Sunday, January 3, 2016
Jan. 3, 2016 - Fight against LGBT equality will move to state level in 2016
Jan. 3, 2016 - Actor Colton Haynes drops a hint about his sexuality - maybe
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| Colton Haynes |
Jan. 3, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Moral Inventory
It is fortunate that we can think in secret, because our thoughts would quickly get us in trouble if others could read them. In our thoughts, we can choose what we wish to reveal to others before we speak or act.
In the long run, however, we do not really conceal our true thoughts and feelings. The nature of our thoughts shapes our character and becomes part of us. It even affects our appearance. It is not difficult at all to identify people who are fearful, angry, or jealous.
This process has its good side, because kind thoughts and feelings also affect our appearance, and in positive ways. Norman Vincent Peale wrote, "God runs a beauty parlor," meaning that plain people with gracious thoughts tend to become more attractive as years wear on.
As AA members, we need not fear our own thoughts and feelings if we are continuing to work the program. As the sober years stretch out, we will be improving our thoughts and feelings, and this will tell others what the program is doing for us and through us.
I'll remember today that I don't really keep my thoughts and feelings secret. I will think well of myself and all others. I know that there are no hidden thoughts in the long run.
Moral Inventory
It is fortunate that we can think in secret, because our thoughts would quickly get us in trouble if others could read them. In our thoughts, we can choose what we wish to reveal to others before we speak or act.
In the long run, however, we do not really conceal our true thoughts and feelings. The nature of our thoughts shapes our character and becomes part of us. It even affects our appearance. It is not difficult at all to identify people who are fearful, angry, or jealous.
This process has its good side, because kind thoughts and feelings also affect our appearance, and in positive ways. Norman Vincent Peale wrote, "God runs a beauty parlor," meaning that plain people with gracious thoughts tend to become more attractive as years wear on.
As AA members, we need not fear our own thoughts and feelings if we are continuing to work the program. As the sober years stretch out, we will be improving our thoughts and feelings, and this will tell others what the program is doing for us and through us.
I'll remember today that I don't really keep my thoughts and feelings secret. I will think well of myself and all others. I know that there are no hidden thoughts in the long run.
You are reading from the book:
Walk in Dry Places by Mel B. © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 3, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
"We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals - usually brief - were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period, we get worse, never better." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 ("More About Alcoholism"), p 30.
Today, conceding to "our innermost selves" that we are alcoholic is the first step in recovery. Without that admission, every attempt to stop drinking is doomed to failure: our private drinking histories are mute testimony to that. But if we can finally admit to ourselves that we are alcoholic, the answer to the next logical question - Why do I have to quit altogether instead of cutting back? - is obvious: alcoholism is a progressive condition that is never cured and, when fed, gets worse. But alcoholism can be arrested, and the only guaranteed method is total abstinence. Today, if I still struggle that the drinking problem I clearly have has progressed into alcoholism, I have to retreat within my innermost self in absolute honesty and, if I acknowledge the obvious answer, AA awaits me, just for the asking. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Jan. 3, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
When I came into AA, I learned what an alcoholic was and then I applied this knowledge to myself to see if I was an alcoholic. When I was convinced that I was an alcoholic, I admitted it openly. Since then, have I been learning to live accordingly? Have I read the book "Alcoholics Anonymous?" Have I applied the knowledge gained to myself? Have I admitted openly that I am an alcoholic?
Am I ready to admit it at any time when I can be of help?
Meditation for the Day
I will be renewed. I will be remade. In this, I need God's help. His spirit shall flow through me and, in flowing through me, it shall sweep away all the bitter past. I will take heart. The way will open for me. Each day will unfold something good, as long as I am trying to live the way I believe God wants me to live.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be taught, just as a child would be taught. I pray that I may never question God's plans, but accept them gladly.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 3, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
Reflection for the Day
My addiction is three-fold in that it affects me physically, mentally and spiritually. As a chemically-dependent person, I was totally out of touch not only with myself, but with reality. Day after miserable day, like a caged animal on a treadmill, I repeated my self-destructive pattern of living.
Have I begun to break away from my old ideas? Just for today, can I adjust myself to what is, rather than try to adjust everything to my own desires?
Today I Pray
I pray that I may not be caught up again in the downward, destructive spiral which removed me from myself and from the realities of the world around me. I pray that I may adjust to people and situations as they are instead of always trying, unsuccessfully and with endless frustration, to bend them to my own desires.
Today I Will Remember
I can only change myself.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 3, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
You can't tell a drunk anything, but you can show him. All too frequently, we dry out on Monday, attend our first meeting on Tuesday and try our hand at Twelve Stepping on Wednesday.
With a sketchy conception of what it is all about, with little or no knowledge of the Program, sometimes with the smell of paraldehyde still on our breath, we venture forth to dry up the world and, when we fail, we wonder why.
Remember the 12th Step says, "Having had a Spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics." You can't carry the message before you receive it nor can you give it if you don't possess it.
Hazelden Foundation
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Jan. 2, 2016 - Photo gallery: Human Rights Campaign's year in pictures
Jan. 2, 2016 - Why no father should vote for Donald Trump
Jan. 2, 2016 - Here's what's happening in your body with a hangover
Jan. 2, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Learning new ways
Once we make a connection with our Higher Power, the ongoing problem is to hold on to it. Repeatedly we slip into our old ways of thinking and behaving. If not curtailed, eventually these will lead us back to that first fix, pill, or drink. We need only a word, thought, or familiar situation to get caught up again in an old habit.
We have to discover (and rediscover) that the old way of life has become impossible and the new one essential. We do this - and do it again - by praying, meditating, and working the Twelve Steps of recovery.
Ask yourself - Am I living the program?
Higher Power, help me avoid being smug and complacent in my new life. Remind me that old ways of living have become impossible for me.
Learning new ways
Once we make a connection with our Higher Power, the ongoing problem is to hold on to it. Repeatedly we slip into our old ways of thinking and behaving. If not curtailed, eventually these will lead us back to that first fix, pill, or drink. We need only a word, thought, or familiar situation to get caught up again in an old habit.
We have to discover (and rediscover) that the old way of life has become impossible and the new one essential. We do this - and do it again - by praying, meditating, and working the Twelve Steps of recovery.
Ask yourself - Am I living the program?
Higher Power, help me avoid being smug and complacent in my new life. Remind me that old ways of living have become impossible for me.
You are reading from the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation
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