April 24, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, April 24, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

The AA way of living is not an easy one. But it’s an adventure in living that is really worthwhile. And it’s so much better than our old drunken way of living that there’s no comparison. Our lives without AA would be worth nothing. With AA, we have a chance to live reasonably good lives. It’s worth the battle, no matter how tough the going is from day to day.

Isn’t it worth the battle?

Meditation for the Day

The spiritual life has two parts. One is the life apart—the life of prayer and quiet communion with God. You spend this part of your life apart with God. Every day your mind can be set in the right direction so that your thoughts will be of the right kind. The other is the life impart—imparting to others what you have learned from your own meditative experience. The victories you have won over yourself through the help of God can be shared with others. You can help them by imparting to them some of the victory and security that you have gained in your life apart.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may grow strong from my times apart with God. I pray that I may pass on some of this strength to others.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Friday, April 24, 2020

Today, the link between consequences and responsibility - and an appreciation that I and I alone am responsible to the consequences of my behavior and choices, including drinking, and that excuses and justifications will not spare me either consequences or responsibility. The Program's 12th Step suggests I "practice these principles in all (my) affairs" - to live by AA's principles and not weasel out of owning my feelings, actions and behavior and the consequences of each. If, for example, I slip or relapse, I cannot blame anything but myself because, in the end, I made the choice to drink. No one tied me down and poured it down my throat, and I and no one else will endure the physical and emotional consequences of my choice to drink. Today, I am mindful that all I say, do and feel will bear consequences and that I alone am responsible to those consequences. And if I want to avoid responsibility to the consequences, the "out" is clear: don't do what I don't want to be responsible for. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

April 24, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, April 24, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
It's been proved that we alcoholics can't get sober by our willpower. We've failed again and again. Therefore, I believe there must be a Higher Power which helps me. I think of that power as the grace of God. And I pray to God every morning for the strength to stay sober today. I know that Power is there because it never fails to help me.

Do I believe that AA works through the grace of God?

Meditation for the Day
Once I am "born of the spirit," that is my life's breath. Within me is the life of life, so that I can never perish. The life that down the ages has kept God's children through peril, adversity and sorrow. I must try never to doubt or worry, but follow where the life of the spirit leads. How often, when little I know it, God goes before me to prepare the way, to soften a heart, or to overrule a resentment. As the life of the spirit grows, natural wants become less important.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my life may become centered in God more than in self. I pray that my will may be directed towards doing His will.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Friday, April 24, 2020

Reflection for the Day
We come to know in The Program that there is no deeper satisfaction and no greater joy than in a Twelfth Step well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness to light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives - these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry the message of The Program.

Am I learning through Twelfth Step experiences that gratitude should go forward, rather than backward?

Today I Pray
May my Twelfth Steps be as wholehearted and as convincing and as constructive as others' Twelfth-Stepping has been to me. May I realize that the might of The Program and its effectiveness for all of us come through "passing it on." When I guide someone else to sobriety, my own sobriety is underlined and reinforced. I humbly ask God's guidance before each Twelfth Step.

Today I Will Remember
To pass it on.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, April 24, 2020

The reasoning of the practicing alcoholic is in such foul shape that he is apt to take any attitude on the drinking question and usually does.

It is unreasonable to expect them to view their own or anyone else's sobriety in a rational way. Naturally plain common sense is not possible in the midst of an alcoholic fog, but why - oh, why - do so many practicing alcoholics, including slipees, invariably persist in looking for the most insecure member of AA in their quest for a drinking partner?

If you are homesick for the gutter, go on back to it. But don't take anyone with you.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2020 - Rise 'n shine for the far-out Happy Dance Friday despite the challenges we're facing these days

Good morning and let's give a big whoop for the fantastic Happy Dance Friday despite the challenges we're facing these days ...make it a totally fabulous and productive but very safe day -- and don't bother with anything and anyone out to f**k it up

April 23, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, April 23, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

To have more, desire less. — Anonymous

So many of us are caught up in such a busy pace of life that we feel we don’t have time for the basic things like dinner with our family, time to talk to our intimate partner, or quiet time to unwind and reflect. What is the problem? Often the problem is that we are caught in a never-ending search for more material things than our income can comfortably afford. In modern life, we are daily subjected to well-crafted advertising that tells us we would be happy if we bought another alluring item. Turning aside from those seductions, deciding we can live more comfortably if we seek happiness elsewhere, frees us from that demanding cycle.

If we examine our desires, we will quickly recognize that we already have enough material goods. Happiness, gratitude, and peace of mind will come from the abundance of our relationships and the knowledge that we are the kind of men we hope to be. We can limit our desires for more goods and free ourselves from the feeling that we don’t have enough.

Today, I will remind myself that I have enough. I am grateful for the abundance in my life.

