Saturday, March 31, 2012

March 31, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Just for today, I will not allow self-pity to shake the foundation of my recovery Program regardless if my recovery began 24 months or 24 hours ago. Self-pity may be the sharpest in the anti-Higher Power's arsenel of poisons that can undo, in the blink of an eye, any progress I have made. But my Higher Power, and the support I have tapped in those also in recovery, have a stronger cache of tools. Self-pity is giving up my belief and total surrender to my HP, and self-pity is the epitome of selfishness. If there is adversity in this day, I will face it with the courage, strength, hope and dignity that my Program has endowed me with, and I've already been empowered with courage, strength, hope and dignity merely by committing myself to recovery. Nor will I whine, "Why me?" And if I say no to self-pity today, I have no reason or excuse to drink, to use - and this day, then, will be good. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 31, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Saturday, March 31, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Acceptance of things I can't fix.
One of the sad realities of life is that we're awash in a disorder that we can't fix. All around us, the world seethes and festers with ailments and injustices that are beyond our control.
We can react by becoming angry or by making quixotic efforts to solve some of these problems.
Our best course, however, is to apply our Twelve Step program to life in this world. The Serenity Prayer suggests we accept what we can't change. A slogan reminds us to set priorities ("First Things First"). The Eleventh Step reminds us to always seek God's will.
This will enable me to live effectively while doing my best to serve others. In time, I may even discover that I can fix a few of the seemingly insoluble problems around me.
I'll realize today that I have the ability only to do certain things within my sphere of experience. I'll see to it, however, that I do these things well.
From the book:
Walk in Dry Places by Mel B. © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 31, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, March 31, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Since I've been in AA, have I made a start towards being more unselfish? Do I no longer want my own way in everything? When things go wrong and I can't have what I want, do I no longer sulk? Am I trying not to waste money on myself? And does it make me happy to see my family and my home have enough attention from me?

Am I trying not to be all get and no give?

Meditation for the Day
Each day is a day of progress, steady progress forward, if you make it so. You may not see it, but God does. God does not judge by outward appearance. He judges by the heart. Let Him see in your heart a simple desire always to do His will. Though you may feel that your work has been spoiled or tarnished, God sees it as an offering for Him. When climbing a steep hill, a person is often more conscious of the weakness of his stumbling feet than of the view, the grandeur or even of the upward progress.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may persevere in all good things. I pray that I may advance each day in spite of my stumbling feet.

Hazelden Foundation

March 31, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Saturday, March 31, 2012

Reflection for the Day
My illness is unlike most other illnesses in that denial that I am sick is a primary symptom that I am sick. Like such other incurable illnesses as diabetes and arthritis, however, my illness is characterized by relapses. In The Program, we call such relapses "slips." The one thing I know for certain is that I alone can cause myself to slip.

Will I remember at all times that the thought precedes the action? Will I try to avoid "stinking thinking?"

Today I Pray
May God give me the power to resist temptations. May the responsibility for giving in, for having a "slip," be on my shoulders and mine only. May I see beforehand if I am setting myself up for a slip by blame-shifting, shirking my responsibility to myself, becoming the world's poor puppet once again. My return to those old attitudes can be as much of a slip as the act of losing my sobriety.

Today I Will Remember
Nobody's slip-proof.

Hazelden Foundation

March 31, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Saturday, March 31, 2012

We as alcoholics are so used to getting by with a miimum of effort on our part that we sometimes fail to appreciate that only those things earned have any real lasting value.

We allowed our families to cover up for us and support us, we panhandled, we were experts in the game of something for nothing.

Nothing free is worth having. AA has no initiation fees or due, but it also costs a lot if you want to get a lot. You can procure a two-bit brand of AA, but we don't guarantee it will work.

Hazelden Foundation

Friday, March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Friday, March 30, 2012

Just for today, I cannot crumble to a micro-second of temptation even if I think I do not feel tempted to try "just one" drink. Regardless of how many 24 Hours of sobriety any AA disciple has, none of us is immune from the thought, however fleeting, that maybe one drink won't do any damage. It will, of course, as we know from bitter experience. If temptation is a human foible, it is one that none of us in recovery can afford; for us, temptation, rather, is our failure to integrate into the deepest of our souls the Program's first four words - "Admitted we were powerless ..." Temptation is also our own will run riot and rejection of the humility to relinguish our will to our Higher Power. Still, if temptation sneaks behind, may I have fully imbedded in my conscience that outcome of all those times in the past when I did give into temptation - and the memory of that outcome, God granting, is too costly and painful to bow another time to the myth that temptation creates. Today, I hope I am not tempted, but I will not take for granted that I won't so that, if I am, I am strong and honest enough in my Program. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 30, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Friday, March 30, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Avoiding blame
It is not uncommon to hear in group, "Why do these things always happen to me?" If "these things" are always happening to us, the obvious answer is that we somehow bring them on ourselves. We are largely unconscious of what we're doing wrong until, slowly, eventually; we manage to dig ourselves out from the results. (It seems incredible that we actually seek to be hurt, but in a way many of us do so, with regularity.)
But blaming others for our problems and indulging in self-pity don't move us along in our program.
Am I still blaming others?
Higher Power, help me take responsibility for myself and my actions, because blaming others will only keep me stuck.
From the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 30, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, March 30, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Before I met AA, I was very unloving. From the time I went away to school, I paid very little attention to my mother and father. I was on my own and didn't even bother to keep in touch with them. After I got married, I was very unappreciative of my spouse. Many a time I would go out all by myself to have a good time. I paid too little attention to our children and didn't try to understand them or show them affection. My few friends were only drinking companions, not real friends.

