April 27, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, April 27, 2024
Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.

-- Marlene Dietrich

A recovery friend once said, "There have been only two people in my life that I've called up at 4 a.m.: my mom, to get me out of jail, and my sponsor, to help keep me from drinking and ending up in jail."

Many of us may also remember calling up a recovery friend in the wee hours of the morning and hearing a calm, caring voice on the other end of the phone. Or we may have had the experience of having a recovery friend call us in the middle of the night and perhaps even spending the night on our couch.

We create safety for each other when we can't create it for ourselves. This is the nature of recovery. Having friends and fellowship that will be there for us whenever there is a need is a gift and a privilege. We should honor it well.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, thank you for the fellowship and for friends who will be there for me during the best of times and especially during the worst of times.

Today's Action

I will take time and think about which of my recovery friends have helped me the most. I will call and thank them for their care and kindness.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Today, character defects of frustration and impatience as they relate to relationships and communications. As a drinking alcoholic, frustration and impatience walked hand-in-hand when it came to dealing with others: frustration with people who did not react how and when I expected. As a recovering alcoholic, frustration and impatience still walk hand-in-hand in dealing with others. Clearly, little change. Also clearly, abstaining from the bottle isn’t all that recovery requires. A fundamental reformation in character and emotions is needed. If I overreact when people do not respond when and how I think they should, maybe I am the problem. Today, I work consciously and conscientiously on my defects of frustration and impatience by considering the possibility that someone other than myself might have a better idea. And our common journey continues. Step by step. -- Chris M., 2024

April 27, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, April 27, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

By submitting to God, we’re released from the power of liquor. It has no more hold on us. We’re also released from the things that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And we’re free to grow into a new life, which is so much better than the old life that there’s no comparison. This release gives us serenity and peace with the world.

Have I been released from the power of alcohol?

Meditation for the Day

We know God by spiritual vision. We feel that He is beside us. We feel His presence. Contact with God is not made by the senses. Spirit-consciousness replaces sight. Since we cannot see God, we have to perceive Him by spiritual perception. God has to span the physical and the spiritual with the gift to us of spiritual vision. Many persons, though they cannot see God, have had a clear spiritual consciousness of Him. We are inside a box of space and time, but we know there must be something outside of that box -- limitless space, eternity of time, and God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have a consciousness of God’s presence. I pray that God will give me spiritual vision.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Reflection for the Day

Am I so sure I’m doing everything possible to make my new life a success? Am I using my capabilities well? Do I recognize and appreciate all I have to be grateful for? The Program and its Twelve Steps teach me that I am the possessor of unlimited resources. The more I do with them, the more they will grow -- to overshadow and cancel out the difficult and painful feelings that now get so much of my attention.

Am I less sensitive today than when I first came to The Program?

Today I Pray

May I make the most of myself in all ways. May I begin to look outward to people and opportunities and wonderful resources around me. As I become less ingrown and understand myself better in relation to others, may I be less touchy and thin-skinned. May I shrug off my old “the world-is-out-to-get-me” feeling and see that same world as my treasure-house, God-given and boundless.

Today I Will Remember

My resources are unlimited.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, April 27, 2024

Real reforms are in people, not in movements. All the laws and demands of church, state and family could not make us change our drinking habits. But the day eventually came when we wanted to change and then, and then only, was the change possible. Prohibition legislation was only a challenge to us and we drank the more because they said we could not. We were determined to show those So-and-So’s they couldn’t stop us.

Only when we, ourselves, wanted to do something about it was any real reformation possible.

Hazelden Foundation

April 27, 2024 – Good morning and let’s go for a really super Saturday

 

A boisterous good morning from a cute pussy kitty with a wish of a fantastic Saturday for everyone

April 26, 2024 - Reading sin Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, April 26, 2024
Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength.

-- A. J. Cronin

Many adult children are expert worriers. No topic is so small that we can't blow it up into something big. The merest hint of an ill wind can trip the hair-trigger mechanism that gets us going. It takes years to develop such a reflex. Originally, we may have legitimately worried that what we loved would be taken from us or never be given to us in the first place.

But worry can become a way of life -- we may not know how to live any other way. In the grips of this delusion, we might assume that if we don't worry about something, it will happen for sure. As if worry had the power to ward off tragedy! We might as well wear garlic around our necks to repel evil spirits.

As opposed to cautious realism, chronic worry is indiscriminate and irrational. We don't worry about disasters because they're so likely to happen -- we worry because that's what we know how to do. Worry doesn't prevent the loss of anything except our own peace of mind.

