Jan. 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Planning is deciding what to change today so tomorrow will be different from yesterday. — Ichak Adizes

A house is like a lump of clay that can be molded and changed. It can be fixed and shaped, torn down and added to, painted, papered, carpeted, and paneled. We can think about how to change it, find pictures in books, and order plans. We can stock up on supplies, take fix-it classes, and get advice from others. But the house will remain unchanged until we pick up a brush, grab a bucket of paint, and get to work. Only then will we see tomorrow the results of what we did today.

Our plans help us construct a vision of how we’d like the future to be, but only actions will bring these things about. With confidence in the rightness of our desires, we can be assured that God never gives us a dream we can’t reach.

What action can I take today to make tomorrow’s changes?

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021

“I looked around me at people who seemed happy and tried to analyze their happiness, and it seemed to me that without exception these people had something or somebody they loved very much. I didn’t have the courage to love; I was not even sure I had the capacity. Fear of rejection and its ensuing pain were not to be risked, and I turned away from myself once more for the answer, this time to the drinks I had always refused before, and in alcohol I found a false courage.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 12 (“Freedom From Bondage”), pp 546-47.

Today, ...”in alcohol I found a false courage.” Whether I am long in recovery or just beginning, the time has come to be done with all that is not true. If I am hinging my sobriety on my spouse or partner not leaving me, keeping my job or convincing a judge I deserve a break from my latest DUI, my motivation to get sober is linked to something that may never happen and, if it doesn’t, my sobriety likely will not last. Whatever the untruths in my life and even in sobriety, the Fourth Step is my road map to honesty – the truth of my own life, my drinking, my recovery. May I not rely on some bottled courage as I set out to find my own truth. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2021

Jan. 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

What makes AA work? The first thing is to have a revulsion against myself and my way of living. Then I must admit I was helpless, that alcohol had me licked and I couldn’t do anything about it. The next thing is to honestly want to quit the old life. Then I must surrender my life to a Higher Power, put my drinking problem in His hands and leave it there. After these things are done, I should attend meetings regularly for fellowship and sharing. I should also try to help other alcoholics.

Am I doing these things?

Meditation for the Day

You are so made that you can only carry the weight of 24 hours, no more. If you weigh yourself down with the years behind and the days ahead, your back breaks. God has promised to help you with the burdens of the day only. If you are foolish enough to gather again that burden of the past and carry it, then indeed you cannot expect God to help you bear it. So forget that which lies behind you and breathe in the blessing of each new day.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may realize that, for good or bad, past days have ended. I pray that I may face each new day, the coming 24 hours, with hope and courage.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021

Reflection for the Day

Before I came to The Program, I hadn’t the faintest idea of what it was to “Live In The Now.” I often became obsessed with the things that happened yesterday, last week or even five years ago. Worse yet, many of my waking hours were spent clearing away the “wreckage of the future.” “To me,” Walt Whitman once wrote,“every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.”

Can I truly believe that in my heart?

Today I Pray

Let me carry only the weight of 24 hours at one time, without the extra bulk of yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s anxieties. Let me breathe the blessings of each new day for itself, by itself and keep my human burdens contained in daily perspective. May I learn the balance of soul that comes through keeping close to God.

Today I Will Remember

Don’t borrow from tomorrow.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021

Probably in the history of the world no tyrant can be found who welded chains so strong upon his victims as did that “Ol’ Debil Rum.”

Even our most secret desires were controlled by his influence, and our families, our health and our very lives themselves were disregarded when opposed to the demands for a drink.

Fortunately for us in AA, we still had a freedom of choice of master and when we decided to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God,” we accepted a new Master, one even more demanding than the first, but with this one vast difference – our chains were now bonds of love.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2021 - Good morning to Saturday with determination to make it productive but relaxing -- and SAFE

 

Good morning to the first Saturday and weekend of the new year, and let's make both relaxing but productive, worthwhile -- and SAFE ...and don't waste precious time on anything and anyone who bear nothing but division

Jan. 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

A New Beginning

The new is but the old come true; each sunrise sees a New Year born. — Helen Hunt Jackson

We know that a totally new life can begin on any day of a year, at any hour of the day, or at any moment of an hour. Our new life began the moment we decided to surrender and admit to a powerlessness over a substance or an impulse. It began when we accepted the fact that we needed help and could receive it simply by asking.

Many of us used to choose New Year’s Day as a time for making good resolutions and swearing off bad habits. When we failed, we simply shrugged and said, “Maybe I can start tomorrow, next week—or next New Year’s Day.” We were always going to “turn over a new leaf.”

Now, in recovery, we no longer depend on doing it all alone. We know we can stay abstinent only by sharing with fellow members.

Let me remember, each day in recovery is another milestone. I no longer have to use a calendar.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

“FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION

Figures given in this foreword describe the Fellowship as it was in 1955
“Since the original Foreword to this book was written in 1939, a wholesale miracle has taken place. Our earliest printing voiced the hope ‘that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. Already,’ continues the early text, ‘twos and threes and fives of us have sprung up in other communities.’

“Sixteen years have elapsed between our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “Foreword to the Second Edition,” p xv.

