March 31, 2016 - Review: Hulu's 'The Path,' a measured nuance into religious extremism
March 31, 2016 - Profile: A young gay dad and family in small-town Canada
March 31, 2016 - Photo gallery: These guys over 50 still pack the sizzle
March 31, 2016 - A gay athlete's experience as a survivor of male rape
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| Nathan Fort |
March 31, 2016 - Has Donald Trump's fatal flaw finally done him in?
March 31, 2016 - Aussie sports figures stand up against homophobia
March 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Acceptance of things I can't fix
One of the sad realities of life is that we're awash in a disorder that we can't fix. All around us, the world seethes and festers with ailments and injustices that are beyond our control.
We can react by becoming angry or by making quixotic efforts to solve some of these problems. Our best course, however, is to apply our Twelve Step program to life in this world. The Serenity Prayer suggests we accept what we can't change. A slogan reminds us to set priorities ("First Things First"). The Eleventh Step reminds us to always seek God's will.
This will enable me to live effectively while doing my best to serve others. In time, I may even discover that I can fix a few of the seemingly insoluble problems around me.
I'll realize today that I have the ability only to do certain things within my sphere of experience. I'll see to it, however, that I do these things well.
Acceptance of things I can't fix
One of the sad realities of life is that we're awash in a disorder that we can't fix. All around us, the world seethes and festers with ailments and injustices that are beyond our control.
We can react by becoming angry or by making quixotic efforts to solve some of these problems. Our best course, however, is to apply our Twelve Step program to life in this world. The Serenity Prayer suggests we accept what we can't change. A slogan reminds us to set priorities ("First Things First"). The Eleventh Step reminds us to always seek God's will.
This will enable me to live effectively while doing my best to serve others. In time, I may even discover that I can fix a few of the seemingly insoluble problems around me.
I'll realize today that I have the ability only to do certain things within my sphere of experience. I'll see to it, however, that I do these things well.
You are reading from the book:
Walk in Dry Places by Mel B. © 1996 by Hazelden Foundation
March 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Today, no self-pity to shake my recovery program regardless if my recovery began 24 months or 24 hours ago. Self-pity may be the deadliest of poisons that can undo, in the blink of an eye, any progress I've made. Self-pity is giving up my belief and total surrender to my higher power and is the epitome of selfishness. If there is adversity this day, I will face it with the courage, strength, hope and dignity with which AA endows me, and I've already been endowed with courage, strength, hope and dignity merely by committing myself to recovery. Nor will I whine, "Why me?" And if I say no to self-pity today, I have no reason or excuse to drink, to use - and this day, then, will be good. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
March 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, March 31, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Since I've been in AA, have I made a start towards being more unselfish? Do I no longer want my own way in everything? When things go wrong and I can't have what I want, do I no longer sulk? Am I trying not to waste money on myself? And does it make me happy to see my family and my home have enough attention from me?
Am I trying not to be all get and no give?
Meditation for the Day
Each day is a day of progress, steady progress forward, if you make it so. You may not see it, but God does. God does not judge by outward appearance. He judges by the heart. Let Him see in your heart a simple desire always to do His will. Though you may feel that your work has been spoiled or tarnished, God sees it as an offering for Him. When climbing a steep hill, a person is often more conscious of the weakness of his stumbling feet than of the view, the grandeur or even of the upward progress.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may persevere in all good things. I pray that I may advance each day in spite of my stumbling feet.
Hazelden Foundation
March 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
A Day at a Time
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Reflection for the Day
My illness is unlike most other illnesses in that denial that I am sick is a primary symptom that I am sick. Like such other incurable illnesses as diabetes and arthritis, however, my illness is characterized by relapses. In The Program, we call such relapses "slips." The one thing I know for certain is that I alone can cause myself to slip.
Will I remember at all times that the thought precedes the action? Will I try to avoid "stinking thinking?"
Today I Pray
May God give me the power to resist temptations. May the responsibility for giving in, for having a "slip," be on my shoulders and mine only. May I see beforehand if I am setting myself up for a slip by blame-shifting, shirking my responsibility to myself, becoming the world's poor puppet once again. My return to those old attitudes can be as much of a slip as the act of losing my sobriety.
Today I Will Remember
Nobody's slip-proof.
Hazelden Foundation
March 31, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
The Eye Opener
Thursday, March 31, 2016
We as alcoholics are so used to getting by with a minimum of effort on our part that we sometimes fail to appreciate that only those things earned have any real lasting value.
We allowed our families to cover up for us and support us, we panhandled, we were experts in the game of something for nothing.
Nothing free is worth having. AA has no initiation fees or dues, but it also costs a lot if you want to get a lot. You can procure a two-bit brand of AA, but we don't guarantee it will work.
