Nov. 8, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Made a list of all persons we had harmed…

— First half of Step Eight

By the time we get to Step Eight, we’re ready to work on our relationships. We start by making a list of all the persons we’ve harmed. We look at where we have been at fault. We own our behavior.

Now we’re healing, and we must help others heal too. Our list must be as complete as we can make it. As our recovery goes on, we’ll remember others we have hurt. We add them to our list. By doing this, we heal even more. Remember, this Step is for us. It is to help us stay sober.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me make a complete list. Help me to keep it open-ended. Allow me and those I’ve harmed to be healed.

Action for the Day

Even if I’ve made a list before, I’ll make another one today. I will list all those I have harmed.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 8, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023

“We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.
‘We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals — usually brief — were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our types are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 3 (“More About Alcoholism”), p 30.

Today, the first step in recovery is to concede that I am an alcoholic, that I can no longer drink responsibly — if I ever did — and that I will only get sicker and never better if I continue to drink. Disease, dis-ease, illness, condition or whatever other name, the word alcoholic is nothing more than a label. But if for whatever reason I cannot accept or even say it, I can say simply that I cannot drink and work toward a goal — sober alcoholic. As a sober alcoholic, I have the freedom to say I do not need and do not want to drink and to say that I am simply a person who does not drink. Today, I will start to live in the solution of sobriety and not in the problem of alcoholism. But I first must acknowledge that I simply cannot drink. Today, I cannot and do not want to drink. It’s that simple. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Nov. 8, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
I have lost much of my inferiority complex. I was always trying to escape from life. I did not want to face reality. I was full of self-pity. I was constantly sorry for myself. I tried to avoid all responsibilities. I did not feel that I would handle the responsibilities of my family or my work. Owing to my inferiority complex, I was eager to be free of all responsibilities. I wanted to drift; I wanted to be “on the beach.” AA showed me how to get over my feeling of inferiority. It made me want to accept responsibility again.

Have I lost my inferiority complex?

Meditation for the Day
“One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press onward toward the goal.” We should forget those things which are behind us and press onward toward something better. We can believe that God has forgiven us for all our past sins, provided we are honestly trying to live today the way we believe He wants us to live. We can wipe clean the slate of the past. We can start today with a clean slate and go forward with confidence toward the goal that has been set before us.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may drop off the load of the past. I pray that I may start today with a light heart and a new confidence.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 8, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023

Reflection for the Day
My conscious contact with God depends entirely on me and on my desire for it. God’s power is available for me to use at all times; whether I decide to use it or not is my choice. It has been said that “God is present in all His creatures, but all are not equally aware of His presence.” I’ll try to remind myself every day of how much depends on my awareness of God’s influence in my life. And I’ll try to accept His help in everything I do.

Will I remember that God knows how to help me, that He can help me, and that He wants to help me?

Today I Pray
May I be aware always that God’s power and peace are a bottomless well within me. I can draw bucket after bucket from it to refresh and purify my life. All I need to supply are the buckets and the rope. The water is mine — free, fresh, healing and unpolluted.

Today I Will Remember
The well is God’s; I bring the buckets.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 8, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023

It takes two people to make a fight. Everybody will not be against you unless you are against everybody — including yourself. If you are at war with the whole universe, it is because a civil war rages within your breast.

If you so live as to be able to like yourself, then peace will reign in your life and your attitude toward everybody will be free of fear, jealousy and suspicion. You will have no reason to oppose anyone and no one will oppose you.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 8, 2023 – Good morning and let’s make it a productive and worthwhile Wednesday

 

Good morning with hopes of a wonderful and productive Wednesday for everyone, and without the garbage of people and things that don’t deserve our attention

Nov. 7, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

“The horror of that moment,” the King went on, “l shall never forget.”
“You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.”

— Lewis Carroll

Crises come in many forms. When we are in the middle of any kind of crisis, we may feel like we have fallen into a deep hole. We may see no way out, and begin to feel hopeless and overwhelmed by the size and darkness of the hole.

Yet we are not alone. An animal caught in a hole would cry out until someone came along and helped it out. We, too, can call out for help — to our Higher Power and to the important people in our lives. We can learn to trust that, with the help of our friends and our Higher Power, we will be able to crawl out of our holes.

With trust, we will climb out of our crises and be healed with the passage of time. Such holes are a part of our landscape, yet every time we will be able to climb out and walk, leaving the darkness behind us.

What help can I ask for today?

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 7, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

“The last …years of my life have been rich and meaningful. I have had my share of problems, heartaches and disappointments, because that is life, but also I have known a great deal of joy, and a peace that is the handmaiden of an inner freedom. I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related. First, through mutual pain and despair, and later through mutual objectives and new-found faith and hope. And, as the years go by, working together, sharing our experiences with one another, and also sharing a mutual trust, understanding and love — without strings, without obligation — we acquire relationships that are unique and priceless.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three,” Ch 12 (“The Keys of the Kingdom”), p 312.

