May 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Reflection for the Day

As I grow in recovery — sharing, caring, and becoming more and more active — I find that it’s becoming easier to live in the Now. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used words as could’ve, should’ve, would’ve, might’ve. What’s done is done, and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is Now

 Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace?

Today I Pray

I pray that I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of Today. Only by living in the Now may I keep my balance, without bending backward to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around with me wherever I go.

Today I Will Remember

Make room for today.

Hazelden Foundation

May 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, May 6, 2023

“Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, Ch 5, Third Edition, 1976, p 58.

Today, if I feel insecure and tempted to drink, I have to ask if I am one of those who is “constitutionally incapable” of being honest with myself. If I am, I need to ask if I have rejected the Program’s first four words: “Admitted (I am) powerless …”  And if I have not taken Step One, then it’s apparent that I want to drink more than I want to recover. But if I am honest in trying to get with the Program but still struggle, maybe I am not doing it   “One Day at a Time” and thinking in terms of the rest of my life without drinking. The “cure” to that line of thought is simple: today is all any of us has with no guarantee of tomorrow. I need only to think of the rest of my life as today. And, today, I ask if I am constitutionally capable of honesty — first with myself. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

May 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, May 6, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

I’ve noticed that the ones who do the most for AA are not in the habit of boasting about it. The danger of building myself up too much is that, if I do, I’m in danger of having a fall. That pattern of thought goes with drinking. If one side of a boat gets too far up out of the water, it’s liable to tip over. Building myself up and drinking go together. One leads to the other. So if I’m going to stay sober, I’ve got to keep small.

Have I got the right perspective on myself?

Meditation for the Day

The way sometimes seems long and weary. So many people today are weary. The weariness of others must often be shared by me. The weary and the heavy-laden, when they come to me, should be helped to find the rest that I have found. There is only one sure cure for world-weariness, and that is turning to spiritual things. In order to help bring about the turning of the weary world to God, I must dare to suffer, dare to conquer selfishness in myself and dare to be filled with spiritual peace in the face of all the weariness of the world.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be a help to discouraged people. I pray that I may have the courage to help bring about what the weary world needs but does not know how to get.

Hazelden Foundation

May 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Saturday, May 6, 2023

Reflection for the Day
So many of us suffer from despair. Yet we don’t realize that despair is purely the absence of faith. As long as we’re willing to turn to God for help in our difficulties, we cannot despair. When we’re troubled and can’t see a way out, it’s only because we imagine that all solutions depend on us. The Program teaches us to let go of overwhelming problems and let God handle them for us.

When I consciously surrender my will to God’s will, do I see faith at work in my life?

Today I Pray
May I be free of despair and depression, those two “down D’s” that are the result of feelings of helplessness. May I know that I am never without the help of God, that I am never helpless when He is with me. If I have faith, I need never be “helpless and hopeless.”

Today I Will Remember
Despair is the absence of faith.

Hazelden Foundation

May 6, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Saturday, May 6, 2023

AA is the outgrowth of a long period of experimentation. It is true that two men conceived the idea, but it was only incorporated into a working plan after pooling the experiences of a hundred more.

The “Big Book” is a collection of ideas and experiences. There is no one in AA who can say, “I, and I alone, conceived the idea in its entirety; I, and I alone, organized it; I, and I alone, control it.” No man — with all due appreciation to the founders — developed AA, for AA is a program of growth; it has grown from the day of its inception and is still in the process of growth and development.

We move onward and upward, side by side and hand in hand, helping and sustaining one another. This way we will advance, but when someone begins to control and command, deserters will out-number recruits.

Hazelden Foundation

May 6, 2023 – Good morning and kick it in gear for Saturday and the weekend

 

Good morning and here’s hoping everyone has a fantastic Saturday and weekend …and that nothing and no one has the control to screw up the day

May 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, May 5, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Finding Your Spiritual Way

Today I surround myself with my spiritual recovery people. Some live near me, and I’m also the veteran liaison at a farm that has equine-assisted psychotherapy. The farm’s founder is also in recovery, so I always have somebody I can check in with if I’m having a hard day. I’m not doing it alone, and I have a spiritual depth I never had before.

