Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Aug. 31, 2016 - In Pence's state, physical abuse of a child and religious freedom as a defense
Aug. 31, 2016 - The Internet battle over .GAY
Aug. 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Sharing feelings
Many of us just did what other people did. We took drugs. But we felt so different from "normal" people. Why? Because of the way we did drugs and because drugs were so unfulfilling for us. It's a joke among us recovering addicts that we tried so hard to look normal.
Non-addicts didn't know our torment, didn't know that we lived in another world. While high, we felt moments of euphoria and false well being. When the drugs wore off, we suffered centuries of misery. Both are feelings that "normal" people did not experience.
In the fellowship, however, we share all our feelings because we know that we are among friends, we know that we are finally home.
Do I share my true feelings with others?
Higher Power, I pray for the willingness to see my true feelings more clearly and to share myself with my fellow addicts.
Sharing feelings
Many of us just did what other people did. We took drugs. But we felt so different from "normal" people. Why? Because of the way we did drugs and because drugs were so unfulfilling for us. It's a joke among us recovering addicts that we tried so hard to look normal.
Non-addicts didn't know our torment, didn't know that we lived in another world. While high, we felt moments of euphoria and false well being. When the drugs wore off, we suffered centuries of misery. Both are feelings that "normal" people did not experience.
In the fellowship, however, we share all our feelings because we know that we are among friends, we know that we are finally home.
Do I share my true feelings with others?
Higher Power, I pray for the willingness to see my true feelings more clearly and to share myself with my fellow addicts.
You are reading from the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Step by Step
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
Today, Step 11 to answer honestly if I have "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve (my) conscious contact with God as (I) understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for (me) and the power to carry that out." Simply acknowledging a higher power and looking to Him as a guide through recovery is not enough. We must also seek what He requires of us and the knowledge and power to do what He wants of us. Why is the 11th Step important to both the early and later stages of recovery? In seeking our higher power's will for us, we are getting away from one of our most dangerous and contributory spiritual afflictions - selfishness. We dare not risk what progress we have made or seek by holding onto those poisonous character and spiritual defects like selfishness, anger, hate and bitterness that will undermine either the quality of recovery or sobriety itself. Today, seek through prayer and meditation the will of our higher power, not ours. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Aug. 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
"Call on new prospects while they are still jittery. They may be more receptive when depressed. See them alone if possible. Tell them enough about your drinking habits and experiences to encourage them to speak of themselves. If they wish to talk, let them do so. If they are not communicative, talk about the troubles liquor has caused you, being careful not to moralize or lecture. When they see you know all about the drinking game, commence to describe yourself as an alcoholic and tell them how you learned you were sick."
Am I ready to talk about myself to new prospects?
Meditation for the Day
Try not to give way to criticism, blame, scorn or judgment of others, when you are trying to help them. Effectiveness in helping others depends on controlling yourself. You may be swept away by a temporary natural urge to criticize or blame, unless you keep a tight rein on your emotions. You should have a firm foundation of spiritual living which makes you truly humble, if you are going to really help other people. Go easy on them and be hard on yourself. That is the way you can be used most to uplift a despairing spirit. And seek no personal recognition for what you are used by God to accomplish.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to avoid judgment and criticism. I pray that I may always try to build up others instead of tearing them down.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
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| The Serenity Prayer |
A Day at a Time
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
Reflection for the Day
From time to time, I begin to think I know what God's will is for other people. I say to myself, "This person ought to be cured of his terminal illness," or, "That one ought to be freed from the torment she's going through," and I begin to pray for those specific things. My heart is in the right place when I pray in such fashion, but those prayers are based on the supposition that I know God's will for the person for whom I pray. The Program teaches me, instead, that I ought to pray that God's will - whatever it is - be done for others as well as for myself.
Will I remember that God is ready to befriend me, but only to the degree that I trust Him?
