Feb. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

You can do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.

— Colette

What are the ways in which we’re holding back from wholehearted participation in things that matter to us? We must evaluate circumstances and consult our own feelings and needs before plunging headlong into any situation, but when we keep postponing things we care about, inaction itself becomes our choice.

Procrastination often is caused by fear. We may be afraid of making fools of ourselves, believing deep down that we’re “not good enough.” We needn’t remain loyal to our old fears. We can stop denying ourselves full participation in our chosen paths. When we dare to make a beginning, we’re no longer alone. Our Higher Power is part of the process. Whether taking small actions or large, whether in personal relationships or programs of recovery, at work or play, we can proceed wholeheartedly. Whatever we do with enthusiasm, energy, and commitment will inspire and transform us.

Today, I don’t give my energy to hesitation. I move forward boldly, with faith in my Higher Power.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

Today, take the Program from theoretical to practical application to both recovery and life. If I hear “Easy Does It,” I cannot use it as “permission” to neglect daily responsibilities and what must be done today. Instead, it means not to expect too much of either myself or another person. And “Let Go and Let God” does not mean I can expect my Higher Power to tend to what is my responsibility and within my capability. Realize I am letting go of my own will for myself and letting God tell me what His will is for me. “One (drink) is one too many and never enough”  tells me, simply, not to try to find out what “never enough” is and not to try the first one at all. “Making amends”  isn’t simply saying, “I’m sorry,” but is acceptance of consequences and working harder if some of those amends are rejected. “One Day at a Time” is simple: today is all I’ve got and yesterday can’t be undone or redone, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. Even it is, I have to give today my best shot because it may well reverberate into tomorrow. Today, move from theory to the practical, and it’s time to roll up the sleeves. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

We should be free from alcohol for good. It’s out of our hands and in the hands of God, so we don’t need to worry about it or even think about it any more. But if we haven’t done this honestly and fully, the chances are that it will become our problem again. Since we don’t trust God to take care of the problem for us, we reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. Then it’s our problem again and we’re in the same old mess we were in before. We’re helpless again and we drink.

Do I trust God to take care of the problem for me?

Meditation for the Day

No work is of value without preparation. Every spiritual work must have behind it much spiritual preparation. Cut short times of prayer and times of spiritual preparation and many hours of work may be profitless. From the point of view of God, one poor tool working all the time but doing back work because of lack of preparation, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument working for only a short time but which turns out perfect work because of long hours of spiritual preparation.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may spend more time alone with God. I pray that I may get more strength and joy from such times, so that they will add much to my work.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2023 - Readings in Reovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

Reflection for the Day

We’re taught in The Program and the Twelve Steps that the chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear – mainly fear that we would lose something we already possessed or that we would fail to get something we demanded. Living on the basis of unsatisfied demands, we obviously were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, we are taught, no peace will be ours unless we find a means of reducing these demands.

Have I become entirely ready to have God remove all my defects of character?

Today I Pray

May I make no unrealistic demands on life which, because of their grandiosity, cannot be met. May I place no excessive demands on others which, when they are not fulfilled, leave me disappointed and let down.

Today I Will Remember

The set-up for a let-down.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023

Many of us would have been ready to do something about our drinking problem years before we did, except for the obstinate determination not to allow the wife, mother or boss to tell us what to do.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2023 – Good morning with hopes for a fantastic Tuesday for everyone

 

Good morning and let’s try to make this a worthwhile and productive Tuesday and last day of the month …and not be bothered by people and things that offer nothing constructive

Feb. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

We can learn to be hopeful.

Living with active alcoholism or other drug addiction can distort our perspective. Pleading with others to quit using seldom worked and often left us hopeless and angry. Today, however, we can become more positive by regularly putting ourselves in the company of friends who have hope.

Being hopeful is an attainable attitude. Coming to believe in the presence of a Higher Power in our lives will accelerate our acceptance of hope. With the help of God and our new friends, we will firmly come to know that we are never alone, that all is well. We will experience the hope we hear in the voices of others.

I can act as if I am hopeful today, and the feelings will follow.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023

Today, gratitude to our Higher Power that we are the ones blessed with the grace to recover and a commitment to live only the current 24 Hours, not looking back to drag the emotional and physical wreckage of yesterday into today and not looking to tomorrow because it may never come. We embrace with gratitude, humility and a pledge to be of good to others that we are not among the casualties of alcoholics who did not survive their last drunk, who did not choose what we as survivors did — recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Feb. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

When we came into AA, the first thing we did was to admit that we couldn’t do anything about our drinking. We admitted that alcohol had us licked and that we were helpless against it. We never could decide whether or not to take a drink. We always took the drink. And since we couldn’t do anything about it ourselves, we put our whole drink problem into the hands of God. We turned the whole thing over to that Power greater than ourselves. And we have nothing more to do about it, except to trust God to take care of the problem for us.

