Aug. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you’re still a rat.

— Lily Tomlin

Alcoholism is a rat race. Drug addiction is a rat race. We were always trying to keep one or two steps ahead of the cat. We were always sneaking around, and everyone was disgusted with us.

Our goal in recovery is to stop acting like a rat and join the human race again. Recovery teaches us sayings like “Easy does it” and “One day at a time.” Our sayings remind us to pace ourselves. Our sayings remind us that healing takes time.

We live by human values: honesty, respect for others, fairness, openness, self-respect. We work at just being ourselves. We learn that this is enough. We are enough.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me accept my humanness. I am part of the human race, not the rat race.

Action for the Day

Just for today, I’ll pace myself. I’ll list ways I often go too fast for my own good. I’ll ask friends how they pace themselves.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023

” …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 drunk 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 drunk 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., 2023

Aug. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023

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

 

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023

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, 2023 – Good morning and let’s make today a magnificent Wednesday

 

Good morning and here’s Woodstock to help get you on your way to a wonderful Wednesday and without the drama and trauma of people and things who aren’t worth our attention

Aug. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.

— Brendan Francis

There was a huge slide at the park and Jason was afraid to go on it. There were so many steps to climb to reach the top. All of his friends were climbing up the steps and yelling as they came down the long rolling slide.

“Come on,” said his friend Steve. “It’s lots of fun!” “Isn’t it scary?” asked Jason.

“A little bit,” answered Steve, “but you get used to it.” He ran off to go again.

Jason walked to the steps of the slide, his heart pounding in his chest. Slowly he placed his foot on the first step and lifted himself up. Courageously he climbed the ladder. When he reached the high platform he felt as if he were standing on top of the world. We can learn from Jason that by taking that first step we can experience many exciting and wonderful things. We have all done it before — on the slide, on a bicycle, in school. Why not again?

What fear can I walk through today?

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023

Today, caution against carrying “Take It Easy” to procrastination or neglect of the new responsibilities that recovery 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., 2023

Aug. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023

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

 

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023

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, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023

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, 2023 – Good morning to a grand Tuesday and new month

 

Good morning and let’s put a little spring into our walk on the beautiful Tuesday and brand new month

July 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, July 31, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Almost everyone wants something for nothing.

— Marsha Sinetar

Bargains attract. Finding a good value excites us, and we share the news quickly. Wanting anything for free is human nature perhaps. However, many of us have had to learn again and again that you get what you pay for. This is true of human interactions too.

Why do we think that others will be there for us if we aren’t available for them? Having friends means being a friend, even if it’s time-consuming. Although friendship’s rewards are indisputable, we still tend to wait, letting the other person make the first move. Getting the other person to commit first reduces our effort, perhaps, but we will still receive according to what we give.

Knowing and utilizing this principle simplifies our lives. Once we master it, we never forget it. And what we bring to our relationships will be given back to us.

I am willing to give to others what I want in return today. Their efforts will match my own.

Hazelden Foundation

July 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, July 31, 2023

“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 crisis 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., 2023

July 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, July 31, 2023

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