Tuesday, July 9, 2024

July 9, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The more we give of anything, the more we shall get back.

-- Grace Speare

When we first hear this advice, it doesn’t seem to make sense. How can we get more of something by giving it away? Yet we hear the same advice in Step Twelve of our recovery program: we must "Give it away" in order to keep it.

What does this mean? Maybe it means that when we pay attention to living in this way, we change our whole value system and our behavior. For example, we can choose to lay our anger and whining on others, but that doesn't really get rid of it. In fact, we find that people tend to join in our negative behavior and feed it. We end up with more.

But if we give to others the feelings we really want to keep -- understanding, honesty, kindness, patience, and humor -- they will share their good stuff with us, too. And that helps us stay sober.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, Higher Power, help me share the important things today -- the things I want more of.

Today's Action

Today I will be aware of what I am giving others with my behavior. If I need to share negative comments or ideas, I will balance each one with five positives. I'm making life better for others and for myself, too.


Hazelden Foundation

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