May 28, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Monday, May 28, 2018

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

Moving Forward

Much as we would like, we cannot bring everyone with us on this journey called recovery. We are not being disloyal by allowing ourselves to move forward. We don’t have to wait for those we love to decide to change as well.

Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to grow, even though the people we love are not ready to change. We may even need to leave people behind in their dysfunction or suffering because we cannot recover for them. We don’t need to suffer with them.

It doesn’t help.

It doesn’t help for us to stay stuck just because someone we love is stuck. The potential for helping others is far greater when we detach, work on ourselves, and stop trying to force others to change with us.

Changing ourselves, allowing ourselves to grow while others seek their own path, is how we have the most beneficial impact on people we love. We’re accountable for ourselves. They’re accountable for themselves. We let them go, and let ourselves grow.

Today, I will affirm that it is my right to grow and change, even though someone I love may not be growing and changing alongside me.

You are reading from the book:

The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation

May 28, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, May 28, 2018

Today, my character defects in my Fourth and the amends in my Eighth steps are not confined to wrongs of commission but also to my wrongs of omission. With that, my Fourth and Eighth steps, hopefully, will be more honest. My moral inventory and amends I have tried before have focused on things I have done or said, but they have not included my wrongs done by not saying or doing what I should have. Maybe I neglected or refused to return love or support that someone who stood beside me in my darkest days, or maybe I didn't answer someone's call for help. Today, I return to my Fourth and Eighth steps to decide if I owe restitution not for what I did and said, but for what I didn't do and said. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

May 28, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, May 28, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
In AA, we learn that since we are alcoholics we can be uniquely useful people. That is, we can help other alcoholics when perhaps somebody who has not had our experience with drinking could not help them. That makes us uniquely useful. The AA's are a unique group of people because they have taken their own greatest defeat and failure and sickness and used it as a means of helping others. We who have been through the same thing are the ones who can best help other alcoholics.

Do I believe that I can be uniquely useful?

Meditation for the Day
I should try to practice the presence of God. I can feel that He is with me and near me, protecting and strengthening me always. In spite of every difficulty, every trial, every failure, the presence of God suffices. Just to believe that He is near me brings strength and peace. I should try to live as though God were beside me. I cannot see Him because I was not made with the ability to see Him else there were no room for faith. But I can feel His spirit with me.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to practice the presence of God. I pray that by doing so I may never feel alone or helpless again.

Hazelden Foundation

May 28, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, May 28, 2018

Reflection for the Day
We've all had times when we felt alienated, when it seemed we had nowhere to turn and no one to turn to. When we don't know which way to turn, when there seems to be no one to help us, even then we're not alone or without help - the presence of God is always with us. When we need strength or courage or comfort, God is there with us as the help we need. Even before we turn to God, His love reaches out to us; His loving Spirit in us hears our cry and answers us.

Do I truly believe that I no longer need be alone?

Today I Pray
May I never be alone, even in a place by myself, if I take time to talk to my Higher Power. May He be my companion, my joy, my ever-present help in trouble. May the knowledge of His constant presence fill me with calm, so that I will not fear either the solitude of my own room or alienation in a roomful of people.

Today I Will Remember
Listen for the presence of God.

Hazelden Foundation

May 28, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, May 28, 2018

Love is as necessary to a human being as sunshine is to a plant. Without it, the soul of man withers, shrivels and dies. Fortunate is the man who has love given to him, but even more fortunate is he who earns it. The only way to earn love is to love. Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself.

He who hoards love shall lose it, but he who scatters love about him as he moves through life finds that it takes root and surrounds him on every side.

Hazelden Foundation

May 28, 2018 - Good morning to a sacred Memorial Day Monday and great new week

May 27, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Sunday, May 27, 2018

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

A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.

 — Dorothy Canfield Fisher

A strong, healthy tree is one which is free to grow straight and tall. A weak tree often must lean against another for support. It is not that different with people. We are not healthy and strong when we must always lean on another to support us.

This doesn’t mean it isn’t healthy to accept help. But the best help we can get or give is that which enables us to do things without it. Sometimes we think we lose a relationship when others don’t need our help, or when we don’t need theirs all the time. The reverse is true. Only when we are each strong enough to stand on our own can we really share the kind of help, which allows both the helped and the helper to be independent.

Have I been giving the right kind of help?

