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

 

Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Being a good manager doesn’t mean managing someone else’s life!

Some of us sharing these meetings mistakenly thought we were supposed to manage everyone and everything. We managed children and spouses, and when we could, neighbors, co-workers, and friends. And we saw our ability to manage other people’s lives as proof of our worthiness. Letting others manage themselves, however, is the real asset, and working on its development takes perseverance.

The appeal of managing others is clearly to protect ourselves. When we can’t count on them to do what we want without our input, then we must get involved. Unfortunately, over the years many people let us manage them. Oftentimes their alcoholism or other drug dependence opened the door to us. We took this as a sign that we were needed. Learning now that we are needed, but not to manage others, is a challenging lesson.

I won’t manage others’ lives today. I can offer suggestions to others, if asked, but I will only manage myself.

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

Step by Step
Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

" ...I had my first drink and I still remember it, for every 'first' drink afterwards did exactly the same trick - I could feel it go right through every bit of my body ...But each drink after the 'first' seemed to become less effective and, after three or four, they all seemed like water. ...(T)he more I drank, the quieter I got, and the drunker I got, the harder I fought to stay sober. ...Even that first night I blacked out, which leads me to believe that I was an alcoholic from my very first drink." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "Personal Stories," Ch 6 ("The Vicious Cycle"), p 241.

Today, grant that I always remember my last drink if I cannot remember my first - for it is the last one that brought me to my knees and set me on my search for something better. Even if I cannot remember the first drink or whether I became alcoholic with my first or 1,000th one, I cannot forget that I was in alcoholism on my last drunk. And if I can't remember my last drunk, I might not have had it. Thus, the reason for recovery. Regardless of how recently or long ago my last drink was, my recovery Program is here to strengthen and steer me from the next drink. Today, I am only as good as the guy whose last drink was yesterday even if mine was a thousand yesterdays ago and, today, I will remember my last drunk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

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

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
Alcoholics Anonymous has no quarrel with medicine, psychiatry or religion. We have great respect for the methods of each. And we are glad for any success they may have had with alcoholics. We are desirous always of cooperating with them in every way. The more doctors, the more psychiatrists, the more clergymen and rabbis we can get to work with us, the better we like it. We have many who take a real interest in our program and we would like many more.

Am I ready to cooperate with those who take a sincere interest in AA?

Meditation for the Day
God is always ready to pour His blessings into our hearts in generous measure. But like the seed-sowing, the ground must be prepared before the seed is dropped in. It is our task to prepare the soil. It is God's to drop the seed. This preparation of the soil means many days of living, choosing the right and avoiding the wrong. As you go along, each day you are better prepared for God's planting, until you reach the time of harvest. Then you share the harvest with God - the harvest of a useful and more abundant life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my way of living may be properly prepared day by day. I pray that I may strive to make myself ready for the harvest which God has planted in my heart.

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

Reflection for the Day
When I begin to compare my life with the lives of others, I've begun to move toward the edge of the murky swamp of self-pity. On the other hand, if I feel that what I'm doing is right and good, I won't be so dependent on the admiration or approval of others. Applause is well and good, but it's not essential to my inner contentment. I'm in the Program to get rid of self-pity, not to increase its power to destroy me.

Am I learning how others have dealt with their problems so I can apply these lessons to my own life?

Today I Pray
God, make me ever mindful of where I came from and the new goals I have been encouraged to set. May I stop playing to an audience for their approval, since I am fully capable of admiring or applauding myself if I feel I have earned it. Help me to make myself attractive from the inside, so it will show through, rather than adorning the outside for effect. I am tired of stage make-up and costumes, God; help me be myself.

Today I Will Remember
Has anyone seen ME?

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

The Eye Opener
Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

The very basis of AA is kindness to the suffering alcoholic, but the question often arises as to what is the kind thing to do. Sometimes we have to do things that might be considered cruel in order to be kind.

There are occasions when it is an act of kindness to have a man locked up if he is apt to hurt himself or others. Sometimes drastic steps have to be taken to prevent a man from driving his car when he is drunk. Occasionally it might be the best thing for a man if his boss should fire him or if his family left him.

We are frequently called upon for this kind of advice. Who are we to decide such issues? God has the answer, and it is best to turn the query over to Him.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2021 - Good morning with confidence in another Monday and new week

 

Good morning and don't sweat that it's Monday again 'cause we got it covered ...have a truly terrific and productive but safe day, and flip off whatever and whoever thinks they can foul it up

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

 

Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The love of God is passionate. He pursues each of us even when we know it not. — William Wordsworth

A woman at a meeting of adult children recently told of a deal she had made with God. She promised God she would stop smoking if God would help her son get off drugs. A lively discussion ensued. Most were of the belief that God doesn’t bargain — not because God isn’t sympathetic, but because He has already given that which we try to bargain for.

Isn’t that a wondrous truth? God already loves our loved ones even more than we do. And because God loves them, they have already been gifted with everything they need. Why do we imagine that we need to manipulate God? God is doing everything, short of interfering with our free will, to assist us and our loved ones along the road to recovery and freedom.

As long as it may take and as hard as it may be, we need to accept the incredible fact that the prize is already won, and all we need to do is open up and receive it.

Today, I weigh the love I feel for my family members, and I am comforted to know they are loved even more by God.