Have I gotten over loving nobody but myself?

Meditation for the Day
Be calm, be true, be quiet. Do not get emotionally upset by anything that happens around you. Feel a deep, inner security in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Be true to your highest ideals. Do not let yourself slip back into the old ways of reacting. Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against accusation, whether false or true. Accept abuse as well as you accept praise. Only God can judge the real you.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not be upset by the judgment of others. I pray that I may let God be the judge of the real me.

Hazelden Foundation

March 30, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Friday, March 30, 2012

Reflection for the Day
"When I meditate upon such a vision," Bill W. continued, "I need not be dismayed because I shall never attain it, nor need I swell with presumption that one of these days its virtues shall all be mine. I only need to dwell on the vision itself, letting it grow and ever more fill my heart ...Then I get a sane and healthy idea of where I stand on the highway to humility. I see that my journey towards God has scarcely begun. As I thus get down to my right size and stature, my self-concern and importance become amusing."

Do I take myself too seriously?

Today I Pray
May the grandiosity which is a symptom of my chemical addiction be brought back into proportion by the simple comparison of my powerlessness with the power of God. May I think of the meaning of Higher Power as it relates to my human frailty. May it bring my ego back down to scale and help me shed my defenses of pomp or bluster or secret ideas of self-importance.

Today I Will Remember
He is great. I am small.

Hazelden Foundation

March 30, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, March 30, 2012

The truly great man can afford to be humble, for hundreds of others are exalting him. You have only one horn to blow and other people can't toot it if you are eternally tooting it yourself.

The proud man is aggressive in his own interest; the humble man is aggressive in the ideals he believe in. Humility is not passive resignation; it is. rather, subjecting self for lofty purposes.

Hazelden Foundation

Thursday, March 29, 2012

March 29, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Just for today, if I start out dreading what the day may bring or with the hope of just getting through it, I probably need to do a 10th Step at least or re-do my entire Fourth at most. Clearly something is wrong and I have not yet reaped benefits of sobriety or, at worst, I am little more than a dry drunk. The Serenity Prayer tells me that I have no control over what this new day might serve up, but it also tells me what I can change is ME. The Program gives me the tools to do it, from the first four words of the Program - "Admitted (I am) powerless" - to the 12th Step's promise of a new me through a spiritual awakening and its command to practice the previous 11 Steps "in all (my) affairs." And if I take the attitude that the day ahead is something to just get through, I will likely make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Today, I will begin admitting that I am powerless over whatever this new day brings but that my attitude toward it can make or break the peace of mind that recovery promises - and that faith in my Higher Power will give me the courage to change ME. Sobriety and, for that matter, life are not things to endure or to just get through. Today, I will live, not endure or just get through. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 29, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Thursday, March 29, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:

I walked a mile with Sorrow, And never a word said she; But, Oh, the things I learned from her When Sorrow walked with me! -- Robert Browning Hamilton
We may think that forgetting the past is essential for growth and peace of mind. It's a tempting idea: we'll start over again, we think, fresh and new. But if we lose that old pain, we'll also lose all that we learned. We may repeat our mistakes, or make even worse ones next time. Dwelling on the past is equally dangerous. We began recovery to build a better life.
To find and maintain our balance, each area of our lives needs attention. A healthy mind in a healthy body is free to find God. And, with God's help, we can learn to recognize and forgive our past mistakes, while we keep the remarkable lessons we learned from life.
With our remembering, with our inventory, we can truly experience the repentance that frees us from regret and remorse. When we acknowledge our mistakes, we can learn from them and come to forgive ourselves.

Today help me use my memories to learn and change. Help me to forgive my past.

From the book:


Body, Mind, and Spirit © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 29, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, March 29, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Before I met AA, I was very dishonest. I lied to my spouse constantly about where I had been and what I'd been doing. I took time off from my work and pretended I'd been sick or gave some other dishonest excuse. I was dishonest with myself, as well as with other people. I would never face myself as I really was or admit when I was wrong. I pretended to myself that I was as good as the next person, although I suspected I wasn't.
Am I now really honest?

Meditation for the Day
I must live in the world and yet live apart with God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loose garment. Nothing in the world should seriously upset me, as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may live my inner life with God. I pray that nothing shall invade or destroy that secret place of peace.

