Thursday, April 30, 2015
April 30, 2015 - Out actor Greg Rikaart pushing for his 'Young and Restless' character to come out as gay
April 30, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Patience is a particular requirement. Without it, you can destroy in an hour what it might take you weeks to repair.
-- Charlie W. Shedd
Enjoying the moment, in its fullest, makes possible a peaceful and patient pace. Progress is guaranteed if our minds are centered in the present, on the only event deserving of our attention. We can be certain that error and frustration will haunt us if our attentions are divided.
Patience will see us through a troubled time, but how much easier it is to savor patience when it's accompanied by faith. We can know and fully trust that all is well - that our lives are on course - that individual experiences are exactly what we need at this moment. However, faith makes the knowing easier and the softness of the patient heart eases us through the times of challenge and uncertainty.
Patience slows me down long enough to notice another, and to be grateful for the gifts of the moment. Patience promises me the power to move forward with purpose. Today's fruits will be in proportion to my patience.
Patience is a particular requirement. Without it, you can destroy in an hour what it might take you weeks to repair.
-- Charlie W. Shedd
Enjoying the moment, in its fullest, makes possible a peaceful and patient pace. Progress is guaranteed if our minds are centered in the present, on the only event deserving of our attention. We can be certain that error and frustration will haunt us if our attentions are divided.
Patience will see us through a troubled time, but how much easier it is to savor patience when it's accompanied by faith. We can know and fully trust that all is well - that our lives are on course - that individual experiences are exactly what we need at this moment. However, faith makes the knowing easier and the softness of the patient heart eases us through the times of challenge and uncertainty.
Patience slows me down long enough to notice another, and to be grateful for the gifts of the moment. Patience promises me the power to move forward with purpose. Today's fruits will be in proportion to my patience.
You are reading from the book:
The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg. © 1983, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Today, Instead of an alcoholic, I'm a soberholic. If "alcoholic" calls attention to the fact that I am addicted to alcohol, can't "soberholic" state my addiction to sobriety? Despite the progress of AA in striking down the image of the alcoholic as the down-and-out'er sleeping in alleys or drying out in a flophouse, a jail's drunk tank or mental hospital, a stigma remains. Might I be able to erode that stigma by labeling my addiction to sobriety instead of to alcohol? If so, maybe I can renew my self-confidence and weaken any temptation or lingering doubt about drinking again. As someone addicted to sobriety, why do I need alcohol? Today, at the risk of angering those who warn against trading one addiction for another, I'll substitute dependence on alcohol to dependence on sobriety. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015
April 30, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith because we find that we must have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going to get sober. We're helpless before alcohol, but when we turn our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God is the essential part of the AA program.
Is faith still strong in me?
Meditation for the Day
Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet, but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God's spirit which can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys, such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God's love.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life.
Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Reflection for the Day
We're taught in The Program that "faith without works is dead." How true this is for the addicted person. For if an addicted person fails to perfect or enlarge his or her spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, s/he can't survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If s/he doesn't work, s/he'll surely return to his or her addiction; and if s/he returns to addiction, s/he'll likely die. Then faith will be dead indeed.
Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer?
Today I Pray
May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of The Program be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming similar addictions. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts, but it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own sobriety.
Today I Will Remember
The more faith I can give, the more I will have.
Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Thursday, April 30, 2015
It is most discouraging to many of us to find, after many weary months of trying to work on our moral inventory and studied efforts to eliminate some of our worst character defects, that the more we do the more we find to do. It is not that we are not making progress, but as we steady ourselves from a coldly analytical viewpoint, we find more defects than we ever realized we possessed.
Do not become discouraged when this situation exists. It is very evident proof of progress that you have come to a conscious realization that these new defects exist and you are at least bringing them out in the open where you can get a crack at them.
Hazelden Foundation
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
April 29, 2015 - Why we can't leave marriage equality to the states or a popular vote
April 29, 2015 - Editorial: A landmark gay marriage case at the Supreme Court
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Happy people are likeable
Personal Relations
Who are the people we really like, and like to be with? Most of the time, they are happy people, people who like themselves and others.
Being happy is almost the entire secret of being likeable. Though no person can expect to be liked by everybody, the likeable people have the inside track most of the time.
How do we become happy and thus likeable? We're continuously told that happiness cannot be found in property, power, and prestige. It is rooted instead in self-acceptance, in feeling loved and wanted, and in giving genuine service, maybe just in the form of very useful work.
