The Pocket Sponsor®

What is the Pocket Sponsor designed to do?

The Pocket Sponsor has a recovery reflection for every hour of the day for every day of the month. The reflections are the basic messages heard  in your 12-Step meetings, from your sponsor, and contained in the classic recovery literature. It is chock full of slogans, proverbs and the basic wisdom from old-timers and the co-founders. This is a 24/7 form of support that you can carry with you everywhere.

Am I supposed to read it every hour?

No. How you use the Pocket Sponsor depends on where you are in recovery and what is going on in your life today. In beginning recovery, the Pocket Sponsor is meant to be carried with you at all times.  For those of us with a few 24 hours, the Pocket Sponsor becomes a 24/7 ‘back to the basics’ support that can be kept handy in our recovery library or on our bedside table. Although it has a message for every hour of every day, you need not read it every hour. When you arise in the morning and before retiring at night, it is a good habit to pull out the Pocket Sponsor and read the support passage. Anytime during the day that you feel uneasy, find the day and hour and read your message, especially during the HALT moments (too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired). 

Where do I start reading?

If You are a Beginner (and those beginning again) you will want to start the readings immediately following your last drink, fix, or pill. Day One becomes your first day of abstinence. Or start reading on the day you leave treatment. Day One is the day you are discharged.

If you have a few 24 Hours, you can use this book to correspond with the month you are in. Begin reading using today's date is it the sixth? Then look up Day Six in the Pocket Sponsor, the time of day and read your message. Keep using it month after month—you will pick it up at different times and receive different recovery messages. Again and again you will discover new passages that are exactly what you need at that moment. Take a look inside the Pocket Sponsor on Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" feature: Click here.

Is this a religious book?

    No, this is not religion nor is it based on any religion. However, it is spiritual in nature and does use the 12-Step principles as a basis for recovery support. Whatever your Spiritual Source may be (God, Group, or Goodness), understand that this Pocket Sponsor uses the terms “God” as well as "Allah," "Buddha," " Spiritual Source," " Divine Intelligence," and many other forms designating a Supreme Being. We ascribe to the concept of using, as a foundation for recovery, a Power Greater than yourself and of your understanding as discussed in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous,

        “To us, the Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe to all men. When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God.”  (P46-47).

    Don’t let the God talk ever put you off—convert our terms to whatever works for you. Remember, nothing will work if you don’t work it! Take a look inside the Pocket Sponsor on Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" feature: Click here.

What if I want to buy one for each of my sponsees? Is there a discount?

Yes, there are several levels of discount. We have kept the price low, retailing well below all other meditation books, so everyone can afford this recovery book.  In addition you have many ordering options:

• Amazon Sales

• Recovery Emporium

• Day By Day Direct Sales

• 888 447 1683 

I hear it was done by the same people who did Day By Day. Is this true?

    Yes! The Pocket Sponsor is written by the same folks who brought you the classic meditation book Day By Day! You know who that is? YOU! Both books are the collective wisdom of the 12-Step programs. The wonderful fact about books brought to you from Day By Day, Recovery Resources is that they are not intended to razzle-dazzle you with psychological and intellectual two-stepping. They are basic recovery sayings, slogans, principles and wisdom that you will hear anywhere in the 12-Step group-vines.  Shelly Marshall , clean and sober since 1969, has compiled these recovery messages for over 30 years. Shelly goes to meetings, listens, records and puts our program together in ways you and those you work with can use.

So buy the books and carry a bit of fellowship with everywhere you go!