Hazelden Foundation

March 29, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Reflection for the Day
What is the definition of humility? "Absolute humility," said AA co-founder Bill W., "would consist of a state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of character now lay so heavily upon me. Perfect humility would be a full willingness, in all times and places, to find and to do the will of God."

Am I striving for humility?

Today I Pray
May God expand my interpretation of humility beyond abject subservience or awe at the greatness of others. May humility also mean freedom from myself, a freedom which can come only through turning my being over to God's will. May I sense the omnipotence of God, which is simultaneously humbling and exhilarating. May I be willing to carry out His will.

Today I Will Remember
Humility is freedom.

Hazelden Foundation

March 29, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, March 29, 2012

Do you want to be happy? Then go buy that strange kid on the corner a bag of candy. It may help cause his teeth to decay, but what's a tooth between two glad hearts?

Hazelden Foundation

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

March 28, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Just for today, I will not romanticize or create a myth that any of my drinking days were "fun" or good if a newcomer to the Program or even a veteran talks about "the good old days." By embellishing drinking before "things went bad" and even constructing a vision that any of it was good, I am probably pining for days when I could have drank "safely" without being honest that they never existed at all. And by longing for non-existent "good old days," I am vulnerable to a "slip" or relapse and pitching the honesty that I am now, and forever will be, "powerless over alcohol." More pointedly, if I try to re-do my last drunk into something that is not true, I have basically forgotten my last drunk. And as one of the Program's old sayings goes, if I can't remember my last drunk, I haven't had it yet. Today, I will remember with honesty how it was and that it has been, so far by the grace of God, my last drunk. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 28, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
The cause is hidden, but the result is known. -- Ovid
We know it's coming before we do it. Our boy[girl]friend dumps us and we devour the ice cream.
We don't get the promotion so we head for the bar. We have a fight with our spouse and treat ourselves to a new leather jacket - at his or her expense. We decide that because we're feeling bad anyway, we might as well take full advantage of it. We figure the worse we feel, the more entitled we are to the indulgence.
This type of behavior starts a cycle. The worse we feel, the more we want to self-destruct. Let's face it - our actions are usually premeditated.
We think about the ice cream, the drink, or the leather jacket until we can get to it. During the planning stage, we can shift gears. We think it through. We know we have a choice. We decide to do something healthy instead of destructive.

Today I will make only healthy choices for myself.
From the book:
Letting Go of Debt © 2000 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 28, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, March 28, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
When you come into an AA meeting, you're not just coming into a meeting, you're coming into a new life. I'm always impressed by the change I see in people after they've been in AA for a while. I sometimes take an inventory of myself to see whehter I have changed and, if so, in what way. Before I met AA, I was very selfish. I wanted my own way in everything. I don't believe I ever grew up. When things went wrong, I sulked like a spoiled child and often went out and got drunk.

Am I still all get and no give?

Meditation for the Day
There are two things that we must have if we are going to change our way of life. One is faith, the confidence in things unseen, the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience: that is, living according to our faith, living each day as we believe that God wants us to live, with gratitude, humility, honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. Faith and obedience, these two, will give us all the strength we need to overcome sin and temptation and to live a new and more abundant life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have more faith and obedience. I pray that I may live a more abundant life as a result of these things.

Hazelden Foundation

March 28, 2012 - A Day at a Time

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, March 28, 2012


Why is the world? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Why must we live and suffer and die? Without God, there would be no answer. We do not know the great extent of God's purpose, but we do know that we as individuals, each and every one, must somehow fit into that purpose.

We can only know God as He has revealed Himself to us. We know His principal attribute is goodness. Therefore, His purpose must be good, and we can best serve that purpose by aspiring to the highest standard of goodness that we can conceive.

Hazelden Foundation

March 28, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, March 28, 2012


Why is the world? Why are we here? What is our purpose? Why must we live and suffer and die? Without God, there would be no answer. We do not know the great extent of God's purpose, but we do know that we as individuals, each and every one, must somehow fit into that purpose.

We can only know God as He has revealed Himself to us. We know His principal attribute is goodness. Therefore, His purpose must be good, and we can best serve that purpose by aspiring to the highest standard of goodness that we can conceive.

