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

 

Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Take the matter of being born. What does being born mean to most people?

— e.e. cummings

Somewhere in this meditation book each of us will find our birthday. It may cause us panic and trauma. It may be a day that reminds us we are getting older. For many adult children, it causes sadness because it reminds them of their childhood birthdays.

Whatever that special day has meant to us in the past, we are in control of what it can mean now and in the future.

A birthday, like any yearly holiday, is a symbol, a time to reflect and remember a special meaning. The special meaning of birthdays can become a reminder that we are called on to be reborn regularly. Seeing new beauty is a kind of rebirth. Making a decision, no matter how small, that enhances our life is a form of rebirth. Moving on to a new place, a new state of freedom, is being born again. Every day can be a birthday.

Today, I am celebrating the birth of a wholly worthy human being. Any day I choose can be another birthday.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery; Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

“Pity me the heart that is slow to learn
What the quick mind sees at every turn.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay

“For a while …we can endure the intellect’s being ahead of the emotions, which is the import of Millay’s couplet. But as the years go by, the stretch becomes unbearable; and the man with the grown-up brain and the childish emotions — vanity, self-interest, false pride, jealousy, longing for social approval — becomes a prime candidate for alcohol. …(T)hat is a definition of alcoholism: a state of being in which the emotions have failed to grow to the stature of the intellect.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 11 (“He Who Loses His Life”), pp 534-35.

Today, alcoholism cannot be arrested by intellectual strategies and I must measure — honestly — my emotional state. Without healthy emotions, the quality of my sobriety will likely be little more than being on a dry drunk. Accepting that alcohol is “but a symptom” of our underlying condition, we are compelled to seek recovery by doing more than abstaining. If today the number of 24 Hours since my last drink is days, months or years, a measure of the quality of my sobriety may be if I still harbor the emotions that I felt when I was drinking. If so, I probably need to review and refine my Program. Sobriety is more than not drinking and comes with physical, spiritual and emotional renewal. The 12 Steps give us a road map to recovery. Today, I need to look honestly at my emotional affairs. I’ve already tried the intellectual route. It got me in the gutter. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

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

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

The thoughts that come before having a slip are often largely subconscious. It is a question whether or not our subconscious minds ever become entirely free from alcoholic thoughts as long as we live. For instance, some of us dream about being drunk when we are asleep, even after several years of sobriety in AA. During the period of our drinking days, our subconscious minds have been thoroughly conditioned by our alcoholic way of thinking and it is doubtful if they ever become entirely free of such thoughts during our lifetime. But when our conscious minds are fully conditioned against drinking, we can stay sober and our subconscious minds do not often bother us.

Am I still conditioning my conscious mind?

Meditation for the Day

Having sympathy and compassion for all who are in temptation, a condition which we are sometimes in, we have a responsibility towards them. Sympathy always includes responsibility. Pity is useless because it does not have a remedy for the need. But wherever our sympathy goes, our responsibility goes, too. When we are moved with compassion, we should go to the one in need and bind up his wounds as best we can.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have sympathy for those in temptation. I pray that I may have compassion for others’ trials.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

Reflection for the Day
It has truly been said that, “We become what we do.” It’s emphasized to us over and over in The Program that our thoughts and actions toward others color and shape our spiritual lives. Words and acts of kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness and forgiveness serve to strengthen those qualities within us that heighten our consciousness of God’s love.

In asking God to direct and guide my life, am I also asking love to take over and lead me where it will?

Today I Pray
May I make a resolute attempt at acting out the way I want to be — loving, forgiving, kind, thoughtful. May I be aware that each small, attentive act carries with it an echo of God’s all-caring. For God so loved the world; may we make His love our example.

Today I Will Remember
We become what we do.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 1, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, Dec. 1, 2023

There will always be a difference of opinion as long as people have different interests, different prejudices and different mental capacities.

To expect people to disagree with you is only sensible and reasonable. If everybody agreed with you, everybody would be as smart as you and you wouldn’t like that for a minute. The chances are you are both wrong anyhow, or you would not be required to defend your opinions. The right can defend itself without your help.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 1, 2023 – Good morning to a fantastical Friday and new month

 

Good morning with a commitment to make this fantastic Friday and new month as productive and worthwhile as they can be, and let’s finally be done with people and things that have nothing good to offer

Nov. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazellden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Waiting Season

Today my husband and I are both veterans, and we’re recovering together. It wasn’t always this way. It took me doing some work on me and taking a hiatus from dating. My picker was broken. I was picking the wrong ones, and that was the problem — I would do the picking. I had to take a break. I let go and was like, You know what, God? I’m taking a break. You pick the next one. I’m leaving this in your hands. Your will be done. You know what’s best for me.

I stepped away from dating, from talking to anyone, from doing anything for a year and a half. A year and a half — nothing. My family was like, “You’re not dating?” I would say, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I’m waiting. I’m in a waiting season. I’ll know when it’s time when God’s ready for me to have someone. It’ll come.”

And then one day I was sitting in a meeting and my future husband tapped me on the shoulder and asked me for a reading. And we started laughing with each other. We’ve been together since then. And that’s all she wrote.

In his perfect timing, God supplies my needs rather than my wants.

