Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Rule 62: Don’t Take Yourself So Damn Seriously

On bad days when I’m struggling, I pull a few coins out of my pocket that I’ve gathered over the years. These coins have phrases on them that remind me of key lessons I need to remember.

One of these coins has “Rule 62” on it.

Rule 62 is shorthand for an important reminder. It’s the rule that says, “Don’t take yourself so damn seriously.” After all, sometimes the challenges we face on a daily basis seem like they are the worst thing in the world. But if I take a step back, and I remember that the most awful day in sobriety is better than sleeping on that step when I was homeless, then I can start to find the humor in what I’m going through today. I can get perspective and feel grateful for the life that God has given me.

My sober community helps too. I call them, and we laugh about what is going on in each other’s lives. We keep each other grounded.

Just for today, I will keep things in perspective and not take myself so seriously.

— Dan N., U.S. Army, 1971–1977

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Today, admit that I abused, misused, took for granted and literally threw away through my drinking and actions all that I had been GIVEN unconditionally – love, respect, self-respect, integrity, friends, family, innocence – and traded it for selfishness, insecurity, fear, regret, pain, agony, anguish, loss and time that will never be recovered. Now, I am forced to admit I cannot expect to be given what I drank away – nor should I be enabled in regaining what I lost – without earning it. And I have the tools to begin the rebuilding process, courtesy of 12 Step. So simple! But the work to apply those tools forces me to ask my Higher Power, on bended knee, for the strength, courage, honesty, discipline, integrity and selflessness to earn back what I have lost and not demand nor expect them to be handed to me. And, if I do the job right, I may get back more than I lost. Today, I accept I must remake myself and, with the Program, I’ve got the tools to do it. All that remains is my choice to pick them up and put them to use. Today, I pick them up and begin the rebuilding process. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

Some people find it hard to believe in a Power greater than themselves. But not to believe in such a Power forces us to atheism. It has been said that atheism is blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere. That’s practically impossible to believe. I think we all can agree that alcohol is a power greater than ourselves. It certainly was in my case. I was helpless before the power of alcohol.

Do I remember the things that happened to me because of the power of alcohol?

Meditation for the Day

The spiritual and moral will eventually overcome the material and unmoral. That is the purpose and destiny of the human race. Gradually the spiritual is overcoming the material in our minds. Gradually the moral is overcoming the unmoral. Faith, fellowship and service are cures for most of the ills of the world. There is nothing in the field of personal relationships that they cannot do.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may do my share in making a better world. I pray that I may be part of the cure for the ills of the world.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Reflection for the Day

Before we came to The Program, fear ruled our lives. Tyrannized by our addictions and obsessions, we feared everything and everybody. We feared ourselves and, perhaps most of all, feared fear itself. These days, when I am able to accept the help of my Higher Power, it makes me feel capable of doing anything I am called upon to do. I am overcoming my fears and acquiring a comfortable new confidence.

Can I believe that “courage is fear that has said its prayers …?”

Today I Pray

God grant that through faith in Him I may overcome my obsessive fears. I have been running scared for so long it has become a habit. God help me to see that I may be purposely clinging to my fears to avoid making decisions, perhaps even to shirk the responsibility of success.

Today I Will Remember

Fear keeps me safe from risk-taking.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023

Few of us who are successfully working the AA Program have failed to notice the almost immediate influence our sobriety has brought about, not only in our homes and jobs but in the community as well.

Some of us who a short time ago stood before the judge and got the usual “$10 or 10 days” are now frequently closeted in the Judge’s Chambers at his invitation to assist him in his handling of the alcoholic problem.

We know what we were, we know what we are, now let us be what we can be.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 25, 2023 – Rise ‘n shine for a fantastic and super Saturday

 

Good morning and let’s get rolling on what’s bound for be a super Saturday …make it a truly worthwhile and productive but safe day, taking on whatever unexpected challenges with determination — and never mind people and things that can screw it up

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, Feb. 24, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Practicing sanity

When we were getting high all the time, we were practicing insanity. It was a lot of fun. We got so good at it, however, that we couldn’t see how serious it had become. Whether we’re straight or high, insanity seemed to take over.

Now we can practice sanity daily. Practicing anything will eventually make us pretty good at it. In the care of our Higher Power, we can get pretty good at sanity, too.

Am I letting go of my insane behavior?

Higher Power, help me face the fears of sane living, fears I tried to hide from with addiction.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

Today, apply the Program more widely and remember it is developed not solely to guide us to recovery but to detect and correct the character flaws that enabled our drinking. Being dry is all we can expect if the only action we take is to quit drinking. Abstinence by itself won’t earn us the sobriety and peace if we do not uncover, admit and either give up or correct the dysfunctional dynamics of our spiritual and emotional characters. Being dry is a major step forward from our drinking days, but dry without serenity puts us at significant risk of relapse if we turn a blind eye to the defective parts of our character. And because simply being dry puts us on the edge of a relapse waiting to happen, a recovery program helps us to deal with the defects in mental, spiritual and emotional characters. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

When we came to our first AA meeting, we looked up at the wall at the end of the room and saw the sign: “But for the Grace of God.” We knew right then and there that we would have to call on the Grace of God in order to get sober and get over our soul-sickness. We heard speakers tell how they had come to depend on a Power greater than themselves. That made sense to us and we made up our minds to try it.

