myself often. Most of us reading this have perhaps grown accustomed to this idea, but there are days in our lives when we simply need to remember it again. Repeat it often. And share the idea with others so that we keep it uppermost in our minds.

Why is it that we so frequently forget the tiny, profound ideas that can keep us feeling calm and in the midst of God? I have come to believe that it’s the ego that doesn’t want me to remember how close at hand God is. It also doesn’t want me to be at peace. Never does it want me to experience peace. I embrace the idea that my mind contains two voices which vie for my attention every moment. One softly says, All is well and perfect as it is. The other one screams, "He is causing this problem you perceive. Go after him."

Fortunately, we have the capacity to choose, over and over again, the voice we prefer hearing.

Let’s be careful today. Every moment will be offering us a choice, and that choice makes all the difference in the kind of experiences today will bring.

January

1.

Detachment is observing people without judgment.

Detaching from the behavior of others might well be one of the most challenging assignments that confronts us on a daily basis. It’s not unusual to want to change the behavior of someone else. Sometimes it’s a loved one we want to change. It can be a neighbor, a friend, or even a total stranger. The reality is that we simply want to be in control for the sake of what we mistakenly think is our own well-being. Alas, we will never meet with success. We might convince a loved one to do it our way once or twice, but, even then, it’s folly to think we now have permanent control.

Detaching from others, letting them be, simply allowing them to behave as they choose, frees us to focus on the only person we can take charge of: our own self. And the relief that letting go allows us to experience makes it easier to let go the next time too. Trying to control anyone else can become habitual. But success will never be lasting. The irony is that failing is actually how we discover what peace feels like.

The quickest avenue to peace is by letting our loved ones live as they choose. Today is a good day to begin.

2.

To avoid pain at all costs forces us to reject half the lessons life can teach.

—Jan Pishok

Life is a series of lessons, and not all of them please us in the moment. But all of them are meant for us. They have been preapproved for this lifetime—this journey. Choosing when we learn them is up to us, of course, but they will revisit us until we surrender to them. How lucky we are that we can choose when that moment of surrender will be.

If an experience is painful, might it be due to our resistance to it? Surrendering to the rhythm of an experience (and every experience does have its own rhythm) allows us to flow with the deeper meaning of the inherent lesson. No lesson is ever meant to harm us. But every experience holds a lesson we need in order to become all that we have agreed to be on this journey.

Always remember that no experience, whether painful or loving, is ever superfluous. And never is one of them accidental.

Resist no lesson, whatever the momentary pain might be, and watch your life blossom.

3.

Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean giving up our right to respond.

Turning the other cheek is an interesting idea, one I have tried to master throughout my many years in Al-Anon. Unfortunately, I still get sucked into what I interpret as an attack from others on occasion. I have learned, however, that responding in kind or not responding at all are not the only choices. We can respond to any situation from a kinder, more gentle mindset. Remembering what the God of my understanding prefers me to say or do makes a difference in how that situation goes, as well as the rest of my day. This may be true for you too.

Every moment of our lives, we are interacting with others in multiple ways, whether in person, on social media, or even with the folks who drone on and on in newscasts. Allowing ourselves to become negatively engaged doesn’t have to be our default response. Turning away can be effective, and, if done respectfully, it can not only change the tenor of the moment for ourselves, but I personally think it can impact millions of others too. Whatever we do or say to one, we actually say or do to all. It’s a simple truth, and if understood and integrated into action, one that could rearrange the thinking on the planet.

Choosing how to respond to any instance that presents itself to us today has far-reaching implications. May we all be our better selves.

4.

How important is it?

The tendency to inflate whatever situation isn’t developing as I’d planned is a sure way to lose my peace of mind. And I experience this loss on a daily basis, it seems. Even after decades of spiritual work in 12-step rooms and with A Course in Miracles, I too easily begin minding the business of someone else, and then my own peace of mind slips away.

The antidote to all of this is to stay focused on the only person and situations I have any control over: those that concern me. It’s a very simple equation. Step away from what is not mine to control. Ask myself the question, how important is this really? And in the large scheme of things, nothing is really so important that I can’t make the saner choice to move on and let it be. Let others take charge of what is theirs to attend to. And the real gift in this is my own freedom to be at peace.

Every time a circumstance nags at me—or you—it’s an opportunity that has come calling, an opportunity to honestly ask, Is this mine to handle? I have discovered that on a daily basis, there are really very few things I am called on to handle. The rest are simply situations that belong to others, situations that you and I can quite peacefully observe.