Today, when tradition of New Year's Day prods us to think in terms of new beginnings and resolutions, the history of AA as measured in the years between 1939 and 1955 assures us of a new start – if we work toward and apply the Steps and Principles of the Program. In the years since this foreword, the number of recovering alcoholics has multiplied by more than 10 times. If the Program has worked for that vast a number of people, why, then, can’t it work for me? It can, and if I have failed in the past, it is because I failed the Program and not that the Program failed me. On this day when we are encouraged to let go of the old and ring in the new, my recovery appropriately begins with the hope that I, too, can be in that number of recovering alcoholics. So let the new begin. And our common journey continues. Step by step.– Chris M., 2021

Jan. 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

AA Thought for the Day

When I came into AA, was I a desperate person? Did I have a soul-sickness? Was I so sick of myself and my way of living that I couldn’t stand looking at myself in a mirror? Was I ready for AA? Was I ready to try anything that would help me to get sober and to get over my soul-sickness?

Should I ever forget the condition I was in?

Meditation for the Day

In the new year, I will live one day at a time. I will make each day one of preparation for better things ahead. I will not dwell on the past or the future, only on the present. I will bury every fear of the future, all thoughts of unkindness and bitterness, all my dislikes, my resentments, my sense of failure, my disappointments in others and in myself, my gloom and my despondency. I will leave all these things buried and go forward, in this new year, into a new life.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God will guide me one day at a time in the new year. I pray that for each day, God will supply the wisdom and the strength that I need.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Reflection for the Day

In the old days, I saw everything in terms of forever. Endless hours were spent rehashing old mistakes. I tried to take comfort in the forlorn hope that tomorrow “would be different.” As a result, I lived a fantasy life in which happiness was all but nonexistent. No wonder I rarely smiled and hardly ever laughed aloud.

Do I still think in terms of “forever?”

Today I Pray

May I set my goals for the New Year not at the year-long mark, but one day at a time. My traditional New Year’s resolutions have been so grandly stated and so soon broken. Let me not weaken my resolve by stretching it to cover “forever” – or even one long year. May I reapply it firmly each new day. May I learn not to stamp my past mistakes with that indelible word “forever.” Instead, may each single day in each New Year be freshened by my new-found hope.

Today I Will Remember

Happy New Day.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, Jan. 1, 2021

Without the introduction of a purpose into our lives, we would be but dried-up drunks, wallowing in self-pity for the loss of that which we were forced to deny ourselves in order to bring about some semblance of order in our lives. We would be “off the bottle” but not for a moment happy about it – never with any sense of security.

We who have found AA have introduced that something into our lives that enabled us, with the Grace of God, to “fix” ourselves.

We have not given up anything – we have acquired something; we are no longer frustrated 

people, because we have introduced into our lives a reliance in a Power greater than ourselves, that we did not have before. That Power has opened up a new way of life, free of worry, fear and frustration.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2021 - Good morning, and let's give a one-finger salute to the year just passed and welcome the new one with confidence and faith

 

Good morning with gratitude that we've put 2020 in the rear view mirror and can look with confidence and hope that the new year isn't going to be a repeat ...we need to do our part to make the new year better, though, meaning we must be diligent in keeping ourselves and everyone else around us safe

Jan. 1, 2021 - Rise 'n shine for the first Friday and first day of a brand new year with faith that we aren't headed for 2020.2

 

Good morning, folks ...it's the first Happy Dance Friday and first day of a new year, and let's commit to better times as we look at 2020 in the rear view mirror ...have a truly great but productive and safe day -- and don't empower anything and anyone to intrude and mess up either the new day or new year

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on. — Heraclitus

On this last day of the year, time is on our minds. Naturally, we look back at the year just passing. Whether we feel grateful that it is over, or grateful for the gifts it brought, we can always be grateful to be in this healing program on this day. Some of us took our first Steps in recovery this year, and others marked another year among many years. Once on the path, the critical fact is that we are all brothers, equally seeking the same goal: a sober life and peace of mind.

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrations and parties. For some of us, New Year’s Eve in the past was a day of complete immersion in our addiction and codependency. There is no point in giving much attention to regrets. Today our celebration has a deeper spiritual meaning. It’s a good time to take stock of how far we have come and for gratitude for the benefits of our recovery. We can look at the challenges we faced and what we learned from them. We can look at the gifts that came into our lives.

Today, I thank God for the gifts that continue to flow and enhance my life.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020

Today, I need not fear anything for I have endured and survived the horror of active alcoholism and, by the grace of AA and a Higher Power to which it led me, I have emerged not only intact but a better person. I have kept the faith in the Program, in its Steps and Principles, in the Power stronger than me, and I found faith in myself that I never had before. My gift has been sobriety the last 24 Hours. Having vested not only my heart and soul but my very life in this Program, I faced few terrors other than those within myself but met them with the guidance of the Steps. Now, nothing can compare and any fear from any source is something I know I can face responsibly, with faith and sobriety. Today, I have nothing to fear except the ghosts of my drinking past, and my Program has strengthened me to move beyond them, to leave the fear behind. Yet I do not take for granted the gift of sobriety as something I am owed or even deserve. I have an obligation to it, and that obligation begins with  gratitude and carrying the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2020