Wednesday, June 3, 2015

June 3, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Today, gratitude and humility if my 24 Hours of sobriety totals week, months and even years and understanding that I am no more sober than the alcoholic whose last drink was yesterday. Grant me the wisdom to be open to the lessons that I still have to learn in my own sobriety and that some of those lessons can come from the alcoholic whose sobriety does not match mine in length of time. I must learn from the experience of the past that I am no more "cured" and just as much at risk of a relapse as the newcomer or slipper who continues to struggle. But I must also acknowledge the responsibility that the length of my sobriety exacts, namely to share with someone else what has or has not worked for me in hope that my own experiences might speak to someone else. Today, I am sober only in the current 24 Hours, and I accept the responsibility that I have to my recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015

June 3, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

AA Thought for the Day
Some more things I do not miss since becoming dry: running all over town to find a bar open to get that "pick-me-up;" meeting my friends and trying to cover up that I feel awful; looking at myself in a mirror and calling myself a damn fool; struggling with myself to snap out of it for two or three days; wondering what it is all about.

I'm positive I don't miss these things, am I not?

Meditation for the Day
Love is the power that transforms your life. Try to love your family and your friends and then try to love everybody that you possibly can, even the "sinners and publicans" - everybody. Love for God is an even greater thing. It is the result of gratitude to God, and it is the acknowledgement of the blessing that God has sent you. Love for God acknowledges His gifts and leaves the way open for God to shower yet more blessings on your thankful heart. Say, "Thank you, God," until it becomes a habit.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to love God and all people. I pray that I may continually thank God for all His blessings.

Hazelden Foundation

June 3, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Reflection for the Day
"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise," wrote Thomas Merton, "we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them." As I replace my self-destructive addictions with a healthy dependence on The Program and its Twelve Steps, I'm finding that the barriers of silence and hatred are melting away. By accepting each other as we are, we have learned again to love.

Do I care enough about others in The Program to continue working with them as long as necessary?

Today I Pray
May I be selfless enough to love people as they are, not as I want them to be, as they mirror my image or feed my ego. May I slow down in my eagerness to love - now that I am capable of feeling love again - and ask myself if I really love someone or only that someone's idea of me. May I remove the "self" from my loving.

Today I Will Remember
Love is unconditional.

Hazelden Foundation

June 3, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, June 3, 2015

The harvest is great and the laborers are too few. Too often we get a new man, we work diligently on him, get him to a meeting or two and then another new man appears and we drop the first one and frequently never see him again.

This is not to imply that we are to carry him on our backs indefinitely, but we can utilize an occasional spare 10 minutes to call him on the phone. We can keep our eyes open for him at the meetings and, if he misses several in succession, we can look him up.

Remember you were the midwife at his rebirth in this new life, and you should not neglect him in his AA infancy.

Hazelden Foundation

June 3, 2015 - Welcome to what's going to be a Wonderful Wednesday, folks!


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

June 2, 2015 - Country singer Ty Herndon on coming out, the music industry and a more inclusive Nashville

Huffington Post: June 2, 2015 - Country Star Ty Herndon Hopes His Latest Project Marks A Shift Towards A More LGBT-Friendly Nashville

June 2, 2015 - Slideshow: Twelve gay male pop stars and their long-term partners

Advocate.com: June 2, 2015 - Slideshow: 12 Gay Male Pop Stars and Their Long-Term Partners | Advocate.com

June 2, 2015 - Gay conversion therapy goes on trial this week in New Jersey

Associated Press: June 2, 2015 - New Jersey trial on gay conversion therapy set to begin – LGBTQ Nation

June 2, 2015 - Olympian formerly named Bruce debuts in Vanity Fair as Caitlyn Jenner

Associated Press: June 2, 2015 - Vanity Fair introduces, reveals first photo of Caitlyn Jenner – LGBTQ Nation

June 2, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for thee.
 -- George Herbert


Some of us have gone through life unconsciously expecting others to bring us happiness, to make our dreams come true, and to make us feel good about ourselves. When nothing seems to be going well for us, we blame it on the lack of external support - we're not in a serious relationship, we don't like our job, we don't have the money to venture into our own business.

When we change our perspective - when we know and trust that we are responsible for our happiness, our dreams, and our feelings - we become empowered. No longer is the burden on someone or something that is either unreliable or nonexistent. We'd been giving this power to others; now it's time to take it back, to make and be responsible for our own choices, to value our opinions, and to respect our intellect.

Today I will give myself credit for all I am capable of, financially and otherwise.
You are reading from the book:
Letting Go of Debt © 2000 by Hazelden Foundation

June 2, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

"There may be some wrongs we can never fully right. We don't worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could. Some people cannot be seen - we send them an honest letter. And there may be a valid reason for postponement in some cases. But we don't delay if it can be avoided. ...As God's people, we stand on our feet; we don't crawl before anyone." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6, p 83.

Today, do not take for granted the weight of Step Nine when considering to whom we must - and can - approach with amends. Some wrongs may never be made fully right, and there may be no recourse if making an amend only to clear our conscience risks further injury or implicates an unknowing other person. In cases in which we can honestly conclude that direct amends are not possible, our actions rather than our words may be our only atonement, and our strongest action is to get and stay sober and continue to grow in sobriety. When we can and must make amends, however, we are cautioned not to "crawl before anyone," not to submit to being the proverbial doormat. In drunkenness, we lost our footing which, in turn, triggered the damage we inflicted; in sobriety, we must stand on our own feet to give integrity to our amends. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015

June 2, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

AA Thought for the Day
Some more things I do not miss since becoming dry: wondering if the car is in the garage and how I got home; struggling to remember where I was and what I did since my last conscious moment; trying to delay getting off to work, and wondering how I will look when I get there; dreading the day ahead of me.

I'm quite sure that I don't miss these things, am I not?

Meditation for the Day
You cannot believe in God and keep your selfish ways. The old self shrivels up and dies, and upon the reborn soul God's image becomes stamped. The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and your fellow human beings is the goal of life. At first, you have only a faint likeness to the Divine, but the picture grows and takes on more and more of the likeness of God until those who see you can see in you some of the power of God's grace at work in a human life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may develop that faint likeness I have to the Divine. I pray that others may see in me some of the power of God's grace at work.

Hazelden Foundation

June 2, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Reflection for the Day
In the process of learning to love myself and, in turn, to love others freely with no strings attached, I've begun to understand these words of St. Augustine: "Love slays what we have been, that we may be what we were not." More and more, I feel this enormous power of such love in The Program; for me, the words, "we care," also mean, "we love."

Just for today, will I try to be loving in every thought and action?

Today I Pray
I pray that I may feel the enormity and the power of the love I find in The Program. May my own caring be added to that great energy of love which belongs to all of us. May I care with my whole heart that my fellow members maintain their sobriety and are learning to live with it comfortably and creatively. May I never doubt that they care the same way about me.

Today I Will Remember
Caring makes it happen.

Hazelden Foundation

June 2, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, June 2, 2015

We come into AA and are told that we should endeavor to establish a conscious contact with our God as we understand Him; that we should, through prayer and meditation, get on speaking terms with Him. We brushed up on our rusty salutations of "Almighty" and practiced on our Thee's and Thou's only to learn that there was a simpler and more direct approach.

We found that we could "tune God in" to our hearts and consciences and that no other method was needed to send and receive messages. We learned that what we said was of no great consequence anyway, as our prayers were for His will, not ours, and we also learned that we had to make no direct request for those things that were for our good, as He knew our needs before we ever realized them ourselves.

Hazelden Foundation

June 2, 2015 - Rise 'n shine in what's going to be a Tremendous Tuesday, folks!