March 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day
We used to run people down all the time. We realize now that it was because we wanted unconsciously to build ourselves up. We were envious of people who lived normal lives. We couldn't understand why we couldn't be like them. And so we ran them down. We were always looking for faults in the other person. We have found that we can never make a person any better by criticism. Am I less critical of people?

Meditation for the Day
I must admit my helplessness before my prayer for help will be heard by God. My own need must be recognized before I can ask God for the strength to meet that need. But once that need is recognized, my prayer is heard above all the music of heaven.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may send my voiceless cry for help out into the void. I pray that I may feel certain that it will be heard somewhere, somehow.

You are reading from the book:

 Twenty-four Hours a Day for Teens by Anonymous

Twenty-Four Hours a Day for Teens © 2004 by Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Today, remember gratitude if I take undue credit for the sobriety I have found through AA. While it is justified to take pride in being sober the last 24 Hours, that pride must be within the boundaries of the program and cannot be stretched to egoism or seeking praise from others. For when pride extends beyond the boundaries to egoism, I risk taking back the surrender to the power that carried me when I passed out or stumbled in my drinking days and even in some difficult sober days. Yes, I was the one who grabbed the lifeline of AA, but someone or something else had to toss it to me first. Gratitude. And our common journey continues. Step by Step. - Chris M., 2017

March 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, March 2, 2017
 
AA Thought for the Day
Over a period of drinking years, we've proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can't stop drinking by our own willpower. We have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life into God's hands.

Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live the way He wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day
Spirit-power comes from communication with God in prayer and times of quiet meditation. I must constantly seek spirit-communication with God. This is a matter directly between me and God. Those who seek it through the medium of the church do not always get the joy and the wonder of spirit-communication with God. From this communication comes life, joy, peace and healing. Many people do not realize the power that can come to them from direct spirit-communication.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may feel that God's power is mine. I pray that I may be able to face anything through that power.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, March 2, 2017
 
Reflection for the Day
Why don't I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities? Why not think about victories instead of defeats - about the ways in which I am gentle and kind? It's always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything I've done, said or felt. Just for today, I'll spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life.

Do I have the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray
Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude. If I am a child of God, created in His image, there must be goodness in me. I will think about that goodness and the ways it manifests itself. I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts. I will respect what is God's. I will respect myself.

Today I Will Remember
Self-respect is respect for God.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, March 2, 2017
 
Life is too short even if we live the whole of it to its fullest, but we alcoholics have wasted so many years of our lives that we must now double our efforts if we hope to do any living at all. Truly, for us, it is later than we think.

There is one consolation, however. and that is that it is possible to use a single moment to produce an eternity of benefits for humanity. Much time has been frittered away, but there is still ample time to do good.

Life is not measured by its length but by its width and its depth.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2017 - Time to get moving on what's going to be a fabulous Thursday

March 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Today's thoughts from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Unselfishness

Dear Lord,

I must continually work toward unselfishness.

To be unselfish is to be useful.

When I am selfish, I am useless to myself, You, and others.

Help me to stop thinking on only me and to stop hoarding not only material things but also my thoughts and feelings from others.

Dear Lord, grant that I may practice what the Program teaches me.

My life has been saved by what others have given me.

I must, in turn, give it away to keep it.

You are reading from the book:

The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D.

The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D. © 2007 by Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Today, enough! No more self-defeatism from failing to attain perfection when perfection is impossible. No more self-abuse by drinking myself into oblivion every night, awakening to a shot of whisky to calm the shakes. No more dodging responsibilities to myself and other people. No more watching the clock for the 10 a.m. mid-morning hit from the flax hidden in my car in the employee parking lot, and no more counting minutes to race home and again start drinking myself into oblivion. Enough! No more! Recovery begins today. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

March 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
 
AA Thought for the Day
When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself: "Don't reach out and take that problem back. You've given it to God and there's nothing you can do about it." So I forget about the drink. One of the most important parts of the AA program is to give our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. If we let God have it and keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we'll stay sober.

