Jan. 2, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundaiton

 

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

I have one request:
may I never use my reason against truth.

— Elie Wiesel

Honesty with ourselves is a great asset in every situation we confront. The skill to look reality square in the face and call it what it is takes us a good distance toward coping with it. However, many of us also have the skill to spin or rationalize our actions so that we don’t have to face something unpleasant. That skill provides us with excuses and evasions, but it is the greatest betrayal of ourselves.

When we use our brain to cleverly cover the truth of our actions, we often believe our own lies, and then they keep us stuck. Just as dishonesty builds and grows on itself, so does honesty. We cannot one day decide to be honest and change in a flash because we don’t see all of our self-deceit yet. But we can make the decision to be as honest as we know how. Then we will soon be surprised by how much is revealed to us as the fog of our self-deceit lifts and our honesty builds on itself.

Today, I will strive to see reality as it is and not shape it to suit my ego’s desires.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024

“I looked around me at people who seemed happy and tried to analyze their happiness, and it seemed to me that without exception these people had something or somebody they loved very much. I didn’t have the courage to love; I was not even sure I had the capacity. Fear of rejection and its ensuing pain were not to be risked, and I turned away from myself once more for the answer, this time to the drinks I had always refused before, and in alcohol I found a false courage.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 12 (“Freedom From Bondage”), pp 546-47.

Today, …”in alcohol I found a false courage.” Whether I am long in recovery or just beginning, the time has come to be done with all that is not true. If I am hinging my sobriety on my spouse or partner not leaving me, keeping my job or convincing a judge I deserve a break from my latest DUI, my motivation to get sober is linked to something that may never happen and, if it doesn’t, my sobriety likely will not last. Whatever the untruths in my life and even in sobriety, the Fourth Step is my road map to honesty — the truth of my own life, my drinking, my recovery. May I not rely on some bottled courage as I set out to find my own truth. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

Jan. 2, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

What makes AA work? The first thing is to have a revulsion against myself and my way of living. Then I must admit I was helpless, that alcohol had me licked and I couldn’t do anything about it. The next thing is to honestly want to quit the old life. Then I must surrender my life to a Higher Power, put my drinking problem in His hands and leave it there. After these things are done, I should attend meetings regularly for fellowship and sharing. I should also try to help other alcoholics.

Am I doing these things?

Meditation for the Day

You are so made that you can only carry the weight of 24 hours, no more. If you weigh yourself down with the years behind and the days ahead, your back breaks. God has promised to help you with the burdens of the day only. If you are foolish enough to gather again that burden of the past and carry it, then indeed you cannot expect God to help you bear it. So forget that which lies behind you and breathe in the blessing of each new day.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may realize that, for good or bad, past days have ended. I pray that I may face each new day, the coming 24 hours, with hope and courage.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024

Reflection for the Day

Before I came to The Program, I hadn’t the faintest idea of what it was to “Live In The Now.” I often became obsessed with the things that happened yesterday, last week or even five years ago. Worse yet, many of my waking hours were spent clearing away the “wreckage of the future.” “To me,” Walt Whitman once wrote, “every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.”

Can I truly believe that in my heart?

Today I Pray

Let me carry only the weight of 24 hours at one time, without the extra bulk of yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s anxieties. Let me breathe the blessings of each new day for itself, by itself and keep my human burdens contained in daily perspective. May I learn the balance of soul that comes through keeping close to God.

Today I Will Remember

Don’t borrow from tomorrow.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024

Probably in the history of the world no tyrant can be found who welded chains so strong upon his victims as did that “Ol’ Debil Rum.”

Even our most secret desires were controlled by his influence, and our families, our health and our very lives themselves were disregarded when opposed to the demands for a drink.

Fortunately for us in AA, we still had a freedom of choice of master and when we decided to “turn our will and our lives over to the care of God,” we accepted a new Master, one even more demanding than the first, but with this one vast difference — our chains were now bonds of love.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 2, 2024 – Good morning to the first beautiful Tuesday of the new year

 

Good morning with a couple of cute little puppy dogs to help get your Tuesday off on an uplifting note …have a truly fantastic day, and don’t blow any of it on people and things who bring nothing but despair

Jan. 1, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Jan. 1, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Every ending is part of a beginning. Every loss is part of an emptiness that can be filled with newness.

— Jan Lloyd

The door that is closing today may fill us with dread; however, we can find relief when we recall other endings that unexpectedly led to new friendships, better jobs, wonderful opportunities.

Life is a process. Every event in our lives is connected to what has gone before and what will come after. There are no real endings; there are only new opportunities for growth and change. For most of us it’s a matter of changing our perspective. The difference is subtle yet extremely powerful, and our lives will never feel the same.

I look forward to these twenty-four hours! I can be glad for everything that comes to me, trusting in its blessing.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Jan. 1, 2024

“FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION: Figures given in this foreword describe the Fellowship as it was in 1955

“Since the original Foreword to this book was written in 1939, a wholesale miracle has taken place. Our earliest printing voiced the hope ‘that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. Already,’ continues the early text, ‘twos and threes and fives of us have sprung up in other communities.’“ Sixteen years have elapsed between our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “Foreword to the Second Edition,” p xv.

