Feb. 22, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Oh, that one could learn to learn in time! — Enrique Solari

A mark of genuine change, after the pleasure of newfound growth, may be the regret a man feels that he didn’t learn sooner. When we learn something new, we see how it could have made our life better at an earlier time. We regret being stubborn, immature, or impulsive. Now we see our mistakes in a new light and it hurts. This is one of the pains of change. Some people turn away from growth because they refuse to tolerate the pain of honest hindsight.

We need to face these regrets, but not indulge in them. We take a bow to the past and move on to live in the only place we can—the present. We can acknowledge our guilt and remorse and then turn them over to the care of God. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. Healthy recovery means an everlighter load of regrets. Getting stuck in guilt over past deeds only repeats our mistakes by failing to use our learning today.

May I acknowledge and let go of my griefs and regrets so I can attend to life here and now.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 22, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

Today, indecision is NO decision and no decision is stagnation - in growth, progress, sobriety, moving forward, moving on. If some issue has immobilized me with uncertainty or fear of the outcome, the uncertainty of no resolution will likely progress to a breaking point. And, for me, the breaking point could be my sobriety. Today, enough is enough. I will decide, and I will call on the Program and Higher Power how best to resolve the thing that has hung over my head far too long. And in coming to a decision, God grant me the wisdom that the outcome may be what I need and not necessarily what I want. Today, no decision will yield to decision, and what has kept me stagnant loses its control. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2019

Feb. 22, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

AA Thought for the Day
Now we can take an inventory of the good things that have come to us through AA. To begin with, we're sober today. That's the greatest asset on any alcoholic's books. Sobriety to us is like good will in business. Everything else depends on that. Most of us have jobs which we owe to our sobriety. We know we couldn't hold these jobs if we were drinking, so our jobs depend on our sobriety. Most of us have wives or husbands and children, which we either had lost or might have lost, if we hadn't stopped drinking. We have friends in AA, real friends who are always ready to help us.

Do I realize that my job, my family and my real friends are dependent upon my sobriety?

Meditation for the Day
I must trust God to the best of my ability. This lesson has to be learned. My doubts and fears continually drive me back into the wilderness. Doubts lead me astray, because I am not trusting God. I must trust God's love. It will never fail me, but I must learn not to fail it by my doubts and fears. We all have much to learn in turning out fear by faith. All our doubts arrest God's work through us. I must not doubt. I must believe in God and continually work at strengthening my faith.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may live the way God wants me to live. I pray that I may get into that stream of goodness in the world.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 22, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

Reflection for the Day
When I came to The Program, I found people who knew exactly what I meant when I spoke finally of my fears. They had been where I had been; they understood. I've since learned that many of my fears have to do with projection. It's normal, for example, to have a tiny "back-burner" fear that the person I love will leave me. But when the fear takes precedence over my present and very real relationship with the person I'm afraid of losing, then I'm in trouble. My responsibility to myself includes this: I must not fear things which do not exist.

Am I changing from a fearful person into a fearless person?

Today I Pray
I ask God's help in waving away my fears - those figments, fantasies, monstrous thoughts, projections of disaster which have no bearing on the present. May I narrow the focus of my imagination and concentrate on the here-and-now, for I tend to see the future through a magnifying glass.

Today I Will Remember
Projected fears, like shadows, are larger than life.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 22, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

You cannot know and appreciate wisdom unless you are also acquainted with a liberal amount of pure folly. Folly provides the lessons that really stick in our memories and provide danger signals to govern our decisions in our future conduct.

For that reason, the lessons learned overnight in a jail cell outlast those acquired after long periods of study. Believe you me, those lessons are seldom forgotten.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 22, 2019 - Good morning to a rousing and groovy Happy Dance Friday with determination to do it awesome

Feb. 21, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

AA also helps us to hang onto sobriety. By having regular meetings so that we can associate with other alcoholics who have come through that same door in the wall, by encouraging us to tell the story of our own sad experiences with alcohol, and by showing us how to help other alcoholics, A.A. keeps us sober. Our attitude toward life changes from one of pride and selfishness to one of humility and gratitude.

Am I going to step back through that door in the wall to my old helpless, hopeless, drunken life?

Meditation for the Day

Withdraw into the calm of communion with God. Rest in that calm and peace. When the soul finds its home of rest in God, then it is that real life begins. Only when you are calm and serene can you do good work. Emotional upsets make you useless. The eternal life is calmness and when you enter into that, then you live as an eternal being. Calmness is based on complete trust in God. Nothing in this world can separate you from the love of God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may wear the world like a loose garment. I pray that I may keep serene at the center of my being.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 21, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

Today: KISS: "Keep It Sweet and Simple!" In the end, the complexities and sometimes grueling work of the Twelve Steps come down to a cardinal action. If I do not want to deal with the shakes through the day and the oblivion of intoxication; if I do not want to deal with guilt, remorse, shame and self-degradation; if I do not want the numbing pain of letting down myself and anyone who has stood with me through the worst of my drinking and the best of my recovery; if I do not want to devote any part of the day and night with my head in a toilet throwing up with the dry heaves; if I don't want to take bed sheets to the laundromat for an unplanned wash because they got soaked by my own vomit; if I don't want to risk getting nailed for drunk driving and the subsequent court-ordered fines and fees, alcohol classes and triple car insurance rates; if I want to continue to progress in recovery and sobriety; if I want to nurture the re-established relationships that were previously broken and responsibilities that went neglected because of drinking; if I want to keep clear of self-pity, anger, confusion, and anguish; if I want to claim honestly that I am sober today; today, I won't drink. KISS: "Keep It Sweet and Simple." And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2019

Feb. 21, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

AA Thought for the Day
I go to the AA meetings because it helps me in my business of keeping sober. And I try to help other alcoholics when I can, because that's part of my business of keeping sober. I also have a partner in this business and that's God. I pray to Him every day to help me to keep sober. As long as I keep in mind that liquor can never be my friend again, but is now my deadly enemy, and as long as I remember that my main business is keeping sober and that it's the most important thing in my life, I believe I'll be prepared for that crucial moment when the idea of having a drink pops into my mind.

