Tuesday, March 19, 2024

March 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

With each sunrise, we start anew.

— Anonymous

Like a tree, our life depends on new growth. There are many ways to bring new ideas and growth into our lives. We can attend Twelve Step retreats. We can study books and other literature on spirituality. We can attend different Twelve Step meetings.

But our spiritual newness may not just come from the Twelve Steps. We can do volunteer work or be active in other types of groups. We need to invite new ideas into our lives. We need to stay open to change. It doesn’t matter what renews our spiritual growth. What matters is that we keep our spiritual lives fresh and growing.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, spring is one of the four seasons. Help me feel like spring. Help me to be strong but not stuck. Help me be firm yet open to spiritual growth.

Action for the Day

Today I’ll try to do something new. When I get stuck or stubborn, I’ll see that it’s due to my fear of trying new ideas.

Hazelden Foundation

March 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Todayif some destructive emotion like self-pity or anger pops up and tells me I can’t do anything right, I can say with honesty that alcoholism is one thing I did very right and did to a tee — and take the energy I applied to get drunk and thrust it on my recovery. The energy I used to get drunk will be spent instead on recovery’s first four words —  “Admitted (I am) powerless …”  — and on the willingness to surrender my will to a Higher Power, on the diligence and honesty needed for the subsequent Steps, and on being in service to the alcoholic who still stuffers. Today, I have hope that I can do something good, something right because, if I can do drinking to perfection, I need only take a 180-degree turn and do recovery – certainly not to perfection, but at least getting started. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

March 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

When we were drinking, we used to be ashamed of the past. Remorse is terrible mental punishment: ashamed of ourselves for the things we’ve said and done, afraid to face people because of what they might think of us, afraid of the consequences of what we did when we were drunk. In AA, we forget about the past.

Do I believe that God has forgiven me for everything I’ve done in the past, no matter how black it was, provided I’m honestly trying to do the right thing today?

Meditation for the Day

God’s spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no plans, no impulses, no emotions, that He does not know about. You can hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in harmony with the Divine Spirit, doing your best to live the way you believe God wants you to live, you will be at peace.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may always feel God’s presence. I pray that I may realize this Presence constantly all through the day.

Hazelden Foundation

March 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Reflection for the Day

I know today that “stopping in for a drink” will never again be — for me — simply killing a few minutes and leaving a buck on the bar. In exchange for the first drink, what I’d plunk down now would be my bank account, my family, our home, our car, my job, my sanity and probably my life. It’s too big a price, and too great a risk.

Do you remember your last drunk?

Today I Pray

May I be strong in the knowledge that God’s spirit is with me at all times. May I learn to feel His presence. May I know that nothing is hidden from Him. Unlike the world which approves or disapproves of my outward behavior, God sees all that I do, think or feel. If I seek to do His will, I can always count on His reward for me — peace of mind.

Today I Will Remember

God knows all.

Hazelden Foundation

March 19, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

No man ever lived without a God of some kind. If it was not the God of Abraham or of the Christian conception, it was the sun, or Nature, or thunder or mythical gods. It was golden images or idols of wood, and to some it was money or position or fame. We all had a God even if it was no more than a bottle.

No man, however brave, would have the temerity to face the forces of Nature and a hostile world unless he had recourse to something beyond his own puny strength.

Every time I hear an atheist sounding off, I always think of the days when I denied the fact that I was an alcoholic, knowing, deep down inside, that I was kidding myself.

Hazelden Foundation

March 19, 2024 – Good morning to a beautiful Tuesday that marks the season of spring

 

Good morning with gratitude for a grand Tuesday and the start of the spring season …and let’s commit to giving both the day and new season our very best

Monday, March 18, 2024

March 18, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, March 18, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Compassion doesn’t mean taking care of people

Feeling compassion for a friend in pain is a loving way to respond. It softens the harsh edges of reality for the sufferer as well as for ourselves. Trying to take away the pain, however, is not appropriate. Each of us is on a journey of experiences and opportunities that will help us grow and fulfill God’s plan for our lives. What we learn from the difficult steps we have to take is part of the plan.

It’s not always easy to draw the line between showing compassion and trying to solve a friend’s problem. Some of us have made it a practice to intrude on other people’s lives. Neither they nor we have been helped by it. Learning how to maintain healthy boundaries between ourselves and others is part of our journey today. Practicing this kind of compassion will give us growth.

I will show compassion today by maintaining healthy boundaries and not intruding on other people’s lives.

