Wednesday, April 29, 2015
April 29, 2015 - Editorial: A landmark gay marriage case at the Supreme Court
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Happy people are likeable
Personal Relations
Who are the people we really like, and like to be with? Most of the time, they are happy people, people who like themselves and others.
Being happy is almost the entire secret of being likeable. Though no person can expect to be liked by everybody, the likeable people have the inside track most of the time.
How do we become happy and thus likeable? We're continuously told that happiness cannot be found in property, power, and prestige. It is rooted instead in self-acceptance, in feeling loved and wanted, and in giving genuine service, maybe just in the form of very useful work.
Twelve Step programs are structured to make us happy if we persevere long enough in working the individual steps. While it may seem contradictory, even people with heavy burdens and personal sorrows can find underlying happiness in the program. A great deal of this also hinges on our belief in a Higher Power and a confidence that we have a place in the universal system.
I can be happy today in spite of things that others would consider burdensome and depressing. Happiness really comes from God, and it also serves to attract friends into my life.
Happy people are likeable
Personal Relations
Who are the people we really like, and like to be with? Most of the time, they are happy people, people who like themselves and others.
Being happy is almost the entire secret of being likeable. Though no person can expect to be liked by everybody, the likeable people have the inside track most of the time.
How do we become happy and thus likeable? We're continuously told that happiness cannot be found in property, power, and prestige. It is rooted instead in self-acceptance, in feeling loved and wanted, and in giving genuine service, maybe just in the form of very useful work.
Twelve Step programs are structured to make us happy if we persevere long enough in working the individual steps. While it may seem contradictory, even people with heavy burdens and personal sorrows can find underlying happiness in the program. A great deal of this also hinges on our belief in a Higher Power and a confidence that we have a place in the universal system.
I can be happy today in spite of things that others would consider burdensome and depressing. Happiness really comes from God, and it also serves to attract friends into my life.
You are reading from the book:
Walk in Dry Places by Mel B. © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Today, service to other people or causes as an essential element in my recovery, that expending some of my attention to anything other than myself may make my problems not as bad as I think they are. Service can range from giving a lead 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 and working on problems are sacrificed and neglected. In the end, my Program requires that I not focus all that I have completely on myself and that sharing or volunteering for some degree of service work may make my own problems less heavy. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
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, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
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, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
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
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
 |
| The Serenity Prayer |
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Taking it slowly
Let's not make haste and demand perfection at once - this would only blind us. If we are impatient, we cannot work a daily program. But by exercising patience, we learn to recognize daily opportunities for growth.
It is worth waiting for, striving for, and working to develop a relationship with our Higher Power. It cannot be done overnight. Let's not go too fast, but count each day as a new opportunity.
Am I learning to take it slowly?
Higher Power, I pray that I may meet each day with patience and grow closer to You.
Taking it slowly
Let's not make haste and demand perfection at once - this would only blind us. If we are impatient, we cannot work a daily program. But by exercising patience, we learn to recognize daily opportunities for growth.
It is worth waiting for, striving for, and working to develop a relationship with our Higher Power. It cannot be done overnight. Let's not go too fast, but count each day as a new opportunity.
Am I learning to take it slowly?
Higher Power, I pray that I may meet each day with patience and grow closer to You.
You are reading from the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation
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