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

Step by Step
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

Today, caution against carrying "Take It Easy" to procrastination or neglect of the new responsibilities that sobriety requires. "Take It Easy" means we tend to our spiritual and emotional care lest we be unqualified to help someone else with their own. Adversely, "Take It Easy" does not bestow "permission" to put off or ignore responsibilities to ourselves, others and the 12th Step marching order to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. The Program shows us how to balance the scale between taking it easy and procrastination, and if it's weighted down by taking it easy at the expense of responsibility to ourselves and others, we become irresponsible dry drunks. Today, seek the balance between taking it easy all the time and giving all our time to everything and everyone else. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

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

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
The Alcoholics Anonymous program has borrowed from medicine, psychiatry and religion. It has taken from these what it wanted and combined them into the program which it considers best suited to the alcoholic mind and which will best help the alcoholic to recover. The results have been very satisfactory. We do not try to improve on the AA program. Its value has been proved by the success it has had in helping thousands of alcoholics to recover. It has everything we alcoholics need to arrest our illness.

Do I try to follow the AA program just as it is?

Meditation for the Day
You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and God. Priceless beyond all earth's rewards is that union. In merging your heart and mind with the heart and mind of the Higher Power, a oneness of purpose results, which only those who experience it can even dimly realize. That oneness of purpose puts you in harmony with God and with all others who are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may become attuned to the will of God. I pray that I may be in harmony with the music of the spheres.

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

A Day at a Time
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

Reflection for the Day
Self-pity is one of the most miserable and consuming defects I know. Because of its interminable demands for attention and sympathy, my self-pity cuts off my communication with others, especially communication with my Higher Power. When I look at it that way, I realize that self-pity limits my spiritual progress. It's also a very real form of martyrdom, which is a luxury I simply can't afford. The remedy, I've been taught, is to have a hard look at myself and a still harder one at The Program's Twelve Steps to recovery.

Do I ask my Higher Power to relieve me of the bondage of self?

Today I Pray
May I know from observation that self-pitiers get almost no pity from anyone else. Nobody - not even God - can fill their out-sized demands for sympathy. May I recognize my own unsavory feeling of self-pity when it creeps in to rob me of my serenity. May God keep me wary of its sneakiness.

Today I Will Remember
My captor is my self.

Hazelden Foundation

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

 

The Eye Opener
Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021

It has been observed by many in AA that the surest bet to get our Program is the man who needs it most desperately. His very desperation lends strength to his efforts. He has been backed up to a wall and he must fight his way out of his dilemma or else he must die. There is no alternative.

Only the coward quits in despair, and the alcoholic can't be a coward for, if he was, he would have quit the unequal game long before his alcoholism was fully developed.

Yes, it takes a brave man to fight his way to the gutter, and it takes a brave and desperate man to fight his way out.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2021 - Good morning to a fabulous Sunday and new month

 

Good morning with gratitude for a serene Sunday and new month ...make today truly great but productive and safe, and don't waste time on anything and anyone out to screw it up

July 31, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, July 30, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Sharing a common goal

Since we’re going the same way, let’s go together. We may have some differences, but let’s work them out and respect each other’s opinions. Since our goal is the same, you help me and I’ll help you.

But let’s never withhold love as a weapon against one another. Since we are held together by a critical common solution, let’s not cause one another any suffering.

Am I learning to emphasize our common purpose?

Higher Power, help me see that what we share in the fellowship is more important than what separates us.

Today I will strengthen our common cause by…

Hazelden Foundation

July 31, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, July 31, 2021

"The old (drinking) pattern reasserted itself, but it was no longer once every six months. The intervals grew shorter. The binges were longer. They were harder to get off. ...
"That type of drinking is not pleasant. It is no longer enjoyable. You no longer get the kicks. It is desperation drinking. I was drinking to keep away the shakes ...I was drinking to try to hold on to a job, to try and hold on to my home, to try to hold on to my wife, to try to hold on to my sanity." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part III ("They Lost Nearly All"), Ch 8 ("Desperation Drinking"), p 514.

Today, honesty to accept that I am in deep trouble if drinking is my answer to any desperation I feel - be it a situation I desperately want not to face, or the talk with my spouse, partner or employer, the constantly ringing telephone that I will not answer because someone might be calling about my drinking or some problem it has caused. If drinking is my solution to any problem in my life, let me hear the voices of experience that my solution has become a crisis bigger than the problem I'm avoiding. And if I have not drank for any significant number of 24 Hours, chances are I now cannot remember the problem I drank to avoid. But in drinking, I and I alone created my life's single direst crises that was far worse than any problem I faced sober. Today, alcohol will not be my solution to any problem that I may encounter. My answer is the Twelve Steps. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

July 31, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, July 31, 2021

AA Thought for the Day
This leaves only one day - today. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives us mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.

Am I living one day at a time?

Meditation for the Day
Give God the gift of a thankful heart. Try to see causes of thankfulness in your everyday life. When life seems hard and troubles crowd, then look for some reasons for thankfulness. There is nearly always something you can be thankful for. The offering of thanksgiving is indeed a sweet incense going up to God throughout a busy day. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about. You will acquire in time the habit of blessings. Each new day some new cause for joy and gratitude will spring to your mind and you will thank God sincerely.

Prayer for the Day
I pray for a truly thankful heart. I pray that I may be constantly reminded of causes for sincere gratitude.

Hazelden Foundation