Hazelden Foundation

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

March 27, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Just for today, if I am afraid, anxious, worried and uncertain about something in my life, I can draw strength from the mercy and blessing of God that guided me through the darkness and fear of active alcoholism to face whatever challenges me now. If I believe that drinking was the darkest chapter of my life but that I survived with the strength of a Higher Power, I must have faith that the same strength can lead me through a lesser turmoil. The Second Step of coming to believe in a Power stronger than myself is my refuge from any storm I am weathering now, and the Third Step of yielding my will to that of a greater Power calms any fears or doubts with faith. Today, I can draw strength and hope from the yesterday when I had my last drink to believe that, with faith and strength in the Power that got me through those days, I can get through anything less - but only with unconditional faith and seeking His will above mine. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 27, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Perfectionism
Part of the ego reduction necessary to our recovery is the acceptance of the fact that we are not and never will be perfect. Perfectionism gets in the way of recovery because it imposes impossible, unrealistic goals which guarantee failure. If we do not think we have to be perfect, then we can accept our mistakes as learning experiences and be willing to try again.
Deepening acquaintance with our Higher Power is good insurance against perfectionism. We come to believe that God accepts and loves us as we are, and this gives us the courage and humility to accept ourselves.
We are not perfect, but we are growing. In spite of our weaknesses, we can serve others according to God's plan for our lives. Accepting our own limitations makes us more tolerant of the faults and weaknesses of those around us. Together, we progress.
I am thankful that I don't need to be perfect.
From the book:
Food for Thought by Elisabeth L. © 1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 27, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
You get the power to overcome drinking through the fellowship of other alcoholics who have found the way out. You get power by honestly sharing your past experience by a personal witness. You get power by coming to believe in a Higher Power, the Divine Principle in the universe which can help you. You get power by working with other alcoholics. In these four ways, thousands of alcoholics have found all the power they needed to overcome drinking.

Am I ready and willing to accept this power and work for it?

Meditation for the Day
The power of God's spirit is the greatest power in the universe. Our conquest of each other, the great kings and conquerors, the conquest of wealth, the leaders of the money society, all amount to very little in the end. But he that conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city. Material things have no permanence. But God's spirit is eternal. Everything really worthwhile in the world is the result of the power of God's spirit.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may open myself to the power of God's spirit. I pray that my relationships with others may be improved by this spirit.

Hazelden Foundation

March 27, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Reflection for the Day
Storing up grievances is not only a waste of time, but a waste of life that could be lived to greater satisfaction. If I keep a ledger of "oppressions and indignities," I'm only restoring them to painful reality.

"The horror of that moment," the King said, "I shall never, never forget."
"You will, though," said the Queen,
"if you don't make a memorandum of it." - Lewis Carroll, "Though the Looking Glass"

Am I keeping a secret storehouse for the wreckage of my past?

Today I Pray
God keep me from harboring the sludge from the past - grievances, annoyances, grudges, opporessions, wrongs, injustices, put-downs, slights, hurts. They will nag at me and consume my time in rehashing what I "might have said" or done until I face each one, name the emotion it produced in me, settle it as best I can - and forget it. May I empty my storehouse of old grievances.

Today I Will Remember
Don't rattle old bones.

Hazelden Foundation

March 27, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Many of us can recall being fired from jobs for drinking and at the same time being given a letter of recommendation that spoke in glowing terms about our ability, Of course, the former boss was trying to be kind in avoiding any mention of the drinking problem, but such letters are actually dishonest, and it was equally dishonest when we used them to procure new jobs.

How much better it would have been if they had tried to do something constructive about the problem rather than lowering us in our own esteem by making us a party to the deceit.

Hazelden Foundation

Monday, March 26, 2012

March 26, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Monday, March 26, 2012

Just for today, I recognize that I have spent much of my life expecting other people to meet the unrealistic demands and expectations I put on them to fulfill my needs and wants. In selfishness and vanity, I often rejected in anger those who failed or would not give me what I wanted or needed when I wanted or needed it. In those times of looking to the outside for fulfillment, I had not a clue how to look inside myself and beyond something stronger than other people to attain what since have become different needs and expectations. In AA and recovery, I understand now that I put myself first and foremost above everyone and all else to get acceptance, friendship, love and sympathy. And my expectations of others were so unrealistic and selfish that I became needy to the point of being pathetic. Now, in AA and recovery, I see the consequences, sometimes disastrous, of putting all my expectations on others but am able to look inside myself and to a Power stronger than myself and others to get what I need. Today, I will take from the reservoir of what AA and recovery have given me to meet my needs and not weigh anyone with expectations so selfish and heavy that I ignore that they, too, have their own needs. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 26, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Monday, March 26, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Fall in love with life
I was sitting in the chair at the beauty shop getting my hair cut one day and listening to my beautician chatter away. She showed me a picture of one of her friends, a woman who had gotten married and recently had a baby girl.
"She's been so in love since that child was born," she said, showing me a picture of the new mother's smiling face.
"In love with her husband?" I asked.
"No," she said. "Well, that, too. I mean in love with life."
Have you ever been in love, had your heart beat fast when you anticipated the call of your lover, felt the way the sun felt warmer on your face, the sky appeared bluer, the clouds more fluffy, and the sunset more grand?
What if you could fall in love with your life and feel that way each day? I'm not saying romantic relationships are bad. They're not. They're part of being human and getting our needs met. But what if we could take all that passion and focus it into falling in love with life?
Maybe that is what is meant by universal love. Maybe that's the part we give back.
Fall in love with your life today.
God, help me feel passionate about my life and all the possibilities that stretch out before me.
From the book:
More Language of Letting Go © 2000 by Melody Beattie. All rights reserved.

March 26, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, March 26, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes also from working with other alcoholics. When you are trying to help a new prospect with the program, you are building up your own strength at the same time. You see the other person in the condition you might be in yourself and it makes your resolve to stay sober stronger than ever. Often, you help yourself more than the other person, but if you do succeed in helping the prospect to get sober, you are stronger from the experience of having helped another person.