Today I Pray
I praise God for the chance to help others. I thank God also for making me want to help others, for taking me out of my tower of self so that I can meet and share with and care about people. Teach me to pray that "Thy will be done" in the spirit of love, which God inspires in me.
Today I Will Remember
I will put my trust in the will of God.
Hazelden Foundation
From time to time, I begin to think I know what God's will is for other people. I say to myself, "This person ought to be cured of his terminal illness," or, "That one ought to be freed from the torment she's going through," and I begin to pray for those specific things. My heart is in the right place when I pray in such fashion, but those prayers are based on the supposition that I know God's will for the person for whom I pray. The Program teaches me, instead, that I ought to pray that God's will - whatever it is - be done for others as well as for myself.
Will I remember that God is ready to befriend me, but only to the degree that I trust Him?
Today I Pray
I praise God for the chance to help others. I thank God also for making me want to help others, for taking me out of my tower of self so that I can meet and share with and care about people. Teach me to pray that "Thy will be done" in the spirit of love, which God inspires in me.
Today I Will Remember
I will put my trust in the will of God.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
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| The Serenity Prayer |
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016
It is a constant source of amazement to some of the Old-Timers to answer a call for help from some alcoholic and to find that the person in trouble is a neighbor, relative, friend or fellow employee or a member of AA.
It sometimes happens that the new man preferred it that way as he would rather discuss the matter with a stranger than someone near him.
It is also true that some of us are not quick to grasp the opportunities to pass the Message along. If you see a man is beyond his depth and can't swim, why should you wait for him to yell for help? He might be deaf and dumb.
Hazelden Foundation
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Aug. 30, 2016 - Matt Bomer signed for transgender drama 'Anything'
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| Out actor Matt Bomer |
Aug. 30, 2016 - Psychotherapy, behavior modification may be keys to treating addiction
Aug. 30, 2016 - 'What's this battle about?' When men seek therapy
Aug. 30, 2016 - Might a coup against House Speaker Paul Ryan be afoot?
Aug. 30, 2016 - Commentary: Can stricter gun laws really save lives of LGBTQ people?
Aug. 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
My relationship with nature and plants is almost like religion with me.
-- Monty Cralley
Feeling connected to something outside of ourselves is important to our perception of life. And being alive assures us of many new situations. Maybe it's a move to a smaller residence or our recovery from the death of a dear friend. Having to give up cherished possessions is a decision we all have to make at some point, too. But handling any of these circumstances is easier when we have a connection to the world around us; nature, for example, can always provide us with a sense of solace and familiarity.
The natural world comforts many of us. Just noting the cycle of life in the trees and plants helps us to remember that everything changes. Everything is transformed, but life and beauty are still present if we look for it. When we're feeling lonely, it helps to remember that God is still present and evident in the miracle of the natural world.
It doesn't matter how we define God or if we do at all. God may speak to us through the swaying tree branches or through people. Or we may get a glimmer of God in a passage in a book. That we do sense something larger and external to ourselves is what matters at the end of the day.
I will continue nurturing my spiritual side today.
This will comfort me.
My relationship with nature and plants is almost like religion with me.
-- Monty Cralley
Feeling connected to something outside of ourselves is important to our perception of life. And being alive assures us of many new situations. Maybe it's a move to a smaller residence or our recovery from the death of a dear friend. Having to give up cherished possessions is a decision we all have to make at some point, too. But handling any of these circumstances is easier when we have a connection to the world around us; nature, for example, can always provide us with a sense of solace and familiarity.
The natural world comforts many of us. Just noting the cycle of life in the trees and plants helps us to remember that everything changes. Everything is transformed, but life and beauty are still present if we look for it. When we're feeling lonely, it helps to remember that God is still present and evident in the miracle of the natural world.
It doesn't matter how we define God or if we do at all. God may speak to us through the swaying tree branches or through people. Or we may get a glimmer of God in a passage in a book. That we do sense something larger and external to ourselves is what matters at the end of the day.
