Just For The Day
Just For The Day
#5 - August 15, 2025 - SLOGAN Just for Today
Recovery programs use "Just for Today" as a powerful tool to make overwhelming challenges manageable by focusing only on present commitments rather than permanent change.
• "Just for Today" can be scaled down to whatever timeframe feels manageable—an hour, ten minutes, or even seconds
• This approach extends beyond addiction recovery to any area where permanent change feels overwhelming
• Works effectively for food choices and other behaviors by avoiding the pressure of permanent commitments
• Both "Just for Today" and "Just for Tonight" create a rhythm of manageable commitment and gentle reflection
We appreciate you listening to our first slogans episode and would love to hear how you've implemented this slogan in your life. Please leave comments wherever you listen to podcasts—we'll be featuring your insights in future episodes.
Question: What does Just For Today mean to you and how do you use this slogan?
Jay and Diane's Just For The Day podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Just for Today, any 12-Step program, or any other recovery-based product or organization. They should not replace your regular group or sponsor meetings.
The views expressed are solely those of the hosts and guests. Take what you like and leave the rest.
obsession and it's and it's entirely contingent upon what you're experiencing right I know today that you can live without it I can see those things and the obsession can come back and it goes away. I have tools now, but before it didn't, and back in the day, when I was like, when the obsession was alive and I didn't know how to deal with it, well, I would be making. I would just be making it till tomorrow right well, sometimes I'm just making it till the next 10 minutes because I know if I can make it the next 10 minutes.
Speaker 1:It'll fade yeah and and and so like, just for today. What I really like is at the end of most narcotics anonymous meetings they recite almost most most readings. They recite a just for the today prayer of sorts yours are, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have them locked and loaded.
Speaker 1:I'm going to give you the al-anon just for today and just for tonight yeah, I'd, I'd love to hear it and and and I really liked those because they're just saying here are the commitments we're making right, I don't have to make it two days, I don't have to make it a year, I don't have to make it a month. I've just got to make it to tomorrow with these things, so maybe we should do you have any other thoughts before we go there?
Speaker 2:Well, I, I I do think that the slogan just for today and one day at a time are very similar, and I think that both of them can be used in any time increment we need for that moment, right? Okay, so the Al-Anon just for today. It's a bookmark that you can buy from the literature person in your Al-Anon group, but it says just for today. I will try to live through this day only and not tackle all my problems at once. I can do something for 12 hours. That would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime. So this is one of them. Right, I can. I can tackle one problem and not be appalled at the idea of having to do something forever.
Speaker 2:The second one is just for today. I will be happy this assumes to be true what abraham lincoln said that most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be. So I like that one too, because it's about attitude, right? Um, you stop me if you have any comments on any of these, okay? The third one just for today. I will adjust myself to what is and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my luck as it comes and fit myself to it. That's pretty important for Al-Anon people because we try so hard to manipulate situations and control situations.
Speaker 2:Just letting go there. Yeah, crucial one is, just for today. I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study, I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. Right, so we can pick something and we can work on it. Just for today. The next one just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways. I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. If anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at a good turn and not get found out. If anybody knows of it, it will not count. I will do at least two things I don't want to do just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt. They may be hurt, but today I will not show it, which I don't think is necessarily a healthy thing to implement every day, but I do think that some people, that's.
Speaker 2:you know, each of us has a different flavor or a different issue of codependency that we're dealing with and I'm sure the fact that this has made it in here is, you know, the martyrdom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it tells me the guilt trip or the shame. Well, we talked about this in a different frame, where sometimes wallowing in it doesn't help, right? And if you complain too much, sometimes you're making it worse.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And that's what that flavor is to me is that it stops them, you know, from wallowing in it. So, but it's different, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then the last one on this bookmark is just for today. I will be agreeable, I will look as well as I can dress becomingly, keep my voice low, be courteous, criticize not one bit. I won't find fault with anything, nor try to improve or regulate anybody but myself. So they basically taken this idea of just for today and said, okay, what is something that I can say I'm going to work on just today to improve myself and I don't have to, you know, imagine myself doing it forever. But what can I work on just today to improve?
Speaker 1:You know, as you're saying it to me it really feels like one of the core aspects of just for today is the slogan is lowered expectations, I'm managing my expectations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Do you have another one? Do you want to share?
Speaker 2:No, why don't you go and I do, but you do yours. And then we'll go back to the just for tonight one.
Speaker 1:Okay. So this is spoken at almost every Narcotics Anonymous meeting. At the end and everyone locks arms and says says, tell yourself. Just for today, my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs. Just for today, I will have faith in someone in na who believes in me and wants to help me in my recovery, which touches on the community right, yeah, community and and the idea of someone having faith in you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just for today, I will have a program. I will try to follow it to the best of my ability, which, by the way, as a side note, if you're not working a program, you're working someone else's program.
Speaker 2:That's how that works right.
Speaker 1:You may not know what it is, but some other algorithm out there, some other program, has given you what to do with your life. If you haven't programmed yourself, if you're not following a program you've chosen right. It might be your parents, it might be social media, it might be something in your life, it might be church, it might be friends. Whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you get to choose if you're going to be someone who is acted upon or someone who is doing the acting, and it doesn't happen in the micro it and it doesn't happen in the micro, it happens in.
Speaker 1:I have a program I'm going to commit to principles and act on those throughout the day. That's an important piece, right. And then, just for today, through NA, I will try to get a better perspective on my life. And then, lastly, just for today, I will be unafraid. My thoughts will be on my new associations, people who are not using and who have found a new way of life.