Hazelden Foundation

March 18, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, March 18, 2024

Today, stop thinking about what I have lost to alcoholism with pangs of grief, mourning, regret, self-pity, anger and a feeling of injustice. Recovery has shown me how to turn the pain into gratitude that I had in the first place the people, things and opportunities that are now gone. I have also learned to look not at what I have lost but what I may still gain in recovery. The Fourth and 10th Steps of recognizing my character defects, and the command to service in the 12th Step hold the promise of gains yet to come. Today, the bitter of the sweet of my drinking yields to the prospect that I may yet experience what might overshadow the losses that still hurt. But I have to work the Steps of restoration, reconciliation and service to yield the benefits. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

March 18, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, March 18, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

When we alcoholics first come into AA and we face the fact that we must spend the rest of our life without liquor, it often seems like an impossibility to us. So AA tells us to forget about the future and take it one day at a time. All we really have is now. You have no past time and no future time. As the saying goes: “Yesterday is gone, forget it; tomorrow never comes, don’t worry; today is here, get busy.” All we have is the present. The past is gone forever and the future never comes. When tomorrow gets here, it will be today.

Am I living one day at a time?

Meditation for the Day

Persistence is necessary if you are to advance in spiritual things. By persistent prayer, persistent, firm and simple trust, you achieve the treasures of the spirit. By persistent practice, you can eventually obtain joy, peace, assurance, security, health, happiness and serenity. Nothing is too great, in the spiritual realm, for you to obtain, if you persistently prepare yourself for it.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may persistently carry out my spiritual exercises every day. I pray that I may strive for peace and serenity.

Hazelden Foundation

March 18, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time


 A Day at a Time

Monday, March 18, 2024

Reflection for the Day

In the old days, we often had such devastating experiences that we fervently swore, “Never again.” We were absolutely sincere in those moments of desperation. Yet, despite our intentions, the outcome was inevitably the same. Eventually, the memory of our suffering faded, as did the memory of our “pledge.” So we did it again, ending up in even worse shape than when we had last “sworn off.” Forever turned out to be only a week, or a day, or less. In The Program, we learn that we need only be concerned about today, this particular 24-hour period.

Do I live my life just 24 hours at a time?

Today I Pray

May the long-term requirements of such phrases as “never again,” “not on your life,” “forever,” “I’ll never take another …” not weaken my resolve. “Forever,” when it is broken down into single days — or even just parts of days — does not seem so impossibly long. May I awake each day with my goal set realistically at just 24 hours.

Today I Will Remember

Twenty-four hours at a time.

Hazelden Foundation

March 18, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, March 18, 2024

Nothing in life is obtained except by pain and toil. This is sad news to us alcoholics who have shunned both like smallpox most of our lives.

Let the famous musician tell you of his hours of dreary practice, the inventor of his hundred failures for each success, the boxing champ of his endless days of absorbing punishment in empty gymnasiums. Toil and suffering are a necessary prelude to success, and we should bear our crosses not as burdens but as preparations for our ultimate victory.

Hazelden Foundation

March 18, 2024 – Good morning to another Monday and brand new week

 

Good morning with faith that we can handle whatever Monday and a new week have in store, and that we can take on whatever negativity of people and things that don’t warrant our attention

Sunday, March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Reflection for the Day

The program enables us to discover two roadblocks that keep us from seeing the value and comfort of the spiritual approach: self-justification and self-righteousness. The first grimly assures me that I’m always right. The second mistakenly comforts me with the delusion that I’m better than other people — “holier than thou.”

Just for today, will I pause abruptly while rationalizing and ask myself, “Why am I doing this? Is this self-justification really honest?”

Today I Pray

May I overcome the need to be “always right” and know the cleansing feeling of release that comes with admitting, openly, a mistake. May I be wary of setting myself up as an example of self-control and fortitude and give credit where it is due — to a Higher Power.

Today I Will Remember

To err is human, but I need to admit it.

Hazelden Foundation

March 17, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Today, I begin to reprogram my thought processes to think as a sober alcoholic instead of a dry drunk. Much of my thinking has been under the influence and, without that influence, I have to believe that my thoughts will change — for the better. As such, I need to adapt myself to a perspective unfamiliar to me. Not doing so will make me little more than a dry drunk waiting for a wet one. And recovery is more than being dry. I must make a conscious decision that I will no longer think in terms of “me” and that the thinking patterns that enabled my alcoholic drinking must change. Today, I start to retrain my brain to think in terms of recovery and dismantle my thinking as the drunk that I am working to dropkick into yesterday. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

March 17, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, March 17, 2024

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, AA 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