Hazelden Foundation
March 30, 2016 - Virginia governor shoots down religious freedom bill
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| Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe |
March 30, 2016 - 10 tips for dealing with a spouse with bipolar disorder
March 30, 2016 - Researcher explains why people self-harm ...and why he did it himself
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| Dr. Stephen Lewis |
March 30, 2016 - North Carolina's top attorney won't defend state's anti-gay law in appeal
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| North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper |
March 30, 2016 - Commentary: The fundamentalist backlash against LGBT people is in full swing
March 30, 2016 - Stigma and a man's coming out - as a paranoid schizophrenic
March 30, 2016 - 23 coming out stories to warm even the coldest of hearts
March 30, 2016 - Editorial: Corporate America is shuffling away from pure conservatism
March 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Avoiding blame
It is not uncommon to hear in group, "Why do these things always happen to me?" If "these things" are always happening to us, the obvious answer is that we somehow bring them on ourselves. We are largely unconscious of what we're doing wrong until, slowly, eventually; we manage to dig ourselves out from the results. (It seems incredible that we actually seek to be hurt, but in a way many of us do so, with regularity.)
But blaming others for our problems and indulging in self-pity don't move us along in our program.
Am I still blaming others?
Higher Power, help me take responsibility for myself and my actions, because blaming others will only keep me stuck.
Avoiding blame
It is not uncommon to hear in group, "Why do these things always happen to me?" If "these things" are always happening to us, the obvious answer is that we somehow bring them on ourselves. We are largely unconscious of what we're doing wrong until, slowly, eventually; we manage to dig ourselves out from the results. (It seems incredible that we actually seek to be hurt, but in a way many of us do so, with regularity.)
But blaming others for our problems and indulging in self-pity don't move us along in our program.
Am I still blaming others?
Higher Power, help me take responsibility for myself and my actions, because blaming others will only keep me stuck.
You are reading from the book:
Day by Day © 1974, 1998 by Hazelden Foundation
March 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Today, I cannot crumble to temptation even if I think I do not feel tempted to try "just one" drink. Regardless of how many 24 Hours of sobriety, none of us is immune to the thought, however fleeting, that maybe one drink won't do any damage. Of course it will, as we know from bitter experience. If temptation is a human foible, it is one that none of us in recovery can afford. For us, temptation is our failure to integrate into the deepest of our souls the program's first four words - "Admitted we were powerless ..." Temptation is also our own will run riot and rejection of surrendering our will to our higher power. Still, if temptation sneaks in, may I have imprinted in my conscience the outcome of all those times in the past when I did give into temptation. And the memory of that outcome is too costly and painful to give in. Today, I hope I am not tempted, but I will not take for granted that I won't so that, if I am, I am strong and honest enough in my program to rise above it. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
March 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Before I met AA, I was very unloving. From the time I went away to school, I paid very little attention to my mother and father. I was on my own and didn't even bother to keep in touch with them. After I got married, I was very unappreciative of my spouse. Many a time I would go out all by myself to have a good time. I paid too little attention to our children and didn't try to understand them or show them affection. My few friends were only drinking companions, not real friends.
Have I gotten over loving nobody but myself?
Meditation for the Day
Be calm, be true, be quiet. Do not get emotionally upset by anything that happens around you. Feel a deep, inner security in the goodness and purpose in the universe. Be true to your highest ideals. Do not let yourself slip back into the old ways of reacting. Stick to your spiritual guns. Be calm always. Do not talk back or defend yourself too much against accusation, whether false or true. Accept abuse as well as you accept praise. Only God can judge the real you.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not be upset by the judgment of others. I pray that I may let God be the judge of the real me.
Hazelden Foundation
March 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
A Day at a Time
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Reflection for the Day
"When I meditate upon such a vision," Bill W. continued, "I need not be dismayed because I shall never attain it, nor need I swell with presumption that one of these days its virtues shall all be mine. I only need to dwell on the vision itself, letting it grow and ever more fill my heart ...Then I get a sane and healthy idea of where I stand on the highway to humility. I see that my journey towards God has scarcely begun. As I thus get down to my right size and stature, my self-concern and importance become amusing."
Do I take myself too seriously?
Today I Pray
May the grandiosity which is a symptom of my chemical addiction be brought back into proportion by the simple comparison of my powerlessness with the power of God. May I think of the meaning of Higher Power as it relates to my human frailty. May it bring my ego back down to scale and help me shed my defenses of pomp or bluster or secret ideas of self-importance.
Today I Will Remember
He is great. I am small.