I used to live in fear of getting drunk. But I found that if I live the spiritual principles, live a life of service, look honestly at my own mistakes, and make amends when I need to, I can live a good life. A sober life. And I’m living a good life now.

I also do meditation and I journal. And I ask my Higher Power for help when I need to. I’m not as impulsive as I used to be. If I don’t know what to do, I’ll wait for an answer. And if I screw up, I can find a way to own my side of it and move on.

At long last, my insides finally match my outsides.

Today I will not live in fear, because I know I do not walk the recovery path alone.

— Deb L., U.S. Army, 1981–1996

Hazelden Foundation

May 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Friday, May 5, 2023

” …our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, p 103

Today, accept that I and I alone am responsible for my problems, that I and I alone am responsible for being an alcoholic and that I and I alone can identify and correct the “symbol” on which my alcoholism is based. If I lost a job, spouse or partner because of drinking and I continued drinking or began to drink to “cope” with resentment or a sense of loss, the problem is my handling of those feelings, not the situations themselves. Anger and resentment, then, are the “symbol” of my defective character, and it is those defects which I must identify in my Fourth Step and hand over to my Higher Power in the Sixth and Seventh Steps. Something must replace the void when anger and resentment are relinquished, however, and the service edict of the 12th Step — carrying the message to other alcoholics — suffices in turning my attention from myself to others who need and want the message. Today, I accept that I am responsible for my conduct and that I and I alone am responsible to the consequences. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

May 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, May 5, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
I had to show off and boast so that people would think I amounted to something when, of course, both they and I knew that I really didn’t amount to anything. I didn’t fool anybody. Although I’ve been sober for quite a while, the old habit of building myself up is still with me. I still have a tendency to think too well of myself and to present to be more than I really am.

Am I always in danger of becoming conceited just because I’m sober?

Meditation for the Day
I cannot ascertain the spiritual with my intellect. I can only do it by my own faith and spiritual faculties. I must think of God more with my heart than with my head. I can breathe in God’s very spirit in the life around me. I can keep my eyes turned towards the good things in the world. I am shut up in a box of space and time, but I can open a window in that box by faith. I can empty my mind of all the limitations of material things. I can sense the Eternal.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that whatever is good I may have. I pray that I may leave to God the choice of what good will come to me.

Hazelden Foundation

May 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Friday, May 5, 2023

Reflection for the Day
I knew I had to have a new beginning, and the beginning had to be here. I couldn’t start anywhere else. I had to let go of the past and forget the future. As long as I held on to the past with one hand and grabbed at the future with the other hand, I had nothing with which to grasp today. So I had to begin here, now.

Do I practice the Eleventh Step, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for me, and the Power to carry that out?

Today I Pray
May I not worry about verbalizing my wants and needs in my prayers to a Higher Power. May I not fret over the language of my prayers for God needs no language, and communication with Him is beyond speech. May the Eleventh Step guide me in prayers at all times.

Today I Will Remember
God’s will be done.

Hazelden Foundation

May 5, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Friday, May 5, 2023

When we emerge from under our tons of troubles, get back on our feet and begin to live like other folks again, we somehow feel that the world has become a better place and that when our troubles vanished, all troubles vanished and there were few, if any, left in the world.

The store of world troubles is as great now as ever — only different people are having them. If you have no troubles of your own, go out and find somebody else’s. They are not half so hard to carry, and your heart and soul need the exercise.

Hazelden Foundation

May 5, 2023 – Rise ‘n shine for a gorgeous and fabulous Friday

 

Good morning with hopes of a fantastic Friday for everyone and that nothing and no one is so much in control that they get to wreck it

May 4, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Helping others

We have been given so much help in our addiction through countless other people who have searched for a solution. If others hadn’t searched and found, who would have been there to offer us a helping hand? The ones who come after us can help us best by letting us help them.

Newcomers are a constant reminder and source of joy to us. We’re on this path together, and we should never forget to be grateful for our fellow addicts.

Do I help others?

Higher Power, help me always to be grateful to the ones who have helped me, and help me offer my hand to others.

Today I will help my fellow addicts by…

Hazelden Foundation

May 4, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Thursday, May 4, 2023

“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 Step? “… (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., 2023

May 4, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, May 4, 2023

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