Have I done this honestly and fully?

Meditation for the Day

This is the time for my spirit to touch the spirit of God. I know that the feeling of the spirit-touch is more important than all the sensation of material things. I must seek a silence of spirit-touching with God. Just a moment’s contact and all the fever of life leaves me. Then I am well, whole, calm and able to rise and minister to others. God’s touch is a potent healer. I must feel that touch and sense God’s presence

Prayer for the Day

I pray that the fever of resentment, worry and fear may melt into nothingness. I pray that health, joy, peace and serenity may take its place.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023

Reflection for the Day

If I live just one day at a time, I won’t so quickly entertain fears of what might happen tomorrow. As long as I’m concentrating on today’s activities, there won’t be room in my mind for worrying. I’ll try to fill every minute of this day with something good – seen, heard, accomplished. Then, when the day is ended, I’ll be able to look back on it with satisfaction, serenity and gratitude.

Do I sometimes cherish bad feelings so that I can feel sorry for myself?

Today I Pray

That I will get out of the self-pity act and live for today. May I notice the good things from dawn to nightfall, learn to talk about them and thank God for them. May I catch myself if I seem to be relishing my moans and complaints more often than appreciating the goodness of my life.

Today I Will Remember

Today is good.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 27, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, Feb. 27, 2023

We know from past experiences that we actually invited all our troubles to enter our lives. We left the door wide open for them. Getting sober does not necessarily mean we have closed all the doors, for some of us have only closed the front door and left the back door wide open.

The chances are that you are not only vulnerable through the door marked Alcohol. As you advance to the front, watch well both flanks and the rear.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 27, 2023 – Good Monday morning …let’s get out there and do our very best

 

OK, so what if it’s Monday again with an entire new week facing us …head out with confidence that you got this and that nothing and no one have the control to say otherwise

Feb. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Reflection for the Day

If I become angry today, I’ll pause and think before I say anything, remembering that my anger can turn back upon me and worsen my difficulties. I’ll try to remember, too, that well-timed silence can give me command of a stressful situation as angry reproaches never can. In such moments of stress, I’ll remember that my power over others is nonexistent, and that only God is all-powerful.

Have I learned that I alone can destroy my own peace of mind?

Today I Pray

May I learn that I can choose how to handle my anger – in silence or as a tantrum, a rage, a fistfight, a pillow fight, a tirade, an elaborate plan to “get back at” whoever caused it, an icy glare, a cool pronouncement of hate – or a simple statement of fact, “I am angry at you because” (in twenty-five words or less). Or may I, if need be, turn my anger into energy and shovel the walk, bowl, play a game of tennis, or clean the house. I pray that my Higher Power will show me appropriate ways to deal with my anger.

Today I Will Remember

“I am angry because … “

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

Today, understand we cannot take Step Seven of asking a Higher Power to “remove our shortcomings”  without first surrendering completely to the Sixth Step of being “entirely ready.”  If we cling onto some character defect, we probably have not been honest in our Fourth Step of “a searching and fearless moral inventory …”  Some – if not all – of those character defects likely triggered our drinking, at first abusively and eventually addictively. Holding onto them even with an honest desire to let go of them may threaten the quality of our sobriety – maybe recovery itself. An “honest desire”  to surrender our defects, then, is not sufficient. Because the Program is one of action, we must be active in releasing our defects and not taking them back. Our thoughts, feelings and actions of yesterday influence our tomorrows; thus, what we do today may well impact tomorrow, and a history of carrying those deadly character defects from yesterday into tomorrow is self-destruction. Today, if we are mired in defects that we know contributed to our drinking, let’s review our Fourth to see if it wasn’t as “searching and fearless”  as it should be. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

When we came into AA, we came to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. We came to believe in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God, and to which we can turn for help. Each morning we have a quiet time. We ask God for the power to stay sober for the next 24 hours. And each night we thank Him for helping us to keep sober that day.

Do I believe that each man or woman I see in AA is a demonstration of the power of God to change a human being from a drunkard to a sober person?

Meditation for the Day

I should pray for faith as a thirsty person prays for water in a desert. Do I know what it means to feel sure that God will never fail me? Am I sure of this as I am sure that I still breathe? I should pray daily and most diligently that my faith may increase. There is nothing lacking in my life because, really, all I need is mine, only I lack the faith to know it. I am like a rich man’s child who sits in rags when all around me are stores of all I could desire.