Hazelden Foundation
March 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
The Eye Opener
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
The truly great man can afford to be humble, for hundreds of others are exalting him. You have only one horn to blow and other people can't toot it if you are eternally tooting it yourself.
The proud man is aggressive in his own interest; the humble man is aggressive in the ideals he believes in. Humility is not passive resignation; it is, rather, subjecting self for lofty purposes.
Hazelden Foundation
March 29, 2016 - 10 country music artists still not in the Hall of Fame but should be
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| Randy Travis (l) and Crystal Gayle |
March 29, 2016 - Georgia governor vetoes religious freedom bill after nationwide furor
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| Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) |
March 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
You grow up the first day you have the first real laugh - at yourself.
-- Ethel Barrymore
You grow up the first day you have the first real laugh - at yourself.
-- Ethel Barrymore
Infants chuckle and gurgle and find the world amusing, but apparently they rarely laugh at themselves. Perhaps that's because they're still very much the lord and master of their world. Even when they see themselves in the mirror, tots are more likely to find themselves incredible than hilarious.
As we grow wiser we gain a sense of proportion about ourselves and our position in the universe. Just as the earth is not the center of the solar system, so we are just one of billions of people on our planet.
Can we smile at ourselves? Or are we always guarding our dignity or feeling fragile and vulnerable? A sense of humor means the ability to enjoy human foibles, even at our own expense. Having this kind of humor helps us to put others - and especially ourselves in relation to others - in perspective. Perhaps it is only when we've had a good laugh at ourselves for our imperfections that we can really begin to gain in stature. By keeping our importance in perspective, we learn to grow.
I can enjoy a good laugh - and will allow myself the freedom of a sense of humor, especially about myself.
As we grow wiser we gain a sense of proportion about ourselves and our position in the universe. Just as the earth is not the center of the solar system, so we are just one of billions of people on our planet.
Can we smile at ourselves? Or are we always guarding our dignity or feeling fragile and vulnerable? A sense of humor means the ability to enjoy human foibles, even at our own expense. Having this kind of humor helps us to put others - and especially ourselves in relation to others - in perspective. Perhaps it is only when we've had a good laugh at ourselves for our imperfections that we can really begin to gain in stature. By keeping our importance in perspective, we learn to grow.
I can enjoy a good laugh - and will allow myself the freedom of a sense of humor, especially about myself.
You are reading from the book:
Answers in the Heart © 1989 by P. Williamson and S. Kiser
March 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Step by Step
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Today, if I start my day with dread, I probably need to do a 10th Step or re-do my Fourth. Clearly something is wrong and I have not yet reaped benefits of sobriety or, worse, I am little more than a dry drunk. The Serenity Prayer tells me that I have no control over what this day might serve up, but it also tells me what I can change is me. The program gives me the tools to do it, from its first four words - "Admitted (I am) powerless" - to the 12th Step's promise of a new me through a spiritual awakening and its command to practice all the steps "in all (my) affairs." And if I take the attitude that the day ahead is something to just get through, I will likely make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. Today, I am powerless over whatever this day has in store, but that my attitude toward it can make or break the peace of mind that recovery promises - and faith in my higher power will give me the courage to change me. Sobriety and life are not things to endure or just get through. Today, I will live, not just endure or get through. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
March 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
Before I met AA, I was very dishonest. I lied to my spouse constantly about where I had been and what I'd been doing. I took time off from my work and pretended I'd been sick or gave some other dishonest excuse. I was dishonest with myself, as well as with other people. I would never face myself as I really was or admit when I was wrong. I pretended to myself that I was as good as the next person, although I suspected I wasn't.
Am I now really honest?
Meditation for the Day
I must live in the world and yet live apart with God. I can go forth from my secret times of communion with God to the work of the world. To get the spiritual strength I need, my inner life must be lived apart from the world. I must wear the world as a loose garment. Nothing in the world should seriously upset me, as long as my inner life is lived with God. All successful living arises from this inner life.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may live my inner life with God. I pray that nothing shall invade or destroy that secret place of peace.
Hazelden Foundation
March 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
A Day at a Time
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Reflection for the Day
What is the definition of humility? "Absolute humility," said AA co-founder Bill W., "would consist of a state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of character now lay so heavily upon me. Perfect humility would be a full willingness, in all times and places, to find and to do the will of God."
Am I striving for humility?
Today I Pray
May God expand my interpretation of humility beyond abject subservience or awe at the greatness of others. May humility also mean freedom from myself, a freedom which can come only through turning my being over to God's will. May I sense the omnipotence of God, which is simultaneously humbling and exhilarating. May I be willing to carry out His will.
Today I Will Remember
Humility is freedom.
Hazelden Foundation
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