April 30, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, April 30, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Finding Our Own Truth

We must each discover our own truth. It does not help us if those we love find their truth. They cannot give it to us. It does not help if someone we love knows a particular truth in our life. We must discover our truth for ourselves. We must each discover and stand in our own light. We often need to struggle, fail, and be confused and frustrated. That’s how we break through our struggle; that’s how we learn what is true and right for ourselves.

Each of us has our own share of truth, waiting to reveal itself to us. Each of us has our own share of the light, waiting for us to stand in it, to claim it as ours. Encouragement helps. Support helps. A firm belief that each person has truth available — appropriate to each situation — is what will help. Each experience, each frustration, each situation, has its own truth waiting to be revealed. Don’t give up until you find it—for yourself. We shall be guided into truth, if we are seeking it. We are not alone.

Today, I will search for my own truth, and I will allow others to do the same. I will place value on my vision and the vision of others. We are each on the journey, making our own discoveries—the ones that are right for us today.

Hazelden Foundation

April 30, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Friday, April 30, 2021

Today, instead of an alcoholic, I'm a soberholic. If "alcoholic" calls attention to the fact that I am addicted to alcohol, can't "soberholic" stake my addiction to sobriety? Despite AA's progress in striking down the image of the alcoholic as the down-and-out'er sleeping in alleys or drying out in a flophouse, a jail's drunk tank or mental hospital, a stigma remains. Might I be able to erode that stigma by labeling my addiction to sobriety instead of to alcohol? If so, maybe I can renew my self-confidence and weaken any temptation or lingering doubt about drinking again. As someone addicted to sobriety, why do I need alcohol? Today, at the risk of angering those who warn against trading one addiction for another, I'll substitute dependence on alcohol for addiction to sobriety. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

April 30, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, April 30, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith because we find that we must have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going to get sober. We're helpless before alcohol, but when we turn our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God is the essential part of the AA program.

Is faith still strong in me?

Meditation for the Day
Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet, but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God's spirit which can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys, such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God's love.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life.

Hazelden Foundation

April 30, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Friday, April 30, 2021

Reflection for the Day
We're taught in The Program that "faith without works is dead." How true this is for the addicted person. For if an addicted person fails to perfect or enlarge his or her spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, s/he can't survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If s/he doesn't work, s/he'll surely return to his or her addiction; and if s/he returns to addiction, s/he'll likely die. Then faith will be dead indeed.

Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer?

Today I Pray
May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of The Program be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming similar addictions. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts, but it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own sobriety.

Today I Will Remember
The more faith I can give, the more I will have.

Hazelden Foundation

April 30, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Friday, April 30, 2021

It is most discouraging to many of us to find, after many weary months of trying to work on our moral inventory and studied efforts to eliminate some of our worst character defects, that the more we do the more we find to do. It is not that we are not making progress, but as we steady ourselves from a coldly analytical viewpoint, we find more defects than we ever realized we possessed.

Do not become discouraged when this situation exists. It is very evident proof of progress that you have come to a conscious realization that these new defects exist and you are at least bringing them out in the open where you can get a crack at them.

Hazelden Foundation

April 30, 2021 - Good morning and let's plan on a fantastic Friday by making it worthwhile and productive

 

Good morning with gratitude for this fabulous Friday, and let's make it count for something good and productive ...that means we don't have any use for anything and anyone wanting to screw it up

April 29, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, April 29, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The inner magician knows that getting comfortable with uncertainty is a very useful skill. We are, in fact, dancing an eternal tango with the unfamiliar. Those many moments on our life journey when the universe does not seem to be aligned with our vision can be painful and obstructive. And it can be overwhelming when we’re faced with a big life decision. Thoughts of a new job, the next step in a relationship, moving to a new place, a big health decision, or the leap of committing to be a father can paralyze us. These large choices can unearth lots of fear and unfinished business—and sometimes push us back into our addictive patterns.

There are very specific steps that can help us to get unstuck. The first is to honor and accept uncertainty as our teacher. Uncertainty accompanies our most dogged attempts to figure things out. Not knowing what to do happens so often in life, we’d think everyone would get good and more relaxed about inhabiting our uncertain lives. A really common barrier to life’s flow is that most of us repeatedly respond to uncertainty with fear and withdrawal rather than curiosity and openness.

I will start to notice how I normally react to uncertainty in my life.

