May 4, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Values

By accepting God’s help we learn to think clearly, to play fairly, and to give generously. — Bill P. & Fred H.

Our values change in recovery as we become less and less selfish. The value screen through which we see life is changed. We no longer ask what everyone can do for us; we ask what we can do for them. We no longer seek out situations that only comfort us; we discover ways to comfort. We find that we feel better about ourselves when we help others. We learn from our program that what we have been searching for our whole lives is wrapped up in service to others.

The valuable relationship is the one that creates a closer contact with our Higher Power, so we seek out situations and people that bring us into closer contact. The values we show in the work of recovery look different from the ones we once held. Every day brings a new chance to become a conductor of life.

My values no longer change with every passing fancy. My life is beginning to mean something and to count for things that are good.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." - Step Three

Today, have I surrendered my will and life to a Higher Power after having "made a decision ...?" We are warned, "Selfishness - self-centeredness! That ...is the root of our troubles." Selfishness, easily identified in our Fourth Step, gives way to humility - the total surrender of self to the will of a Higher Power. The Third Step lays the foundation for the spiritual change that we work toward in subsequent Steps, and change can be little or nothing if we do not first experience humility of absolute surrender. And the predictable outcome if we hold onto our playing God with our own lives will be a slip or full relapse. How do I "take" my Third? "... (I)t is better to meet God alone than with one" other person, according to the Big Book, because of the intensely personal and private relationship we have with the God of our understanding. Today, I do not take for granted the immense importance of Step Three and ask if I have humbled myself completely to seek my Higher Power's will instead of mine. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

May 4, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
When I was drinking, I always tried to build myself up. I used to tell tall stories about myself. I told them so often that I half-believe some of them now, even though I know they aren't true. I used to hang around the low-brow barrooms so I could feel superior to the other customers. The reason I always tried to build myself up was that I knew deep down in my heart that I really didn't amount to anything. It was a kind of defense against my feeling of inferiority.

Do I still build myself up?

Meditation for the Day
God thought about the universe and brought it into being. His thought brought me into being. I must think God's thought after Him. I must often keep my mind occupied with thoughts about God and meditate on the way He wants me to live. I must train my mind constantly in quiet times of communion with God. It is the work of a lifetime to develop to full stature spiritually. This is what I am on earth for. It gives meaning to my life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may think God's thoughts after Him. I pray that I may live as He wants me to live.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Reflection for the Day
Many people pray as though to overcome the will of a reluctant God, instead of taking hold of the willingness of a loving God. In the late stages of our addiction, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become entirely ready to try the principles of The Program, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension - freedom under God as we understand Him.

Is my growth in The Program convincing me that God alone can remove obsessions?

Today I Pray
May I pray not as a complaining child to a stern father, as though "praying" must always mean "pleading," usually in moments of helpless desperation. May I pray, instead, for my own willingness to reach out to Him, since He is ready at all times to reach out to me. May I regard my Higher Power as a willing God.

Today I Will Remember
God is willing.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

The reformed drunkard has simply corrected his former drinking abuses. With this single exception, he is the same man with the same defects of character that marked his life in his drinking day.

In contrast, the real AA has experienced a revolutionary moral change. He has put the operation of his life into the care and under the direction of the God of his understanding. Not only has he corrected his drinking abuses, but he has turned his entire life over to the care of Him who is the source of, and indeed is, Good.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2021 - Good morning to another terrific Tuesday, and let's make it worthwhile, productive -- and safe

 

Good morning to this wonderful Tuesday and set out with determination to meet and overcome any challenges ahead ...and none of us need bother with anything and anyone who's out to intentionally wreck it

May 3, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, May 3, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The words “I am…” are potent words; be careful what you hitch them to. The thing you’re claiming has a way of reaching back and claiming you. — A.L. Kitselman

Today is our chance to leave the past behind and live in the present. It doesn’t matter what we did as a practicing addict. If we’re abstinent today, if we’re working our program today, if we’re doing the best we can today, that’s all that counts.

It’s easy to live in the shame and negativity of the past without even realizing it. But those days are over—we don’t live that life anymore. We can forgive ourselves or someone else today, and let our changed life be our amends for the past.

Forgiveness, gratitude, intimacy, gentleness, honesty: these are the gifts we give to ourselves and others when we live in the present.

How do I feel right now? Do I feel serene, or is something bothering me? Being honest about what’s going on with me is a good way to live in the present.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, May 3, 2021

Today, security in sobriety to sustain any disappointments - minor and major - that I encounter in recovery. The best laid plans of mice and men do not always take form even in sobriety, and I must not deceive myself by expecting life to go as I think or expect it should only because I have stopped drinking. Part of the nature of alcoholism is the ultra-sensitivity to disappointment, sometimes to a disproportionate degree, and the result could be the false belief that I have failed somewhere along the line. Life for the non-addict is not always a bed of roses, but the thorns can cut the recovering addict's psyche deeper. Today, mindful that even the rose bed of sobriety has hidden thorns, I will not be discouraged if I am stung. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

May 3, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, May 3, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
AA teaches us to take it easy. We learn how to relax and to stop worrying about the past or the future, to give up our resentments and hates and tempers, to stop being critical of people and to try to help them instead. That's what "Easy Does It" means. So in the time that's left to me to live, I'm going to try to take it easy, to relax and not to worry, to try to be helpful to others and to trust God.

