April 3, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Just for today, I will not let selfishness, preoccupation with myself and what problems I have and lack of empathy to blind me to the needs and problems of someone else. Human nature, and especially so with the recovering alcoholic, is to retreat into self and worry with our own problems sometimes out of a misplaced intention not to unload on others. But by withdrawing we may lose someone's helpful advice or, if nothing more, than to give voice to what we fear to say. But, sometimes unintentionally, I risk alienation of others who interpret my lack of interaction was apathy to them and their own problems. Today, I break down my self-erected boundaries enough to understand that, with others, there can be sharing without dumping and there can be something I might be able to offer them in their own journeys. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

April 3, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:

You are the hero of your life.
Each of us plays the starring role in the drama that is our life. We co-create the script along with our Higher Power. Sometimes we forget our lines, and so we improvise as best we can. We are heroes, each of us, as we move through the events of the day, refining our character and using our gifts to shape the action of every scene.

We can each be a hero in the drama of recovery. To the casual observer, what we do and say may not appear to be at all heroic. But we - as insiders who are only too well acquainted with our individual limitations - can appreciate and applaud a difficult decision or action.

When we accept our role in life, when we pledge to use our energies to do the best we can, and when we rely on our Higher Power for guidance and support, we will be well on our way toward recovering.

I can be a hero today, even if it doesn't show.

From the book:

Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L.

Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

April 3, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
When I was drinking, I was absolutely selfish. I thought of myself first, last and always. The universe revolved around me at the center. When I woke up in the morning with a hangover, my only thought was how terrible I felt and about what I could do to make myself feel better. And the only thing I could think of was more liquor. To quit was impossible. I couldn't see beyond myself and my own need for another drink.

Can I now look out and beyond my own selfishness?

Meditation for the Day
Remember that the first quality of greatness is service. In a way, God is the greatest servant of all because He is always waiting for us to call on Him to help us in all good endeavor. His strength is always available to us, but we must ask it of Him through our own free will. It is a free gift, but we must sincerely seek for it. A life of service is the finest life we can live. We are here on earth to serve others. That is the beginning and the end of our real worth.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may cooperate with God in all good things. I pray that I may serve God and others and so lead a useful and happy life.

Hazelden Foundation

April 3, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Reflection for the Day
In almost every instance, the returned slipper says, "I stopped going to meetings," or, "I got fed up with the same old faces," or, "My outside commitments were such that I had to cut down on meetings," or, "I felt I'd received the optimum benefits from meetings, so I sought further help from more meaningful activities." In short, they simply stopped going to meetings. A saying I've heard in The Program hits the nail on the head: "Them which stops going to meetings are not present at meetings to hear about what happens to them what stops going to meetings."

Am I going to enough meetings for me?

Today I Pray
God keep me on the track of The Program. May I never be too tired, too busy, too complacent, too bored to go to meetings. Almost always those complaints are reversed at a meeting if I will just get myself there. My weariness dissipates in serenity. My busyness is reduced to its rightful proportion. My complacency gives way to vigilance again. And how can I be bored in a place where there is so much fellowship and joy?

Today I Will Remember
Attend the meetings.

Hazelden Foundation

April 3, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, April 3, 2012

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and all things therein contained. There is nothing on earth that God didn't put here.

True, we have manufactured things by changing sizes, shapes or chemical combinations, but all things made by man can be reduced to those elements that God originally put here on earth. All things, therefore, are God's, and He put them here for our use. He did not intend that we should hoard up surpluses and thus deprive others of their use.

Our responsibility begins in our use of these surpluses. It's God's, not ours, remember? And some of God's loved ones are in want.

Hazelden Foundation

April 2, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Monday, April 2, 2012

Just for today, I will not carry the pattern of compulsive and habitual behavior I perfected in my drinking days to other areas of my life. As a drinking alcoholic, I established the pattern of feeling and taking everything to an unhealthy and inappropriate extreme - all or nothing. That pattern is not necessarily in remission simply because my active alcoholism is. To shift the habitual and compulsive nature of my drinking to work, play, service or any other activity can be almost as self-destructive. And it is through the Steps of character rehabilitation that I need to tame the behavioral patterns of my character. Today, I will seek a balance between giving everything, taking all and retaining what I need for myself by seeking the guidance of my Higher Power and reciting a potpourri of the Program's mottos, including "A Day at a Time," "First Things First," "Keep It Simple" and "Easy Does It." And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

April 2, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Monday, April 2, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Awareness, Acceptance, Action
Dear God,
Slow me down when all I do is try to fix and control things and people. Help me to first accept situations, as they are when I become aware of them.
Slow me down in your stillness.
Mark my awareness with unselfishness, my acceptance with humility, and my actions with usefulness to me and others.

From the book:

The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D.

The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D. © 2007 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

April 2, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, April 2, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Since I've been in AA, have I made a start towards becoming more loving to my family and friends? Do I visit my parents? Am I more appreciative of my spouse than I was before? Am I grateful to my family for having put up with me? Have I found real understanding with my children? Do I feel that the friends I've found in AA are real friends? Do I believe that they are always ready to help me and do I want to help them if I can?

Do I really care now about other people?

Meditation for the Day
Not what you do so much as what you are, that is the miracle-working power. You can be a force for good, with the help of God. God is here to help you and to bless you, here to company with you. You can be a worker with God. Changed by God's grace, you shed one garment of the spirit for a better one. In time, you throw that one aside for yet a finer one. And so from character to character, you are gradually transformed.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may accept every challenge. I pray that each acceptance of a challenge may make me grow into a better person.

Hazelden Foundation

April 2, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, April 2, 2012

Reflection for the Day
What causes slips? What happens to a person who apparently seems to understand and live the way of The Program, yet decides to go out again? What can I do to keep this from happening to me? Is there any consistency among those who slip, any common denominators that seem to apply? We can each draw our own conclusions, but we learn in The Program that certain inactions will all but guarantee an eventual slip.

When a person who has slipped is fortunate enough to return to The Program, do I listen carefully to what he or she says about the slip?

Today I Pray
May my Higher Power - if I listen to Him - show me if I am setting myself up to get high again. May I glean from the experiences of others that the reasons for such a lapse of resolve or such an accident of will most often stem from what I have not done rather than from what I have done. May I "keep coming back" to meetings.

Today I Will Remember
Keep coming back.

Hazelden Foundation

April 1, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, April 2, 2012

Reduced to its simplest form, the only true worship is to love God, and the only way to demonstrate this love is to serve your fellow man.

We in AA show the extent of our moral growth in the extent of our service to others. It is the only true spiritual experience. The flash of light that some of us experience could be only the first ray of intelligence that finally penetrated the alcoholic fog and dazzled our minds.

The true spiritual experience is evidenced by a passion to do those things which delight the spirit. By their works shall ye know them.

Hazelden Foundation

April 1, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Sunday, April 1, 2012

Just for today, I will put my faith in the Program and my Higher Power to work by offering to someone else what I think I need or want for myself. Today, I will hand over to my HP all that is selfish and which impedes or blocks my progress, my growth, and extend a hand of service to someone in need. Borrowing from Mother Teresa, if I grieve, I will find someone who needs consoling; if I am hungry, I will feed someone who also hungers; if I am thirsty, I will quench another's thirst; and, if I am cold, I will give warmth to someone else. If someone seeking rest from active alcoholism calls on me, I will not turn him away because I am too busy or for any other reason and instead offer what I have to offer - hope, promise and rebirth in a Program that has been passed on to me through grace. Just for today, I will accept that I can keep what I have been gifted with in this Program only by giving it away. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

April 1, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Sunday, April 1, 2012
Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. -- Francis Bacon
Each day we hope for accomplishment and satisfaction and we'll achieve these when we scale our hopes to our real capacities. There's no more satisfying feeling than finishing a project we've set up ourselves, tailored to our abilities, and worked at with patience and care. Our lives can be filled with such successes.
Learning to live means learning to keep ourselves in the present. This day is all we really have to work with. 0f course today will be influenced by what has already happened; and its influence will extend to tomorrow, next week, and beyond. But all we can make or do lies here, within this window of space and time.
May my supper be contentment. I'll breakfast on hope again.

From the book:

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg

The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg. © 1983, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.

April 1, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, April 1, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
Since I've been in AA, have I made a start towards becoming more honest? Do I no longer have to lie to my husband or wife? Do I try to have meals on time, and do I try to earn what I make at work? Am I trying to be honest? Have I faced myself as I really am and have I admitted to myself that I'm no good by myself, but have to rely on God to help me do the right thing?

Am I beginning to find out what it means to be alive and to face the world honestly and without fear?

Meditation for the Day
God is all around us. His spirit pervades the universe. And yet we often do not let His spirit in. We try to get along without His help and we make a mess of our lives. We can do nothing of any value without God's help. All our human relationships depend on this. When we let God's spirit rule our lives, we learn how to get along with others and how to help them.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may let God run my life. I pray that I will never again make a mess of my life through trying to run it myself.

Hazelden Foundation

April 1, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Sunday, April 1, 2012

Reflection for the Day
If we don't want to slip, we'll avoid slippery places. For the alcoholic, that means avoiding old drinking haunts; for the overeater, that means by-passing a once-favorite pastry shop; for the gambler, that means shunning poker parties and race tracks. For me, certain emotional situations can also be slippery places; so can indulgence of old ideas such as a well-nourished resentment that is allowed to build to explosive proportions.

Do I carry the principles of The Program with me wherever I go?

Today I Pray
May I learn not to test myself too harshly by "asking for it," by stopping in at the bar or the bakery or the track. Such "testing" can be dangerous, especially if I am egged on, not only by a thirst or an appetite or a craving for the old addiction, but by others still caught in it whose moral responsibility has been reduced to zero.

Today I Will Remember
Avoid slippery places.

Hazelden Foundation

April 1, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, April 1, 2012

What exists in the life to come, we can leave to the theologians. But the actual existence of Heaven and Hell here on earth is indisputable to us who have lived in both.

If most of the Bible thumpers that continually rave about the threats of Hell could know the Hell the poor practicing alcoholic is going through, it would scare them to death.

Hazelden Foundation