Am I receiving strength from working with others?

Meditation for the Day
Faith is the bridge between you and God. It is the bridge which God has ordained. If all were seen and known, there would be no merit in doing right. Therefore, God has ordained that we do not see or know directly. But we can experience the power of His spirit through our faith. It is the bridge between us and Him, which we can take or not, as we will. There could be no morality without free will. We must make the choice ourselves. We must make the venture of belief.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may choose and decide to cross the bridge of faith. I pray that by crossing this bridge I may receive the spiritual power I need.

Hazelden Foundation

March 26, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, March 26, 2012

Reflection for the Day
I know today that getting active means trying to live the suggested Steps of The Program to the best of my ability. It means striving for some degree of honesty, first with myself, then with others. It means activity directed inward, to enable me to see myself and my relationship with my Higher Power more clearly. As I get active, outside and inside myself, so shall I grow in The Program.

Do I let others do all the work at meetings? Do I carry my share?

Today I Pray
May I realize that "letting go and letting God" does not mean that I do not have to put any effort into The Program. It is up to me to work the Twelve Steps, to learn what may be an entirely new thing with me - honesty. May I differentiate between activity for activity's sake - busy-work to keep me from thinking - and the thoughtful activity which helps me to grow.

Today I Will Remember
"Letting God" means letting Him show us how.

Hazelden Foundation

March 26, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, March 26, 2012

We in AA have many religious affiliations, and there are some of us who contend that AA is all the religion they need. Yet this fact remains: the spiritual facts on which AA is based would not have survived the ages but for the tenacity of formal religions.

Without religions, our moral, political and social structure would collapse. There is a lot in all denominations that can be criticized but, without them, life would be chaos.

Hazelden Foundation

Sunday, March 25, 2012

March 25, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Sunday, March 25, 2012

Just for today, as an alcoholic who drank addictively and with compulsive behavior, I will pay special attention to compulsiveness so as not to react to anyone or anything with the heightened emotions that nurtured the defects of my character. From a behavioral standpoint, we alcoholics drank with compulsion; as such, my addiction to alcohol is both physical and behavioral. To get the discipline and humility to prevent compulsion from gaining an upper hand in all my affairs, I can exercise Step Three as I begin this new 24 Hours by handing over to my Higher Power my will and ask instead for His will. Today, as I set out, I surrender my will - or self-will run riot - to God, and I can have faith that He will bless me with His grace to act accordingly and responsibly instead out of the compulsion that contributed to my spriritual and mental dis-ease. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 25, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Sunday, March 25, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Why go to meetings?
The first time we hear that Al-Anon is not about getting people clean and sober, we question the point of going. But what we soon learn is that the program is for us, not for the addict or alcoholic. We learn that we deserve peace.
We'll think with greater clarity because Step One will help us give up our obsession with the alcoholic. From Steps Two and Three we'll develop a trust in a Higher Power and thus give up our fear. We'll finally give up a burden we've carried far too long when we come to believe it's not our job to get anyone sober. Our job is to find happiness and offer love to others. Nothing can better us more than this.
Time spent at meetings is never wasted. My happiness will be strengthened each time I use some part of the program.
From the book:
A Life of My Own by Karen Casey. © 1993 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 25, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, March 25, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes from coming to believe in a Higher Power that can help you. You can't define this Higher Power, but you can see how it helps other alcoholics. You hear them talk about it and you begin to get the idea yourself. You try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to feel stronger, as though your prayers were heard. So you gradually come to believe there must be a Power in the world outside yourself, which is stronger than you and to which you can turn for help.

Am I receiving strength from my faith in a Higher Power?

Meditation for the Day
Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily, steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid. God will help and strengthen you, as long as you are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime work.

Hazelden Foundation

March 25, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Sunday, March 25, 2012

Reflection for the Day
If a chemically-dependent person wants to live successfully in soceity, he or she must replace the power of chemicals over his/her life with the power of something else - preferably positive, at least neutral, but not negative. That is why we say to the agnostic newcomer: If you can't believe in God, find a positive power that is as great as the power of your addiction, and give it the power and dependence you gave to your addiction. In The Program, the agnostic is left free to find his or her Higher Power, and can use the principles of The Program and the therapy of the meetings to aid in rebuilding his/her life.

Do I go out of my way to work with newcomers?

Today I Pray
May the Power of The Program work its miracles equally for those who believe in a personal God or in a Universal Spirit or in the strength of the gorup itself, or for those who define their Higher Power in their own terms, religious or not. If newcomers are disturbed by the religiosity of The Program, may I welcome them on their own spiritual terms. May I recognize that we are all spiritual beings.

Today I Will Remember
To each his own spirituality.

