March 2, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Today’s Thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

When I slow down long enough to smell the roses, I usually see the beauty and all else that is ours to share. — Morgan Jennings

We overlook so many joys, so many hidden treasures, when we hurry from place to place, person to person, experience to experience, with little attention anywhere. All that matters passes before us now, at this moment. And assuredly, we will not pass this way again.

It has been said the greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention; additionally, living life fully attentive to the breezes, the colors, the sorrows and the thrills as well, is the most prayerful response any of us can make in this life. Nothing more is asked of us. Nothing less is expected.

We have just this one life to live, and each day is a blessing. Even the trials we shall understand as blessings in the months, the years ahead, as we can see now how the painful moments of the past played their part. Our attitude toward the lessons life has offered makes all the difference in the world.

I will look closely at everything in my path today. The women and children, the trees and squirrels, the silent neighbors. I will never see them again as I see them today. I will be at attention.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Today, remember gratitude if I take undue credit for the sobriety I have found in recovery. While it is justified to take pride in being sober the last 24 Hours, that pride must be within the boundaries of the Program and cannot be stretched to egoism or seeking praise from others. For when pride extends beyond the boundaries to egoism, I risk taking back the surrender to the Higher Power that carried me when I passed out or stumbled in my drinking days and even in some difficult sober days. Yes, I was the one who grabbed the lifeline of recovery, but someone or something else had to toss it to me first. Gratitude. And our common journey continues. Step by Step. - Chris M., 2019

March 2, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, March 2, 2019

AA Thought for the Day

Over a period of drinking years, we've proved to ourselves and to everybody else that we can't stop drinking by our own willpower. We have been proved helpless before the power of alcohol. So the only way we could stop drinking was by turning to a Power greater than ourselves. We call that Power God. The time that you really get this program is when you get down on your knees and surrender yourself to God, as you understand Him. Surrender means putting your life into God's hands.

Have I made a promise to God that I will try to live the way He wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day

Spirit-power comes from communication with God in prayer and times of quiet meditation. I must constantly seek spirit-communication with God. This is a matter directly between me and God. Those who seek it through the medium of the church do not always get the joy and the wonder of spirit-communication with God. From this communication comes life, joy, peace and healing. Many people do not realize the power that can come to them from direct spirit-communication.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may feel that God's power is mine. I pray that I may be able to face anything through that power.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Reflection for the Day

Why don't I spend part of today thinking about my assets, rather than my liabilities? Why not think about victories instead of defeats - about the ways in which I am gentle and kind? It's always been my tendency to fall into a sort of cynical self-hypnosis, putting derogatory labels on practically everything I've done, said or felt. Just for today, I'll spend a quiet half hour trying to gain a more positive perspective on my life.

Do I have the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray

Through quietness and a reassessment of myself, may I develop a more positive attitude. If I am a child of God, created in His image, there must be goodness in me. I will think about that goodness and the ways it manifests itself. I will stop putting myself down, even in my secret thoughts. I will respect what is God's. I will respect myself.

Today I Will Remember

Self-respect is respect for God.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Saturday, March 2, 2019

Life is too short even if we live the whole of it to its fullest, but we alcoholics have wasted so many years of our lives that we must now double our efforts if we hope to do any living at all. Truly, for us, it is later than we think.

There is one consolation, however. and that is that it is possible to use a single moment to produce an eternity of benefits for humanity. Much time has been frittered away, but there is still ample time to do good.

Life is not measured by its length but by its width and its depth.

Hazelden Foundation

March 2, 2019 - Time to get a far-out and groovy peace-loving super Saturday and worry- and stress-free weekend under way

March 1, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, March 1, 2019

Today’s Thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Appreciating ourselves

We are the greatest things that will ever happen to us. Believe it. It makes life much easier. — Codependent No More

It is time to stop this nonsense of running around picking on ourselves.

We may have walked through much of our life apologizing for ourselves either directly or indirectly—feeling less valuable than others, believing that they know better than we do, and believing that somehow others are meant to be here and we are not.

We have a right to be here.

We have a right to be ourselves.

We are here. There is a purpose, a reason, and an intention for our life. We do not have to apologize for being here or being who we are.

We are good enough, and deserving.

Others do not have our magic. We have our magic. It is in us.

It doesn’t matter what we’ve done in our past. We all have a past, woven with mistakes, successes, and learning experiences. We have a right to our past. It is ours. It has worked to shape and form us. As we progress on this journey, we shall see how each of our experiences will be turned around and used for good.

We have already spent too much time being ashamed, being apologetic, and doubting the beauty of ourselves. Be done with it. Let it go. It is an unnecessary burden. Others have rights, but so do we. We are neither less than nor more than. We are equal. We are who we are. That is whom we were created and intended to be.

That, my friend, is a wonderful gift.