Hazelden Foundation

April 29, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Thursday, April 29, 2021

Today, service to others as an essential element in my recovery, that expending some of my attention on something other than myself may make my problems not as bad as I think they are. Service can range from giving a talk, talking to a sponsor or sponsee, volunteering to make the coffee for a meeting or simply listening to someone else's problems or experiences. And possibly, the problems I have - or think I have and maybe exaggerate - may seem somewhat less serious. Adversely, I must respect prudence in not expending myself to the extreme that my own needs are sacrificed and neglected. In the end, my recovery Program requires that I not focus all that I have completely on myself and that sharing or volunteering for service work may make my own problems less heavy. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

April 29, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, April 29, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith, hope and charity. It's a program of hope because when new members come into AA, the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it.

Is hope still strong in me?

Meditation for the Day
The rule of God's kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God's kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God's children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with Him.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with other people. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success.

Hazelden Foundation

April 29, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Thursday, April 29, 2021

Reflection for the Day
As I grow in The Program - sharing, caring and becoming more and more active - I find that it's becoming easier to live in the Now. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as "could've," "should've," "would've," "might've." What's done is done and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is Now.

Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in The Program?

Today I Pray
That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of Today. Only by living in the Now may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go.

Today I Will Remember
Make room for today.

Hazelden Foundation

April 29, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Thursday, April 29, 2021

Effort has been made to carry AA into schools and young people's organizations, but the effective response has been so negligible that it has usually been abandoned after a short trial.

AA is a program for ALCOHOLICS - persons suffering from alcoholism. It was designed to appeal to them and them only. It is probably true that we can tell the kids a lot about drinking, but it will fall on deaf ears. Unfortunately, we must be pricked by the sharp thorn of experience in order to learn.

Hazelden Foundation

April 29, 2021 - Good morning and let's show some enthusiasm and confidence that today will be a beautiful Thursday

 

Good morning and let's get going with confidence on what's going to be a stress-free and worthwhile Thursday ...have a sincerely terrific day, and don't permit anything and anyone the control to screw it up

April 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Loving others begins with respect.

So many books have been written on “how to love” that many of us assume we don’t know how and maybe will never learn. We can simplify the process, however, by focusing on the Golden Rule. For starters, we can treat others as respectfully as we’d like to be treated. People respond well to respect, and they often pay us respect in return.

Next, let’s put the needs of at least one other person ahead of our own today. It’s imperative that we do it willingly, not resentfully. We can ask God to help us. We’ll discover an unexpected benefit: Not being self-absorbed for a change is really quite refreshing.

Finally, we can ask God for freedom from the thinking that keeps us from loving others. Each person who enters our circle of experience today can be loved by us if we are willing to turn to God for help.

Loving others is easier if I keep it simple. I will focus on courtesy today.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Today, no running from mistakes with a sense of failure or blaming anything and anyone else. No recovery program works towards perfection because no person will or can achieve it. Likewise, I cannot and must not impose that unreachable goal on myself - and others. AA's 10th Step says, in part, we "promptly admitted" when we are wrong - not if. Thus, let me not be so vain as to place responsibility for my mistakes, big and small, on someone and something else. Adversely, let me not be discouraged by a sense of failure when I stumble in word, thought and deed. Instead, let me be open to owning my mistakes, identifying the reason for them and correcting the reason so that I do not repeat them. Today, I am not perfect and I cannot expect myself to be - nor can I expect anyone and anything else to be. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

April 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The AA program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of your life.

Have I got into action?

Meditation for the Day

God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You should join Him in His quest. Through briars, through waste places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys. God leads you. But ever with His leadership goes your helping hand. Glorious to follow where the Leader goes. You are seeking lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will help, but you can leave all results to God. Just go with Him in His eternal quest for souls.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls. I pray that I may offer God my helping hand.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Reflection for the Day
I will resolve to observe with new interest even the commonplace things that happen today. If I learn to see everything with a fresh eye, perhaps I'll find I have countless reasons for contentment and gratitude. When I find myself trapped in the quicksand of my negative thoughts, I'll turn away from them - and grab for the life-saving strength of sharing with others in The Program.

Do I carry my weight as an all-important link in the worldwide chain of The Program?

Today I Pray
I pray that God will open my eyes to the smallest everyday wonders, that I may notice and list among my blessings things like just feeling good, being able to think clearly. Even when I make a simple, unimportant choice like whether to order coffee or tea or a soft drink, may I be reminded that the power of choice is a gift from God.