For what's left of my life, is my motto going to be "Easy Does It?"

Meditation for the Day
I must overcome myself before I can truly forgive other people for injuries done to me. The self in me cannot forgive injuries. The very thought of wrongs means that my self is in the foreground. Since the self cannot forgive, I must overcome my selfishness. I must cease trying to forgive those who fretted and wronged me. It is a mistake for me even to think about these injuries. I must aim at overcoming myself in my daily life and then I will find there is nothing in me that remembers injury because the only thing injured - my selfishness - is gone.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may hold no resentments. I pray that my mind may be washed clean of all past hates and fears.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, May 3, 2021

Reflection for the Day
"To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing," wrote Soren Kierkegaard, "from going down on one's knees and thanking Him." It is my confidence in a Higher Power, working in me, which today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I can't bring this about by relying on myself and my own limited ideas.

Have I begun to thank God every night?

Today I Pray
May I remember constantly that it is my belief in my Higher Power that flips the switch to release the power in me. Whenever I falter in my faith, that power is shut off. I pray for undiminished faith, so that this power - given by God and regenerated by my own belief in it - may always be available to me as the source of my strength.

Today I Will Remember
Faith regenerates God-given power.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Monday, May 3, 2021

George Washington is often credited with being America's first millionaire, yet few people are aware of this fact. He left a heritage so much richer politically, economically and historically that his own personal wealth is forgotten.

His personal wealth has long since been dissipated, but the opportunities in this country he helped establish will continue as long as men's lives are motivated by the same unselfish devotion to mankind that he exemplified, both in public and private life.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2021 - Good morning and let's challenge Monday and another whole week with a smile and confidence that we got this

 

Good morning and don't be discouraged by Monday and another full week staring at us ...look 'em both in the face and proclaim that we got this -- that includes anything and anyone thinking they can f**k everything up

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

 

Sunday, May 2, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It got to the point that I felt even my own shadow was against me. — Anonymous

Often during our active addiction, we trusted no one. We felt everyone was out to get us, out to cheat us. We became the kings and queens of self-pity. The reality was, we were being cheated, but not by others. An illness called addiction cheated us out of our dignity and integrity. It brought out the worst in us. It was very unpleasant, and we became very unpleasant to be around.

Recovery asks us to step past the blaming and self-pity, and see our illness as the cheat. We do inventories in order to see past the denial and see the values we believe in. We work to better ourselves in order to have a pleasant life and be pleasant people. We stop seeing ourselves as entitled. Instead we see what needs to be done.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me be of service and move past my self-pity.

Today’s Action

Today I will list my favorite ways to feel sorry for myself. I will read this list to my group members and ask them to confront me if they see me using any of these.

Hazelden Foundation

May 2, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, May 2, 2021

Today, if I have made sincere amends to those I wronged "except when to do so would hurt" them or others, I must progress beyond regret, shame and anger to what may be my single strongest and most meaningful amend: committing myself to sobriety and recovery. For all I might have said or done as an alcoholic and now sober, I cannot become the proverbial doormat and let anyone or anything hammer me for the mistakes I have tried to correct, especially by those who cannot or will not accept my apologies. I can allow a margin of regret that I may not be forgiven by all I have hurt, but I cannot afford to be kicked down repeatedly. Today, if I have been rebuffed or cannot make amends because doing so might lead to more damage, I can find reconciliation in being sober. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

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

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, May 2, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
In AA, we often hear the slogan, "Easy Does It." Alcoholics also do everything to excess. They drink too much. They worry too much. They have too many resentments. They hurt themselves physically and mentally by too much of everything. So when they come into AA, they have to learn to take it easy. None of us knows how much longer we have to live. It's probable that we wouldn't have lived very long if we had continued to drink the way we used to. By stopping drinking, we have increased our chances of living for a while longer.

Have I learned to take it easy?

Meditation for the Day
You must be, before you can do. To accomplish much, be much. In all cases, the doing must be the expression of the being. It is foolish to think that we can accomplish much in personal relationships without first preparing ourselves by being honest, pure, unselfish and loving. We must choose the good and keep choosing it before we are ready to be used by God to accomplish anything worthwhile. We will not be given the opportunities until we are ready for them. Quiet times of communion with the Higher Power are good preparation for creative action.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may constantly prepare myself for better things to come. I pray that I may only have opportunities when I am ready for them.

Hazelden Foundation