April 24, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

We do not have to be perfectly certain before acting. We do not have to feel perfectly confident about the outcome of our behavior. In fact, more times than not when we see people acting with what seems to be supreme confidence, it may indeed be an act. Which doesn’t matter. What matters is that inertia was overcome.

In our recovery, there will surely be many times when we encounter situations where our thoughts and actions fill us with anything but confidence. Regardless of our uncertainty, we need to act boldly, and we need to trust our judgment. Boldness does have genius in it, and magic—the magic of proving to ourselves that we can do what is needed when the time is right. When that is possible, the whole world is within our grasp.

If I can act boldly on one small matter, I can act boldly on two. If I can act boldly on small matters, I can act boldly on large matters. If I keep going, I can’t be stopped.

Hazelden Foundation

April 24, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Sunday, April 24, 2022

Today, the link between consequences and responsibility - and the reality that I and I alone am responsible to the consequences of my behavior and choices, including drinking, and that excuses and justifications will not spare me either consequences or responsibility. The Program's 12th Step suggests I "practice these principles in all (my) affairs" - to live by AA's principles and not weasel out of owning my feelings, actions and behavior and the consequences of each. If, for example, I slip or relapse, I cannot blame anything but myself because, in the end, I made the choice 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 choice to drink. Today, I am mindful that all I say, do and feel will bear consequences and that I alone am responsible to those consequences. And if I want to avoid responsibility to the consequences, the "out" is clear: don't do what I don't want to suffer consequences for. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

April 24, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, April 24, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Sunday, April 24, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Sunday, April 24, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning and let's shoot for a worthwhile but relaxed Sunday

 

Good morning and take time this serene Sunday to simply breathe ...have a truly great but productive and paced day, and don't bother with things and people thinking they can make it less

April 23, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Saturday, April 23, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Taking Care of Ourselves

We often refer to recovery from codependency and adult child issues as “self-care.” Self-care is not, as some may think, a spin-off of the “me generation.” It isn’t self-indulgence. It isn’t selfishness—in the negative interpretation of that word. We’re learning to take care of ourselves, instead of obsessively focusing on another person. We’re learning self-responsibility, instead of feeling excessively responsible for others. Self-care also means tending to our true responsibilities to others; we do this better when we’re not feeling overly responsible.

Self-care sometimes means, “me first,” but usually, “me too.” It means we are responsible for ourselves and can choose to no longer be victims.

Self-care means learning to love the person we’re responsible for taking care of — ourselves. We do not do this to hibernate in a cocoon of isolation and self-indulgence; we do it so we can better love others, and learn to let them love us.

Self-care isn’t selfish; it’s self-esteem.

Today, God, help me love myself. Help me let go of feeling excessively responsible for those around me. Show me what I need to do to take care of myself and be appropriately responsible to others.

Hazelden Foundation

April 23, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Saturday, April 23, 2022

Today, reflect on the choices and responsibilities of sponsorship. If I have progressed in my sobriety that I need to ask someone to sponsor me, where and how do I begin? My home group is fertile ground, 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 "preacher." Today, I extend my recovery to include asking to be sponsored and, God willing, consenting to someone's request to offer my strength, hope and experience to him. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

April 23, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, April 23, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Saturday, April 23, 2022

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, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Saturday, April 23, 2022

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, 2022 - Good morning to an overdue Saturday and weekend

 

Good morning and let's take time this beautiful Saturday to simply exhale ...afterward, get going on a truly terrific but productive and safe day, and don't waste time on people and things thinking they can foul up the day you want

April 22, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Friday, April 22, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

It’s hard to give away much when you’re the subject of widespread disapproval and your heart is leaking from puncture wounds. — Barbara Kingsolver

Anger doesn’t necessarily vanish just because we’ve come out or entered recovery. Our best selves would like to be generous to the employer who overlooks us for a promotion, to the old friend who tells us we could change if we’d just set our minds to it, and to the family that asks, “Where did we go wrong?” We’re sick of our old conflicts and resentments, but our anger and sense of injury keep overwhelming our desire to let go.

We need to find safe ways to acknowledge anger and to release the pain it may be covering. A trusted sponsor, a Twelve Step recovery meeting, or a therapist can hear us without denying or condemning our emotions. When we recognize, accept, and express our anger without judging it, we’ll be surprised at the mental and spiritual space we’ve created for new feelings.

Today, I don’t have to act out my anger. I acknowledge it and let it pass through me.

Hazelden Foundation

April 22, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Friday, April 22, 2022

Today, stop running from regret, shame, guilt, loss and all other anguish that my drinking caused. I must  come to terms with all of it. By taking each Step with absolute honesty and the will of my Higher Power, I will 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 the single strongest amend I can make: by not drinking today. I can release guilt by learning from the mistakes that bred it, and the sense of loss might be less 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 work on easing any pain - not by confronting it but finding the comfort in it. 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 it might otherwise. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2022

April 22, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Friday, April 22, 2022

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