Oct. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

Lying, above anything else, brings us close to getting crazy again. Lying is what addicts do. In our addiction, our whole life was a lie.

Lying creates danger because it creates secrets. Secrets keep us from others. To stay sober, we need to stay close to people. We can’t make it on our own.

Lying creates danger because it creates shame. A lie, like a drink, may make us feel good for the moment. But in the long run, it creates shame.

Do we still lie to deal with the world? Why? There is no such thing as a small lie. Lies are like drinks — one leads to another.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me to live today free of lies.

Action for the Day

For the next twenty-four hours, I will tell no lies. If I do, I’ll go back and do Step Ten. I will remember that lies can lead to relapse.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.” – Step Seven

Today, caution against being too eager to release my shortcomings or character defects without first laying the bedrocks of Steps Four, Five and Six. I cannot be honest about my defects without first taking my moral inventory of Step Four and then giving them voice by acknowledging them to myself, the Higher Power of my understanding and to another person as suggested in Step Five. And I certainly cannot ask for those defects to be removed if I am not willing to let them go, as suggested in Step Six. It has been heard in meetings that some people hold onto defects because they are not ready to let them go. But if those defects are roadblocks to the quality of recovery I seek, I have to be willing to release them. Today, I can “humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings,” but only after I have done the homework to let them go — and not take them back. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Oct. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
Sixth, I have AA meetings to go to, thank God. Where would I go without them? Where would I be without them? Where would I find the sympathy, the understanding, the fellowship, the companionship? Nowhere else in the world. I have come home. I have found the place where I belong. I no longer wander alone over the face of the earth. I am at peace and at rest. What a great gift has been given me by AA! I do not deserve it. But it is nevertheless mine. I have a home at last. I am content.

Do I thank God every day for the AA fellowship?

Meditation for the Day
Walk all the way with another person and with God. Do not go part of the way and then stop. Do not push God so far into the background that He has no effect on your life. Walk all the way with Him. Make a good companion of God, by praying to Him often during the day. Do not let your contact with Him be broken for too long a period. Walk all the way with God and with other people, along the path of life, wherever it may lead you.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may walk in companionship with God along the way. I pray that I may keep my feet upon the path that leads upward.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

Reflection for the Day
From time to time when I see the slogan “But for the Grace of God,” I remember how I used to mouth those words when I saw others whose addictions had brought them to what I considered a “hopeless and helpless” state. The slogan had long been a cop-out for me, reinforcing my denial of my own addiction by enabling me to point to others seemingly worse off than I. “If I ever get like that, I’ll quit,” was my oft-repeated refrain. Today, instead, “But for the Grace of God” has become my prayer of thankfulness, reminding me to be grateful to my Higher Power for my recovery, my life and the way of life I’ve found in The Program.

Was anyone ever more “hopeless and helpless” than I?

Today I Pray
May I know that “but for the grace of God,” I could be dead or insane by now, because there have been others who started on addictive paths when I did who are no longer here. May that same grace of God help those who are still caught in the downward spin, who are heading for disaster as sure as gravity.

Today I Will Remember
I have seen God’s amazing grace.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023

All men eventually die; it might be said that we live to die. The way we die is usually the way we live. Dying is the last thing we do on this earth, but certainly we do not live just to die. Living would not be worthwhile if that were so.

The only worthwhile purpose of living is that those whose lives we come in contact with will be enriched thereby. If you live so that others will live more abundantly, then you are performing the purpose of your little life.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2023 – Good morning and let’s shoot for a great and worthwhile Thursday

 

Good morning from a couple of cute pussy kitties to help get your Thursday off to a fabulous start …do the day well, and allow nothing and no one the control to mess it up

Oct. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Sometimes it takes a rainy day just to let you know, everything’s gonna be alright.

— Cris Williamson

Rainy days let us slow down. We are busy people, driving ourselves to go places and get things done. But rain seems to slow life down, even in our hearts. And slowing down can show us the peace in our lives, the peace of knowing we have all we need right inside us. The pressures of the world can drop away for a time while we reflect.

As the rain soaks into the ground, its serenity enters our hearts. Leaves on trees begin to look more green. Plants and flowers are no longer thirsty. When we slow down, we can be comforted by what we have in our hearts, knowing everything is going to be all right.

What comfort can I find within myself right now?

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

“God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists and practitioners of various kinds. Do not hesitate to take your health problems to such persons. Most of them give freely of themselves, that their fellows may enjoy sound minds and bodies. Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. Their services are often indispensable in treating a newcomer and in following his case afterward.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 9 (“The Family Afterward”), p 133.

Today, let me not be discouraged even in sobriety if my recovery program is not enough to treat my physical, emotional or spiritual sickness. If clinical depression or bipolar disorder or some other neuropsychiatric condition have been ever-present shadows in my life, I may need medication to stabilize those conditions, and I should not and cannot feel let down if AA does not treat such maladies. AA instead is one of multiple therapies that I might require. As the Program notes, alcohol is but a symptom of our underlying problems. And if those problems should be a medical or psychological condition that warrants medical treatment, full recovery will be elusive if we treat only the symptoms and leave the conditions unattended. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

Oct. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
Fifth, I have learned to live one day at a time. I have finally realized the great fact that all I have is now. This sweeps away all vain regret and it makes my thoughts of the future free of fear. Now is mine. I can do what I want with it. I own it, for better or worse. What I do now, in this present moment, is what makes up my life. My whole life is only a succession of nows. I will take this moment, which has been given to me by the grace of God, and I will do something with it. What I do with each now, will make me or break me.

