May 4, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Come, Love! Sing On! Let me hear you sing this song — sing for joy and laugh, for I the creator am truly subject to all creatures. — Mechthild of Magdeburg

Recovery without joy and song and playfulness is incomplete. The beauty of music uplifts our spirits and shows us the face of our Creator. For many men, music is their means of meditation and conscious contact with their Higher Power. When we experience the creativity of a musical piece, as it speaks to us, we take a step beyond the practical world into the profound level of creation.

Some people say, “How can you celebrate when there is so much suffering, so much to grieve about?” We have grieved, and we continue to grieve alongside our joy. But we need not pour all our energies into the painful and sad. Life is also wonderful. Music and dance and the joy of good fellowship enrich our lives and strengthen us to go on.

Praise the spirit of our Creator for all that is given to us!

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Wednesday, May 4, 2022

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." - Step Three

Today, have I surrendered my will and life to a Higher Power after having "made a decision ...?" We are warned, "Selfishness - self-centeredness! That ...is the root of our troubles." Selfishness, easily identified in our Fourth Step, gives way to humility - the total surrender of self to the will of a Higher Power. The Third Step lays the foundation for the spiritual change that we work toward in subsequent Steps, and change can be little or nothing if we do not first experience humility of absolute surrender. And the predictable outcome if we hold onto our playing God with our own lives will be a slip or full relapse. How do I "take" my Third? "... (I)t is better to meet God alone than with one" other person, according to the Big Book, because of the intensely personal and private relationship we have with the God of our understanding. Today, I do not take for granted the immense importance of Step Three and ask if I have humbled myself completely to seek my Higher Power's will instead of mine. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

May 4, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, May 4, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
When I was drinking, I always tried to build myself up. I used to tell tall stories about myself. I told them so often that I half-believe some of them now, even though I know they aren't true. I used to hang around the low-brow barrooms so I could feel superior to the other customers. The reason I always tried to build myself up was that I knew deep down in my heart that I really didn't amount to anything. It was a kind of defense against my feeling of inferiority.

Do I still build myself up?

Meditation for the Day
God thought about the universe and brought it into being. His thought brought me into being. I must think God's thought after Him. I must often keep my mind occupied with thoughts about God and meditate on the way He wants me to live. I must train my mind constantly in quiet times of communion with God. It is the work of a lifetime to develop to full stature spiritually. This is what I am on earth for. It gives meaning to my life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may think God's thoughts after Him. I pray that I may live as He wants me to live.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2022 - Readings in Recovery; A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Reflection for the Day
Many people pray as though to overcome the will of a reluctant God, instead of taking hold of the willingness of a loving God. In the late stages of our addiction, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become entirely ready to try the principles of The Program, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension - freedom under God as we understand Him.

Is my growth in The Program convincing me that God alone can remove obsessions?

Today I Pray
May I pray not as a complaining child to a stern father, as though "praying" must always mean "pleading," usually in moments of helpless desperation. May I pray, instead, for my own willingness to reach out to Him, since He is ready at all times to reach out to me. May I regard my Higher Power as a willing God.

Today I Will Remember
God is willing.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, May 4, 2022

The reformed drunkard has simply corrected his former drinking abuses. With this single exception, he is the same man with the same defects of character that marked his life in his drinking day.

In contrast, the real AA has experienced a revolutionary moral change. He has put the operation of his life into the care and under the direction of the God of his understanding. Not only has he corrected his drinking abuses, but he has turned his entire life over to the care of Him who is the source of, and indeed is, Good.

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2022 - Good morning and let's go for a spectacular Wednesday

 

Good morning and here's a challenge to do this wonderful Wednesday proud ...have a really great but productive and safe day, and don't waste precious time on people and things that can mess it up

May 3, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Fortunate are the people whose roots are deep. — Agnes Meyer

A tree’s roots seek water and minerals. Though the roots can’t be easily seen, they are there. The life of the tree depends on them. The stronger a tree’s roots, the higher a tree can grow.

We need to set deep roots into the soil of recovery. The soil of recovery is made up of the Twelve Steps, fellowship, and service to others. We’ll have to get through storms and high winds in our return to health. In so doing, we’ll become beautiful, strong, and spiritual. We’ll be able to live with both the gentle breezes and the heavy winds of life.

Prayer for the Day

Higher Power, help me believe in what I can’t see. Just as I believe that the roots of a tree are there because I can see the leaves, I believe in a Higher Power because I can see the results.

Action for the Day

I will ask myself, “Which Step do I need to work on the most right now?” I will volunteer to give a meeting on that Step.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Today, security in sobriety to sustain any disappointments - minor and major - that I encounter in recovery. The best laid plans of mice and men do not always take form even in sobriety, and I must not deceive myself by expecting life to go as I think or expect it should only because I have stopped drinking. Part of the nature of alcoholism is the ultra-sensitivity to disappointment, sometimes to a disproportionate degree, and the result could be the false belief that I have failed somewhere along the line. Life for the non-addict is not always a bed of roses, but the thorns can cut the recovering addict's psyche deeper. Today, mindful that even the rose bed of sobriety has hidden thorns, I will not be discouraged if I am stung. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

May 3, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
AA teaches us to take it easy. We learn how to relax and to stop worrying about the past or the future, to give up our resentments and hates and tempers, to stop being critical of people and to try to help them instead. That's what "Easy Does It" means. So in the time that's left to me to live, I'm going to try to take it easy, to relax and not to worry, to try to be helpful to others and to trust God.

