Sept. 4, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Seize the Day!

Possibilities and miracles are one and the same. — Anonymous

Many of us have seen happiness as a goal we couldn’t find. When we were children, we were taught that “life is a hard row to hoe.” We carried that over into our adult lives.

Seize the day! We let too many of our days just slide by. None of those hours can be replaced. Why worry over past failures if there is a victory to win? Why keep thinking about our faults when we could be practicing virtues instead?

Seize the day! Hold each moment tight and look at each one with wide-open eyes and mind. They are our lives, special to each of us. The moments pass swiftly into memory. Let those memories be good ones filled with joys large and small.

Yesterday’s unhappiness can’t be changed, but today’s happiness is my own responsibility.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 4, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

Today, remember gratitude and its importance in recovery. I can be grateful that the lifeline of recovery was tossed to me when I needed it, grateful for the peers in the Program who stood with me and picked me up when I stumbled and fell, grateful that the 12 Steps have kept me clean and sober the last 24 Hours and, maybe most important, grateful that whatever problems I have even in sobriety are nowhere near as bad as they were in my drinking days. In feeling with sincerity a gratitude that my life in sobriety is far better than it was in my drinking, I can hope to develop the humility that is required to make progress in my sobriety - humility being my total surrender to my Higher Power and seeking His will for my life, not mine. Today, I measure my gratitude with the goal to bolster it for the sake of progress. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

Sept. 4, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
"We must be careful never to show intolerance or hatred of drinking as an institution. Experience shows that such an attitude is not helpful to anyone. We are not fanatics or intolerant of people who can drink normally. Prospects are relieved when they find we are not witch burners. Temperate drinking is okay, but we alcoholics can't get away with it. And no alcoholic likes to be told about alcohol by anyone who hates it. We shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or hostility."

Do I have tolerance for those who can drink normally?

Meditation for the Day
Do not become encumbered by petty annoyances. Never respond to emotional upsets by emotional upset. Try to keep calm in all circumstances. Try not to fight back. Call on the grace of God to calm you when you feel like retaliating. Look to God for inner strength to drop those resentments that drag you down. If you are burdened by annoyances, you will lose your inward peace and the spirit of God will be shut out. Try to keep peaceful within.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may do the things that make for peace. I pray that I may have a mission of conciliation.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 4, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

Reflection for the Day

Though I have prayed at various times in my life, I realized after several months in The Program that I'd never really prayed properly. I'd always tried to make deals with God, much like a foxhole atheist; I'd always pleaded, "Grant me my wishes," instead of, "Thy will - not mine - be done." The result was that I remained self-deceived and was thus incapable of receiving enough grace to restore me to sanity.

Do I see that in the past, when I prayed to God, I usually asked that two and two not make four?

Today I Pray

May I look back and review how I have prayed before, for specific solutions that I from my earthly vantage felt were best. May I question, in the longer view of time, whether those solutions would have been right, had God chosen to do things my way. In retrospect, may I see that my pleas were not always so wise. May I be content to trust God.

Today I Will Remember

God may not do it my way.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 4, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Friday, Sept. 4, 2020

Too many of us ex-drunks expect too much when we get dried out. We, with characteristic impatience, see no reason why we can't, overnight, regain all our lost ground and get the fifteen thousand dollar job that other sober men get.

Drying out only gives us the opportunity to realize our ambitions. Ability always has been, and always will be, a factor to be reckoned with. Getting sober won't make a musician out of a boilermaker.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 4, 2020 - Good morning to a fabulous Friday and let's break into the overdue Happy Dance

Good morning and let's gear up for the Happy Dance Friday ...make it a really productive and worthwhile day, making no time for anything and anyone wanting to trip you up

Sept. 3, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health. — Michel de Montaigne

Our program isn’t working. We are misunderstood. Nothing’s going well at work. We just can’t see it through. Why doesn’t someone help us?

Impatience! We become fretful and blame others for our shortcomings.

Impatience! We lose touch with the tempo of life and our own particular rhythm.

Impatience! We are convinced our addiction will never stop tormenting us.

Let’s slow down and get back in touch with life’s movement. We know that all things have their season and their motion and their end. It may feel like winter, but spring will come and then summer. Nothing remains static; everything changes and grows. There is a pattern to all life—including ours—if we are patient enough to discern it.

I need to slow down to get in touch with the rhythms of my life and of life outside me.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

"Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." - Step Ten

" ...Step Ten ...suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. ...Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 6 ("Into Action"), p 84.

