Sept. 25, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Monday, Sept. 25, 2017

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

Today I Will Trust

Today, I will stop straining to know what I don't know.
To see what I can't see.
To understand what I don't yet understand. 
I will trust that being is sufficient,
And I will let go of my need to figure things out.

You are reading from the book:

The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie

The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Monday, Sept. 25, 2017

Today, accept myself first in starting to change the things I can - and must. And to change myself, I need the courage and brute honesty to see myself as I really am and not as I want to see myself and others to see me. If I can be strong and honest enough to see in myself what must go and what can be kept, I have to accept the good and bad before I know how to begin the work of moving forward. But if the bad out-weighs the good, I can keep the good as a building block to tear away the bad. If, on the other hand, I accept myself with no improvements needed, I've lied to myself. Today, I pray for the courage to change the things I can - me. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Sept. 25, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, Sept. 25, 2017

AA Thought for the Day
Let us consider the term "spiritual experience" as given in Appendix II of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous: "A spiritual experience is something that brings about a personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular upheaval. We do not need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God-consciousness, followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most cases, the change is gradual."

Do I see a gradual and continuing change in myself?

Meditation for the Day
"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." For rest from the care of life, you can turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity come from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God's everlasting arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and His purposes for your life. Be sure of God's strength available to you, be conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills your being.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be conscious of God's support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure therein.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, Sept. 25, 2017

Reflection for the Day
At the suggestion of a long-timer in The Program, I began taking "recovery inventories" periodically. The results showed me - clearly and unmistakably - that the promises of The Program have been true for me. I am not the sick person I was in years past; I am no longer bankrupt in all areas; I have a new life and a path to follow, and I'm at peace with myself most of the time. And that's a far way from the time in my life when I dreaded facing each new day. Perhaps we should all write recovery inventories from time to time, showing how The Program is working for each of us.

Just for today, will I try to sow faith where there is fear?

Today I Pray
God, let me compare my new life with the old one - just to see how things have changed for me. May I make progress reports for myself now and then - and for those who are newer to The Program. May these reports be - hearteningly - about "what I am doing" rather than - smugly - about "what I have done."

Today I Will Remember
Has The Program kept its promise? Have I kept mine?

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, Sept. 25, 2017

Everyone is potentially as good as God made him, and the reason that he does not show it is because he has buried the fact beneath a mountain of selfishness.

It has ever been man's misdirected efforts to benefit himself and himself alone that have resulted in his greatest disservice to himself.

The closer man gets to himself, the further away he is from God and the world. The further he is away from God and the world, the further away he is from God's blessings and the world's happiness.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 25, 2017 - Rise 'n shine for a beautiful Monday and great new week of new hope and faith

Sept. 24, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017

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

Sharing our experiences heightens our joy and lessens out pain

Not letting other people know what's troubling us causes the problem to trouble us even more. "Secrets keep us stuck," say the wise ones on our journey.

Sharing what's on our mind with a friend or sponsor gives that person an opportunity to help us develop a better perspective. On the other hand, staying isolated with our worries exaggerates them.

Staying isolated with our joys isn't helpful either. It minimizes them, thus cheating us out of feeling their full thrill. We deserve joy in our lives – lots of it – because we will have our full measure of pain. Perhaps we fear others will criticize us for being braggarts if we sing forth our joy. But our real friends will sing right along with us. Our joys are deserved; they offset our trials. Telling others about both will let all our experiences count for something.

I will remain open to my friends today, sharing both my worries and my joys.

You are reading from the book:

A Life of My Own by Karen Casey

A Life of My Own by Karen Casey. © 1993 by Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017

" ...I was convinced that I was having a serious mental breakdown. I wanted help, and I tried to cooperate. As the treatment progressed, I began to get a picture of myself, of the temperament that had caused me so much trouble. I had been hypersensitive, shy, idealistic. My inability to accept the harsh realities of life had resulted in a disillusioned cynic, clothed in a protective armor against the world's misunderstanding. That armor had turned into prison walls, locking me in loneliness - and fear. All I had left was an iron determination to live my own life in spite of the alien world - and here I was an inwardly frightened, outwardly defiant woman, who desperately needed a prop to keep going.
'Alcohol was that prop ...'" - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three, Ch 4 ("Women Suffer Too"), p 226.

Today, with absolute honesty - maybe for the first time - the temperament of my character misguided me to make the choice of alcohol as the prop to shield myself from "the world's misunderstanding" and all else I wanted to shut out. In shutting out everything, I went to the only place left - within myself. And there lurked the isolation from anything good, and the loss of good leaves only the bad. My choice was to develop and nurture the bad - and it took me to the darkest places of my poisoned emotional and spiritual soul. Today, the temperament of my character can be tempered by the Twelve Steps. Grant me courage and strength to emerge from the bad and look for the good. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Sept. 24, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017

AA Thought for the Day
Let us continue with Step Twelve. We must practice these principles in all our affairs. This part of the twelfth step must not be overlooked. It is the carrying on of the whole program. We do not just practice these principles in regard to our drinking problem. We practice them in all our affairs. We do not give one compartment of our lives to God and keep the other compartments to ourselves. We give our whole lives to God and we try to do His will in every respect. "Herein lies our growth, herein lies all the promise of the future, an ever-widening horizon."