— Karen A., U.S. Air National Guard, 1980‑1991

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

Today, understand that a substitute chemical to replace alcohol that alters my perception of reality is not working toward recovery. May I also understand that “mind- and mood-altering chemicals” may not necessarily include prescribed medications. If depression continues to be a condition even in recovery, for example, let me listen to reasons why anti-depressants may not compromise my sobriety but may even improve its quality. The debate in 12-Step programs that any substance which alters mood costs us our sobriety is as old as the Program itself. But the Program admits it is not a medical one, and that tells me it is my responsibility to seek knowledge from qualified sources to determine if my sobriety is at risk. Today, understanding that the substances I ingested are not the same as prescribed medications, let me also consider the possibility that acting as my own physician may be writing my own relapse. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Nov. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
We have slips in AA. It has been said these are not slips but premeditated drunks, because we have to think about taking a drink before we actually take one. The thought always comes before the act. It is suggested that people should always get in touch with an AA before taking that first drink. The failure to do so makes it probable that they had decided to take the drink anyway. And yet the thoughts that come before taking a drink are often largely subconscious. People usually don’t know consciously what made them do it. Therefore, the common practice is to call these things slips.

Am I on guard against wrong thinking?

Meditation for the Day
“The eternal God is thy refuge.” He is a sanctuary, a refuge from the cares of life. You can get away from the misunderstanding of others by retiring into your own place of meditation. But from yourself, from your sense of failure, your weakness, your shortcomings, whither can you flee? Only to the eternal God, your refuge, until the immensity of His spirit envelopes your spirit and it loses its smallness and weakness and comes into harmony again with His.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may lose my limitations in the immensity of God’s love. I pray that my spirit may be in harmony with His spirit.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

Reflection for the Day
If you’re a negative thinker and are not yet ready to do an about-face, here are some guidelines that can keep you miserable for just as long as you wish to remain so. First, don’t go to meetings of The Program, especially discussion groups. If you somehow find yourself at a meeting, keep your mouth shut, your hands in your pockets and your mind closed. Don’t try to solve any of your problems, never laugh at yourself and don’t trust the other people in The Program. Above all, under no conditions should you try to live in the Now.

Am I aware that negative thinking means taking myself deadly serious at all times, leaving no time for laughter — and for living?

Today I Pray
If I am feeling negative, may I check myself in the mirror that is the group for any symptoms of a closed mind; tight lips, forced smile, set jaw, straight-ahead glance — and not a glimmer of humor. God, grant me the ability to laugh at myself — often — for I need that laughter to cope with the everyday commotion of living.

Today I Will Remember
To laugh at myself.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 30, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023

Many who are active in AA work come to feel that they just can’t carry on any longer. There is so much to do; so little time can be spared to do it; so few to do the work. There is a limit to their endurance. After all, a guy has just so much health, strength and patience.

When the burdens get too heavy and too numerous, take it up with the Big Boss, tell Him you like to do His work but that it is more than you can handle — ask Him for more help — and you’ll get it.

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 30, 2023 – Good morning and let’s make it a grand Thursday

 

Good morning with gratitude for this beautiful Thursday and its potential for good …and that we don’t have to cave into people and things that bring nothing positive to our lives

Nov. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Taking the Steps

We used drugs for many reasons. Often it was to take the edge off life. In the beginning drugs made the world more beautiful, more satisfying. Toward the end we used drugs to turn off our guilt, fear, and loneliness. The drugs began to cause more problems than they cured. Finally, using met none of our needs at all.

By working the Steps, however, we can learn to meet our needs in constructive, rather than destructive, ways.

Am I working all the Steps necessary to meet my needs without chemicals?

Higher Power, help me find those things in life — sober and clean — that I was trying to find by using drugs.

Today I will work on Step…

Hazelden Foundation

Nov. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023

Today, if my candle is burning at both ends with responsibilities, obligations and expectations,  I will not complain or seek adulation and, instead, will be grateful and humble that now I am trusted to carry out what is asked and expected of me. But if I feel overwhelmed at times, I can fall back on the edict “First Things First.” The first thing is sobriety. Without it, there is nothing; with it, there is everything. The benefits sobriety brings include service to the sufferer who needs and wants to hear the message, and I should not shirk or complain about being in service. Not only does what I contribute to another soul strengthen my own recovery against a possible slip or relapse, I need only to remember the days when I was drunk literally 24/7 and ask if those days were better than now. Today, my yesterdays are nowhere better than today, and today is where I will stay without complaining, without seeking recognition and instead ask in humility for the will of my Higher Power and the knowledge to carry it out. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Nov. 29, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

The AA way is the way of sobriety, and yet there are slips. Why do these slips occur? Why don’t we all accept AA and stay sober from then on? There are many reasons, but it has been proved without exception that once we have become alcoholics, we can never drink successfully again. This has never been disproved by any case we know of. Many alcoholics have tried drinking after a period of sobriety from a few days to a few years, and no one that we know of has been successful in becoming a normal drinker.

Could I be the only exception to this rule?

Meditation for the Day

“We are gathered together in Thy name.” First, we are gathered together, bound by a common loyalty to God and to each other. Then, when this condition has been fulfilled, God is present with us. Then, when God is there and one with us, we voice a common prayer. Then it follows that our prayer will be answered according to God’s will. Then, when our prayer is answered, we are bound together in a lasting fellowship of the spirit.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be loyal to God and to others. I pray that my life today may be lived close to His and to theirs.

Hazelden Foundation