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, April 23, 2020

Today, reflect on the choices and responsibilities of sponsorship. If I have progressed in my sobriety that I need to ask someone to sponsor me, where and how do I begin? My home group is fertile ground, and I may think about selecting three or four members, narrow them down to those I feel I can trust most and then approach that potential sponsor in confidence. If I am being asked to sponsor someone, however, I ask my Higher Power for the wisdom and responsibility before taking on such a sacred trust. Let me understand that sponsorship does not mean I am the sponsee's pseudo-priest and that the job does not make me "preacher." Today, I extend my recovery to include asking to be sponsored and, God willing, consenting to someone's request to offer my strength, hope and experience to him. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

April 23, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, April 23, 2020

AA Thought for the Day

Men and women keep coming into AA, licked by alcohol, often given up by doctors as hopeless cases, they themselves admitting they're helpless to stop drinking. When I see these men and women get sober and stay sober over a period of months and years, I know that AA works. The change I see in people who come into AA not only convinces me that there must be a Power greater than ourselves which helps us to make that change.

Am I convinced that a Higher Power can help me to change?

Meditation for the Day

Cooperation with God is the great necessity for our lives. All else follows naturally. Cooperation with God is the result of our consciousness of His presence. Guidance is bound to come to us as we live more and more with God, as our consciousness becomes more and more attuned to the great Consciousness of the universe. We must have many quiet times when we not so much ask to be shown and led by God, as to feel and realize His presence. New spiritual growth comes naturally from cooperation with God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God may supply me with strength and show me the direction in which He wants me to grow. I pray that these things may come naturally from my cooperation with Him.

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, April 23, 2020

Reflection for the Day
No matter what it is that seems to be our need or problems, we can find something to rejoice in, something for which to give thanks. It is not God who needed to be thanked, but we who need to be thankful. Thankfulness opens new doors to good in our life. Thankfulness creates a new heart and a new spirit in us.

Do I keep myself aware of the many blessings that come to me each day and remember to be thankful for them?

Today I Pray
May God fill me with a spirit of thankfulness. When I express my thanks, however fumbling, to God or to another human being, I am not only being gracious to Him or that other person for helping me, but I am also giving myself the greatest reward of all - a thankful heart. May I not forget either the transitive "to thank," directed at someone else, or the intransitive "giving thanks," which fills my own great need.

Today I Will Remember
Thank and give thanks.

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, April 23, 2020

It would be possible for a nation, or even the world, to exist without many of the natural resources we have. But no nation could exist without men. The strength of the nation is the strength of its men.

The men who comprise the population of the nation are individuals, and the sum total of the virtues of the individuals is the character of the nation.

Our value to society is not our newfound sobriety but our new character as developed by our new and better way of living.

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2020 - Good morning and let's make it as awesome a Thursday as it can be with hope and confidence

Good morning and it's time to rev it up a notch for what's bound to be a fantastic Thursday of hope and confidence ...make it a truly worthwhile and productive and safe day, and anything and anyone wanting to make it less will be prohibited

April 22, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

God knows no distance. — Charleszetta Waddles

As close as our breath is the strength we need to carry us through any troubled time. But our memory often fails us. We try, alone, to solve our problems, to determine the proper course of action. And we stumble. In time we will turn, automatically, to that power available. And whatever our need, it will be met.

Relying on God, however we understand God’s presence, is foreign to many of us. We were encouraged from early childhood to be self-reliant. Even when we desperately needed another’s help, we feared asking for it. When confidence wavered, as it so often did, we hid the fear sometimes with alcohol, sometimes with pills. Sometimes we simply hid at home: Our fears never fully abated.

Finding out, as we all have found, that we have never needed to fear anything, that God was never distant, takes time to sink in. Slowly and with practice it will become natural to tum within, to be God-reliant rather than self-reliant. Whatever our needs today, God is the answer.

There is nothing to fear. At last, I have come to know God. All roads will be made smooth.

Hazelden Foundation

April 22, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Today, stop running from regret, shame, guilt, loss and all other anguish that my drinking caused. I must  come to terms with all of it. By taking each Step with absolute honesty and the will of my Higher Power, I will look to the lessons to be learned from my actions that eventually pooled together to create the pain I may still carry. Regret and shame might be eased by the single strongest amend I can make: by not drinking today. I can release guilt by learning from the mistakes that bred it, and the sense of loss might be less if I can be grateful that I even had what I lost and accept that I might not have been ready to be responsible for what I had - and lost. Today, I work on easing any pain - not by confronting it but finding the comfort in it. But, in the end, if I deny or do not allow myself to feel and deal with the hurt, the good might not feel as it might otherwise. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

April 22, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, April 22, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
People believe in AA when they see it work. An actual demonstration is what convinces them. What they read in books, what they hear people say doesn't always convince them. But when they see a real honest-to-goodness change take place in a person, a change from a drunkard to a sober, useful citizen, that's something they can believe because they can see it. There's really only one thing that proves to me that AA works.

Have I seen the change in people who come into AA?

Meditation for the Day
Divine control and unquestioning obedience to God are the only conditions necessary for a spiritual life. Divine control means absolute faith and trust in God, a belief that God is the Divine Principle in the universe and that He is the Intelligence and the Love that controls the universe. Unquestioning obedience to God means living each day the way you believe God wants you to live, constantly seeking the guidance of God in every situation and being willing to do the right thing at all times.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may always be under Divine Control and always practice unquestioning obedience to God. I pray that I may be always ready to serve Him.

Hazelden Foundation