Am I depending on the Grace of God to help me stay sober?

Meditation for the Day

Share your love, your joy, your happiness, your time, your food, your money gladly with all. Give out all the love you can with a glad, free heart and hand. Do all you can for others and back will come countless stores of blessings. Sharing draws others to you. Take all who come as sent by God and give them a royal welcome. You may never see the results of your sharing. Today they may not need you, but tomorrow may bring results from the sharing you did today.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may make each visitor desire to return. I pray that I may never make anyone feel repulsed or unwanted.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

Reflection for the Day

I can banish fear by realizing the truth. Am I afraid to be alone? This fear can be banished by the realization that I am never alone, that God is always with me wherever I am and whatever I do. Am I afraid that I won’t have enough money to meet my needs? This fear can be banished by the realization that God is my inexhaustible, unfailing resource, now and always. Today I have the power to change fear into faith.

Can I say with confidence, “I will trust, and will not be afraid …?”

Today I Pray

That I may fear no evil, for God is with me. That I may learn to turn to my Higher Power when I am afraid. I pray diligently that my faith in God and trust in what He has in store for me is strong enough to banish the fears that undermine my courage.

Today I Will Remember

Turn fear into faith.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023

We alcoholics know that one drink is too much and a barrel isn’t enough. That first drink starts the compulsion to drink.

Suppressing desires can become a habit just as their satisfaction does. Each time we Say “NO,” we weaken the old habit and strengthen the new.

The efforts to satisfy our desires led us to the excesses that brought about our alcoholism. So let us follow the advise of John Stuart Mill and “learn to seek our happiness by limiting our desires, rather than attempting to satisfy them.”

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 24, 2023 – Good morning and let’s head out for a fantastic Friday

 

Good morning and keep hanging in there because the weekend is in sight …have a truly great Friday and give nothing and no one the control to make it less

Feb. 23, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

There’s good news and bad news about feelings in the program. The good news is, you get your feelings back. The bad news is, you get your feelings back.

— Michael Graubart

Our problems with anger and our problems in relationships go hand in hand. Some of us have held back our anger, which led to resentment of our loved ones. Some of us have indulged our anger and become abusive. Some of us have been so frightened of anger that we closed off the dialogue in our relationships when angry feelings came out.

Some of us have wasted our energy by focusing anger on people who weren’t really important to us. Do we truly want them to become so important? Perhaps our important relationships got frozen because we weren’t open and respectful with our anger. It isn’t possible to be close to someone without being angry at times. We let our loved ones be part of our lives by feeling our anger when it is there and expressing it openly, directly, and respectfully to them – or by hearing them when they are angry. Then, with dialogue, we can let it go.

I will be aware of those people I am making important in my life and will grow in dealing with my anger.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 23, 2023 - Readings in Recovery; Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023

Today, if life sneaks in unexpected tasks or frustration that delay my plans, I will not cave to anger or a sense of failure at not carrying out my plans to completion. Even if my patience or expectations of myself or others are stretched to the max, I will not whine with self-pity or anything negative because, if I have gotten through the last 24 Hours sober, I have literally nothing to complain about and absolutely everything for which to be grateful and humble. I have no excuse to morph frustration or anger into self-imposed isolation because isolation is the breeding ground for loneliness – and loneliness can be lethal in recovery. But should I feel lonely, I will reach out to someone who can lend an empathetic – not sympathetic – ear or, in the spirit the 12th Step, jump into some form of service to someone in need and want. An old saying is that the non-addict who has a flat tire calls Triple A, but the recovering alcoholic with a flat calls Suicide Prevention. Today, I will use the Steps to keep events and things in their proper perspective and, if I find I have a flat tire, I’ll call roadside assistance. Suicide Prevention has other people in greater need. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Feb. 23, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
Besides our jobs, our families, our friends and our sobriety, we have something else which many of us found through AA. That’s faith in a Power greater than ourselves, to which we can turn for help: faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God and which is on our side as long as we do the right thing. There have been many days in the past when, if we had taken an inventory, we’d have found ourselves very much in the red, without sobriety and, therefore, without jobs, families, friends or faith in God. We now have these things because we’re sober.

Do I make one resolution every day of my life – to stay sober?

Meditation for the Day
Love the busy life. It is a joy-filled life. Take your fill of joy in the Spring. Live outdoors whenever possible. Sun and air are nature’s great healing forces. That inward joy changes poisoned blood into a pure, healthy, life-giving flow. But never forget that the real healing of the spirit comes from within, from the close, loving contact of your spirit with God’s spirit. Keep in close communion with God’s spirit day by day.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may learn to live the abundant life. I pray that I may enjoy a close contact with God this day and be glad in it.

Hazelden Foundation