Am I living in the now?

Meditation for the Day
We should work at overcoming ourselves, our selfish desires and our self-centeredness. This can never be fully accomplished. We can never become entirely unselfish. But we can come to realize that we are not at the center of the universe and that everything does not revolve around us at the center. I am only one cell in a vast network of human cells. I can at least make the effort to conquer the self-life and seek daily to obtain more and more of this self-conquest. “He that overcomes himself is greater than he who conquers a city.”

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may strive to overcome my selfishness. I pray that I may achieve the right perspective of my position in the world.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

Reflection for the Day
My addictions were like thieves in more ways than I can count. They robbed me not only of money, property and other material things, but of dignity and self-respect, while my family and friends suffered right along with me. My addictions also robbed me of the ability to treat myself properly, as God would treat me. Today, in total contrast, I’m capable of true love of self to the extent that I’m able to provide myself with more love than even I need. So I give that love away to other people in The Program, just as they have given their love to me.

Do I thank God for bringing me to a Program in which sick people are loved back to health?

Today I Pray
Thanks be to God for a way of life which generates such love and caring that we in The Program can’t help but learn to love ourselves. When I see that someone cares about me, I am more apt to be convinced that perhaps I am, after all, worth caring about. May I be conscious always of the love I am now able to give — and give it.

Today I Will Remember
Someone caring about me makes me feel worth caring about.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023

The greatest piece of self-deception on the part of the drinker is the actual belief that a drink will make him feel better. We got this illusion because alcohol in the blood stream and in the brain deadens the misery momentarily, but it also served to make us thirsty and so we continued the drinking and inevitably felt worse. Whiskey will pick you up a foot or so, but it drops you a hundred. What made you sick will never make you well.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 25, 2023 – Good morning and let’s shoot for a worthwhile and productive Wednesday

 

Good morning with confidence that it’s going to be a terrific Wednesday and that we don’t have to waste any of it on people and things that don’t deserve our time

Oct. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

AA Thought for the Day

How good a sponsor am I? When I bring new members to a meeting, do I feel that my responsibility has ended? Or do I make it my job to stay with them until they have either become good members of AA or have found another sponsor? If they don’t show up for a meeting, do I say to myself: “Well they’ve had it put up to them, so if they don’t want it, there’s nothing more I can do?” Or do I look them up and find out whether there is a reason for their absences or that they don’t want AA? Do I go out of my way to find out if there is anything more I can do to help?

Am I a good sponsor?

Meditation for the Day

“First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift to God.” First I must get right with other people, and then I can get right with God. If I hold resentment against someone, which I find it very difficult to overcome, I should try to put something else constructive into my mind. I should pray for the one against whom I hold the resentment. I should put that person in God’s hands and let God show him or her the way to live. “If a man say ‘I love God’ and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may see something good in every person, even one I dislike, and that I may let God develop the good in that person.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023

“The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, ‘It won’t burn me this time, so here’s how!’ Or perhaps he doesn’t think at all. How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, ‘For God’s sake, how did I ever get started again?’ Only to have that thought supplanted by, ‘Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink.’ Or, ‘What’s the use anyhow?’” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 2 (“There Is a Solution”), p 24.

Today: what’s the use anyhow? There isn’t any if I cave into the myth that “just one” won’t hurt. “Just one” triggers the craving that leads to “just two,” then “just six” and, in the end, “What’s the use anyhow?” So much for “just one.” It’s the one that sets off the craving, temptation or thirst for the “just two” or “just six.” How, then, not to feed a craving, temptation or thirst? Simple! Don’t drink the first one! We’ve been handed the tools to steer clear of the mythical “just one.” All we need do is pick them up and put them into action. Today, we have the power and choice to prevent that potentially fatal conclusion of our drinking days: what’s the use anyhow. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Oct. 24, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
Fourth, I have turned to a Power greater than myself. Thank God, I am no longer at the center of the universe. All the world does not revolve around me any longer. I am only one among many. I have a Father in heaven and I am only one of His children and a small one at that. But I can depend on Him to show me what to do and to give me the strength to do it. I am on the Way and the whole power of the universe is behind me when I do the right thing. I do not have to depend entirely on myself any longer. With God, I can face anything.

Is my life in the hands of God?

Meditation for the Day
The grace of God is an assurance against all evil. It holds out security to the believing soul. The grace of God means safety in the midst of evil. You can be kept unspotted by the world through the power of His grace. You can have a new life of power. But only in close contact with the grace of God is its power realized. In order to realize it and benefit from it, you must have daily quiet communion with God, so that the power of His grace will come unhindered into your soul.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be kept from evil by the grace of God. I pray that henceforth I will try to keep myself more unspotted by the world.

Hazelden Foundation