Sept. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Reflection for the Day

Those of us who find recovery choose to admit that we’re personally powerless over our addictions. In the program, as we surrender to our Higher Power, we develop a new, healthy dependence, even if it simply takes the shape of a dependence upon our group.

Have I chosen to try for a life of honesty and humility, of selfless service to my fellows and my Higher Power?

Today I Pray

May I grow the wisdom to know the difference between “willpower” (which has failed me before) and “willingness” to seek help for my addiction, through my Higher Power and through others who are also recovering. May I know that there are choices open to me as there are to my fellow sufferers in the foggiest stages of addiction. May I choose the kind of life that my Higher Power wants for me.

Today I Will Remember

Willingness, more than willpower, is the key to recovery.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

"12. - ...(W)e of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Appendices, "The Twelve Traditions" (long form), pp 567-68.

Today, Traditions 9-12, that anonymity of all those in the Program is a principle rather than a courtesy. If we can understand that a principle is an ethic that governs AA, any personal grievances we have become insignificant and futile in the goal of our individual recoveries and the effectiveness of the Program as a whole. As the 12th Tradition promises, anonymity has the spiritual power for us to be hungry for "genuine humility," or our desire to know and carry out the will of our Higher Power as we understand Him  and not our will. Today, I renew my commitment to respect the 12th Tradition and all others as AA's code of ethics. In the process, God grant that I know the humility of the principle of anonymity and, maybe more, develop a higher sense of responsibility to my sobriety. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

Sept. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves periodically. Just how good an AA am I? Am I attending meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load? When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I speak at meetings when asked, no matter how nervous I am? Do I accept each opportunity to do twelfth-step work as a challenge? Do I give freely of my time and money? Am I trying to spread AA wherever I go? Is my daily life a demonstration of AA principles?

Am I a good AA?

Meditation for the Day
How do I get strength to be effective and to accept responsibility? By asking the Higher Power for the strength I need each day. It has been proved in countless lives that for every day I live, the necessary power shall be given me. I must face each challenge that comes to me during the day, sure that God will give me the strength to face it. For every task that is given me, there is also given me all the power necessary for the performance of that task. I do not need to hold back.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may accept every task as a challenge. I know I cannot wholly fail if God is with me.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

Reflection for the Day
In our first weeks or months in The Program, our shaky emotional condition sometimes affects our feelings toward old friends and family. For many of us, these relationships heal quickly in the initial stages of our recovery. For others, a time of "touchiness" seems to persist; now that we're no longer drinking or using other chemicals, we have to sort out our feelings about spouse, children, relatives, employer, fellow workers and even neighbors. Experience in the Program over the years has taught that we should avoid making important decisions early in our recovery - especially emotion-charged decisions about people.

Am I becoming better equipped to relate maturely to other people?

Today I Pray
May God help me through the edginess, the confusion of re-feeling and re-thinking my relationships, the "getting-it-all-together" stages of my recovery. May I not rush into new relationships or new situations that demand an investment of my emotions - not yet.

Today I Will Remember
No entangling alliances too soon.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 29, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020

We members of AA have a tremendous responsibility. We must in our work discuss the most personal matters with the new guy or gal. This information is given us under desperate circumstances and should be treated as most confidential. Carelessness in this respect can and does do a lot of harm at times. Let us confine our conversations with each other to only that part of the new man's problem that pertains to his actual drinking, because that is the only phase of the problem that we can efficiently advise him on, anyway. These personal matters are matters of trust, and they deserve the same confidential treatment as a church confessional.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 29, 2020 - Good morning and we can coast into and through Tuesday now that Monday is done and gone

 

Good morning and let's face Tuesday with optimism and determination to make it better than the Monday just passed ...have a truly great and productive but safe day -- and don't empower anything and anyone to make it less

Sept. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Repairing the damage

It really doesn’t matter how much we used or drank. The important thing is what it was doing to us, how it was affecting our lives. The biggest cop-out for people with addiction has always been, “I’m not using as much as other people, so maybe I’m not addicted.”

We couldn’t admit what using was doing to our lives, our families, and friends. It nearly destroyed us, but now we have a chance to repair the damage. If we are willing to accept ourselves and to turn our will and our lives over to our Higher Power, we can restore our lives.

Do I clearly see the destruction that my using caused?

Higher Power, help me today to accept my addiction and to stop using excuses to avoid the task of recovery.

One thing I will do today to begin repairing the damage caused by my using is…

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020

"1. - Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. AA must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward." - The First Tradition (long form), Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Appendices, "The Twelve Traditions," p 565.