God, help me own my power to love and appreciate myself. Help me give myself validity instead of looking to others to do that.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Friday, March 1, 2019

Today, enough! No more self-defeatism for failing to attain perfection when perfection is impossible. No more self-abuse by drinking myself into oblivion every night, awakening to a shot of whisky to calm the shakes. No more dodging responsibilities to myself and other people. No more watching the clock for the 10 a.m. mid-morning hit from the flax hidden in my car in the employee parking lot, and no more counting minutes to race home and again start drinking myself into oblivion. Enough! No more! Recovery begins today. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2019

March 1, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, March 1, 2019

AA Thought for the Day

When I find myself thinking about taking a drink, I say to myself: "Don't reach out and take that problem back. You've given it to God and there's nothing you can do about it." So I forget about the drink. One of the most important parts of the AA program is to give our drink problem to God honestly and fully and never to reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. If we let God have it and keep it for good and then cooperate with Him, we'll stay sober.

Have I determined not to take the drink problem back to myself?

Meditation for the Day

Constant effort is necessary if I am to grow spiritually and develop my spiritual life. I must keep the spiritual rules persistently, perseveringly, lovingly, patiently and hopefully. By keeping them, every mountain of difficulty shall be laid low, the rough places of poverty of spirit shall be made smooth, and all who know me shall know that God is the Lord of all my ways. To get close to the spirit of God is to find life and healing and strength.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God's spirit may be everything to my soul. I pray that God's spirit may grow within.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Friday, March 1, 2019

Reflection for the Day

Now that we're free and no longer chemically-dependent, we have so much more control over our thinking. More than anything, we're able to alter our attitudes. Some members of Alcoholics Anonymous, in fact, choose to think of the letters AA as an abbreviation for "Altered Attitudes." In the bad old days, I almost always responded to any optimistic or positive statement with, "Yes, but ..."  Today, in contrast, I'm learning to eliminate that negative phrase from my vocabulary.

Am I working to change my attitude? Am I determined to "accentuate the positive ...?"

Today I Pray

May I find that healing and strength which God provides to those who stay near Him. May I keep to the spiritual guidelines of The Program, considering the Steps, taking the steps - one by one - then practicing them again and again. In this is my salvation.

Today I Will Remember

To practice at least one Step.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, March 1, 2019

The door of living that opened upon our advent into AA is also able to close upon those years of daily dying that are behind us. That door opened into a long hall that stretched out to a vanishing point; our eye could not perceive its end. We should not be content to just pass through this portal and close the door upon our past, but we should move on for our happiness is up that hall, and we must constantly advance to attain our happy goal.

Hazelden Foundation

March 1, 2019 - Rise 'n shine for a fantastic and far-out Happy Dance Friday and brand new month

Feb. 27, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It feels so good to cry… — Susan Cygnet

Some of us were taught that it’s bad to express our feelings directly—crying, wailing, jumping up and down for joy—that it’s good manners to talk softly, slowly, and politely and to sit still.

But what happens to our feelings when we sit still? If they don’t get expressed, they must be caught inside our bodies. Trapped feelings are like birds in a cage, or a rabbit in a trap—they try to get out any way they can. They peck on our heads and give us headaches. They scratch at our stomachs and make us hurt.

We must let them out. We must laugh and cry. Then our bodies will be happy, and our feelings will curl up in our laps like happy puppies.

Am I ignoring the physical symptoms of trapped feelings?

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 28, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019

Today, take the Program from theoretical to practical application to both recovery and life. If I hear "Easy Does It," I cannot use it as "permission" to neglect daily responsibilities and what must be done today. Instead, it means not to expect too much of either myself or another person. And "Let Go and Let God" does not mean I can expect my Higher Power to tend to what is my responsibility and within my capability. Realize I am letting go of my own will for myself and letting God tell me what His will is for me. "One (drink) is one too many and never enough"  tells me, simply, not to try to find out what "never enough" is and not to try the first one at all. "Making amends"  isn't simply saying, "I'm sorry," but is acceptance of consequences and working harder if some of those amends are rejected. "One Day at a Time" is simple: today is all I've got and yesterday can't be undone or redone, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. Even it is, I have to give today my best shot because it may well reverberate into tomorrow. Today, move from theory to the practical, and it's time to roll up the sleeves. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2019

Feb. 28, 2019 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019

AA Thought for the Day

We should be free from alcohol for good. It's out of our hands and in the hands of God, so we don't need to worry about it or even think about it any more. But if we haven't done this honestly and fully, the chances are that it will become our problem again. Since we don't trust God to take care of the problem for us, we reach out and take the problem back to ourselves. Then it's our problem again and we're in the same old mess we were in before. We're helpless again and we drink.

Do I trust God to take care of the problem for me?

Meditation for the Day

No work is of value without preparation. Every spiritual work must have behind it much spiritual preparation. Cut short times of prayer and times of spiritual preparation and many hours of work may be profitless. From the point of view of God, one poor tool working all the time but doing back work because of lack of preparation, is of small value compared with the sharp, keen, perfect instrument working for only a short time but which turns out perfect work because of long hours of spiritual preparation.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may spend more time alone with God. I pray that I may get more strength and joy from such times, so that they will add much to my work.

Hazelden Foundation