I will continue nurturing my spiritual side today.
This will comfort me.
You are reading from the book:
Keepers of the Wisdom © 1996 by Karen Casey
Aug. 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016
Today, Step 10 because it is one of the most integral maintenance steps: "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." The 10th is the extension of the Fourth in which we "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." We cannot and should not believe that our personal inventory and admission of our wrongs is a one-time exercise. Not only can those wrongs be resurrected in recovery and even after we've asked our higher power to remove them, but "new" defects can and do evolve in recovery. But why should we look in the mirror long after our last drink or use? Failing to do so risks old character defects to rise again, possibly undetected, and a fearless honesty will likely tell us that our active addiction was fueled by those defects. And a relapse, even a so-called "slip," is too high a price to pay for neglecting our maintenance of the progress we seek. Today, I have to muster the honesty required of a continued personal inventory - my recovery is too precious a gift to risk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Aug. 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
"Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as extensive work with other alcoholics. Carry the message to other alcoholics. You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Life will take on a new meaning for you. To watch people recover, to see them help others in turn, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow about you, to have a host of friends, this is an experience you must not miss."
Am I always ready and willing to help other alcoholics?
Meditation for the Day
One secret of abundant living is the art of giving. The paradox of life is that the more you give, the more you have. If you lose your life in the service of others, you will save it. You can give abundantly and so live abundantly. You are rich in one respect - you have a spirit that is inexhaustible. Let no mean or selfish thought keep you from sharing this spirit. Of love, of help, of understanding and of sympathy, give and keep giving. Give your personal ease and comfort, your time, your money and most of all, yourself. And you will be living abundantly.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may live to give. I pray that I may learn this secret of abundant living.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016
Reflection for the Day
I'll begin today with a prayer - prayer in my heart, prayer in my mind and words of prayer on my lips. Through prayer, I'll stay tuned to God today, reaching forward to become that to which I aspire. Prayer will redirect my mind, helping me rise in consciousness to the point where I realize that there's no separation between God and me. As I let the power of God flow through me, all limitations will fall away.
Do I know that nothing can overcome the power of God?
Today I Pray
Today may I offer to my Higher Power a constant prayer, not just a "once-in-the-morning-does-it" kind. May I think of my Higher Power at coffee breaks, lunch, tea time, during a quiet evening - and at all times in between. May my consciousness expand and erase the lines of separation, so that the Power is a part of me and I am a part of the Power.
Today I Will Remember
To live an all-day prayer.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016
You can't swim like a fish, run like a deer, fight like a tiger or fly like a bird. Every one of your five senses is excelled by some member of the animal kingdom. Man, physically, has many superiors and would long since have been extinct but for the fact that he alone possess reasoning power.
With this advantage he can build ships to outswim the fish, motor cars to outrun the deer, perfect weapons to outfight the tiger and airplanes to outstrip the fastest of birds. With this reason he can visualize the reason behind all Nature and thus avail himself of a Power greater than himself and all the forces with which he has to contend.
Hazelden Foundation
Monday, August 29, 2016
Aug. 29, 2016 - Remembering Gene Wilder, dead at 83, with laughter and love
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| Gene Wilder as 'Young Frankenstein' |
Aug. 29, 2016 - HIV survivors are facing their own Vietnam
Aug. 29, 2016 - Breathe into the bag: Men, anxiety and the gender gap
Aug. 29, 2016 - Porn's link to sexual assault and some current research
Aug. 29, 2016 - Men, depression and sex
Aug. 29, 2016 - Editorial: Human rights worldwide at risk with a Trump presidency
Aug. 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Monday, Aug. 29, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Man can live his truth, his deepest truth, but cannot speak it.
-- Archibald. MacLeish
Many of us have lived double lives. There were public selves whom others knew, and private selves whom no one met. It was a compulsive world, and both sides were false. Many of us grew up in addicted families and learned this double life early by hiding from outsiders what life was really like at home.