Today, when tradition of New Year’s Day prods us to think in terms of new beginnings and resolutions, the history of AA as measured in the years between 1939 and 1955 assures us of a new start — if we work toward and apply the Steps and Principles of the Program. In the years since this foreword, the number of recovering alcoholics has multiplied by more than 10 times. If the Program has worked for that vast a number of people, why, then, can’t it work for me? It can, and if I have failed in the past, it is because I failed the Program and not that the Program failed me. On this day when we are encouraged to let go of the old and ring in the new, my recovery appropriately begins with the hope that I, too, can be in that number of recovering alcoholics. So let the new begin. And our common journey continues. Step by step.— Chris M., 2024

Jan. 1, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Jan. 1, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

When I came into AA, was I a desperate person? Did I have a soul-sickness? Was I so sick of myself and my way of living that I couldn’t stand looking at myself in a mirror? Was I ready for AA? Was I ready to try anything that would help me to get sober and to get over my soul-sickness?

Should I ever forget the condition I was in?

Meditation for the Day

In the new year, I will live one day at a time. I will make each day one of preparation for better things ahead. I will not dwell on the past or the future, only on the present. I will bury every fear of the future, all thoughts of unkindness and bitterness, all my dislikes, my resentments, my sense of failure, my disappointments in others and in myself, my gloom and my despondency. I will leave all these things buried and go forward, in this new year, into a new life.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God will guide me one day at a time in the new year. I pray that for each day, God will supply the wisdom and the strength that I need.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Jan. 1, 2024

Reflection for the Day

In the old days, I saw everything in terms of forever. Endless hours were spent rehashing old mistakes. I tried to take comfort in the forlorn hope that tomorrow “would be different.” As a result, I lived a fantasy life in which happiness was all but nonexistent. No wonder I rarely smiled and hardly ever laughed aloud.

Do I still think in terms of “forever?”

Today I Pray

May I set my goals for the New Year not at the year-long mark, but one day at a time. My traditional New Year’s resolutions have been so grandly stated and so soon broken. Let me not weaken my resolve by stretching it to cover “forever” — or even one long year. May I reapply it firmly each new day. May I learn not to stamp my past mistakes with that indelible word “forever.” Instead, may each single day in each New Year be freshened by my new-found hope.

Today I Will Remember

Happy New Day.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, Jan. 1, 2024

Without the introduction of a purpose into our lives, we would be but dried-up drunks, wallowing in self-pity for the loss of that which we were forced to deny ourselves in order to bring about some semblance of order in our lives. We would be “off the bottle” but not for a moment happy about it — never with any sense of security.

We who have found AA have introduced that something into our lives that enabled us, with the Grace of God, to “fix” ourselves.

We have not given up anything — we have acquired something; we are no longer frustrated people, because we have introduced into our lives a reliance in a Power greater than ourselves, that we did not have before. That Power has opened up a new way of life, free of worry, fear and frustration.

Hazelden Foundation

Jan. 1, 2024 – Good morning to the first day of the new year and a magnificent Monday

 

Good morning and here’s wishing a marvelous Monday and first day of the new year to everyone, and that we not de discouraged by people and things that don’t warrant our efforts

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

 

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford foundation is:

The gods bless you.

— Sappho

We have cause for celebration. Though as individuals and as a community we may have suffered losses, let’s remember that we are still here and stronger than ever before. Our joys are meant to be spoken, sung, danced, and shared.

Celebrations are ways to acknowledge ourselves and one another, give praise and thanks for our accomplishments, strengthen our sense of identity and connection, and reinforce our dedication to our dreams.

We have survived. We have a voice. We have helped to nurture and heal one another, physically and spiritually. We have used our many talents to help make the world saner and more beautiful. We have reinvented the family. We’ve expanded the known boundaries of love. We’ve been faithful to our visions.

Today, I have cause to celebrate.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 31, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

Today, I need not fear anything for I have endured and survived the horror of active alcoholism and, by the grace of AA and a Higher Power to which it led me, I have emerged not only intact but — hopefully — a better person. I have kept the faith in the Program, in its Steps and Principles, in the Power stronger than me, and I found faith in myself that I never had before. My gift has been sobriety the last 24 Hours. Having vested not only my heart and soul but my very life in this Program, I faced few terrors other than those within myself but met them with the guidance of the Steps. Now, nothing can compare and any fear from any source is something I know I can face responsibly, with faith and sobriety. Today, I have nothing to fear except the ghosts of my drinking past, and my Program has strengthened me to move beyond them, to leave the fear behind. Yet I do not take for granted the gift of sobriety as something I am owed or even deserve. I have an obligation to it, and that obligation begins with gratitude and carrying the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

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

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

I shall be loyal in my attendance, generous in my giving, kind in my criticism, creative in my suggestions, loving in my attitudes. I shall give AA my interest, my enthusiasm, my devotion and, most of all, myself. The Lord’s Prayer has become part of my AA thoughts for each day: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Have I given myself?

Meditation for the Day

As we look back over the year just gone, it has been a good year to the extent that we have put good thoughts, good words and good deeds into it. None of what we have thought, said or done need be wasted. Both the good and the bad experiences can be profited by. In a sense, the past is not entirely gone. The result of it, for good or evil, is with us at the present moment. We can only learn by experience and none of our experience is completely wasted. We can humbly thank God for the good things of the year that has gone.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may carry good things into the year ahead. I pray that I may carry on with faith, with prayer and with hope.

Hazelden Foundation