Today, let me not neglect Step 10 as the extension of the Fourth Step, that the reason for the 10th is to maintain for the rest of my life the clean-up from the Fourth. It does little good if the character defects and conduct I acknowledged and reconciled in my Fourth crop up again but are not quickly acknowledged and corrected. To do so could diminish the quality of my sobriety at best and, at worst, build up to explode in a slip or relapse. Going through the brute honesty of a Fourth does not guarantee that the wrongs I found will not creep up again and, today, if they do, give me the wisdom of honesty and humility to admit them and come to terms. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2020

Sept. 3, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

AA Thought for the Day
"Offer new prospects friendship and fellowship. Tell them that if they want to get well you will do anything to help. Burn the idea into the consciousness of new prospects that they can get well, regardless of anyone else. Job or no job, spouse or no spouse, they cannot stop drinking as long as they place dependence on other people ahead of dependence on God. Let no alcoholic say they cannot recover unless they have their family back. This just isn't so. Their recovery is not dependent upon other people. It is dependent on their own relationship to God."

Can I recognize all excuses made by a prospect?

Meditation for the Day
The spiritual life depends upon the Unseen. To live the spiritual life, you must believe in the Unseen. Try not to lose the consciousness of God's spirit in you and in others. As a child in its mother's arms, stay sheltered in the understanding and love of God. God will relieve you of the weight of worry and care, misery and depression, want and woe, faintness and heartache, if you will let Him. Lift up your eyes from earth's troubles and view the glory of the unseen God. Each day try to see more good in people, more of the Unseen in the seen.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may rest and abide in the presence of the unseen God. I pray that I may leave my burdens in His care.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

Reflection for the Day
Sometimes, even when friends in and outside of The Program tell us how well we're doing, we know deep down that we're really not doing well enough. We still have trouble handling life and facing reality on reality's terms. We suspect, at those times, that there must be a serious flaw in our spiritual practice and development. Chances are strong that our trouble lies in either misunderstanding or neglect of Step Eleven - prayer, meditation and the guidance of God. The other Steps can keep most of us clean and sober, free from other addictions and functioning. But Step Eleven can keep us growing - so long as we try hard and work at it continuously.

Do I trust infinite God rather than my finite self?

Today I Pray
I pray for a deepening of my spiritual awareness, for a stronger faith in the Unseen, for a closer communion with God. May I realize that my growth in The Program depends on my spiritual development. May I give over more of my trust to God's eternal wisdom.

Today I Will Remember
I will not give in or give up, but give over to the power of God.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020

Faith is probably the first natural virtue that the human being acquires. A baby's reaction to its mother is different from earliest infancy. It is an instinctive faith that this one person, above all others, can and will supply all its needs. This faith in mother decreases as the child develops and becomes more self-reliant. He loses faith in the parent as he develops faith in himself. Finally he arrives at a point where he depends upon himself entirely. When Alcoholism develops and he begins to lose faith in himself, he feels completely helpless.

He must then start rebuilding faith, first in the Group or his Sponsor, then in the Program itself, and finally in God. When this is accomplished, then faith returns in himself.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 3, 2020 - Good morning and let's pull out all the stops to make Thursday a calm and quiet one

Good morning with assurance that Thursday is always a grand day because it's Friday Eve ...make it a truly productive and worthwhile but calm and stress-free day, and avoid stress by ignoring anything and anyone out to screw it all up

Sept. 2, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Appreciation is a wonderful thing; it makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. — Voltaire

Appreciation is a big word for a big idea. To appreciate a thing means to really look at its value, its goodness, its beauty and to be glad about it. When we can do this, it changes our life. We become grateful.

It used to be that we felt jealous when someone else was attractive or smart. We felt envy when we saw people who were having fun or who seemed to be in love with each other.

Now that we are sober, we know that we can enjoy the beauty other people create. We can be happy that some people are smart and good at problem-solving. We can be glad that people are in love and raise good kids who will make the world a little better.

When we see these things around us, we know that life holds good things for us, too. There is enough for everyone.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me turn my envy and jealousy into appreciation. I want to find joy and hope in the good things that others do.

Today’s Action

Today I will list three qualities I appreciate in others. Do I want to find these things in myself? How can I do that? I will talk about it with my sponsor.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 2, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020

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. 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., 2020

Sept. 2, 2020 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020

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