Oct. 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The reality is that changes are coming . . .They must come. You must share in bringing them.
 -- John Hersey

Change. It's scary. It's hard. It's needed. Sometimes it feels good; other times it feels bad. But one thing is for sure: it keeps on happening.

Just when our life seems settled, it changes. We can't stop life. We can't stay this age forever. The world changes. Life moves on. There are always new things to do and learn.

Change means we're always beginners in some ways. We need to ask for wisdom and courage. We get it by listening, by praying, by meditating. When we ask, our Higher Power will teach us to be part of good changes.

Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me believe that Your plans call for good changes.

Action for the Day
Today I'll think about the changes in my life. I've lived through a lot. I'll be okay when more changes come, with God's help. I can keep on growing.

You are reading from the book:

Keep It Simple by Anonymous

Keep It Simple © 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

Today, understand that recovery gives us the freedom not to live within the confines of alcoholism and, instead, live in the boundless possibilities of sobriety. As a recovering alcoholic, I know - or at least, I better know - what I cannot do and, in trying to work toward or maintaining sobriety, I may be fighting what I cannot do. But in recovery, I am not confined by what I cannot do in alcoholism and any other "ism" and do not have to fight sobriety. As such, I need to understand the distinction between fighting not to drink and simply letting sobriety be. Today, I have the freedom to live not in the problem of alcoholism but living in the solution of simply not drinking. Today, I choose to live in the solution, not in the problem. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

Oct. 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

AA Thought for the Day
Seventh, I can help other alcoholics. I am of some use in the world. I have a purpose in my life. I am worth something at last. My life has a direction and a meaning. All that feeling of futility is gone. I can do something worthwhile. God has given me a new lease on life so that I can help other alcoholics. He has let me live through all the hazards of my alcoholic life to bring me at last to a place of real usefulness in the world. He has let me live for this. This is my opportunity and my destiny. I am worth something!

Will I give as much of my life as I can to AA?

Meditation for the Day
All of us have our own battle to win, the battle between the material view of life and the spiritual view. Something must guide our lives. Will it be wealth, pride, selfishness, greed or will it be faith, honesty, purity, unselfishness, love and service? Each one has a choice. We can choose good or evil. We cannot choose both. Are we going to keep striving until we win the battle? If we win the victory, we can believe that even God in His heaven will rejoice.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may choose the good and resist the evil. I pray that I will not be a loser in the battle for righteousness.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

Reflection for the Day
The Program's Fourth Step suggests that we make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves. For so many of us, especially newcomers, the task seems impossible. Each time we take pencil in hand and try to look inward, Pride says scoffingly,"You don't have to bother to look." And Fear cautions, "You'd better not look." We find eventually that this sort of pride and fear are mere wisps of smoke, the cloudy strands from which were woven the mythology of our old ideas. When we push pride and fear aside and finally make a fearless inventory, we experience relief and a new sense of confidence beyond description.

Have I made an inventory? Have I shared its rewards so as to encourage others?

Today I Pray
May I not be stalled by my inhibitions when it comes to making a moral inventory of myself. May I not get to the Fourth Step and then screech to a stop because the task seems overwhelming. May I know that my inventory today, even though I try to make it "thorough" and honest, may not be as complete as it will be if I repeat it again, for the process of self-discovery goes on and on.

Today I Will Remember
Praise God for progress.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 27, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016

Gifts are usually given for favors already given or for favors expected. Even the sudden outburst of affection from friend-wife is frequently followed by a glowing description of a dress she saw downtown.

The gift of AA is one exception. We give AA away because it is the only way we can keep it ourselves.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 27, 2016 - Here's your invitation to a beautiful and great new Thursday

Rise 'n shine and let's get moving on what's going to be a great and beautiful new day ...We have the option to make today a great one - or a rotten one: how about going for the first choice?

Oct. 26, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.
 -- Joseph Addison

Our Program allows us to stand back from day-to-day confusion and let serenity come into our lives. Our program doesn’t take away all the struggles and problems from life, but it does let us learn a different outlook and attitude.

We don’t have to get caught up in every storm that blows our way. We don’t have to live the pain of every person who crosses our path. We don’t have to right every wrong.

Our recovery is a gift to us from a power greater than we are. We become more and more aware of the meaning of the words in the Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference.”

Let me learn to see the world as it actually is, not as I want it to be. I trust that my Higher Power didn’t make a mistake in designing this world or the plans for my life.

