Friday, January 8, 2016
Jan. 8, 2016 - Surviving gay conversion therapy, and then defeating it
Jan. 8, 2016 - The shadow of stigma: Schizoaffective disorder and a patient's perspective
Jan. 8, 2016 - 'Something told me that cops can't be gay'
Jan. 8, 2016 - Know your Instagrammer: Actor Matthew Risch
Jan. 8, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Suffering is a journey which has an end.
-- Matthew Fox
Pain is part of life. To live a spiritual life, we need a way to understand the suffering we sometimes endure. Looking back at other difficult times can give us a better perspective of the pain we feel today. All of us can recall a loss or a sudden difficult change that we never would have chosen for ourselves. Perhaps it brought us face to face with insecurities or doubts about our survival. Now, after the suffering has ended, we see how much we grew. We changed; we were strengthened and, perhaps, were liberated by what happened to us.
Thoughts about today's suffering may not be clear as to what good it holds for us. But we are on a journey, and it can only happen one step at a time. We know that journeys teach us great lessons and they do have endings. Our pain today affirms that we are vital and alive people. We know others suffer as we do, and we can turn to each other to give and receive comfort while we are on the journey.
My pain will teach me something I need to know, and it will have an end. I will pay attention to its lessons.
Suffering is a journey which has an end.
-- Matthew Fox
Pain is part of life. To live a spiritual life, we need a way to understand the suffering we sometimes endure. Looking back at other difficult times can give us a better perspective of the pain we feel today. All of us can recall a loss or a sudden difficult change that we never would have chosen for ourselves. Perhaps it brought us face to face with insecurities or doubts about our survival. Now, after the suffering has ended, we see how much we grew. We changed; we were strengthened and, perhaps, were liberated by what happened to us.
Thoughts about today's suffering may not be clear as to what good it holds for us. But we are on a journey, and it can only happen one step at a time. We know that journeys teach us great lessons and they do have endings. Our pain today affirms that we are vital and alive people. We know others suffer as we do, and we can turn to each other to give and receive comfort while we are on the journey.
My pain will teach me something I need to know, and it will have an end. I will pay attention to its lessons.
You are reading from the book:
Touchstones ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 8, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
" ...(W)e spent three or four hours formally going through the Six-Step program as it was at that time.
- Complete deflation.
- Dependence and guidance from a Higher Power.
- Moral inventory.
- Confession.
- Restitution.
- Continued work with other alcoholics." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "Personal Stories," Ch 10 ("He Sold Himself Short"), p 292.
Today, the program's original steps still serve to simplify the purposes of what later would become the 12 steps. "Complete deflation" is the goal of the first step - "admitted we were powerless" - and "Continued work with other alcoholics," the marching orders of the 12th step. In between, we find and concede to a higher power from which we seek the strength and honesty to admit our faults to ourselves and someone else, and then make amends - restitution - for those wrongs. Today, if 12 steps seem too high to climb for now, "Keep It Simple" and look to the original six steps. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Jan. 8, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Everyone who comes into AA knows from bitter experience that he or she can't drink. I know that drinking has been the cause of all my major troubles or has made them worse. Now that I have found a way out, I will hang onto AA with both hands. Saint Paul once said that nothing in the world, neither powers nor principalities, life nor death, could separate him from the love of God.
Once I have given my drink problem to God, should anything in the world separate me from my sobriety?
Meditation for the Day
I know that my new life will not be immune from difficulties, but I will have peace even in difficulties. I know that serenity is the result of faithful, trusting acceptance of God's will, even in the midst of difficulties. Saint Paul said: "Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may welcome difficulties. I pray that they may test my strength and build my character.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 8, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
Reflection for the Day
Today is the day for which I asked and for which I have been given strength. That in itself is a miracle. In my old life, I constantly endangered myself as well as countless others. So the very fact that I am alive is the great miracle from which all other miracles will flow, providing I continue to do the things that have brought me this far in my new life.
Am I grateful that I have been given this day?
Today I Pray
May God's goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. May I never cease to wonder at the greatest miracle in my life - that I am alive, here, on this green earth, and growing healthier with the life-preserving tools I have been given. Since God has chosen to give me life and to preserve my life, even through the dangers of addiction, may I always continue to listen for His plan for me. May I always believe in miracles.
Today I Will Remember
My life is a miracle.
Hazelden Foundation
Jan. 8, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
God does not willingly inflict punishment on men. Our pain and our suffering are the direct results of a violation of the Moral, Natural or Civil Law.
We who were guilty of over-indulgence must pray the price, not FOR our indulgence but BECAUSE of our indulgence. The consequences must follow as the night follows the day. It is the LAW.
We have violated this LAW and we have paid dearly for it, but we do not have to persist in our violations. The body will heal, sins will be forgiven, things will right themselves if, and when, we put our thoughts and actions in tune with the immutable laws of God, of Nature and of man.
As sins bring punishment as a natural consequence, so right living brings its own compensations, not as a reward for deeds done but as a CONSEQUENCE.
Hazelden Foundation
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Jan. 7, 2016 - Commentary: The problem with Colton Haynes and not quite 'coming out'
Jan. 7, 2016 - Civil rights, LGBT groups take on order by Alabama's chief justice to deny gay marriage licenses
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| Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore |
Jan. 7, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
We don't want to live in the past, but we do need to learn to live comfortably with it.
"We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." This is a promise of the Twelve Step program.
One of the most useful tools we have for learning to live with our past is the Fourth Step inventory. Once we have examined our dark corners and shared with someone else the times when we did not live up to our expectations, we no longer fear reminders of those times, nor do we try to block them out.
It takes energy to try to hold shut the door to the past. Coming to terms with mistakes we have made, making amends, forgiving ourselves, and forgiving others releases this energy so we can use it for living more fully now, in the present. Allowing the door to the past to swing open in its own time gives us access to the good memories that we were also repressing.
Is there something I need to do today so that I can live more comfortably with the past?
We don't want to live in the past, but we do need to learn to live comfortably with it.
"We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." This is a promise of the Twelve Step program.
One of the most useful tools we have for learning to live with our past is the Fourth Step inventory. Once we have examined our dark corners and shared with someone else the times when we did not live up to our expectations, we no longer fear reminders of those times, nor do we try to block them out.
It takes energy to try to hold shut the door to the past. Coming to terms with mistakes we have made, making amends, forgiving ourselves, and forgiving others releases this energy so we can use it for living more fully now, in the present. Allowing the door to the past to swing open in its own time gives us access to the good memories that we were also repressing.
Is there something I need to do today so that I can live more comfortably with the past?
You are reading from the book:
This book is now out of print and no longer available to purchase. Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation
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