When that idea comes, will I be able to resist it and not take that drink?

Meditation for the Day
I will be more afraid of spirit-unrest, of soul-disturbance, of any ruffling of the mind, than of earthquake or fire. When I feel the calm upset, then I must steal away along with God, until my heart sings and all is strong and calm again. Uncalm times are the only times when evil can find an entrance. I will beware of unguarded spots of unrest. I will try to keep calm, no matter what turmoil surrounds me.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that no emotional upsets will hinder God's power in my life. I pray that I may keep a calm spirit and a steady heart.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 21, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

Reflection for the Day
Do I waste my time and energy wrestling with situations that aren't actually worth a second thought? Like Don Quixote, the bemused hero of Spanish literature, do I imagine windmills as menacing giants, battling them until I am ready to drop from exhaustion? Today, I'll not allow my imagination to build small troubles into big ones. I'll try to see each situation clearly, giving it only the value and attention it deserves.

Have I come to believe, as the second of the Twelve Steps suggests, that a Power greater than myself can restore me to sanity?

Today I Pray
God, keep my perspective sane. Help me to avoid aggrandizing petty problems, tying too much significance to casual conversations, making a Veruvius out of an anthill. Keep my fears from swelling out of scale, like shadows on a wall. Restore my values, which became distorted during the days of my chemical involvement.

Today I Will Remember
Sanity is perspective.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 21, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

The effectiveness of AA is largely built upon understanding and human sympathy. These characteristics were not acquired from a book but learned the hard way as we, too, traveled the long dark alley of despair in search of a helping hand and an understanding heart.

Creeds and ideologies are for preachers and students to debate and reason, but our doctrine of love and understanding has nothing to do with reason; frequently it is contrary to reason, as it comes from the heart and not the head.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 21, 2019 - Good morning to a terrific Thursday with confidence that it's going to be good and without worry and stress

Feb. 20, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

True intimacy with another human being can only be experienced when you have found true peace within yourself. — Angela L. Wozniak

Intimacy means disclosure—full expression of ourselves to another person. Nothing held back. All bared. There are risks, of course: rejection, criticism, perhaps ridicule. But the comfort we feel within is directly proportional to the peace we’ve come to know.

Each day we commit ourselves to recovery, we find a little more peace. Each conversation we have with our higher power brings us a little more security. Each time we turn our full attention to another person’s needs, we feel our own burdens lightened.

Peace comes in stages. As we continue to accept our powerlessness, the depth of our peace increases. Turning more often to a power greater than ourselves eases our resistance to whatever condition prevails. Forgiving ourselves and others, daily, heightens our appreciation of all life and enhances our humility. Therein lies peace.

We each are a necessary part of the creative spirit prevailing in this world. The details of our lives are well in hand. We can be at peace. Who we are is who we need to be.

Intimacy lets me help someone else also live a full and peace-filled life. I will reach out to someone today.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 20, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019

Today, in these 24 Hours put aside MY wants and hear the cry of someone whose need is greater, whose anguish cuts deeper and whose fears are more haunting than mine. This is the marching order of Step 12: to carry the message to the alcoholic who stiff suffers. And to be an effective 12th-Stepper, I must put aside my wants and needs for someone whose wants and needs may be more imperative. In putting myself aside in favor of someone else this day, I might experience a fundamental change, a spiritual awakening, a change toward compassion, empathy and selflessness. Not absolutely altruistic, however. My motive hasn't really been altogether selfless - I may have progressed to my first or another spiritual awakening by attaining humility in the knowledge that my own fears, insecurities and problems probably are not as heavy as someone else's. Today, someone whose burdens are heavier than mine will have my prayers. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2019

Feb. 20, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019

AA Thought for the Day
Liquor used to be my friend. I used to have a lot of fun drinking. Practically all the fun I had was connected with drinking. But the time came when liquor became my enemy. I don't know just when liquor turned against me and became my enemy, but I know it happened because I began to get into trouble. And since I realize that liquor is now my enemy, my main business now is keeping sober. Making a living or keeping house is no longer my main business. It's secondary to the business of keeping sober.

Do I realize that my main business is keeping sober?

Meditation for the Day
I can depend on God to supply me with all the power I need to face any situation, provided that I will sincerely believe in that power and honestly ask for it, at the same time making all my life conform to what I believe God wants me to be. I can come to God as a business manager would come to the owner of the business, knowing that to lay the matter before Him means immediate cooperation, providing the matter has merit.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may believe that God is ready and willing to supply me with all that I need. I pray that I may ask only for faith and strength to meet any situation.

Hazelden Foundation