Remembering to ask the tiny question, How important is it? can change everything about how this day will unfold. Our lives can be so much simpler. Let’s allow them to be.

5.

We grow in darkness and in light.

—Marilyn Mason

Walking through the darkness is familiar to me. Perhaps it is to you too. Even in childhood I felt doomed for periods of time, and, even at eighty-one, I wouldn’t say I’ve gotten used to it. I’m still troubled by the dark periods, but they nevertheless come. What I do know as an adult on this spiritual path is that I will reach the light again. It will come, just as mysteriously as the darkness descended.

I didn’t have a safe haven as a child. My feelings of fear and confusion were discounted by the adults in my life, so I never really knew why they came or if they would leave. Consequently, for long stretches, I wallowed in fear. And I wallowed alone.

What has changed? I now believe that God is available to walk with me through the darkness, that in fact, the darkness encourages me to embrace friendship with God, a friendship that will never be denied me. And I know now that the light is just over the hill or around the next corner. It’s coming toward me even when I am in the pit of darkness.

My growth as a spiritual being is enhanced by the darkness. And the light then helps me give away the growth that has come. Always there will be growth.

Growth is guaranteed through every experience we have. As a matter of fact, that’s the reason for each experience coming our way.

6.

I will always get the experiences I need—whether I want them or not.

The above idea is seldom easy to swallow. In fact, many of us resist this idea repeatedly. And the end result is that we live in perpetual dismay. But this isn’t what I counted on, we think. What I had in mind was a new job or a different relationship, or possibly more money. Yet living every day becomes so much easier when we make the decision, as we finally must, to embrace the idea that God always has our better selves in mind when experiences, which are His gifts to us, arrive in our lives.

Our egos struggle against the idea that God makes better decisions for us. But that has been true throughout our lives. It’s helpful to revisit our past and see the many times that God made an appearance by sending us an experience that we were sure was the wrong one, yet our lives took a fortuitous turn. I can count them in the dozens. If I seriously made a list, it would probably be in the hundreds, maybe the thousands. God has always been present. And that fact will never change, never ever—not for any one of us.

I can rest peacefully today knowing that what I need will surface. I also know that God had a hand in it.

7.

Is there ever any particular spot where one can put one’s finger and say, It all began that day, at such a time and place, with such an incident?

—Agatha Christie

Because our lives are a composite of myriad intersecting events, it’s not easy to pinpoint which particular episode in the drama making up our lives was the turning point that made all the difference. And does it finally matter? I think not. We are where we are by design. That’s really the fact of our lives that counts.

I certainly didn’t embrace this idea before I came into the rooms of recovery. As far as I could see, life was willy-nilly. And that suited me just fine. I didn’t know what I was missing. But now living by a different set of principles offers such ease and peace of mind. I have come to cherish the belief that each and every incident was its own turning point. We are where we are right now because of the cumulative impact of all of the incidents, and nary a one of them came to us without the hand of God being involved. Hallelujah.

Wherever our activities take us today, we do not travel solo. How lucky can we be?

8.

Happiness is a byproduct of an effort to make someone else happy.

—Gretta Brooker Palmer

What we give to others, we receive in kind. How simple is that? Our wish to experience happiness will always be honored if we are willing to honor someone else in a manner that makes them happy. This is not a very complicated equation for living. Yet how often we sit and wait for someone else to make us happy.

Taking to heart how simple the decision to assure ourselves of happiness is what makes our past moments of anguish spent waiting for someone else to shower us with attention or love seem like such a waste of time. We will receive what we give. In fact, any act of loving attention which results in happiness for a friend or even a stranger has an immediate payback. Give it a try and see how this works in your life. What we give we do receive!

Today promises to make me happy if I offer the gift of making someone else happy too. This act will never, ever fail us.

9.

God grant me serenity, please.

There is no troubling situation facing us that cannot be alleviated or at least made manageable by seeking serenity and God’s help. We simply need to admit that we can’t handle most situations alone. It’s probably more honest to say that every experience we face is made easier by holding the outstretched hand of God. We were never expected to navigate the twists and turns of our lives solo.

It helps me to remember that God is well aware of every situation I am going through without my even seeking His guidance. And nothing actually comes to us that we haven’t been prepared for. The turn of events in our lives has been divinely orchestrated. That’s music to my ears; I can give up worry, if I so choose. I can let go of my need to control, if that’s my choice. I can simply bask in the knowledge that God is present and will always be as close as my memory of Him.

Our lives can be far easier than many of us choose to live them. The availability of God’s help, which