Prayer for the Day

I pray for the realization that God has everything I need. I pray that I may know that His power is always available.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

Reflection for the Day

“What if …”  How often we hear these words from newcomers to The Program. How often, in fact, we tend to say them ourselves. “What if I lose my job …,”  “What if my car breaks down …,”  “What if I get sick and can’t work …,”  “What if my child gets hooked on drugs?”  What if – anything our desperate imaginings can project. Only two small words, yet how heavy-laden they are with dread, fear and anxiety. The answer to, “What if …,”  is, plainly and simply, “Don’t project.”  We can only live with our problems as they arise, living one day at a time.

Am I keeping my thoughts positive?

Today I Pray

May I grow spiritually, without being held back by anxieties. May projected fears not hobble my pursuits or keep me from making the most of today. May I turn out fear by faith. If I will only make a place for God within me, He will remove my fears.

Today I Will Remember

I can only borrow trouble at high interest rates.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023

Frequently we are asked, “Why waste your money on that guy? He’s a phony if ever I saw one.”  We have all heard this and often it was true but, after all, the monetary loss each month was way below our old whiskey bills. Every once in a while, the long shot does come in and the payoff is tremendous.

It is simply a case of betting on people instead of horses. These bets on people can’t lose, for if the phony abuses your generosity, the fault is his, not yours, and he is debited and you are credited by the Great Bookkeeper who has charge of the Treasury where “neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.”

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 26, 2023 – Good morning, and let’s aim for a paced and serene Sunday

 

Good morning, and to help get your Sunday off to a peaceful and terrific start, here’s is a cute little pussy kitty offering a bouquet of roses ….now it can’t get much better than that, right?

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Rule 62: Don’t Take Yourself So Damn Seriously

On bad days when I’m struggling, I pull a few coins out of my pocket that I’ve gathered over the years. These coins have phrases on them that remind me of key lessons I need to remember.

One of these coins has “Rule 62” on it.

Rule 62 is shorthand for an important reminder. It’s the rule that says, “Don’t take yourself so damn seriously.” After all, sometimes the challenges we face on a daily basis seem like they are the worst thing in the world. But if I take a step back, and I remember that the most awful day in sobriety is better than sleeping on that step when I was homeless, then I can start to find the humor in what I’m going through today. I can get perspective and feel grateful for the life that God has given me.

My sober community helps too. I call them, and we laugh about what is going on in each other’s lives. We keep each other grounded.

Just for today, I will keep things in perspective and not take myself so seriously.

— Dan N., U.S. Army, 1971–1977

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Today, admit that I abused, misused, took for granted and literally threw away through my drinking and actions all that I had been GIVEN unconditionally – love, respect, self-respect, integrity, friends, family, innocence – and traded it for selfishness, insecurity, fear, regret, pain, agony, anguish, loss and time that will never be recovered. Now, I am forced to admit I cannot expect to be given what I drank away – nor should I be enabled in regaining what I lost – without earning it. And I have the tools to begin the rebuilding process, courtesy of 12 Step. So simple! But the work to apply those tools forces me to ask my Higher Power, on bended knee, for the strength, courage, honesty, discipline, integrity and selflessness to earn back what I have lost and not demand nor expect them to be handed to me. And, if I do the job right, I may get back more than I lost. Today, I accept I must remake myself and, with the Program, I’ve got the tools to do it. All that remains is my choice to pick them up and put them to use. Today, I pick them up and begin the rebuilding process. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

Some people find it hard to believe in a Power greater than themselves. But not to believe in such a Power forces us to atheism. It has been said that atheism is blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere. That’s practically impossible to believe. I think we all can agree that alcohol is a power greater than ourselves. It certainly was in my case. I was helpless before the power of alcohol.

Do I remember the things that happened to me because of the power of alcohol?

Meditation for the Day

The spiritual and moral will eventually overcome the material and unmoral. That is the purpose and destiny of the human race. Gradually the spiritual is overcoming the material in our minds. Gradually the moral is overcoming the unmoral. Faith, fellowship and service are cures for most of the ills of the world. There is nothing in the field of personal relationships that they cannot do.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may do my share in making a better world. I pray that I may be part of the cure for the ills of the world.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Reflection for the Day

Before we came to The Program, fear ruled our lives. Tyrannized by our addictions and obsessions, we feared everything and everybody. We feared ourselves and, perhaps most of all, feared fear itself. These days, when I am able to accept the help of my Higher Power, it makes me feel capable of doing anything I am called upon to do. I am overcoming my fears and acquiring a comfortable new confidence.

Can I believe that “courage is fear that has said its prayers …?”

Today I Pray

God grant that through faith in Him I may overcome my obsessive fears. I have been running scared for so long it has become a habit. God help me to see that I may be purposely clinging to my fears to avoid making decisions, perhaps even to shirk the responsibility of success.

Today I Will Remember

Fear keeps me safe from risk-taking.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Few of us who are successfully working the AA Program have failed to notice the almost immediate influence our sobriety has brought about, not only in our homes and jobs but in the community as well.