I recognize that habitual worry is a learned response from long ago. Today, I choose serenity.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Friday, April 26, 2024

Today, appreciation of the power of the spoken word, the one spoken in anger, fear, frustration and sarcasm and which can inflict more damage than any destructive act of my drinking days. Let me understand that a single word can do hurt and injury that might not be healed by any amend. And even if my amend or apology is accepted, the injury and hurt may cut so deeply in the person against whom the wrong word is spoken that something can still be forever lost. I pray for guidance in the 12th Step to practice the Program’s principles in all my affairs, including not caving into anger and unleashing a word that is intended to hurt. Today, I think before I speak, especially if I am angry, frustrated or afraid, because I cannot unspeak it -- and atonement may not be enough to repair the damage. And our common journey continues. Step by step. -- Chris M., 2024

April 26, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, April 26, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

The AA program is one of submission, release and action. When we’re drinking, we’re submitting to a power greater than ourselves -- liquor. Our own wills are no use against the power of liquor. One drink and we’re sunk. In AA, we stop submitting to the power of liquor. Instead, we submit to a Power, also greater than ourselves, which we call God.

Have I submitted myself to that Higher Power?

Meditation for the Day

Ceaseless activity is not God’s plan for your life. Times of withdrawal for renewed strength are always necessary. Wait for the faintest tremor of fear and stop all work, everything, and rest before God until you are strong again. Deal in the same way with all tired feelings. Then you need rest of body and renewal of spirit-force. St. Paul said: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” This does not mean that you are to do all things and then rely on God to find strength. It means that you are to do the things you believe God wants you to do and only then can you rely on His supply of power.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God’s spirit may be my master always. I pray that I may learn how to rest and listen, as well as how to work.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Friday, April 26, 2024

Reflection for the Day
When I first came to The Program, I was stunned by the constant sound of laughter. I realized today that cheerfulness and merriment make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into laughter over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered, and have helped others to recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?

Have I begun to regain my sense of humor?

Today I Pray
May God restore my sense of humor. May I appreciate the honest laughter that is the background music of our mutual rejoicing in our sobriety. May I laugh a lot, not the defensive ego-laugh which mocks another’s weakness, not the wry laugh of the self-putdown, but the healthy laugh that keeps situations in perspective. May I never regard this kind of laughter as irreverent. I have learned, instead, that it is irreverent to take myself too seriously.

Today I Will Remember
A sense of humor is a sign of health.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, April 26, 2024

Many of us came into AA either in middle life or beyond and feel that with our reasonable life expectancy, it is practically impossible to atone for our previous wrong actions. The thief at the Crucifixion probably thought the same thing but, by one single act, he brought the promise that “this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2024 – Good morning and let’s all have a fantastic and productive Friday

 

Good morning and get out there and make today a magnificent Friday without the stress and worry that we all bear and without the people and things who aren’t worthy of our attention

April 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, April 25, 2024
Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Letting Go of Anger

In recovery, we often discuss anger objectively. Yes, we reason, it's an emotion we're all prone to experience. Yes, the goal in recovery is to be free of resentment and anger. Yes, it's okay to feel angry, we agree. Well, maybe…

Anger is a powerful and sometimes frightening emotion. It's also a beneficial one if it's not allowed to harden into resentment or used as a battering ram to punish or abuse people.

Anger is a warning signal. It points to problems. Sometimes, it signals problems we need to solve. Sometimes, it points to boundaries we need to set. Sometimes, it's the final burst of energy before letting go, or acceptance, settles in.

And, sometimes, anger just is. It doesn't have to be justified. It usually can't be confined to a tidy package. And it need not cause us to stifle ourselves or our energy.

We don't have to feel guilty whenever we experience anger. We don't have to feel guilty. Breathe deeply. We can shamelessly feel all our feelings, including anger, and still take responsibility for our behaviors.

I will feel and release any angry feelings I have today. I can do that appropriately and safely.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message finds sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continues to drink. To claim credit for anyone else’s recovery or to blame ourselves for their continued drinking fires our ego and, because of it, we break the command of being a carrier of the message. Just as we cannot credit anyone for our sobriety other than the Program or to blame our drinking on someone or something other than ourselves, we cannot claim credit for another person’s recovery or lack of it. Today, let us remember that we are the messenger, not the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. -- Chris M., 2024

April 25 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty--Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, April 25, 2024

AA Thought for the Day

I don’t believe that AA works because I read it in a book or because I hear people say so. I believe it because I see people getting sober and staying sober. An actual demonstration is what convinces me. When I see the change in people, I can’t help believing that AA works. We could listen to talk about AA all day and still not believe it, but when we see it work, we have to believe it. Seeing is believing.

Do I see AA work every day?

Meditation for the Day

Try saying: “God bless her (or him)” of anyone who is in disharmony with you. Also say it of those who are in trouble through their own fault. Say it, willing that showers of blessings may fall upon them. Let God do the blessing. Leave to God the necessary correcting or disciplining. You should only desire blessing for them. Leave God’s work to God. Occupy yourself with the task that He gives you to do. God’s blessing will also break down all your own difficulties and build up all your successes.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may use God’s goodness so that it will be a blessing to others. I pray that I may accept God’s blessing so that I will have harmony, beauty, joy and happiness.

Hazelden Foundation