Today, I will not forget my beginning in recovery and the “mutual pain and despair” with other newcomers and, now, the “mutual objectives and new-found faith and hope” of sobriety and recovery. Whether I recognize it, this is progress. If the pain and despair when I arrived in recovery have been replaced with faith and hope, I am moving forward. But I cannot expect recovery to spare me the “problems, heartaches and disappointments” that come with life, but I can expect to meet them sober — as long as I do what the Program suggests: one step and one day at a time. Today, if I can say my despair of my first days in recovery has been replaced with hope and faith, I can also say I’m moving where I need to move — forward. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Nov. 7, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
I have lost many of my resentments. I have found that getting even with people doesn’t do any good. When we try to get revenge, instead of making us feel better, it leaves us frustrated and cheated. Instead of punishing our enemies, we’ve only hurt our own peace of mind. It does not pay to nurse a grudge, it hurts us more than anyone else. Hate causes frustration, inner conflict and neurosis. If we give out hate, we will become hateful. If we are resentful, we will be resented. If we do not like people, we will not be liked by people. Revengefulness is a powerful poison in our systems.

Have I lost my resentments?

Meditation for the Day
It is not so much you, as the grace of God that is in you, that helps those around you. If you would help even those you dislike, you have to see that there is nothing in you to block the way, to keep God’s grace from using you. Your own pride and selfishness are the greatest blocks. Keep those out of the way and God’s grace will flow through you into the lives of others. Then all who come in contact with you can be helped in some way. Keep the channel open, free from those things that make your life futile and ineffective.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that all who come in contact with me will feel better for it. I pray that I may be careful not to harbor those things in my heart that put people off.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 7, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

Reflection for the Day
There are those in The Program who, at the beginning, shun meditation and prayer as they would avoid a pit filled with rattlesnakes. When they do finally take the first tentative and experimental step, however, and unexpected things begin to take place, they begin to feel different. Invariably, such tentative beginnings lead to true belief, to the extent that those who once belittled prayer and meditation become nothing less than walking advertisements for its rewards. We hear in The Program that “almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never really tried it.”

Is there an obstinate part of me that still scoffs?

Today I Pray
May I learn, however irreverent I have been, that prayer is not to be mocked; I see the power of prayer effecting miracles around me, and I wonder. If I have refused to pray, may I look to see if pride is in my way — that old pride that insists on doing things on its own. Now that I have found a place for prayer in my life, may I reserve that place — religiously.

Today I Will Remember
Whoever learns to pray keeps on praying.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 7, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023

Every one of us alcoholics arrived at the point where we felt that all was lost. If we had not felt this way, we would never have confessed that our lives were unmanageable. It was a stupendous admission for us and would never have happened except for the desperation that engulfed us.

Our lives had been totally wrecked, it is true, yet God has never yet failed to give man a second chance. Don’t muff it!

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 7, 2023 – Good morning and let’s make it a terrific Tuesday

 

Good morning and here’s a cute little pussy kitty to help get you going on this beautiful Tuesday …have a productive and worthwhile day, folks, and empower nothing and no one to discourage you

Nov. 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Nov. 6, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

I have learned to be less negative and more positive. I used to take a negative view of almost everything. Most people, in my estimation, were bluffing. There seemed to be very little good in the world but lots of hypocrisy and sham. People could not be trusted. They would “take you” if they could. It seemed I should take everything “with a grain of salt.” That was my general attitude toward life. Now I am more positive. I believe in people and in their capabilities. There is much love and truth and honesty in the world. I try not to run people down. Life now seems worthwhile, and it is good to live.

Am I less negative and more positive?

Meditation for the Day

Think of God as a Great Friend and try to realize the wonder of that friendship. When you give God not only worship, obedience, and allegiance, but also close companionship, then He becomes your friend, even as you are His. You can feel that He and you are working together. He can do things for you and you can do things for Him. Your prayers become more real to you when you feel that God counts on your friendship and you count on His.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may think of God as my Friend. I pray that I may feel that I am working for Him and with Him.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Nov. 6, 2023

“When we first come into AA, many of us are confused because, as a general rule, we’re at the end of our respective ropes, and we don’t know what to do. It’s like the fellow who came in AA and his sponsor said to him, ‘Listen, buddy, do you believe in a Higher Power?’ And the guy said, ‘Heck, yes, I been married to her for years!’ Yes, we find it rather confusing but, as we get around and get to know people in the group, they lead the way and all we have to do is to follow.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 8 (“Desperation Drinking”), p 512.

Today, through the confusion of sobering up and even in recovery, the answers are simply simple, and the simplest is “to follow.” We cannot nor should we follow others in recovery for they, too, are in the same boat. Instead, all of us need to follow the Program and its 12 Steps and Traditions of principles and ethics. Complications that arise are not from the Program or Traditions but from within; we make it as complicated, confusing or difficult as we allow it. Today, I will counter any confusion, complications or doubts with the simple motto, “Keep It Simple.” And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Nov. 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Nov. 6, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
Fear and worry had me down. They were increased by my drinking. I worried about what I had done when I was drunk. I was afraid of what the consequences might be. I was afraid to face people because of the fear of being found out. Fear kept me in hot water all the time. I was a nervous wreck from fear and worry. I was a tied-up bundle of nerves. I had a fear of failure, of the future, of growing old, of sickness, of hangovers, of suicide. I had a wrong set of ideas and attitudes. When AA told me to surrender these fears and worries to a Higher Power, I did so. I now try to think faith instead of fear.

Have I put faith in place of fear?

Meditation for the Day
Spiritual power is God in action. God can only act through human beings. Whenever you, however weak you may be, allow God to act through you, then all you think and say and do is spiritually powerful. It is not you alone who produces a change in the lives of others! It is also the Divine Spirit in you and working through you. Power is God in action. God can use you as a tool to accomplish miracles in people’s lives.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to let God’s power act through me today. I pray that I may get rid of those blocks which keep His power from me.

Hazelden Foundation