Some of us who a short time ago stood before the judge and got the usual “$10 or 10 days” are now frequently closeted in the Judge’s Chambers at his invitation to assist him in his handling of the alcoholic problem.

We know what we were, we know what we are, now let us be what we can be.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 – Rise ‘n shine for a fantastic and super Saturday

 

Good morning and let’s get rolling on what’s bound for be a super Saturday …make it a truly worthwhile and productive but safe day, taking on whatever unexpected challenges with determination — and never mind people and things that can screw it up

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Feb. 24, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Practicing sanity

When we were getting high all the time, we were practicing insanity. It was a lot of fun. We got so good at it, however, that we couldn’t see how serious it had become. Whether we’re straight or high, insanity seemed to take over.

Now we can practice sanity daily. Practicing anything will eventually make us pretty good at it. In the care of our Higher Power, we can get pretty good at sanity, too.

Am I letting go of my insane behavior?

Higher Power, help me face the fears of sane living, fears I tried to hide from with addiction.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

Today, apply the Program more widely and remember it is developed not solely to guide us to recovery but to detect and correct the character flaws that enabled our drinking. Being dry is all we can expect if the only action we take is to quit drinking. Abstinence by itself won’t earn us the sobriety and peace if we do not uncover, admit and either give up or correct the dysfunctional dynamics of our spiritual and emotional characters. Being dry is a major step forward from our drinking days, but dry without serenity puts us at significant risk of relapse if we turn a blind eye to the defective parts of our character. And because simply being dry puts us on the edge of a relapse waiting to happen, a recovery program helps us to deal with the defects in mental, spiritual and emotional characters. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

When we came to our first AA meeting, we looked up at the wall at the end of the room and saw the sign: “But for the Grace of God.” We knew right then and there that we would have to call on the Grace of God in order to get sober and get over our soul-sickness. We heard speakers tell how they had come to depend on a Power greater than themselves. That made sense to us and we made up our minds to try it.

Am I depending on the Grace of God to help me stay sober?

Meditation for the Day

Share your love, your joy, your happiness, your time, your food, your money gladly with all. Give out all the love you can with a glad, free heart and hand. Do all you can for others and back will come countless stores of blessings. Sharing draws others to you. Take all who come as sent by God and give them a royal welcome. You may never see the results of your sharing. Today they may not need you, but tomorrow may bring results from the sharing you did today.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may make each visitor desire to return. I pray that I may never make anyone feel repulsed or unwanted.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

Reflection for the Day

I can banish fear by realizing the truth. Am I afraid to be alone? This fear can be banished by the realization that I am never alone, that God is always with me wherever I am and whatever I do. Am I afraid that I won’t have enough money to meet my needs? This fear can be banished by the realization that God is my inexhaustible, unfailing resource, now and always. Today I have the power to change fear into faith.

Can I say with confidence, “I will trust, and will not be afraid …?”

Today I Pray

That I may fear no evil, for God is with me. That I may learn to turn to my Higher Power when I am afraid. I pray diligently that my faith in God and trust in what He has in store for me is strong enough to banish the fears that undermine my courage.

Today I Will Remember

Turn fear into faith.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

We alcoholics know that one drink is too much and a barrel isn’t enough. That first drink starts the compulsion to drink.

Suppressing desires can become a habit just as their satisfaction does. Each time we Say “NO,” we weaken the old habit and strengthen the new.

The efforts to satisfy our desires led us to the excesses that brought about our alcoholism. So let us follow the advise of John Stuart Mill and “learn to seek our happiness by limiting our desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them.”

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 – Good morning and let’s head out for a fantastic Friday

 

Good morning and keep hanging in there because the weekend is in sight …have a truly great Friday and give nothing and no one the control to make it less

Feb. 23, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

There’s good news and bad news about feelings in the program. The good news is, you get your feelings back. The bad news is, you get your feelings back.

— Michael Graubart

Our problems with anger and our problems in relationships go hand in hand. Some of us have held back our anger, which led to resentment of our loved ones. Some of us have indulged our anger and become abusive. Some of us have been so frightened of anger that we closed off the dialogue in our relationships when angry feelings came out.

Some of us have wasted our energy by focusing anger on people who weren’t really important to us. Do we truly want them to become so important? Perhaps our important relationships got frozen because we weren’t open and respectful with our anger. It isn’t possible to be close to someone without being angry at times. We let our loved ones be part of our lives by feeling our anger when it is there and expressing it openly, directly, and respectfully to them – or by hearing them when they are angry. Then, with dialogue, we can let it go.

I will be aware of those people I am making important in my life and will grow in dealing with my anger.

Hazelden Foundation