Speaker 2:So long as I follow that way, I have nothing to fear. I like that Taking a step back, having the perspective and then having some gratitude for these people and this program and, and yeah, not wallowing in what you're missing, not wallowing on what you're missing out on, but being grateful for the people who are now in your life and the program that's now in your life.
Speaker 1:All couched under the principle of bite-sized pieces. I really like how you said that. That's kind of what it means In those moments when you feel overwhelmed. Just for today can mean just take off a chunk. What can I handle?
Speaker 2:And just do that Now. Hopefully this has given you some stuff to chew on with the slogan throughout your day. If not, or if it's later in the day and you're looking for something to get you through the night, al-anon has another bookmark called. Just For Tonight.
Speaker 1:Just For Tonight.
Speaker 2:Do you want to hear what these ones are?
Speaker 1:I don't think we have a choice. You don't, I'm going to do it anyway.
Speaker 2:Just for tonight, I will be grateful. I will give thanks for the past day, its failures as well as its successes, its sadness as well as its joy, and its pain as well as its pleasure. I will take comfort in knowing that every event and circumstance that occurred today can be used for my good and the good of others. I feel like you spoke about that. Was that in this podcast or was that in the daily reading?
Speaker 2:I can't remember but knowing that everything that comes, whether it's good or bad, everything that comes is for our benefit yeah, and seeing it that way, reframing it that way, just for tonight, I will accept that I have done the best I could, remembering that my goal is spiritual progress and not perfection.
Speaker 2:I will let go of any expectation I had for this day, as well as any disappointment, shame or guilt I felt for not being perfect today. I think we can all relate to that one. Let's not beat ourselves up, but let's just work on focusing on the positive. Just for tonight, I will be humble. I will give my shortcomings to a power greater than myself, trusting that doing so can bring about changes in me that I could not bring about by myself.
Speaker 2:Just for tonight, I will not attempt to rectify today's mistakes or solve tomorrow's problems. I will remind myself that I am better able to receive guidance when my mind and body are rested and refreshed, which brings up HALT Right, the idea of HALT. We can't solve problems when we're hungry, angry, lonely and tired. And the last one, just for tonight, I will set aside my fears, frustrations and aspirations and take a few minutes to review the abundance that exists in my life today. I will place my future in the care of a loving God of my own understanding, trusting my needs will be met at a time and in a way that is best for all concerned. Trust, trust the program. It works.
Speaker 1:So there you go, just for today. There's the slogan, our first one do you?
Speaker 2:is this one of the slogans that you tend to go to, and do you have any examples of when you've maybe used this slogan?
Speaker 1:actually no, I use a different one, a different one, it's one day at a time that's the one I use but it means the same thing, it's. There's no difference between just for today and one day at a time I think there's a little difference, but they're both pretty similar.
Speaker 2:There could be.
Speaker 1:We'll discuss it when we discuss one day at a time. But you know, I don't usually use this one because it doesn't resonate with me, the phrasing feels, awkward, but one day at a time does, and I guess that's the point is that these are only useful for you so long as you use them. So these are only useful for you so long as you use them.
Speaker 2:So take what you like and leave the rest. That's so true I do use this one and the main thing I use this one for is actually. No, I use the serenity prayer with you. No, the main one I use this one for is food. Oh, interesting, just for today I don't need dessert.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 2:Just for today. I don't need that ice cream that you're offering. Right, I do use that one, because I don't want to give up ice cream, but just for today. No, I think I don't need an ice cream, I'm okay.
Speaker 1:Just for today.
Speaker 2:Just for today.
Speaker 1:Just for today. Not for tomorrow, but just for today.
Speaker 2:No guarantees, I'll say no tomorrow. That's what I love about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, and that's okay. Yeah, because today and so.
Speaker 2:I mean chocolate cookies, ice cream. Those are my drugs of choice, right? So I can say the just for today, I don't need that. And whatever your drug of choice is, just for today.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:See if you can avoid it.
Speaker 1:Again, though, like it's incredibly hard to do that. So the idea is, the time that you're working on is dynamically shrunk to the size you're willing to tolerate. If you can't tolerate 24 hours, then you shouldn't be focusing on that. You should be focusing on the next 10 minutes till you leave that room for the next hour till you get, till you just get through work.
Speaker 1:If you can't make it that because it's right there, then you just need to make it to the next 10 seconds and call your sponsor or get out of the space, whatever you need to do in that moment. It can be that small and I see it that way. That's how I mean. It may or may not be right, but you know, I found that that's how it's helpful, because sometimes I don't, I can't make it a day, sometimes I can't make it an hour. So anyway, we do. You have anything else?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:We appreciate you coming and listening to our first slogans episode. I hope you get some value and if you have any comments, things that resonated with you, things that you want to add, we want to hear it. So go find your wherever you're listening, wherever you choose to listen to your favorite podcasts, go there and put some comments and we'll pay attention and and we'll feature. We'll we'll likely be able to feature that on the, on the podcast, for future comments and interactions with you.
Speaker 2:So yeah, because every time you hear information about a slogan it's going to build your definition and your understanding and your application. So we are positive that we did not fully tackle every aspect of this slogan and we're happy to hear what other people have, how other people have implemented the slogan and what it means to you. Thanks for joining us everybody.
Speaker 1:See you next time.