You are reading from the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

"Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings." - Step Seven

Today, caution against being too eager to release my shortcomings or character defects without first laying the foundation of Steps Four, Five and Six. I cannot be honest about my defects without first taking the self-inventory of Step Four and then giving them voice by acknowledging them to myself, the god of my understanding and to another person as suggested in Step Five. And I certainly cannot ask for those defects to be removed if I am not willing to let them go, as suggested in Step Six. It has been heard in meetings that some people hold onto defects because they are not ready to let them go. But if those defects are a roadblock to the quality of recovery I seek, I have to be willing to release them. Today, I can "humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings," but only after I have done the homework to let them go. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

Oct. 26, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

AA Thought for the Day
Sixth, I have AA meetings to go to, thank God. Where would I go without them? Where would I be without them? Where would I find the sympathy, the understanding, the fellowship, the companionship? Nowhere else in the world. I have come home. I have found the place where I belong. I no longer wander alone over the face of the earth. I am at peace and at rest. What a great gift has been given me by AA! I do not deserve it. But it is nevertheless mine. I have a home at last. I am content.

Do I thank God every day for the AA fellowship?

Meditation for the Day
Walk all the way with another person and with God. Do not go part of the way and then stop. Do not push God so far into the background that He has no effect on your life. Walk all the way with Him. Make a good companion of God, by praying to Him often during the day. Do not let your contact with Him be broken for too long a period. Walk all the way with God and with other people, along the path of life, wherever it may lead you.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may walk in companionship with God along the way. I pray that I may keep my feet upon the path that leads upward.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

The Serenity Prayer

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

Reflection for the Day
From time to time when I see the slogan "But for the Grace of God," I remember how I used to mouth those words when I saw others whose addictions had brought them to what I considered a "hopeless and helpless" state. The slogan had long been a cop-out for me, reinforcing my denial of my own addiction by enabling me to point to others seemingly worse off than I. "If I ever get like that, I'll quit," was my oft-repeated refrain. Today, instead, "But for the Grace of God" has become my prayer of thankfulness, reminding me to be grateful to my Higher Power for my recovery, my life and the way of life I've found in The Program.

Was anyone ever more "hopeless and helpless" than I?

Today I Pray
May I know that "but for the grace of God," I could be dead or insane by now, because there have been others who started on addictive paths when I did who are no longer here. May that same grace of God help those who are still caught in the downward spin, who are heading for disaster as sure as gravity.

Today I Will Remember
I have seen God's amazing grace.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016

All men eventually die; it might be said that we live to die. The way we die is usually the way we live. Dying is the last thing we do on this earth, but certainly we do not live just to die. Living would not be worthwhile if that were so.

The only worthwhile purpose of living is that those whose lives we come in contact with will be enriched thereby. If you live so that others will live more abundantly, then you are performing the purpose of your little life.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 26, 2016 - Good morning to what's going to be a beautiful new day

Good morning and let's going moving on a beautiful new Wednesday ...we've got a choice to make it a good or not-so-good one: let us choose wisely! 

Oct. 25, 2016 - Addiction and Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Looking for beauty

It is important that we look for beauty.

There are beautiful things in the world each and every day, if we only know how to see.

In recovery, in serenity, beauty is everywhere – even in pain and suffering – if we only know how to see.

Higher Power, help me to use my recovery, my new vision, to see beauty.

You are reading from the book:

Day by Day - Second Edition by Anonymous

Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 25, 2016 - Addiction and Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016

"God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists and practitioners of various kinds. Do not hesitate to take your health problems to such persons. Most of them give freely of themselves, that their fellows may enjoy sound minds and bodies. Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. Their services are often indispensable in treating a newcomer and in following his case afterward." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 9 ("The Family Afterward"), p 133.

Today, let me not be discouraged even in sobriety if AA is not enough to treat my physical, emotional or spiritual sickness. But it was never intended. If clinical depression or bipolar disorder have been ever-present shadows in my life, for example, I may need medication to stabilize those conditions, and I should not and cannot feel let down if AA does not treat such maladies. AA instead is one of multiple therapies that I might require. As the program notes, alcohol is but a symptom of our underlying problems. And if those problems should be a medical or psychological condition that warrants medical treatment, quality sobriety will be elusive if we treat only the symptoms and leave the conditions unattended. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016

Oct. 25, 2016 - Addiction and Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016

AA Thought for the Day
Fifth, I have learned to live one day at a time. I have finally realized the great fact that all I have is now. This sweeps away all vain regret and it makes my thoughts of the future free of fear. Now is mine. I can do what I want with it. I own it, for better or worse. What I do now, in this present moment, is what makes up my life. My whole life is only a succession of nows. I will take this moment, which has been given to me by the grace of God, and I will do something with it. What I do with each now, will make me or break me.

Am I living in the now?

Meditation for the Day
We should work at overcoming ourselves, our selfish desires and our self-centeredness. This can never be fully accomplished. We can never become entirely unselfish. But we can come to realize that we are not at the center of the universe and that everything does not revolve around us at the center. I am only one cell in a vast network of human cells. I can at least make the effort to conquer the self-life and seek daily to obtain more and more of this self-conquest. "He that overcomes himself is greater than he who conquers a city."

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may strive to overcome my selfishness. I pray that I may achieve the right perspective of my position in the world.

Hazelden Foundation