July 21, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, July 21, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Slowly Ease the Pain

Each and every day I ask, What do I have? What have I been left with? What can I do with what I have? Who was I then? Who am I now? What can I do with who I am now? Where did I end up? What can I do with where I ended up? How can I accomplish success in small increments? How can I do more in life? What more can I do in life?

I can keep asking questions. Look for answers. Make plans with the answers. Pray a lot. Try to keep calm and clear. Learn meditation. Learn how to react to the people around me with smoother responses. Remind myself that I am eternally sanding down the rough edges. Be thankful I got to see and live through another day.

My disability limits me. My disability creates a new life that I can explore. I can have full life. Life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness are possible. My job is to understand my past and keep on the path of life. My life is like an ongoing patrol. My never-ending mission. I accept this.

Today I will learn to love and appreciate those around me and what we can do together.

-- Moe A., U.S. Marine Corps, 1962–1966

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Resolve to be thyself; and know that who finds himself, loses his misery.

-- Matthew Arnold

Our need for approval compels us to try to look good -- no matter what's going on. We imagine that somehow everything will be okay as long as it looks okay. Our hearts may be breaking from fear, disillusionment, and rejection, real or imagined, but we keep smiling so that no one will guess.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it so hard to turn to a friend and say, "Hey, I'm hurting. I’ve been having a bad time and I need help"? Would the earth tremble if we said it right out, just like that? We're not likely to get what we don't ask for. Instead of denying that our knees are shaking, our hands are sweating, and our stomachs are in torment, we can admit and share the truth. We don’t have to say "Fine!" when someone in the program asks us how we're doing. Our real friends aren't impressed by stiff upper lips; they're impressed by personal honesty.

Today, I will tell someone the truth about how I feel. If I'm not fine, I won't say that I am.

Hazelden Foundation

April 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, April 19, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Making Room
for What Matters

I don't know about you, but my days usually fill up very easily without any effort at all on my part. The hours between waking and sleeping fly by. For years, I just went with the flow, let the days take me where they needed to, let the days roll into nights with me exhausted and feeling a little bit deprived, not having spent time doing the things that I really loved to do. Now, I try to be more intentional with my days.

These days, I try hard to make room for what really matters. I'll be honest: I do not always succeed. I'm a recovering workaholic, which means I have to try a lot harder than your average person not to work. But at least once, maybe twice a day, and sometimes even three, I do seriously attempt to make room for what matters. The things that matter to me change, and regardless of what those things are, making room for them may never come naturally. But I sure do feel better when I make it happen.

Try to make room for what matters to you today. Always remember: you matter to you.

Hazelden Foundation

March 13, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Hatred is never anything but fear — if you feared no one, you would hate no one.

— Hugh Downs

On those occasions when we find the bigger man within, we are more generous in spirit toward others. But sometimes we think too much about what is wrong with others and how they ought to change. That is a form of hate. If we are searching for what we have power to change in our families, in our friendships, in the world, we can learn to be big enough to set aside our fears.

Do we bear ill will toward someone today? When we are honest with ourselves, do we feel a sense of fear in relation to this person? What are we really afraid of? Perhaps the same person fears us. When we can do something about our fear, the hatred melts with no further effort. Then we are in touch with the bigger man within.

I have the inner strength to face my fears today. I will not send them outward as hatred.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 11, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024

AA Thought for the Day
If we’re going to stay sober, we’ve got to learn to want something else more than we want to drink. When we first came into AA, we couldn’t imagine wanting anything else so much or more than drinking. So we had to stop drinking on faith, on faith that some day we really would want something else more than drinking. But after we’ve been in AA for a while, we learn that a sober life can really be enjoyed. We learn how nice it is to get along well with our family, how nice it is to do our work well — whether at home or outside — how nice it is to try to help others.

Have I found that when I keep sober, everything goes well for me?

Meditation for the Day
There is almost no work in the life so hard as waiting. And yet God wants me to wait. All motion is more easy than calm waiting, and yet I must wait until God shows me His will. So many people have marred their work and hindered the growth of their spiritual lives by too much activity. If I wait patiently, preparing myself always, I will be someday at the place where I would be. And much toil and activity could not have accomplished the journey so soon.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may wait patiently. I pray that I may trust God and keep preparing myself for a better life.

Hazelden Foundation

June 19, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, June 19, 2023

” …(O)ur troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us!”— Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), p 62.

Today, believe and accept that my troubles are of my own creation and that selfishness is the binding tie. Before and during my drinking days, I ran my life on my terms, my rules, my wants, my needs, my expectations and my passions. And always, the results were disastrous and, if I am to be thoroughly honest, grew progressively worse. To whom or what, then, do I entrust my life if I can’t run it? Herein is the introduction to the concept of a Higher Power, an entity stronger than me, or God as we understand Him. And even if I do not or cannot yet believe in a Higher Power or God, my willingness to at least be open to the possibility is a beginning — toward humility. Today, I am open to the possibility that something higher and wiser can run my life better than me — and my journey to recovery begins. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Feb. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Life is perfect, just the way it is and just the way it is not.

— Peggy Bassett

Coming to believe that life is perfect however it is takes willingness and concentrated faith. Most of us waste precious hours every day wishing for something that isn’t. Will we ever learn?

It isn’t wrong to want some things to be different. If our own behavior can inspire positive changes in ourselves or others, then it’s not wrong to take responsibility for what we can do. What is futile, though, is assuming we know what is best for everyone. We can’t see the big picture. God gives us only what we need right now. What may look like trouble, what may appear as imperfect one minute, may be God’s greater plan. Let’s wait and see.

I will find comfort in the message that all is well. I will use that today if I get worried about how events seem to be unfolding.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 14, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Feb. 14, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Expressing Love

We can finally see that without a Higher Power, without love, we are powerless. It’s what we’ve been seeking for ages — and it’s been here all along; we just couldn’t see it.

We need a Higher Power. We need love. It is the answer to our problems; it can change everything. (But we have so much trouble with it!) We’re afraid of love, and we fail to give the love we have to give. Yet every expression of love is sacred, nurturing.

Am I expressing my love?

Higher Power, help me to see my best self, to express it, and to see the best in others.

I will express the love within me today by…

Hazelden Foundation