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

 

Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

I used to think, this is just the way I am. Now I know that I create myself anew — every day. — Jill Clark

Even when we wallowed in drugs and self-pity, we were in charge of our choices. Try as we might to blame others for our failures, the buck stops here.

The necessity of taking responsibility for our entire life may be one of the hardest lessons we have to learn. We can start accepting responsibility by following the example of others in this circle of recovery. We can quit blaming parents, teachers, siblings, or neighbors for our problems and habitual defects of character.

We must finally accept that we always had choices on how to respond to every transgression against us. As youngsters we may not have felt empowered to stand up for ourselves, but we must take that step now or be forever stuck in the patterns of the past.

Today is a clean slate. I will be me, whoever I decide “me” is. I will become a work of art today.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

” …I had my first drink and I still remember it, for every ‘first’ drink afterwards did exactly the same trick – I could feel it go right through every bit of my body …But each drink after the ‘first’ seemed to become less effective and, after three or four, they all seemed like water. …(T)he more I drank, the quieter I got, and the drunker I got, the harder I fought to stay sober. …Even that first night I blacked out, which leads me to believe that I was an alcoholic from my very first drink.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “Personal Stories,” Ch 6 (“The Vicious Cycle”), p 241.

Today, grant that I always remember my last drunk if I cannot remember my first – for it is the last one that brought me to my knees and set me on my search for something better. Even if I cannot remember the first drink or whether I became alcoholic with my first or 1,000th one, I cannot forget that I was in alcoholism on my last drunk. And if I can’t remember my last drunk, I might not have had it. Thus, the reason for recovery. Regardless of how recently or long ago my last drunk was, my recovery Program is here to strengthen and steer me from the next drink. Today, I am only as good as the guy whose last drink was yesterday even if mine was a thousand yesterdays ago and, today, I will remember my last drunk. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

Aug. 2, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
Alcoholics Anonymous has no quarrel with medicine, psychiatry or religion. We have great respect for the methods of each. And we are glad for any success they may have had with alcoholics. We are desirous always of cooperating with them in every way. The more doctors, the more psychiatrists, the more clergymen and rabbis we can get to work with us, the better we like it. We have many who take a real interest in our program and we would like many more.

Am I ready to cooperate with those who take a sincere interest in AA?

Meditation for the Day
God is always ready to pour His blessings into our hearts in generous measure. But like the seed-sowing, the ground must be prepared before the seed is dropped in. It is our task to prepare the soil. It is God’s to drop the seed. This preparation of the soil means many days of living, choosing the right and avoiding the wrong. As you go along, each day you are better prepared for God’s planting, until you reach the time of harvest. Then you share the harvest with God – the harvest of a useful and more abundant life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that my way of living may be properly prepared day by day. I pray that I may strive to make myself ready for the harvest which God has planted in my heart.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

Reflection for the Day
When I begin to compare my life with the lives of others, I’ve begun to move toward the edge of the murky swamp of self-pity. On the other hand, if I feel that what I’m doing is right and good, I won’t be so dependent on the admiration or approval of others. Applause is well and good, but it’s not essential to my inner contentment. I’m in the Program to get rid of self-pity, not to increase its power to destroy me.

Am I learning how others have dealt with their problems so I can apply these lessons to my own life?

Today I Pray
God, make me ever mindful of where I came from and the new goals I have been encouraged to set. May I stop playing to an audience for their approval, since I am fully capable of admiring or applauding myself if I feel I have earned it. Help me to make myself attractive from the inside, so it will show through, rather than adorning the outside for effect. I am tired of stage make-up and costumes, God; help me be myself.

Today I Will Remember
Has anyone seen ME?

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022

The very basis of AA is kindness to the suffering alcoholic, but the question often arises as to what is the kind thing to do. Sometimes we have to do things that might be considered cruel in order to be kind.

There are occasions when it is an act of kindness to have a man locked up if he is apt to hurt himself or others. Sometimes drastic steps have to be taken to prevent a man from driving his car when he is drunk. Occasionally it might be the best thing for a man if his boss should fire him or if his family left him.

We are frequently called upon for this kind of advice. Who are we to decide such issues? God has the answer, and it is best to turn the query over to Him.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 2, 2022 – Good moring and let’s make it a rip-roarin’ Tuesday

 

Good morning and who’s not going to have a great Tuesday with this cute little pussy kitty as motivation?

Aug. 1, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It is what we all do with our hearts that affects others most deeply. — Gerald Jampolsky

If we vigilantly let our heart determine how we are to respond to every situation or experience in our life and to every person with whom we’re sharing our journey, our path will be less bumpy. We have the opportunity every moment to ensure a smooth trip today. By choosing to see and speak from our heart, we’ll find peace. We’ll be offering the gift of peace to others, too.

Our heart is the home of our Higher Power, whose wish for us is peace, joy, and a constant state of inner well-being. These gifts are ours to experience through the act of sharing our peace, joy, and love with others.

We never need to long for security, stability, or better outcomes in our life. We can learn how these gifts are contained in our own actions.