Hazelden Foundation

March 25, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, March 25, 2012

No man with certainty can see beyond this instant. Yesterday we had a friend, hale, hearty and bubbling over with energy and ambition. Today we write a letter of condolence to his widow. No one knows the day or the hour, but this we do know - we are alive right now, people are suffering right now, we can help them right now.

Hazelden Foundation

Saturday, March 24, 2012

March 24, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Saturday, March 24, 2012

Just for today, I will not think beyond the current 24 Hours about the length of my sobriety, be it one day or one week or one month or one year or one decade or longer. Although alcoholism is chronic and uncurable but can be in remission by abstinence, all the 24 Hours of clean time I may have accrued are gone if I buy into the delusion and illusion that I can get away with just one drink. And all that is needed is "just one" to set off the progression of the disease AND dis-ease of alcoholism. Thus, even if I have racked up any significant number of 24 Hours and I "slip," I am no more sober than the co-alcoholic who woke up this morning with a hangover. Let me remember the yesterdays when I awoke to the harsh reality that the 24 Hours I had before then were gone, and let me know that my yesterdays are the best predictor of my todays and tomorrows and that I can apply the lessons from yesterday to avoid repeating their mistakes today. Further, let me keep my ego in check: another alcoholic who woke up hung over yesterday but sober this morning is no less clean that I, even if my 24 Hours are more. Today, when it comes to being and staying sober, I will take it literally "One Day at a Time." And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 24, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Fantasies are more than substitutes for unpleasant reality; they are also dress rehearsals, plans. All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination. -- Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Our minds mold who we become. Our thoughts not only contribute to our achievements, they determine the posture of our lives. How very powerful they are. Fortunately, we have the power to think the thoughts we choose, which means our lives will unfold much as we expect.
The seeds we plant in our minds indicate the directions we'll explore in our development. And we won't explore areas we've never given attention to in our reflective moments. We must dare to dream extravagant, improbable dreams if we intend to find a new direction, and the steps necessary to it.
We will not achieve, we will not master that which goes unplanned in our dream world. We imagine first, and then we conceive the execution of a plan. Our minds prepare us for success. They can also prepare us for failure if we let our thoughts become negative.
I can succeed with my fondest hopes. But I must believe in my potential for success. I will ponder the positive today.
From the book:
Each Day a New Beginning by Karen Casey. © 1982, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 24, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, March 24, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes from honestly telling your own experiences with drinking. In religion, they call it confession. We call it witnessing or sharing. You give a pesonal witness, you share your past experiences, the troubles you got into, the hospitals, the jails, the break-up of your home, the money wasted, the debts and all the foolish things you did when you were drinking. This personal witness lets out the things you had kept hidden, brings them out into the open, and you find release and strength.

Am I receiving strength from my personal witnessing?

Meditation for the Day
We cannot fully understand the universe. The simple fact is that we cannot even define space or time. They are both boundless, in spite of all we can do to limit them. We live in a box of space and time which we have manufactured by our own minds and on that depends all our so-called knowledge of the universe. The simple fact is that we can never know all things, nor are we made to know them. Much of our lives must be taken on faith.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my faith may be based on my own experience of the power of God in my life. I pray that I may know this one thing above all else in the universe.

Hazelden Foundation

March 24, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Saturday, March 24, 2012

Reflection for the Day
All of us are faced with the troubles and problems of daily living, whether we've been in The Program two days or 20 years. We'd sometimes like to believe we could take care of all our problems right now, but it rarely works that way. If we remember the slogan "Easy Does It" when we are ready to panic, we may come to know that the very best way to handle all things is "Easy." We put one foot in front of the other, doing the best we are capable of doing. We say, "Easy Does It," and we do it.

Are The Program's slogans growing with me as I grow with The Program?

Today I Pray
May even the words "Easy Does It" serve to slow me down in my headlong rush to accomplish too much too fast. May just the word "Easy" be enough to make me ease up on the whips that drive my ambitions, ease up on the accelerator which plunges me into new situations without enough forethought, ease off the number of hours spent in material pursuits. May I hark to the adage that Rome wasn't built in a single day. Neither can I build solutions to my problems all at once.

Today I Will Remember
Easy Does It.

Hazelden Foundation

March 24, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Saturday, March 24, 2012

Life is not a succession of days on earth, but rather it is an accumulatrion of experiences. Days are simply time locations where experiences transpired. The day on which no event occurred is a day lost out of life, for it had nothing in it to justify its memory.

