April 25, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Thursday, April 25, 2013 

Reflection for the Day

I have much more to be grateful for than I realize. Too often, I don't remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could enjoy and appreciate. Perhaps I don't take time for this important meditation because I'm too preoccupied with my own so-called woes. I allow my mind to overflow with grievances; the more I think about them, the more monumental they seem. Instead of surrendering to God and His goodness, I let myself be controlled by the negative thinking into which my thoughts are apt to stray unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths. 

Do I try to cultivate an "attitude of gratitude?" 

Today I Pray

May God lead me away from my pile-up of negative thoughts, which make for detours in my path of personal growth. May I break the old poor-me habits of remembering the worst and expecting the most dire. May I turn my thoughts ahead to a whole new world out there. May I allow myself to envision the glory of God. 

Today I Will Remember

Keep an attitude of gratitude. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Thursday, April 25, 2013 

Man is a pretty smart duck, but after all these centuries of study, experimentation and reasoning, we still don't know what we are, where our life came from or what happens to it when we die. True, we have certain faiths and beliefs, but who can say with certainty and with personal knowledge exactly what the answer to the Great Enigma really is? 

We have unlocked many of the secrets of Nature, but we still don't know what we are, how we got here or where we will go when we leave. 

God still has many secrets. If man knew them all, there would be no incentive to know God better. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Fear of Giving

It is often the fear of rejection that makes us afraid to give of ourselves. The person who is reluctant to share at a meeting may be holding back because of this fear. To share is to reveal who we are and where we are. If we feel inadequate, we do not want to expose this imagined inadequacy to other people.

If our self-image is too grand and inflated, we cannot possibly live up to it in reality. Expecting ourselves to be perfect sets us up for frustration and fear, since we know deep down that we do not measure up to our image of perfection.

With humility comes the willingness to give of what we have and what we are right now, without waiting until we are more eloquent or more accomplished. What we have to share is what someone else needs to receive. By focusing more on the needs of others and less on the imaginary concept of ourselves, which is our ego, we learn to overcome our fear of giving. What we have to give now is enough for today.

May I not be afraid to give.

From the book:

Food for Thought by Elisabeth L.

Food for Thought by Elisabeth L. © 1980, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

April 24, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
 
Today, I begin to understand the link between consequences and responsibility - and to appreciate that I and I alone am responsible to the consequences of all my behavior and choices, including drinking, and that excuses and justifications will not spare me either consequences or responsibility. The Program's 12th Step requirement to "practice these principles in all (my) affairs" implies that to live by the Program's principles I must not fall back on the weak defenses of my days of drinking to weazle out of owning my feelings, actions and behavior and the consequences of each. If, for example, I slip or relapse, I cannot "blame" anyone or any situation or feeling because, in the end, I made the decision to drink. No one tied me down and poured it down my throat, and I and no one else will endure the physical and emotional consequences of my drinking. Today, I am mindful that all I say, do and feel will bear consequences and that I alone will be responsible to those consequences. And if I want to avoid responsibility for consequences, the "out" is clear: don't do whatever I don't want to be responsible for. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

April 24, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 

AA Thought for the Day

It's been proved that we alcoholics can't get sober by our willpower. We've failed again and again. Therefore, I believe there must be a Higher Power which helps me. I think of that power as the grace of God. And I pray to God every morning for the strength to stay sober today. I know that Power is there because it never fails to help me. 

Do I believe that AA works through the grace of God? 

Meditation for the Day

Once I am "born of the spirit," that is my life's breath. Within me is the life of life, so that I can never perish. The life that down the ages has kept God's children through peril, adversity and sorrow. I must try never to doubt or worry, but follow where the life of the spirit leads. How often, when little I know it, God goes before me to prepare the way, to soften a heart, or to overrule a resentment. As the life of the spirit grows, natural wants become less important. 

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my life may become centered in God more than in self. I pray that my will may be directed towards doing His will. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 

Reflection for the Day

We come to know in The Program that there is no deeper satisfaction and no greater joy than in a Twelfth Step well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness to light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives - these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry the message of The Program. 

Am I learning through Twelfth Step experiences that gratitude should go forward, rather than backward? 

Today I Pray

May my Twelfth Steps be as wholehearted and as convincing and as constructive as others' Twelfth-Stepping has been to me. May I realize that the might of The Program and its effectiveness for all of us come through "passing it on." When I guide someone else to sobriety, my own sobriety is underlined and reinforced. I humbly ask God's guidance before each Twelfth Step. 

Today I Will Remember

To pass it on. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 

The reasoning of the practicing alcoholic is in such foul shape that he is apt to take any attitude on the drinking question and usually does. 

It is unreasonable to expect them to view their own or anyone else's sobriety in a rational way. Naturally plain common sense is not possible in the midst of an alcoholic fog, but why - oh, why - do so many practicing alcoholics, including slipees, invariably persist in looking for the most insecure member of AA in their quest for a drinking partner? 

If you are homesick for the gutter, go on back to it. But don't take anyone with you. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Yesterday is over

It is a fact of life that what is old dies to make way for what is new. Endings are often painful - we mourn the death of a relationship, we regret leaving a familiar neighborhood, we don't like to say good-bye.

Endings, though, give us the chance to begin again. A new friend comes in to fill the empty space left when an old friend moves away. A new school, a new job, a new season of the year - these are fresh starts that evolve from what has gone before.

We need not fear the inevitable endings in our lives. Daily, we are renewed. Our bodies produce new cells continually. When we are going through an ending, we may not be able to see the new beginning that lies beyond, but we can trust it will be there for us when we are ready. We can welcome the new opportunities that each day brings and consider them gifts from the Higher Power that is with us to guide us through each end and each beginning.