Twelve Step programs are structured to make us happy if we persevere long enough in working the individual steps. While it may seem contradictory, even people with heavy burdens and personal sorrows can find underlying happiness in the program. A great deal of this also hinges on our belief in a Higher Power and a confidence that we have a place in the universal system.
I can be happy today in spite of things that others would consider burdensome and depressing. Happiness really comes from God, and it also serves to attract friends into my life.
Happy people are likeable
Personal Relations
Who are the people we really like, and like to be with? Most of the time, they are happy people, people who like themselves and others.
Being happy is almost the entire secret of being likeable. Though no person can expect to be liked by everybody, the likeable people have the inside track most of the time.
How do we become happy and thus likeable? We're continuously told that happiness cannot be found in property, power, and prestige. It is rooted instead in self-acceptance, in feeling loved and wanted, and in giving genuine service, maybe just in the form of very useful work.
Twelve Step programs are structured to make us happy if we persevere long enough in working the individual steps. While it may seem contradictory, even people with heavy burdens and personal sorrows can find underlying happiness in the program. A great deal of this also hinges on our belief in a Higher Power and a confidence that we have a place in the universal system.
I can be happy today in spite of things that others would consider burdensome and depressing. Happiness really comes from God, and it also serves to attract friends into my life.
You are reading from the book:
Walk in Dry Places by Mel B. © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Today, service to other people or causes as an essential element in my recovery, that expending some of my attention to anything other than myself may make my problems not as bad as I think they are. Service can range from giving a lead talk, talking to a sponsor or sponsee, volunteering to make the coffee for a meeting or simply listening to someone else's problems or experiences. And possibly, the problems I have, or think I have and maybe exaggerate, may seem somewhat less serious. Adversely, I must respect prudence in not expending myself to the extreme that my own needs and working on problems are sacrificed and neglected. In the end, my Program requires that I not focus all that I have completely on myself and that sharing or volunteering for some degree of service work may make my own problems less heavy. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith, hope and charity. It's a program of hope because when new members come into AA, the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it.
Is hope still strong in me?
Meditation for the Day
The rule of God's kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God's kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God's children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with Him.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with other people. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success.
Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Reflection for the Day
As I grow in The Program - sharing, caring and becoming more and more active - I find that it's becoming easier to live in the Now. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as "could've," "should've," "would've," "might've." What's done is done and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is Now.
Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in The Program?
Today I Pray
That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of Today. Only by living in the Now may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go.
Today I Will Remember
Make room for today.
Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Effort has been made to carry AA into schools and young people's organizations, but the effective response has been so negligible that it has usually been abandoned after a short trial.
AA is a program for ALCOHOLICS - persons suffering from alcoholism. It was designed to appeal to them and them only. It is probably true that we can tell the kids a lot about drinking, but it will fall on deaf ears. Unfortunately, we must be pricked by the sharp thorn of experience in order to learn.
Hazelden Foundation
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
April 28, 2015 - Popularity of same-sex marriage, in five easy charts
April 28, 2015 - Op-ed: Why the Supreme Court's chief justice just might support gay marriage
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Taking it slowly
Let's not make haste and demand perfection at once - this would only blind us. If we are impatient, we cannot work a daily program. But by exercising patience, we learn to recognize daily opportunities for growth.
It is worth waiting for, striving for, and working to develop a relationship with our Higher Power. It cannot be done overnight. Let's not go too fast, but count each day as a new opportunity.
Am I learning to take it slowly?
Higher Power, I pray that I may meet each day with patience and grow closer to You.
Taking it slowly
Let's not make haste and demand perfection at once - this would only blind us. If we are impatient, we cannot work a daily program. But by exercising patience, we learn to recognize daily opportunities for growth.
It is worth waiting for, striving for, and working to develop a relationship with our Higher Power. It cannot be done overnight. Let's not go too fast, but count each day as a new opportunity.
Am I learning to take it slowly?
Higher Power, I pray that I may meet each day with patience and grow closer to You.
You are reading from the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Today, no running from a mistake with a sense of failure or blaming someone for that mistake. No Program of recovery reaches for perfection because no person will or can ever achieve it; likewise, I cannot and must not impose that unreachable goal on myself - and others. AA's 10th Step says, in part, that we "promptly admitted" when we are wrong - not if. Thus, let me not be so vain as to place responsibility for my mistakes, big and small, on someone or something else; adversely, let me not be discouraged by a sense of failure when I err in word, thought and deed. Instead, let me be open to owning my mistakes, identifying the reason for them and correcting the reason so that I do not repeat them again. Today, I am not mistake-proof and I cannot expect myself to be - nor can I expect anyone and anything else to be likewise. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2015
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
AA Thought for the Day
We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The AA program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of your life.