Hazelden Foundation

Friday, March 23, 2012

March 23, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Friday, March 23, 2012

Just for today, I will start with the pledge that nothing negative will influence my words, thoughts and behavior. Instead, I will set out on this day grateful that I am sober to be able to do what I have to do, even if it's something I don't want to do. I will be grateful that I am now ABLE to function, unlike all those days that started with a hangover, shakes and the physical and cognitive INABILITY to do even the basics. I will not complain if I have too much to do and too little time to do it, but instead approach each task, each person, each amend, each moral checkup with positivity - because today I am sober. With that, I have no reason to be negative. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 23, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Friday, March 23, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Muddy water, let stand, becomes clear. -- Lao-tzu
A group of friends went swimming one day and one of them lost a ring in the bottom of the lake.
Everyone started diving from different directions to find it until there was so much mud and sand stirred up that no one could see anything. Finally, they decided to clear the water. They waited silently on the edge of the shore for the mud from all their activity to settle. When it finally cleared, one person dove in slowly and picked up the ring.
When we are confused about something in our lives, we will often hear answers and advice from all directions. Our friends will tell us one thing and our families another, until we feel pretty well mixed up. If we look away from our problem and let patience and time do their work, the mud inside us will settle and clear. Our answer will become visible, like the glimmer of silver in the water.
Am I overlooking the simple solution?
From the book:
Today's Gift © 1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 23, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, March 23, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Strength comes from the fellowship you find when you come into AA. Just being with men and women who have found the way out gives you a feeling of security. You listen to the speakers, you talk with other members, and you absorb the atmosphere of confidence and hope that you find in the place.

Am I receiving strength from the fellowship with other AA members?

Meditation for the Day
God is with you, to bless and help you. His spirit is all around you. Waver not in your faith or in your prayers. All power is the Lord's. Say that to yourself often and steadily. Say it until your heart sings with joy for the safety and personal power that it means to you. Say it until the very force of the utterance drives back and puts to naught all the evils against you. Use it as a battle cry. All power is the Lord's. Then you will pass on to victory over all your sins and temptations, and you will begin to live a victorious life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that with strength from God I may lead an abundant life. I pray that I may lead a life of victory.

Hazelden Foundation

March 23, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Friday, March 23, 2012

Reflection for the Day
The Program teaches us, through the experience, strength and hope of its fellowship, that the worst situation imaginable does not warrant a return to our addiction. No matter how bad a particular situation or set of circumstances, the return to our old ways for even a minute will assuredly make it worse.

Am I grateful for the sharing and caring of The Program?

Today I Pray
May I insist that no stone can be heavy enough to drag me back down into the pool of my addiction. No burden, no disappointment, no blow to pride or loss of human love is worth the price of returning to my old way of life. When I harbor thoughts that life is "too much" for me, that no one should be expected to "take so much and still remain sane" or that I am "the fall guy," let me listen for the tone of my complaints and remember that I have heard that whine before - before I concluded that I was powerless over the chemical and gave my will over to the Will of God. Such wailing sets me up for getting high again. May God keep my ears alert to the tone of my own complaining.

Today I Will Remember
Hear my own complaints.

Hazelden Foundation

March 23, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, March 23, 2012

To us alcoholics who were prone to give meaning to words that were not intended by the speaker, words are a particularly lethal weapon.

In our drinking days, we invariably put the wrong interpretations on the best-intended words of our friends. We then sounded off with a flow of words that we did not mean and knew full well that we did not mean them. The thoughtless sentence or the fancied slight was forever coming between us and those we loved.

The world's attitude toward us, either friendly or hostile, is largely determined by our own words.

Hazelden Foundation

Thursday, March 22, 2012

March 22, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Just for today, I begin to put into practice the strategy that the Program is one of living SOBER and living with LIFE and not one of how to BE an alcoholic struggling to get sober and ward off the next temptation: there is more to life than living only for not drinking. But before I can apply my Program and recovery to EVERY realm of my life, I have to make sure I'm walking the walk and not just talking the talk. I have to be honest that I have begun at the very beginning, with the Program's first four words - "Admitted (I am) powerless ..." - and that I have "come to believe" in something Greater than myself, that I have done thoroughly and brutally honest ALL the steps, and that I am truly an effective carrier of the Message. Memorizing every word in chronological order in the Big Book, burning in my mind every word of the Twelve Steps and Traditions and of every 24 Hour inspirational does absolutely nothing if I don't put action to them. Today, if I am only IN the Program, I'll get WITH it. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 22, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Thursday, March 22, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
I play while I work and I work while I sleep. I depend on the functioning of my subconscious imagination to do my work. -- Edith Shannon
Our minds are never at rest. It's rather nice to know that someplace within we remember everything that caught our attention; even when we weren't conscious of it. Learning to tap into this well of information comes with lots of practice and the willingness to get quiet, really quiet.
It's our attitudes that make play of work. Keeping our thoughts and composure joyful prevents even the dullest task from boring us. Being open to the possibility that fun is an outlook we can foster changes us quite profoundly. It also keeps the channel to our interior imagination uncluttered with the negative. We will always know how to proceed in every instance if we let our inner knowing guide us. The subconscious imagination is never asleep.
My inner self stands at attention always. I will let it answer my questions and make my decisions.
From the book:
Keepers of the Wisdom © 1996 by Karen Casey. All rights reserved.

March 22, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, March 22, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
We're all looking for the power to overcome drinking. When we alcoholics come into AA, our first question is: "How do I get the strength to quit?" At first it seems to us that we will never get the necessary strength. We see older members who have found the power we are looking for, but we don't know the process by which they got it. This necessary strength comes in many ways.