I desire peace and joy in my life today and I will feel it every moment that I listen and act from my heart.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

Today, caution against carrying “Take It Easy” to procrastination or neglect of the new responsibilities that sobriety requires. “Take It Easy” means we tend to our spiritual and emotional care lest we be unqualified to help someone else with their own. Adversely, “Take It Easy” does not bestow “permission” to put off or ignore responsibilities to ourselves, others and the 12th Step marching order to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. The Program shows us how to balance the scale between taking it easy and procrastination, and if it’s weighted down by taking it easy at the expense of responsibility to ourselves and others, we become irresponsible dry drunks. Today, seek the balance between taking it easy all the time and giving all our time to everything and everyone else. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

Aug. 1, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
The Alcoholics Anonymous program has borrowed from medicine, psychiatry and religion. It has taken from these what it wanted and combined them into the program which it considers best suited to the alcoholic mind and which will best help the alcoholic to recover. The results have been very satisfactory. We do not try to improve on the AA program. Its value has been proved by the success it has had in helping thousands of alcoholics to recover. It has everything we alcoholics need to arrest our illness.

Do I try to follow the AA program just as it is?

Meditation for the Day
You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and God. Priceless beyond all earth’s rewards is that union. In merging your heart and mind with the heart and mind of the Higher Power, a oneness of purpose results, which only those who experience it can even dimly realize. That oneness of purpose puts you in harmony with God and with all others who are trying to do His will.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may become attuned to the will of God. I pray that I may be in harmony with the music of the spheres.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

Reflection for the Day
Self-pity is one of the most miserable and consuming defects I know. Because of its interminable demands for attention and sympathy, my self-pity cuts off my communication with others, especially communication with my Higher Power. When I look at it that way, I realize that self-pity limits my spiritual progress. It’s also a very real form of martyrdom, which is a luxury I simply can’t afford. The remedy, I’ve been taught, is to have a hard look at myself and a still harder one at The Program’s Twelve Steps to recovery.

Do I ask my Higher Power to relieve me of the bondage of self?

Today I Pray
May I know from observation that self-pitiers get almost no pity from anyone else. Nobody – not even God – can fill their out-sized demands for sympathy. May I recognize my own unsavory feeling of self-pity when it creeps in to rob me of my serenity. May God keep me wary of its sneakiness.

Today I Will Remember
My captor is my self.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

It has been observed by many in AA that the surest bet to get our Program is the man who needs it most desperately. His very desperation lends strength to his efforts. He has been backed up to a wall and he must fight his way out of his dilemma or else he must die. There is no alternative.

Only the coward quits in despair, and the alcoholic can’t be a coward for, if he was, he would have quit the unequal game long before his alcoholism was fully developed.

Yes, it takes a brave man to fight his way to the gutter, and it takes a brave and desperate man to fight his way out.

Hazelden Foundation

Aug. 1, 2022 – Good morning, and Monday isn’t just lurking …it’s here

 

Good morning and, yep, that the smell of Monday …now get out there and show the day who’s in control

July 31, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, July 31, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Growth

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness. — Pearl S. Buck

When we’re out of sorts with everyone and everything, and we realize that we’re the one who needs to change, that’s growth.

When we mind our own business and don’t take the inventory of another, that’s growth.

When we don’t expect anyone to change their opinion simply because it differs from ours, that’s growth.

When we think we’re right at one moment then are proven wrong the next, and are happy about it because we’ve learned something, that’s growth.

When we are as happy about another’s progress as we are about our own, that’s growth.

When we welcome each new day instead of dreading it, that’s growth.

I used to seek happiness in material things and overdependence on other people. Now growth itself is happiness.

Hazelden Foundation

July 31, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, July 31, 2022

“The old (drinking) pattern reasserted itself, but it was no longer once every six months. The intervals grew shorter. The binges were longer. They were harder to get off. …
“That type of drinking is not pleasant. It is no longer enjoyable. You no longer get the kicks. It is desperation drinking. I was drinking to keep away the shakes …I was drinking to try to hold on to a job, to try and hold on to my home, to try to hold on to my wife, to try to hold on to my sanity.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part III (“They Lost Nearly All”), Ch 8 (“Desperation Drinking”), p 514.

Today, honesty to accept that I am in deep trouble if drinking is my answer to any desperation I feel – be it a situation I desperately want not to face, or the talk with my spouse, partner or employer, the constantly ringing telephone that I will not answer because someone might be calling about my drinking or some problem it has caused. If drinking is my solution to any problem in my life, let me hear the voices of experience that my solution has become a crisis bigger than the problem I’m avoiding. And if I have not drank for any significant number of 24 Hours, chances are I now cannot remember the problem I drank to avoid. But in drinking, I and I alone created my life’s single direst crises that was far worse than any problem I faced sober. Today, alcohol will not be my solution to any problem that I may encounter. My answer is the Twelve Steps. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2022

July 31, 2022 – Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, July 31, 2022

AA Thought for the Day
This leaves only one day – today. Anyone can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives us mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.

Am I living one day at a time?

Meditation for the Day
Give God the gift of a thankful heart. Try to see causes of thankfulness in your everyday life. When life seems hard and troubles crowd, then look for some reasons for thankfulness. There is nearly always something you can be thankful for. The offering of thanksgiving is indeed a sweet incense going up to God throughout a busy day. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about. You will acquire in time the habit of blessings. Each new day some new cause for joy and gratitude will spring to your mind and you will thank God sincerely.

Prayer for the Day
I pray for a truly thankful heart. I pray that I may be constantly reminded of causes for sincere gratitude.

Hazelden Foundation