I will let yesterday end so that today can begin.

From the book:

Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L.

Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.

April 23, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
 
Today, I have to reflect on the choices and responsibilities of sponsorship. If I have progressed to a point in my sobriety that I need to consider asking someone to sponsor me, where and how do I begin? My home group is the fertile starting point, and I may think about selecting three or four members, narrow them down to those I feel I can trust most and then approach that potential sponsor in confidence. If I am being asked to sponsor someone, however, I ask my Higher Power for the wisdom and responsibility before taking on such a sacred trust. Let me understand that sponsorship does not mean I am the sponsee's pseudo-priest and that the job does not make me a "preacher." Today, I begin to extend my recovery to include asking to be sponsor and, God willing, consenting to someone's request to extend my hand to his. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

April 23, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 

AA Thought for the Day

Men and women keep coming into AA, licked by alcohol, often given up by doctors as hopeless cases, they themselves admitting they're helpless to stop drinking. When I see these men and women get sober and stay sober over a period of months and years, I know that AA works. The change I see in people who come into AA not only convinces me that there must be a Power greater than ourselves which helps us to make that change. 

Am I convinced that a Higher Power can help me to change? 

Meditation for the Day

Cooperation with God is the great necessity for our lives. All else follows naturally. Cooperation with God is the result of our consciousness of His presence. Guidance is bound to come to us as we live more and more with God, as our consciousness becomes more and more attuned to the great Consciousness of the universe. We must have many quiet times when we not so much ask to be shown and led by God, as to feel and realize His presence. New spiritual growth comes naturally from cooperation with God. 

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God may supply me with strength and show me the direction in which He wants me to grow. I pray that these things may come naturally from my cooperation with Him. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2013 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 

Reflection for the Day

No matter what it is that seems to be our need or problems, we can find something to rejoice in, something for which to give thanks. It is not God who needed to be thanked, but we who need to be thankful. Thankfulness opens new doors to good in our life. Thankfulness creates a new heart and a new spirit in us. 

Do I keep myself aware of the many blessings that come to me each day and remember to be thankful for them? 

Today I Pray

May God fill me with a spirit of thankfulness. When I express my thanks, however fumbling, to God or to another human being, I am not only being gracious to Him or that other person for helping me, but I am also giving myself the greatest reward of all - a thankful heart. May I not forget either the transitive "to thank," directed at someone else, or the intransitive "giving thanks," which fills my own great need. 

Today I Will Remember

Thank and give thanks. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2013 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 

It would be possible for a nation, or even the world, to exist without many of the natural resources we have. But no nation could exist without men. The strength of the nation is the strength of its men. 

The men who comprise the population of the nation are individuals, and the sum total of the virtues of the individuals is the character of the nation. 

Our value to society is not our newfound sobriety but our new character as developed by our new and better way of living. 

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2013 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Let go of resentments

Resentments are sneaky, tricky little things. They can convince us they're justified. They can dry up our hearts. They can sabotage our happiness. They can sabotage love.

Most of us have been at the receiving end of an injustice at some time in our lives. Most of us know someone who's complained of an injustice we've done to him or her. Life can be a breeding ground for resentments, if we let it.

"Yes, but this time I really was wronged," we complain.

Maybe you were. But harboring resentment isn't the solution. If it were, our resentment list would resemble the Los Angeles telephone directory. Deal with your feelings. Learn whatever lesson is at hand. Then let the feelings go.

Resentments are a coping behavior, a tool of someone settling for survival in life. They're a form or revenge. The problem is, no matter whom we're resenting, the anger is ultimately directed against ourselves.

Take a moment. Search your heart. Have you tricked yourself into harboring resentment? If you have, take another moment and let that resentment go.

God, grant me the serenity that acceptance brings.

From the book:

More Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

More Language of Letting Go © 2000 by Melody Beattie. All rights reserved.

April 22, 2013 - Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, April 22, 2013

Today, I will stop running from the pain of regret, shame, guilt, loss and all other anguish that my drinking days evoked. While I cannot and will not embrace my pain, I must finally come to terms and reconciliation with it. By taking each step in the Program with absolute honesty and the wisdom of my Higher Power's will for myself, I will instead look to the lessons to be learned from my actions that eventually pooled together to create the pain I may still carry. Regret and shame might be eased by perhaps the single strongest amend I can make: by not drinking today. I can release guilt by learning from the mistakes of my behavior that created it, and the sense of loss might be less painful if I can be grateful that I even had what I lost and accept that I might not have been ready to be responsible for what I had and lost. Today, I will work on weakening the hurt of pain not by running from or denying it, but by confronting it and find the comfort in it - and even in pain, there is comfort. But, in the end, if I deny or do not allow myself to feel and deal with the hurt, the good might not feel as good as it might otherwise. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

April 22, 2013 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, April 22, 2013 

AA Thought for the Day

People believe in AA when they see it work. An actual demonstration is what convinces them. What they read in books, what they hear people say doesn't always convince them. But when they see a real honest-to-goodness change take place in a person, a change from a drunkard to a sober, useful citizen, that's something they can believe because they can see it. There's really only one thing that proves to me that AA works. 

Have I seen the change in people who come into AA? 

Meditation for the Day

Divine control and unquestioning obedience to God are the only conditions necessary for a spiritual life. Divine control means absolute faith and trust in God, a belief that God is the Divine Principle in the universe and that He is the Intelligence and the Love that controls the universe. Unquestioning obedience to God means living each day the way you believe God wants you to live, constantly seeking the guidance of God in every situation and being willing to do the right thing at all times. 

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may always be under Divine Control and always practice unquestioning obedience to God. I pray that I may be always ready to serve Him. 

Hazelden Foundation