June 4, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Monday, June 4, 2018

Today’s thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Should you shield the valleys from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their canyons.

 — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Time teaches us about the twofold connection of suffering and wisdom. For every loss, we’ve gained something new. We are learning that our pain makes us wise over time, but while we are in its midst we often feel alone and entrapped. We sometimes can make no sense out of our suffering – neither its depth nor its seeming unfairness – and we may even turn our backs on our Higher Power. We’ve only survived the darkness by stumbling through it each day. But in recovery we have gradually allowed ourselves to accept comfort from others, and their words help us in times of desolation.

We are learning that some pains can’t be healed, but instead must be endured until they run their course. Sometimes the only hope we have is the deep knowledge that our Higher Power will give us no more than we can handle today. With that help and comfort, we can endure and find peace.

Today let me trust that – even though it may feel painful – my recovery has begun.

You are reading from the book:

Body, Mind, and Spirit by Anonymous

Body, Mind, and Spirit © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation

June 4, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, June 4, 2018

"We have been dealing with alcohol in its worst aspect. But we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life. We try not to indulge in cynicism over the state of the nations, nor do we carry the world's troubles on our shoulders ...(T)hose of us who have tried to shoulder the entire burden and trouble of others find we are soon overcome by them." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 9, p 132.

Today, if in service work I take on others' addictions and recovery, let me remember that the lifeline of AA is tossed to us by another person - but it is we as individuals who grabbed it. And if I should be the 12th-Stepper who throws out the lifeline, let me accept that it is not within my control to make the other person grab it. Likewise, let me not be tinged with cynicism or hopelessness of the state of the world because it, like the power of alcohol, is something I cannot control. Today, if the message I carry falls on deaf ears, I will not feel like a failure and, likewise, I will not bolster my ego by claiming "success" if the message is heard. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2018

June 4, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, June 4, 2018

AA Thought for the Day
Some things I like since becoming dry: feeling good in the morning; full use of my intelligence; joy in my work; the love and trust of my children; lack of remorse; the confidence of my friends; the prospect of a happy future; the appreciation of the beauties of nature; knowing what it is all about.

I'm sure that I like these things, am I not?

Meditation for the Day
Molding your life means cutting and shaping your material into something good, something which can express the spiritual. All material things are the clay out of which we mold something spiritual. You must first recognize the selfishness in your desires and motives, actions and words, and then mold that selfishness until it is sublimated into a spiritual weapon for good. As the work of molding proceeds, you see more and more clearly what must be done to mold your life into something better.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may mold my life into something useful and good. I pray that I may not be discouraged by the slow progress that I make.

Hazelden Foundation

June 4, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, June 4, 2018

Reflection for the Day
"It seems to me," wrote AA co-founder Bill W., "that the primary object of any human being is to grow, as God intended, that being the nature of all growing things. Our search must be for what reality we can find, which includes the best definition and feeling of love that we can acquire. If the capability of loving is in the human being, then it must surely be in his Creator."

Will I pray today not so much to be loved, as to love?

Today I Pray
God grant me the patience of a lifetime in my search for the best answer to the question, "What is love?"  May I know that the definition will come to me in snatches as I live life's several roles - as child, lover, parent, teacher, friend, spiritual being. May I be grateful for my experience as a chemically dependent person, which adds a special dimension to the meaning of love.

Today I Will Remember
All love reflects God's love.

Hazelden Foundation

June 4, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, June 4, 2018

A split second separates the past, the present and the future. The course of history has been altered in a moment of decision on the part of one man. Inventions that have revolutionized our mode of living may have taken years to perfect, but the idea behind them was born in a flash of thought between the ticks of a clock.

In that great day when you determined that you had had enough, that you were whipped, the resolve took but a fraction of a second. But in that instant, you closed your past and opened your future.

A moment of thoughtlessness can put you back in the past again.

Hazelden Foundation

June 4, 2018 - Let's have a Monday and new week of serenity, hope and gratitude

June 3, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Sunday, June 3, 2018

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

The future you shall know when it has come; before then, forget it.

 — Aeschylus

The Fellowship keeps us grounded in the current moment. We learn to live today. Our planning and scheming and dreaming about tomorrow becomes less time consuming. The idea of living one day at a time makes sense to us. Our Program teaches us that life is not about to happen, it is happening, and each moment is important.

When we concentrated only on the future, we couldn’t be happy with today. We thought if we could only get to tomorrow, things would be better. Tomorrow never comes, so we were always trapped in a hopeless situation. Now we live one day at a time, and grow moment by moment.

Recovery is about today and living life in the present. Since I no longer have to manage the universe, I have only myself to worry about today. I can let my Higher Power take care of tomorrow.

You are reading from the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation

June 3, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Sunday, June 3, 2018

Today, gratitude and humility if my 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 recovery 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 relapse as the newcomer or slipper who continues to struggle. 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 experience, strength and hope 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., 2018

June 3, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, June 3, 2018

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

A Day at a Time
Sunday, June 3, 2018

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, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, June 3, 2018

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

June 2, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Saturday, June 2, 2018

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

Life has lessons to teach. We can remember them and share them with others, or we can forget them and have to learn them again.

 — Jan Pishok

What we are destined to learn in this life will keep presenting itself until “contact” has been made. Each experience is a minute part of the big picture that’s unfolding. We will receive the information we need, again and again if necessary. Let’s give up our fear about where we are going and how we’ll get there. We are in caring, capable hands. We will get to the right destination on time.

In this program we are invited to share with others what our experiences have taught us. What better way to recall, and thus relearn, what we have been taught, than to tell another about it. Every Twelve Step program is specifically designed to simplify our lives. The Steps coach us through every situation, and they never shame us for needing reminders of our lessons.

I will help others through sharing my own experiences today. In the process, I’ll recapture the essence of the lessons I have learned.

You are reading from the book:

A Woman’s Spirit by Karen Casey

A Woman’s Spirit by Karen Casey. © 1994 by Hazelden Foundation

June 2, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Saturday, June 2, 2018

"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 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 recovery. 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., 2018

June 2, 2018 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, June 2, 2018

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