Do I carry the AA principles with me wherever I go?

Meditation for the Day
"Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life." The words of eternal life are the words from God controlling your true being, controlling the real spiritual you. They are the words from God which are heard by you in your heart and mind when these are wide open to His spirit. These are the words of eternal life which express the true way you are to live. They say to you in the stillness of your heart and mind and soul: "Do this and live."

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may follow the dictates of my conscience. I pray that I may follow the inner urging of my soul.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017

Reflection for the Day
"Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow." - Goethe

I ask myself sometimes, as we all do: "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Where am I going?" "What's it all about?" The learning and growing process is usually slow. But eventually our seeking always brings a finding. What seem like great mysteries often turn out to be enshrined in complete simplicity.

Have I accepted the fact that my willingness to grow is the essence of my spiritual development?

Today I Pray
God give me patience and the perseverance to keep on hoeing the long row, even when the end of it is out of sight. The principles of The Program are my almanac for growing, even more than for harvesting. The harvest will come, abundant enough to share, if I can stick to my garden-tending.

Today I Will Remember
Getting there, not being there.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017

We are all serving a term here on earth, and it is a tough rap for we are not only serving a life term but we are condemned to death in the end. We can get some special privileges for good behavior, however, but even with this it would be a hopeless situation except for the hope held forth in the inspired Book of God.

Through this Book, we can look forward beyond this prison of Life and visualize the freedom that is beyond.

Hazelden Foundation

Sept. 24, 2017 - Good morning to a serene Sunday with renewed hope, courage, faith and strength

Sept. 23, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017

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

No Place to Go

Love is supposed to flit about, here and there. Happily. And lightly. It's also supposed to have a place to land. Love is supposed to reach out and check in: How's the job? How's your life? Wanna do lunch? Go for a walk? Wanna talk? Do you need help with this or that? Happy Birthday! Here's a birthday cake, some presents, birthday wishes, a party hat. Yes, love is supposed to flit about, here and there, doing all these things, and more.

With addiction, love has no place to go. No place to land. My love, as a mother, has become untethered. So, in trying to make things right in my maternal world, I fuss, fix, and fume instead--forcing and faking a two-way relationship. I butt in and argue and wheel and deal and wheedle and enable and un-able and whine and beg. Love is supposed to flit about, here and there. Happily. And lightly. But there's nowhere for my love to go. Or land. And so, I ache.

Grief is just love with no place to go.

Jamie Anderson

You are reading from the book:

Tending Dandelions by Sandra Swenson

Tending Dandelions © 2017 by Sandra Swenson

Sept. 23, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

Step by Step
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017

"For 18 years, from the age of 21 to 39, fear governed my life. By the time I was 30, I had found that alcohol dissolved fear. For a little while. In the end, I had two problems instead of one: fear and alcohol." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "Personal Stories," Ch 9 ("The Man Who Mastered Fear"), p 275.

Today, neither fear nor alcohol will be master because I understand now that both are choices - and I choose not to devote any part of today to either. Whether fear came first and triggered my drinking or if my drinking plunged me into fear of virtually everything is of no consequence anymore. Both feed each other, and my participation is required for the exchange to occur. Just as a toddler grows bored with crawling and pushes the challenge to stand on his own, so it is with me: I am tired and bored with my drinking, with fear and it pushing me to the bottle. The time has come to push the challenge to walk again on my own - in sobriety. AA is here to hold my hand. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2017

Sept. 23, 2017 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017

AA Thought for the Day
Step Twelve is, "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs." Note that the basis of our effectiveness in carrying the message to others is the reality of our own spiritual awakening. If we have not changed, we cannot be used to change others. To keep this program, we must pass it on to others. We cannot hoard it for ourselves. We may lose it unless we give it away. It cannot flow into us and stop; it must continue to flow into us as it flows out to others.

Am I always ready to give away what I have learned in AA?

Meditation for the Day
"Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you." When you are faced with a problem beyond your strength, you must turn to God by an act of faith. It is that turning to God in each trying situation that you must cultivate. The turning may be one of glad thankfulness for God's grace in your life. Or your appeal to God may be a prayerful claiming of His strength to face a situation and finding that you have it when the time comes. Not only the power to face trials, but also the comfort and joy of God's nearness and companionship are yours for the asking.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may try to draw near to God each day in prayer. I pray that I may feel His nearness and His strength in my life.

Hazelden Foundation