In this program we learn to live our truth before we can speak it. It is more in our actions than in what we say. We may never know the words for this truth because we do not consciously invent it. It comes to us quietly over time and slowly merges all our parts. Gradually we begin to feel whole again as we surrender our double lives for single, truthful ones.
Let me have the trust to give myself to the work of recovery and follow it where it takes me.
Man can live his truth, his deepest truth, but cannot speak it.
-- Archibald. MacLeish
Many of us have lived double lives. There were public selves whom others knew, and private selves whom no one met. It was a compulsive world, and both sides were false. Many of us grew up in addicted families and learned this double life early by hiding from outsiders what life was really like at home.
In this program we learn to live our truth before we can speak it. It is more in our actions than in what we say. We may never know the words for this truth because we do not consciously invent it. It comes to us quietly over time and slowly merges all our parts. Gradually we begin to feel whole again as we surrender our double lives for single, truthful ones.
Let me have the trust to give myself to the work of recovery and follow it where it takes me.
You are reading from the book:
Touchstones ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Monday, Aug. 29, 2016
Today, understand that serenity comes from within and not from people and things on the outside. I wasted too much time, emotion and energy in my drinking days searching and even clinging to outside things and people in whom I vested my sobriety. But now I must accept that my sobriety comes from within. I no longer can demand or hope that the world and other people can change to accommodate my recovery but that I must change to fit into them. AA gives me the road map to arrive at such a lofty destination, in Step Four: "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." Steps Five, Six and Seven, then, guide us through the admission to God, to ourselves and another human being the "exact nature" of the wrongs we find in Step Four. The steps are dependent on action by me, not someone or something else. Today, I assume responsibility for both my addiction and recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
Aug. 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, Aug. 29, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
"We cannot get along without prayer and meditation. On awakening, let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking. Our thought lives will be placed on a much higher plane when we start the day with prayer and meditation. We conclude this period of meditation with a prayer that we will be shown through the day what our next step is to be. The basis of all our prayers is: Thy will be done in me and through me today."
Am I sincere in my desire to do God's will today?
Meditation for the Day
Breathe in the inspiration of goodness and truth. It is the spirit of honesty, purity, unselfishness and love. It is readily available if we are willing to accept it wholeheartedly. God has given us two things - His spirit and the power of choice - to accept or not, as we will. We have the gift of free will. When we choose the path of selfishness and greed and pride, we are refusing to accept God's spirit. When we choose the path of love and service, we accept God's spirit and it flows into us and makes all things new.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may choose the right way. I pray that I may try to follow it to the end.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Monday, Aug. 29, 2016
Reflection for the Day
Prayer can have many rewards. One of the greatest rewards is the sense of belonging it brings to me. No longer do I live as a stranger in a strange land, alien in a completely hostile world. No longer am I lost, frightened and purposeless. I belong. We find, in The Program, that the moment we catch a glimpse of God's will - the moment we begin to see truth, justice and love as the real and eternal things in life - we're no longer so deeply upset by all the seeming evidence to the contrary surrounding us in purely human affairs.
Do I believe that God lovingly watches over me?
Today I Pray
May I be grateful for the comfort and peace of belonging - to God the ultimately wise "parent" and to His family on earth. May I no longer need bumper stickers or boisterous gangs to give me my identity. Through prayer, I am God's.
Today I Will Remember
I find my identity through prayer.
Hazelden Foundation
Aug. 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Monday, Aug. 29, 2016
The relationship of hours to a lifetime is comparable to the relationship of bricks to a house. Every brick that is laid must be a separate and distinct operation, yet so tied to the preceding and the following brick that their positions are level and plumb. Each one is an entirety in itself, but all the bricks are either supporting or are supported by each other.
Our hours, lived one by one, are in no sense different. The beauty, strength and durability of our lives will be determined by the individual hours viewed collectively.
Hazelden Foundation
Sunday, August 28, 2016
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