From Writing The Big Book by William Schaberg - on Step Eleven:

 

Prayer and Meditation

   Here, Bill faced a serious challenge. It would be easy enough to make suggestions about prayer using generic language that would please most everyone within the Fellowship. But the Oxford Group had a very specific way of doing meditation which they called "quiet time," the purpose of which was to receive "guidance" directly from God. This method was still being faithfully practiced by Dr. Bob Smith and by most of the Ohio members of the Fellowship. If Wilson were to talk about meditation by explicitly explaining the particulars of "quiet time" (and the desired result), the knowledgeable reader might well have identified this as an Oxford Group teaching, and this was an association Bill Wilson was determined to avoid. But if he were to leave out any direct references to quiet time, he was just as likely to offend many of the Akron and Cleveland people who were so devoted to the practice...

   Bill managed to walk this thin line by interspersing several Oxford Group beliefs and practices throughout these "definite and valuable suggestions' on meditation, but he did so in such a way that they would not readily be identified as having come from the Oxford Group. 

   Wilson's suggestions for daily morning meditation practice were substantive. "When you awake tomorrow morning," he said, you should begin by making a thorough review of the previous day's activities. Ask yourself several searching questions about your behavior and intentions ("Were you resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? Do you owe an apology?..." etc.) during the past twenty-four hours. Once this honest self-appraisal was complete, "ask God's forgiveness for any wrong. Ask to be shown what to do."   

   Having thoroughly dealt with yesterday, the reader is to move on to consider the twenty-four hours ahead. But before finalizing his plans for the day, he must be sure to "ask God to guide your thinking" and for His help in avoiding self-pity, dishonest and self-seeking motives. Once this is done, "your thought life will be placed on a much higher plane." If you have some particular problem facing you today, "ask God for an inspiration, an intuitive thought or decision. Relax and take it easy. Don't struggle. Ask God's help. You will be surprised how the right answers come after you have practiced a few days."    

Page 487-488

[Notice the avoidance of association with the Oxford Group, the implied difference in practice between Akron/Cleveland and New York, and that the daily review of our thoughts and actions was originally to come not at night but the following morning.]