Have I found all the strength I need?

Meditation for the Day
You cannot have a spiritual need which God cannot supply. Your fundamental need is a spiritual need, the need of power to live the good life. The best spiritual supply is received by you when you want it to pass on to other people. You get it largely by giving it away. God gives you strength as you pass it on to another person. That strength means increased health; increased health means more good work, and more good work means more people helped. And so it goes on, a constant supply to meet all spiritual needs.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my every spiritual need will be supplied by God. I pray that I may use the power I receive to help others.

Hazelden Foundation

March 22, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Reflection for the Day
Once in a great while, I find myself thinking that perhaps things weren't quite so bad as they seemed to be. At such moments, I force myself to realize that my illness is talking to me, trying to tempt me into denying that I am, in fact, afflicted with an illness. One of the Key action steps of The Program is that we give our illness to God as we understand Him, accepting our powerlessness in the face of His greater Power.

Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?

Today I Pray
May I know that much of our lives depends on faith. For we cannot know the limits of space and time - or explain the mysteries of life and death. But when we see God working through us - and through others who have found new life in The Program - it is all the evidence we need to know that He exists.

Today I Will Remember
The Big Wheel runs by faith.

Hazelden Foundation

March 22, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, March 22, 2012

We cannot give the new man our conception of the Program and expect him to get the same results as we. This is particularly true of the spiritual phases of our thinking. We must each seek and find our own solution, but we can tell him how we did it; we can direct his thinking along spiritual lines so that he, too, will find a God of his understanding and work out a system of procedure that will make the Program work for him.

Hazelden Foundation

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

March 21, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Wednesday, March 21, 2012


Just for today, I look to the Seventh Step to ask my Higher Power, in ernst and humility, for the knowledge to release my character defects, chief among them anger and resentment. But Step Six I warns that I must be "entirely ready" to release those defects. So how do I become "entirely ready?" If I find myself obsessed with anger or resentment I still harbor against someone or something, even justfiably and to the extent that anger and resentment can be justified,and if I play out in my mind a scenario of "revenge" against what I am angry or resentful, I am also thwarting a potential higher quality of sobriety than I might otherwise have. And, if for no other reason, I am empowering the person or situation that I still resent to the extent that they actually control me. It is, therefore, time to let go of the anger and resentment and leave to the Higher Power that whoever and whatever angers me will "undo" themselves - just as we as alcoholics have done so many times. Today, entirely ready, I ask my Higher Power to take from me the emotions I cannot handle and for the discipline not to take them back. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

March 21, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
The definition of courage is the ability to conquer fear or despair. In the past we may have been called courageous because we stayed in circumstances that were difficult or nearly unbearable. We may have felt that walking away from family, children, or friends was cowardly or displayed weakness. We may have felt that by holding back our tears we were stronger people.
Yet all the things we may have viewed as weakness are really signs of courage. All the things we believed to be acts of courage were really not courageous at all. If we walked away from difficult or unbearable circumstances, we would be conquering despair. If we cried, we would have been courageous by letting go of our fear, pain, or sadness.
Courage doesn't mean putting ourselves in stressful or unpleasant situations. Courage doesn't mean controlling our emotions. Courage is the ability to strengthen ourselves against the fear and despair of life, rather than be drowned by it.
What have I done today that took courage? I can be grateful for my courage and strengthen it.
From the book:
Night Light by Amy E. Dean. © 1986, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

March 21, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, March 21, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
In AA, we forget about the future. We know from experience that as time goes on, the future takes care of itself. Everything works out well, as long as we stay sober. All we need to think about is today. When we get up in the morning and see the sun shining in the window, we thank God that He has given us another day to enjoy because we're sober, a day in which we may have a chance to help somebody.

Do I know that this day is all I have and that with God's help I can stay sober today?

Meditation for the Day
All is fundamentally well. That does not mean that all is well on the surface of things. But it does mean that God's in His heaven and that He has a purpose for the world, which will eventually work out when enough human beings are willing to follow His way. "Wearing the world as a loose garment" means not being upset by the surface wrongness of things, but feeling deeply secure in the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that God may be with me in my journey through the world. I pray that I may know that God is planning that journey.

Hazelden Foundation

March 21, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, March 21, 2012


Reflection for the Day
The Program teaches us that we have an incurable illness. We always get worse, never better. But we're fortunate in that our incurable illness can be arrested, so long as we don't take the first drink one day at a time. High-toned academic research and ivory-tower studies to the contrary, we know from experience that we can no more control our drinking than we can control the ocean tides.

Do I have any doubt that I am powerless over alcohol?

Today I Pray
May I never fall prey to any short-term research results which tell me that alcoholism can be cured, that I would be safe to begin drinking again, supposedly, in a resonsible manner. My experience - the experience of those in The Program - will out-shout such theories. May I know that my disease is arrestable, but not curable. May I know that if I took up my active addiction again, I would begin where I left off - closer than ever to possible death or insanity.

Today I Will Remember
Be wary of new theories.

Hazelden Foundation