Saturday, April 30, 2022

April 30, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, April 30, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Love at first sight is easy to understand. It’s when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle. — Sam Levenson

True intimacy introduces us to ourselves. A loving relationship is the greatest therapy. When we first fall in love, we are filled with optimism. We cling to all the best qualities of the person we fall in love with, and we look past those things we don’t like. But an intimate partnership takes us further than we’ve been before.

Most of us fall in love and soon find ourselves in over our heads. We haven’t had experience in sustaining openness and vulnerability. We may gradually begin to feel too exposed. The relationship tests our ability to trust someone who has this much access to our inner self. We become cranky or overly sensitive. We may test our partner’s love by asking, “If you love me, will you do such and such?” We begin to try to control our partner so we don’t feel so vulnerable. All these temptations are holdover behaviors from our less mature selves. So we must reach for our more mature selves and trust that we can survive being so vulnerable.

Today, I will turn to my Higher Power for guidance in going forward in trust while being vulnerable.

Hazelden Foundation

April 30, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, April 30, 2022

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., 2022

April 30, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, April 30, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Saturday, April 30, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Saturday, April 30, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and here's your wake-up call to a fabulous Saturday

 

Good morning and cop an attitude that it's going to be an awesome Saturday despite anything and anyone standing in the way

Friday, April 29, 2022

April 29, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, April 29, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die. — Eleanor Roosevelt

We need to take note, today, of all the opportunities we have to offer a helping hand to another person. We can notice too the many times a friend, or even a stranger, reaches out to us in a helpful way. The opportunities to contribute to life’s flow are unending.

Our own vibrancy comes from involvement with others, from contributing our talents, our hearts, to one another’s daily travels. The program helps us to know that God lives in us, among us. When we close ourselves off from our friends, our fellow travelers, we block God’s path to us and through us.

To live means sharing one another’s space, dreams, sorrows; contributing our ears to hear, our eyes to see, our arms to hold, our hearts to love. When we close ourselves off from each other, we have destroyed the vital contribution we each need to make and to receive in order to nurture life.

We each need only what the other can give. Each person we meet today needs our special contribution.

What a wonderful collection of invitations awaits me today!

Hazelden Foundation

April 29, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Friday, April 29, 2022

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., 2022

April 29, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, April 29, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Friday, April 29, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Friday, April 29, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and let's vault into Happy Dance Friday mode

 

Good morning with hopes of a fantastic Friday for everyone ...do today proud and don't waste time on people and things out to ruin it

Thursday, April 28, 2022

April 28, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

When we spiritually awaken, our whole life changes from being hard and painful to becoming easier and happier, more pleasant and pain-free.  Jerry Hirschfield

Most of us awaken spiritually very slowly. Looking back on our more dangerous times and our miraculous survival helps us to believe that at least something like a guardian angel must have never been far away. And yet, much of the time many of us still struggle with the day-to-day turmoil of our recovery, trying to manage outcomes that are not ours to manage.

We complicate most events by our need to control what is clearly up to God to control. When we let go the outcome is generally to our satisfaction. Always, in time, we see that the outcome benefits us generously. We can’t do what belongs to God to do. Our job is simply to move aside.

The pain of forcing open a door or pushing through a decision can be relinquished forever if we simply trust God. Life is often only as hard and painful as we in our self-centeredness make it.

I will not try to do God’s work today.

Hazelden Foundation

April 28, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Thursday, April 28, 2022

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., 2022

April 28, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, April 28, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Thursday, April 28, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Thursday, April 28, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and let's make today a magnificent Thursday

 

Good morning and here's your wake-up challenge to get out there and be awesome this gorgeous Thursday ...and it won't be good if we allow people and things to decide what kind of day we have

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

April 27, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

H.A.L.T.

H.A.L.T. = Don’t get too hungry or too angry or too lonely or too tired. — Anonymous

The fellowship has seen many men and women recover from very low and terrible bottoms. When the Steps are carefully worked, miracles can be expected. The lessons aren’t hard to understand. The signposts to a relapse are well marked. We can learn a lot from people who have fallen away from the program.

Don’t get too hungry. When we are weak physically, it affects our spiritual life. When hungry, eat. We need to stay away from anger altogether. Anger is the breeder of resentments. We have been eaten alive by our grudges. Cool off. Loneliness makes us an easy mark for the many voices that tempt us away from our program. When we feel loneliness coming on, we go to a meeting or use the phone. When we become tired, it is easy for us to remember the substance-induced pick-me-ups we relied on. When we’re tired, we need to rest.

Let me remember to eat the right foods, stay calm, use the fellowship, and rest.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

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., 2022

April 27, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, April 27, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and let's get hopping into this gorgeous Wednesday

 

Good morning and it's time to rise 'n shine on this fabulous Wednesday ...have a thoroughly enjoyable and productive but paced and safe day, and don't empower anyone and anything to make it less

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

April 26, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

To see, we must stop being in the middle of the picture. — Satprem

Seeing something from another person’s point of view is an important spiritual awakening. That moment of understanding is a gift. We didn’t expect it, but suddenly it’s there. Our world grows larger because our view of that person changes. That, in turn, deepens our awareness and can deepen the relationship itself. Having others take the risk of sharing themselves is precious because it shows that we have proven worthy of their trust.

It’s a good feeling to sense the immediate connection that comes with understanding someone in a new way. We might experience compassion, love, or respect. One thing is sure: there is no room for the negative in a true moment of awakening.

Such gifts come because we have been willing to search for them, and for that we can give ourselves credit.

May God help me to be truly interested in other people and in who they are.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

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., 2022

April 26, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and get revved up for a splendid Tuesday

 

Good morning with confidence that today is going to be a magnificent Tuesday and that nothing and no one has any control over what kind of day we choose ...be safe, be well

Monday, April 25, 2022

April 25, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, April 25, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Learn by practice. — Martha Graham

We were practicing addicts. We were working to perfect our craft; we were good at being addicts. Let us practice recovery with the same intensity. We need to practice the Steps. We need to work to deepen our relationship with them. We must practice patience and tolerance with ourselves and others.

Remember we’re working to be in this for the long haul. We seek humility not perfection, progress not perfection. We seek to learn and better ourselves at being ordinary people. We seek to enjoy the journey, knowing it will never be over. And as we practice and learn, we step deeper into life and sobriety.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, each day help me show up for practice and enjoy the process of learning.

Today’s Action

At the end of today, I will take some time and ask, “What did I learn today that will help me live a good, sober life? What will I practice at tomorrow?”

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, April 25, 2022

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message finds sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continues to drink. To claim credit for anyone else's recovery or to blame ourselves for their continued drinking fires our ego and, because of it, we break the command 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., 2022