Today I Will Remember
I am blessed with the freedom of choice.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, April 28, 2021

The span of human life is such a small part of eternity that the length of your life, whether it be 20 years or 100, is of no moment. Yet the lifespan of some men has, and will continue to have, great influence upon many succeeding generations.

If you can by one single act do something that will benefit just one person 50 years from now, you will have done more than millions who have before you. Few leave anything to posterity when they die that will outlive their tombstone.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2021 - Good morning and let's kick it in gear for a wonderful Wednesday that we won't let anyone screw up

 

Good morning and let's greet another magnificent Wednesday with confidence that everything in it will be good ...have a truly terrific and productive but safe day, and allow nothing and no one the control to upset you

April 27, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Reflection for the Day

When a person wakes up each morning and rises through sweaty nausea to face frightening reality with bones rattling and nerves screaming; when a person stumbles through the day in a pit of despair, wishing to die, but refusing to die; when a person gets up the next day and does it all over again — well, that takes guts. That takes a kind of real, basic survival courage, a courage that can be put to good use if that person ever finds their way to recovery. That person has learned courage the hard way, and when that person finds recovery, they discover new and beautiful ways to use their courage.

Have I the courage to keep trying, one day at a time?

Today I Pray

May I put the “guts-to-survive” kind of courage left over from my drinking and using days into good use through my recovery. If I was able to “hang on” enough to live through the miseries of my addiction, may I translate that same will to survive into my recovery program. May I use my courage in new, constructive ways.

Today I Will Remember

My Higher Power preserved me to help carry out my life’s true purpose.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Today, character defects of frustration and impatience as they relate to relationships and communications. As a drinking alcoholic, frustration and impatience walked hand-in-hand when it came to dealing with others: frustration with people who did not react how and when I expected. As a recovering alcoholic, frustration and impatience still walk hand-in-hand in dealing with others. Clearly, little change. Also clearly, abstaining from the bottle isn't all that recovery requires. A fundamental reformation in character and emotions is needed. If I overreact when people do not respond when and how I think they should, maybe I am the problem. Today, I work consciously and conscientiously on my defects of frustration and impatience by considering the possibility that someone other than myself might have a better idea. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

April 27, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

By submitting to God, we're released from the power of liquor. It has no more hold on us. We're also released from the things that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And we're free to grow into a new life, which is so much better than the old life that there's no comparison. This release gives us serenity and peace with the world.

Have I been released from the power of alcohol?

Meditation for the Day

We know God by spiritual vision. We feel that He is beside us. We feel His presence. Contact with God is not made by the senses. Spirit-consciousness replaces sight. Since we cannot see God, we have to perceive Him by spiritual perception. God has to span the physical and the spiritual with the gift to us of spiritual vision. Many persons, though they cannot see God, have had a clear spiritual consciousness of Him. We are inside a box of space and time, but we know there must be something outside of that box - limitless space, eternity of time, and God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have a consciousness of God's presence. I pray that God will give me spiritual vision.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Reflection for the Day

Am I so sure I'm doing everything possible to make my new life a success? Am I using my capabilities well? Do I recognize and appreciate all I have to be grateful for? The Program and its Twelve Steps teach me that I am the possessor of unlimited resources. The more I do with them, the more they will grow - to overshadow and cancel out the difficult and painful feelings that now get so much of my attention.

Am I less sensitive today than when I first came to The Program?

Today I Pray

May I make the most of myself in all ways. May I begin to look outward to people and opportunities and wonderful resources around me. As I become less ingrown and understand myself better in relation to others, may I be less touchy and thin-skinned. May I shrug off my old "the world-is-out-to-get-me" feeling and see that same world as my treasure-house, God-given and boundless.

Today I Will Remember 

My resources are unlimited.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Real reforms are in people, not in movements. All the laws and demands of church, state and family could not make us change our drinking habits. But the day eventually came when we wanted to change and then, and then only, was the change possible. Prohibition legislation was only a challenge to us and we drank the more because they said we could not. We were determined to show those So-and-So's they couldn't stop us.