You are reading from the book:

Today’s Gift by Anonymous

Today’s Gift © 1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation

May 27, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Sunday, May 27, 2018

Today, appreciation to the spouse, companion, brothers and sisters, parents, children and friends who wanted to help me as I spiraled out of control but who I shut out, who were and are still there in my recovery. In being focused on my recovery and working the steps, I have probably been negligent to admit that the hell I put someone else through might have been worse than my own. And I have to acknowledge that they, too, have their own recoveries to work. Today, I will be grateful and offer to anyone who stayed with me a simple thank you and, to them, my superior amend is that, today, I can and will stay sober. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

May 27, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, May 27, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
In Twelfth-Step work, the fifth thing is continuance. Continuance means our staying with prospects after they have started on the new way of living. We must stick with them and not let them down. We must encourage them to go to meetings regularly for fellowship and help. They will learn that keeping sober is a lot easier in the fellowship of others who are trying to do the same thing. We must continue to help prospects by going to see them regularly or telephoning them or writing them so that they don't get out of touch with AA. Continuance means good sponsorship.

Do I care enough about other alcoholics to continue with them as long as necessary?

Meditation for the Day
Every strong and beautiful flower must have a strong root in the ground. It must send a root down so that it may be rooted and grounded while at the same time it sends a shoot up to be the flower that shall gladden the world. Both growths are necessary. Without a strong root, it would soon wither. The higher the growth upward, the deeper must be the rooting. My life cannot flower into success and helpfulness until it is rooted in a strong faith, or unless it feels deeply secure in the goodness and purpose of the universe.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my life may be deeply rooted in faith. I pray that I may feel deeply secure.

Hazelden Foundation

May 27, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Sunday, May 27, 2018

Reflection for the Day
When I have only myself to talk to, the conversation gets sort of one-sided. Trying to talk myself out of a drink or a pill or a "small wager" or just one chocolate eclair is sort of like trying self-hypnosis. It simply doesn't work; most of the time, it's about as effective as trying to talk myself out of a case of diarrhea. When my heart is heavy and my resistance low, I can always find some comfort in sharing with a true and understanding friend in The Program.

Do I know who my friends are?

Today I Pray
May I be convinced that, as part of God's master plan, we were put here to help each other. May I be as open about asking for help as I am ready to give it, no matter how long I have been in The Program. May the experiences of countless others be enough to prove to me that "talking myself out of it" seldom works, that the mutual bolstering that comes from sharing with a friend usually does.

Today I Will Remember
When I ask for help, I am helping.

Hazelden Foundation

May 27, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, May 27, 2018

To follow the letter of the law is not enough. You can be moral without difficulty in "solitary."

Do not let your morality be simply restraining and abstaining. Be constructive in your goodness. Be good for something.

Hazelden Foundation

May 27, 2018 - Good morning to a serene and relaxing Sunday with hope and confidence

May 26, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Saturday, May 26, 2018

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

I hope I shall follow firmness of virtue enough to maintain that I consider the most enviable of all titles – the character of an honest man.

 – George Washington

Happiness in recovery and in society depends on our honesty. We create pain for others, and ourselves, when we are dishonest. True honesty begins within each of us and flows out to touch those around us. If we are to be true to society, and to ourselves, we cannot feel one thing in our hearts and outwardly speak different views.

There is no such thing as too much honesty. When we practice honesty in all our affairs, we discover that the reason for being honest is not because it is expected of us, but because we find that honesty avoids problems and makes our life happier.

When I am honest with myself and others, I am making progress toward greatness of character.

You are reading from the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation

May 26, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Saturday, May 26, 2018

" ...We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5, pp 66-7.

Today, let go of resentments and other ill feelings I might harbor for someone else. I cannot justify anger and anything else bad against anyone if I hope or expect no one to have such feelings toward me. If I claim spiritual disease as the root of my own misconduct, I have to allow the same to those who have affronted me. While I might never grow to like the person I believe has offended me, rightfully or not, I cannot work toward revenge or hopes that something bad befalls that other person. Today, as I hope no one wishes me ill, I cannot justify hoping the worst for someone else. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

May 26, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, May 26, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
In Twelfth-Step work, the fourth thing is conversion. Conversion means change. Prospects must learn to change their way of thinking. Until now, everything they've done has been connected with drinking. Now they must face a new kind of life, without liquor. They must see and admit that they cannot overcome drinking by their own willpower, so they must turn to a Higher Power for help. They must start each day by asking this Higher Power for the strength to stay sober. This conversion to belief in a Higher Power comes gradually, as they try it and find that it works.

Do I care enough about other alcoholics to help them to make this conversion?

Meditation for the Day
Discipline of yourself is absolutely necessary before the power of God is given to you. When you see others manifesting the power of God, you probably have not seen the discipline that went before. They made themselves ready. All your life is a preparation for more good to be accomplished when God knows that you are ready for it. So keep disciplining yourself in the spiritual life every day. Learn so much of the spiritual laws that your life cannot again be a failure. Others will see the outward manifestation of the inward discipline in your daily living.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may manifest God's power in my daily living. I pray that I may discipline myself so as to be ready to meet every opportunity.

Hazelden Foundation