Have I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?

Meditation for the Day
Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently, perseveringly, lovingly, patiently and hopefully. By keeping them, every mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God is to find life and healing and strength.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that God's spirit may be everything to my soul. I pray that God's spirit may grow within.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
 
Reflection for the Day
Now that we're free and no longer chemically-dependent, we have so much more control over our thinking. More than anything, we're able to alter our attitudes. Some members of Alcoholics Anonymous, in fact, choose to think of the letters AA as an abbreviation for "Altered Attitudes." In the bad old days, I almost always responded to any optimistic or positive statement with, "Yes, but ..."  Today, in contrast, I'm learning to eliminate that negative phrase from my vocabulary.

Am I working to change my attitude? Am I determined to "accentuate the positive ...?"

Today I Pray
May I find that healing and strength which God provides to those who stay near Him. May I keep to the spiritual guidelines of The Program, considering the Steps, taking the steps - one by one - then practicing them again and again. In this is my salvation.

Today I Will Remember
To practice at least one Step.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
 
The door of living that opened upon our advent into AA is also able to close upon those years of daily dying that are behind us. That door opened into a long hall that stretched out to a vanishing point; our eye could not perceive its end. We should not be content to just pass through this portal and close the door upon our past, but we should move on for our happiness is up that hall, and we must constantly advance to attain our happy goal.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2017 - Rise 'n shine for a beautiful new Wednesday, folks

Feb. 28, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

God creates. People rearrange.
 -- Joseph Casey

Being alive is our invitation to act in fresh, inventive ways. All it takes is concentrating on our inner vision in combination with external reality. The components for accomplishing any task are at our fingertips, awaiting discovery.

Our burdens are lightened when we understand that all situations are resolvable - no mystery need leave us in the dark for long. Just as surely as we each exist, so exists every element we need to solve any problem or chart any new course. Our purpose in life is to select those elements that will satisfy the need. We each have been blessed with this capability for proper selection.

The day promises challenge and many choices. I can successfully handle all possibilities.

You are reading from the book:

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg. © 1983, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017
 
Today, take the program from theoretical to practical application to both recovery and life. If I hear "Easy Does It," I cannot use it as "permission" to neglect daily responsibilities and what must be done today. Instead, it means not to expect too much of either myself or another person. And "Let Go and Let God" does not mean I can expect my higher power to tend to what is my responsibility and within my capability. Realize I am letting go of my own will for myself and letting God tell me what His will is for me. "One (drink) is one too many and never enough"  tells me, simply, not to try to find out what is "never enough" and not to try the first one at all. "Making amends"  isn't simply saying, "I'm sorry," but is acceptance of consequences and working harder if some of those amends are rejected. "One Day at a Time" is simple: today is all I've got and yesterday can't be undone or redone, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. Even it is, I have to give today my best shot because it may well reverberate into tomorrow. Today, move from theory to the practical, and it's time to roll up the sleeves. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Feb. 28, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017
 
AA Thought for the Day
We should be free from alcohol for good. It's out of our hands and in the hands of God, so we don't need to worry about it or even think about it any more. But if we haven't done this honestly and fully, the chances are that it will become our problem again. Since we don't trust God to take care of the problem for us, we reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. Then it's our problem again and we're in the same old mess we were in before. We're helpless again and we drink.

Do I trust God to take care of the problem for me?

Meditation for the Day
No work is of value without preparation. Every spiritual work must have behind it much spiritual preparation. Cut short times of prayer and times of spiritual preparation and many hours of work may be profitless. From the point of view of God, one poor tool working all the time but doing back work because of lack of preparation, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument working for only a short time but which turns out perfect work because of long hours of spiritual preparation.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may spend more time alone with God. I pray that I may get more strength and joy from such times, so that they will add much to my work.

Hazelden Foundation