For what's left of my life, is my motto going to be "Easy Does It?"

Meditation for the Day
I must overcome myself before I can truly forgive other people for injuries done to me. The self in me cannot forgive injuries. The very thought of wrongs means that my self is in the foreground. Since the self cannot forgive, I must overcome my selfishness. I must cease trying to forgive those who fretted and wronged me. It is a mistake for me even to think about these injuries. I must aim at overcoming myself in my daily life and then I will find there is nothing in me that remembers injury because the only thing injured - my selfishness - is gone.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may hold no resentments. I pray that my mind may be washed clean of all past hates and fears.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Reflection for the Day
"To stand on one leg and prove God's existence is a very different thing," wrote Soren Kierkegaard, "from going down on one's knees and thanking Him." It is my confidence in a Higher Power, working in me, which today releases and activates my ability to make my life a more joyous, satisfying experience. I can't bring this about by relying on myself and my own limited ideas.

Have I begun to thank God every night?

Today I Pray
May I remember constantly that it is my belief in my Higher Power that flips the switch to release the power in me. Whenever I falter in my faith, that power is shut off. I pray for undiminished faith, so that this power - given by God and regenerated by my own belief in it - may always be available to me as the source of my strength.

Today I Will Remember
Faith regenerates God-given power.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, May 3, 2022

George Washington is often credited with being America's first millionaire, yet few people are aware of this fact. He left a heritage so much richer politically, economically and historically that his own personal wealth is forgotten.

His personal wealth has long since been dissipated, but the opportunities in this country he helped establish will continue as long as men's lives are motivated by the same unselfish devotion to mankind that he exemplified, both in public and private life.

Hazelden Foundation

May 3, 2022 - Good morning and give this gorgeous Tuesday your best shot

 

Good morning with sincere hopes for a magnificent Tuesday for all, and it will be not-so-magnificent if we allow anything and anyone the control to screw it up

May 2, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, May 2, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Living the Twelve Step way is a twenty‑four‑hour‑a‑day opportunity.

Twelve Step programs expose us to ideas that seem foreign. It takes time to embrace a new value system we can live by every day. Absorbing and using these principles for every decision and action removes the worry from our lives.

Changing how we’ve thought and acted doesn’t happen overnight. Changing one thing at a time is enough at first. Perhaps we’ll give up our feeling of hopelessness. The Second Step tells us that God can free us from our insanity, our hopelessness. All we need do is ask for help, and hope will come. Maybe we decide the urge to take over someone else’s life must end. Doing the First Step numerous times a day will help us remember that we are powerless over everyone else. If discomfort from an old relationship keeps haunting us, maybe it’s time to make amends and get on with life.

Our value system shapes every part of our lives. Twelve Step philosophy simplifies our lives, particularly when the baggage of the past has been cleared away.

This isn’t a part-time program for me. I want to live by these principles every minute. My life will reflect how successfully I do it.

Hazelden Foundation

May 2, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, May 2, 2022

Today, if I have made sincere amends to those I wronged "except when to do so would hurt" them or others, I must progress beyond regret, shame and anger to what may be my single strongest and most meaningful amend: committing myself to sobriety and recovery. For all I said and did as an alcoholic and now sober, I cannot become the proverbial doormat and let anyone or anything hammer me for the mistakes I have tried to correct, especially by those who cannot or will not accept my apologies. I can allow a margin of regret that I may not be forgiven by all I have hurt, but I cannot afford to be kicked down repeatedly. Today, if I have been rebuffed or cannot make amends because doing so might lead to more damage, I can find reconciliation in being sober. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

May 2, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, May 2, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
In AA, we often hear the slogan, "Easy Does It." Alcoholics also do everything to excess. They drink too much. They worry too much. They have too many resentments. They hurt themselves physically and mentally by too much of everything. So when they come into AA, they have to learn to take it easy. None of us knows how much longer we have to live. It's probable that we wouldn't have lived very long if we had continued to drink the way we used to. By stopping drinking, we have increased our chances of living for a while longer.

Have I learned to take it easy?

Meditation for the Day
You must be, before you can do. To accomplish much, be much. In all cases, the doing must be the expression of the being. It is foolish to think that we can accomplish much in personal relationships without first preparing ourselves by being honest, pure, unselfish and loving. We must choose the good and keep choosing it before we are ready to be used by God to accomplish anything worthwhile. We will not be given the opportunities until we are ready for them. Quiet times of communion with the Higher Power are good preparation for creative action.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may constantly prepare myself for better things to come. I pray that I may only have opportunities when I am ready for them.

Hazelden Foundation