Have I got into action?
Meditation for the Day
God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You should join Him in His quest. Through briars, through waste places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys. God leads you. But ever with His leadership goes your helping hand. Glorious to follow where the Leader goes. You are seeking lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will help, but you can leave all results to God. Just go with Him in His eternal quest for souls.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls. I pray that I may offer God my helping hand.
Hazelden Foundation
AA Thought for the Day
We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The AA program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of your life.
Have I got into action?
Meditation for the Day
God's eternal quest must be the tracking down of souls. You should join Him in His quest. Through briars, through waste places, through glades, up mountain heights, down into valleys. God leads you. But ever with His leadership goes your helping hand. Glorious to follow where the Leader goes. You are seeking lost sheep. You are bringing the good news into places where it has not been known before. You may not know which soul you will help, but you can leave all results to God. Just go with Him in His eternal quest for souls.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may follow God in His eternal quest for souls. I pray that I may offer God my helping hand.
Hazelden Foundation
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Reflection for the Day
I will resolve to observe with new interest even the commonplace things that happen today. If I learn to see everything with a fresh eye, perhaps I'll find I have countless reasons for contentment and gratitude. When I find myself trapped in the quicksand of my negative thoughts, I'll turn away from them - and grab for the life-saving strength of sharing with others in The Program.
Do I carry my weight as an all-important link in the worldwide chain of The Program?
Today I Pray
I pray that God will open my eyes to the smallest everyday wonders, that I may notice and list among my blessings things like just feeling good, being able to think clearly. Even when I make a simple, unimportant choice like whether to order coffee or tea or a soft drink, may I be reminded that the power of choice is a gift from God.
Today I Will Remember
I am blessed with the freedom of choice.
Hazelden Foundation
April 28, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
The span of human life is such a small part of eternity that the length of your life, whether it be 20 years or 100, is of no moment. Yet the lifespan of some men has, and will continue to have, great influence upon many succeeding generations.
If you can by one single act do something that will benefit just one person 50 years from now, you will have done more than millions who have before you. Few leave anything to posterity when they die that will outlive their tombstone.
Hazelden Foundation
Monday, April 27, 2015
April 27, 2015 - Editorial: Why Massachusetts led the way on same-sex marriage
April 27, 2015 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Monday, April 27, 2015
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
-- Niccolo Machiavelli
Acceptance may be one of the most difficult things to learn, for it means we must give up the desire to control our life and its outcome. Once we have truly received this great gift we will learn that acceptance need not take away our strength - on the contrary, we will have an inner strength we never thought possible.
When we decided to meet the challenge of a sober life we took the first step toward acceptance - we accepted the fact that we have a disease, a chronic disease that will always be with us. By accepting this fact we will be able to cope with our lifelong struggle. This way we willingly accept the friendship of our group members and the wisdom they offer us. They have been where we are coming from, they have suffered as we suffer, and they have felt the hope we now feel.
We are being offered a way of life that, if we follow it, will bring us a peace of mind we may never have felt. By our surrender we are now willing to receive something that is being offered to us - the beginning of a new way of life.
Today let me accept my powerlessness and any help.
Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
-- Niccolo Machiavelli
Acceptance may be one of the most difficult things to learn, for it means we must give up the desire to control our life and its outcome. Once we have truly received this great gift we will learn that acceptance need not take away our strength - on the contrary, we will have an inner strength we never thought possible.
When we decided to meet the challenge of a sober life we took the first step toward acceptance - we accepted the fact that we have a disease, a chronic disease that will always be with us. By accepting this fact we will be able to cope with our lifelong struggle. This way we willingly accept the friendship of our group members and the wisdom they offer us. They have been where we are coming from, they have suffered as we suffer, and they have felt the hope we now feel.
We are being offered a way of life that, if we follow it, will bring us a peace of mind we may never have felt. By our surrender we are now willing to receive something that is being offered to us - the beginning of a new way of life.
Today let me accept my powerlessness and any help.
You are reading from the book:
Body, Mind, and Spirit © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation