Sept. 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Gratitude

Sometimes in life, things happen too fast. We barely solve one problem when two new problems surface. We're feeling great in the morning, but we're submerged in misery by nightfall.

Every day we face interruptions, delays, changes, and challenges. We face personality conflicts and disappointments. Often when we're feeling overwhelmed, we can't see the lessons in these experiences.

One simple concept can get us through the most stressful of times. It's called gratitude. We learn to say thank you for these problems and feelings. Thank you for the way things are. I don't like this experience, but thank you anyway.

Force gratitude until it becomes habitual. Gratitude helps us stop trying to control outcomes. It is the key that unlocks positive energy in our life. It is the alchemy that turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts.

Today, I will be grateful. I will start the process of turning today's pain into tomorrow's joy.

You are reading from the book:

The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Today, simplify the program as it relates to my recovery to three basic concepts: choice, consequences, and responsibility. If I take the infamous first drink or use, after all the excuses or justifications I can think of and all the blame I can put on other people or circumstances, drinking or using is my choice. And with that choice comes consequences, and with the consequences comes personal responsibility. Ultimately, I am the only one who will be responsible to the consequences of my choice, and the consequences of my drinking became simply too high for me to want to face the responsibility of my choice to drink or use again. And we must honestly remember the consequences of our choice to use or drink - separation from or loss of family and-or friends, loss of a job or the threat of it, standing before a judge after spending the night in the county jail's drunk tank after being nailed for another DUI or for physically hurting someone else like a passing motorist or whoever we picked a fight with. Today, I can pray that the high cost of the consequences of choosing to drink and now not wanting to be responsible to those consequences will keep me clean and sober another 24 Hours. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Sept. 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

AA Thought for the Day
"Outline the program of action to new prospects, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past, and why you are now endeavoring to help them. It is important for them to realize that your attempt to pass this on to them plays a vital part in your own recovery. The more hopeless they feel, the better. They will be more likely to follow your suggestions. Tell them about the fellowship of AA and, if they show interest, lend them a copy of the book."

Can I get over the AA story to another alcoholic?

Meditation for the Day
You should try to stand aside and let God work through you. You should try not to block Him off by your own efforts, or prevent His spirit working through you. God desires your obedient service and your loyalty to the ideals of the new life you are seeking. If you are loyal to God, He will give you protection against mistakes. His spirit will plan for you and secure for you a sufficiency of all spiritual help. You will have true victory and real success, if you will put yourself in the background and let God work through you.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not interfere with the working of God's spirit in me and through me. I pray that I may give it full rein.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

Reflection for the Day
When I wake up, I'll think quietly about the twenty-four hours ahead. I'll ask God to direct my thinking, especially asking that it be free from self-pity and from dishonest or self-seeking motives. If I have to determine which of several courses to take, I'll ask God for inspiration, for an intuitive thought or a decision. Then I'll relax and take it easy, confident that all will be well.

Can I believe that when I give up my "rights" of expectations, I'll know freedom ...?

Today I Pray
I praise God for being able to praise God, to choose the times when I will seek Him, to find my own words when I talk to Him, to address Him in the way that seems most right to me. May I expect that He in turn must be free of my expectations, to affect my life as He sees fit.

Today I Will Remember
Who am I to try to tell God what to do?

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017

The secret of cutting any tree down, regardless of size, is to hew it one chip at a time.

Men are not put in a position to do great things until they have established the reputation for doing many small things well.

If you have the great ambition to bring happiness to a whole world, a good starting point is within your own undershirt.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2017 - Rise 'n shine for a relaxing Saturday and Labor Day weekend

Sept. 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The body repeats the landscape. They are the source of each other and create each other.
 -- Meridel Le Sueur

The beautiful correspondences that structure the world - from the five pointed star in the core of the apple to the snail shell spiral of our inner ear - can be a source of great comfort to us. When we feel most alone, most abandoned and out of sorts, the simple forms of beauty can remind our eyes of the world's unity and our place within it.

Our path through the world is a part of it. We add our individual voices to the chord that is language, that is history. No matter how desperate we may feel, or how hopeless our lives may seem at times, the fact remains that loss and sorrow are a part of life, and the law of life is change. Unless we choose to cling to sorrow, it will flow through us. The next wave of feeling may bring us joy.

The hexagonal cells of the honeycomb recall the shapes of insects' eyes, snowflakes, geodesic domes. We fit into this grand design. We're here for a reason - for many reasons. Let us treat ourselves as gently as we try to treat the other parts of the delicate web of life.

I stand in a reciprocal relationship with the world, part of it as it is part of me.

You are reading 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

Sept. 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

Today, the "spiritual awakening" asked in Step 12, the culmination of fierce and thorough practice of the previous 11 steps and mandated of us to be effective carriers of the program's message. There is no single definition of spiritual awakening for it is as unique to the individual as his or her recovery program. But, in general, if I can say honestly that I no longer schedule my day around my drinking and don't want to, if I can say I am healthier mentally and emotionally by weakening those character flaws that fed my drinking, if I can say in honesty that I want to help the addict still using, if I can admit that my will is self-will run riot and that the will of a wiser and stronger higher power must be my guide - then, and only possibly then, can I say I have undergone the awakening of a "new" and better character than the one that prevailed in my drinking days. On the other hand, if I can say honestly I have not undergone a fundamental change in character, emotion and morality, I best backtrack to the very beginning, to Step One: "Admitted (I am) powerless ..." And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Sept. 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

AA Thought for the Day
"Be careful not to brand new prospects as alcoholics. Let them draw their own conclusion. But talk to them about the hopelessness of alcoholism. Tell them exactly what happened to you and how you recovered. Stress the spiritual feature freely. If they are agnostics or atheists, make it emphatic that they do not have to agree with your conception of God. They can choose any conception they like, provided it makes sense to them. The main thing is that they be willing to believe in a Power greater than themselves and that they live by spiritual principles."

Do I hold back too much in speaking of the spiritual principles of the program?

Meditation for the Day
"I will never leave nor forsake thee." Down through the centuries, thousands have believed in God's constancy, untiringness and unfailing love. God has love. Then forever you are sure of His love. God has power. Then forever you are sure, in every difficulty and temptation, of His strength. God has patience. Then always there is One who can never tire. God has understanding. Then always you will understand and be understood. Unless you want Him to go, God will never leave you. He is always ready with power.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may feel that God's love will never fail. I pray that I may have confidence in His unfailing power.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

Reflection for the Day
Based on their collective experience, The Program's founders suggested a prayer to be said when taking the Third Step - and making a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. "God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!"

Have I abandoned myself to God as I understand Him?

Today I Pray
I praise my Higher Power for my freedom to find my own understanding of God. May my life be God's, whether I think of Him as a Father whose hand and spirit I can touch with an upward reach of my own, or as a universal Spirit that I can merge with as the hard outlines of my "self" begin to melt, or as a core of Divine and absolute goodness inside myself. May I know Him well, whether I find Him within me, without me or in all things everywhere.

Today I Will Remember
I thank God, as I understand Him, for my understanding of Him.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 1, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, Sept. 1, 2017

The alcoholic is usually conscious of his shortcomings, but he resents any well-meant attempt to discuss the matter with him. He knows that he has no defense. Logic is against him; lying frequently backfires on him and is therefore unreliable. He has but one avenue of escape, and that is the bottle - the very thing the well-intentioned friend is trying to avoid.

Our only approach that makes sense to him is the visible evidence that we are doing it, and acquainting him with the fact that it can be done.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 1, 2017 - A fabulous Friday, a new month and a time for renewed gratitude and faith

Aug. 31, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Miracles are instantaneous. They cannot be summoned, but come of themselves, usually at unlikely moments to those who least expect them.
 -- Katherine Anne Porter

Nobody can force us to be in recovery or twist our arm to make us work our program. There might have been times when we wanted someone to, especially in the beginning, but those times pass. The longer we live in recovery, the more committed we become. We can be grateful that we've stayed with it One Day at a Time. Through times of joy and sadness, through slips, tears, struggling with difficult problems and during moments of peaceful fellowship with new friends, we can truly say that recovery is never boring.

Many of us came to the program because we had no place else to go. Through the mystery of our choices and God's grace, time goes by and we change. It is then we realize that the promises of recovery are coming true. As the Big Book states, the promises of recovery are being "fulfilled among us -- sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them."

My gratitude and joy for the miracle of recovery are boundless.

You are reading from the book:

Answers in the Heart by Anonymous

Answers in the Heart © 1989 by P. Williamson and S. Kiser

Aug. 31, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

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., 2017

Aug. 31, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017

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