Today, understand and respect the first tradition of AA, that I am not first and foremost and that my own sobriety and recovery contribute to the effectiveness of the Program as a whole. The sobriety and acceptance for which I have worked are not solely mine but mirror AA's credibility - be it in the eyes of a newcomer or the public and various professional organizations. Because of that responsibility, understand also that the sobriety carries a responsibility. My responsibility to my sobriety, then, boils down to being in service as the first tradition states. If I can effectively serve, I may be contributing to my own welfare which, as the first tradition says, comes a close second. Today, my sobriety is not my own and is part of everyone else's, and I am responsible to work for continued recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

Sept. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
For the past two months we have been studying passages and steps from the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. Now why not read the book itself again? It is essential that the AA program become part of us. We must have its essentials at our finger tips. We cannot study the Big Book too much or too often. The more we read it and study it, the better equipped we are to think AA, act AA and live AA. We cannot know too much about the program. The chances are that we will never know enough. But we can make as much of it our own as possible.

How much of the Big Book have I thoroughly mastered?

Meditation for the Day
We need to accept the difficulties and disciplines of life so as to fully share the common life of other people. Many things that we must accept in life are not to be taken so much as being necessary for us personally, as to be experienced in order that we may share in the sufferings and problems of humanity. We need sympathy and understanding. We must share many of the experiences of life, in order to understand and sympathize with others. Unless we have been through the same experiences, we cannot understand other people or their makeup well enough to be able to help them.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may accept everything that comes my way as a part of life. I pray that I may make use of it in helping other people.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020

Reflection for the Day
Now that we're free from our addictions, living life one day at a time, we can begin to stop making unreasonable demands upon those we love. We can show kindness where we had shown none; we can take the time and initiative to be thoughtful, considerate and compassionate. Even with the people we dislike, we can at least try to be courteous, at times literally going out of our way to understand and help them.

Just for today, will I try to understand rather than be understood, being courteous and respectful to all people with whom I'm in contact?

Today I Pray
May I never forget my old sponge-like self, who soaked up every drop of affection and attention my family or friends could give me, until they were sapped dry. May I learn to be a giver, rather than a constant taker. May I practice offering interest, kindness, consideration and compassion until sensitivity to others becomes second nature to me.

Today I Will Remember
Giving is part of being.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 28, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, Sept. 28, 2020

We have all had the pleasure of knowing intimately several men who might be classed as "Gentlemen of Leisure" and what a squirrel cage they were usually in. They labored all night long to get in jams that required a staff of lawyers all the next day to extricate them.

It takes a big man to make effective use of leisure.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 28, 2020 - Good morning and let's get revved for another Monday and new week with determination and confidence

 

Good morning and, even though it's Monday again with an entire week facing us, let's take both of them on with determination to make them terrific ...we won't get terrific if we allow anything and anyone to mess us up -- meaning tell whoever needs telling to get lost and stay there

Sept. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Anyone who lives art knows that psychoanalysis has no monopoly on the power to heal. Art and poetry have always been altering our ways of sensing and feeling—that is to say, altering the human body. — Norman O. Brown

A man can lead a healing life on many levels. On one level, many of us have turned to healing professionals for help. That may strengthen our program and be very beneficial for many of our problems.

Relationships heal when they are loving, affirming, reliable, committed, and loyal. Nature heals: a tree, a walk through tall grass, a dry seedpod, or a potted plant gives life when we turn in its direction. Beauty heals: music, a poem, a novel, or a picture may move us to another plane and teach us about life. Meditation heals: solitude, quiet relaxation, prayer, and cosmic conscious ness bring an inner peace. Laughter heals. Physical activity heals. Doing something for others helps us. At the basic level, accepting ourselves as lovable men, just as we are, is the foundation for all healing.

The forces for renewal and wholeness are varied. May I reach out to them and be healed by them.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." - Herbert Spencer

" ...(A)ny alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
"We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Appendices, "Spiritual Experience," p 570.

Today, to close my mind to the possibility of a Power greater than myself is equivalent to self-absorption and, as such, my recovery Program predictably will fail. Not only does a Program that focuses on my wants and needs trample over the 12th Step marching order to help the alcoholic who still suffers, it is destined for failure. There is humility and gain in service to others if for no other reason than the possibility that a Higher Power exists and can pull me from inside myself and heed the lessons of other alcoholics. In the process, I may learn that what I think is the enormity of my problems is minuscule against the problems of others. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

Sept. 27, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
Continuing the consideration of the term "spiritual experience:" "What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With few exceptions, our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource when they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves. Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves the essence of spiritual experience. In any case, willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery."

Have I tapped that inner resource which can change my life?

Meditation for the Day
God's power in your life increases as your ability to understand His grace increases. The power of God's grace is only limited by the understanding and will of each individual. God's miracle-working power is only limited in each individual soul by the lack of spiritual vision of that soul. God respects free will, the right of each person to accept or reject His miracle-working power. Only the sincere desire of the soul gives Him the opportunity to bestow it.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not limit God's power by my lack of vision. I pray that I may keep my mind open today to His influence.

Hazelden Foundation