Feb. 22, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Feb. 22, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

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 Higher Power 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 Step 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 for guidance before each Twelfth Step.

Today I Will Remember

To pass it on.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 22, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Monday, Feb. 22, 2021

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 on 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., 2021

Feb. 22, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Feb. 22, 2021

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, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Feb. 22, 2021

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, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, Feb. 22, 2021

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, 2021 - Good morning, and don't let Monday drag you down and instead lift you up to face anything the day has in store

Good morning with gratitude for a new day even if it is Monday, and with determination to tackle anything that's in the works ...and that includes anything and anyone out to mess it up

Feb. 21, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Living in the now

“Just for today.” “Live in the now.” “It’s a twenty-four-hour program.” Ask for sobriety each day upon arising. Take a daily inventory.

Such slogans and recommendations show that our predecessors considered the twenty-four-hour approach to be pretty important.

Can I see how this is true? Do I practice living one day at a time?

Higher Power, grant me the patience to live in today and the insight for a better tomorrow.

Today I will work at living in the now by…

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 21, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

Today: KISS: "Keep It Simple and Sweet!" 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 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 be free 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 Simple and Sweet." And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2021

Feb. 21, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

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, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

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, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

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, 2021 - Good morning to Sunday and pledge to keep it relaxing yet productive, safe and void of stress, worry and fear

 

Good morning to Sunday and let's take some time to simply breathe and take in the good the day has to offer, and that excludes anything and anyone thinking they can wreck it for you

Feb. 20, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

We cannot approach prayer as we do everything else in our push-button, instant society. There are no prayer pills or enlightenment capsules. — Janie Gustafson

Prayer is the relationship between each person and his or her Higher Power. Our approach to this relationship is guided by our understanding of God. How other men and women have prayed and related to God throughout history may guide us today.

Any relationship is a process, not a momentary event with an instantaneous outcome. It builds with repeated contact and dialogue. With give and take, prayer is our honesty encountering God and our openness hearing God expressed on God’s terms. Like any relationship, prayer includes all our feelings—anger, fear, and mistrust, as well as generosity, goodwill, and gratitude. Gradually, we see the events of our lives through the wisdom and detachment our spiritual relationship provides.

I return now to my dialogue with God, asking only for knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry it out.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 20, 2021 - Good morning and let's shoot for a super Saturday by making it worry-, stress- and fear-free

 

It's a guaranteed good morning because it's Saturday and the weekend ...make it a paced but productive and safe day, and don't give anything and anyone permission to screw it up

Feb. 20, 2021 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021

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 wants the message. And to be an effective 12th-Stepper, I must put aside my wants and needs for someone whose need may be greater. In putting myself aside in favor of someone else this day, I might experience a fundamental change, a spiritual awakening, a move 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., 2021