Only when we, ourselves, wanted to do something about it was any real reformation possible.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2021 - Rise 'n shine for a terrific Tuesday, and let's make it productive and safe

 

Good morning and let's make it a productive and safe Tuesday with confidence we can handle whatever it's got in store for us ...anything and anyone intent on spoiling the day have no place on the dance card

April 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, April 26, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Overcoming indecision

We often find it difficult to make simple decisions in our everyday lives. Sometimes the major decisions are easier to make than minor ones. But it is good practice to ask for help on any issue we need help with, major or minor, simple or complex.

Over time our Higher Power will help us see life situations with increasing clarity. Over time everyday decisions will become easier to make, and everyday irritations will stop paralyzing our thinking.

Am I conquering my indecision?

Higher Power, I pray for greater self-awareness and the willingness to ask for help with everyday indecision.

Today I will ask for help with…

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, April 26, 2021

Today, appreciation of the power of the spoken word, the one spoken in anger, fear, frustration and sarcasm and which can inflict more damage than any destructive act of my drinking days. Let me understand that a single word can do hurt and injury that might not be healed by any amend. And even if my amend or apology is accepted, the injury and hurt may cut so deeply in the person against whom the wrong word is spoken that something can still be forever lost. I pray for guidance in the 12th Step to practice the Program's principles in all my affairs, including not caving into anger and unleashing a word that is intended to hurt. Today, I think before I speak, especially if I am angry, frustrated or afraid, because I cannot unspeak it - and atonement may not be enough to repair the damage. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

April 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, April 26, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

The AA program is one of submission, release and action. When we're drinking, we're submitting to a power greater than ourselves - liquor. Our own wills are no use against the power of liquor. One drink and we're sunk. In AA, we stop submitting to the power of liquor. Instead, we submit to a Power, also greater than ourselves, which we call God.

Have I submitted myself to that Higher Power?

Meditation for the Day

Ceaseless activity is not God's plan for your life. Times of withdrawal for renewed strength are always necessary. Wait for the faintest tremor of fear and stop all work, everything, and rest before God until you are strong again. Deal in the same way with all tired feelings. Then you need rest of body and renewal of spirit-force. St. Paul said: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." This does not mean that you are to do all things and then rely on God to find strength. It means that you are to do the things you believe God wants you to do and only then can you rely on His supply of power.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God's spirit may be my master always. I pray that I may learn how to rest and listen, as well as how to work.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, April 26, 2021

Reflection for the Day
When I first came to The Program, I was stunned by the constant sound of laughter. I realized today that cheerfulness and merriment make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into laughter over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have helped others to recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?

Have I begun to regain my sense of humor?

Today I Pray
May God restore my sense of humor. May I appreciate the honest laughter that is the background music of our mutual rejoicing in our sobriety. May I laugh a lot, not the defensive ego-laugh which mocks another's weakness, not the wry laugh of the self-putdown, but the healthy laugh that keeps situations in perspective. May I never regard this kind of laughter as irreverent. I have learned, instead, that it is irreverent to take myself too seriously.

Today I Will Remember
A sense of humor is a sign of health.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, April 26, 2021

Many of us came into AA either in middle life or beyond and feel that with our reasonable life expectancy, it is practically impossible to atone for our previous wrong actions. The thief at the Crucifixion probably thought the same thing but, by one single act, he brought the promise that "this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2021 - Good morning and let's race another Monday and new week with determination to tame them both

 

Good morning and let's get ready for Monday and a new week with faith that we can handle whatever they have in store ...make today truly good but safe and productive, and allow nothing and no one the control to say otherwise

April 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It is extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person is. — George F. Will

At our meetings, we often hear stories of the courage of ordinary people and their triumph against great odds. When we hear of a person’s life being restored, we are witnesses to miracles. Our friends are heroes, and so are we. As a man describes his passage from insanity to recovery, we are moved.

Whenever we are truly open to knowing the people around us, whether at a meeting or in getting to know a neighbor, we will see heroism. It is amazing that when we get to know most people, and hear what their lives have been like, we find so much to admire and respect. It is a privilege to have such friends. It is amazing that they are so abundant when we open ourselves to them. God truly does speak to us through others.

I am grateful when I think about the extraordinary people around me and the courage in each of them. I am grateful to be among them.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message find sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continue to drink. To claim credit for anyone else's sobriety or to blame ourselves for their continued drinking fire our ego and, because of it, we break the job of being a carrier of the message. Just as we cannot credit anyone for our sobriety other than the Program or to blame our drinking on someone or something other than ourselves, we cannot claim credit for another person's recovery or lack ot it. Today, let us remember that we are the messenger, not the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021