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April 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
The primary requirement for our recovery is honesty. In order to grow in honesty we first needed to see how we had lied to others and to ourselves. This was not as easy as it first appeared. Our lies to ourselves kept us so fully in the dark that we did not know we were lying. We sometimes told "sincere" lies because we honestly did not distinguish the truth within ourselves. For so long we had preferred dishonest rationalizations, and we had come to believe them.
The spiritual life of this program is based upon experience. What we feel, what we see and hear, is what we know. When we simplify our lives and base the truth upon our experiences, we slowly cleanse ourselves of the lies we told ourselves. With this kind of honesty comes an inner peace with ourselves in which we can say, "I know myself."
Today, I will accept my experience as a simple message of truth.
Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.
-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
The primary requirement for our recovery is honesty. In order to grow in honesty we first needed to see how we had lied to others and to ourselves. This was not as easy as it first appeared. Our lies to ourselves kept us so fully in the dark that we did not know we were lying. We sometimes told "sincere" lies because we honestly did not distinguish the truth within ourselves. For so long we had preferred dishonest rationalizations, and we had come to believe them.
The spiritual life of this program is based upon experience. What we feel, what we see and hear, is what we know. When we simplify our lives and base the truth upon our experiences, we slowly cleanse ourselves of the lies we told ourselves. With this kind of honesty comes an inner peace with ourselves in which we can say, "I know myself."
Today, I will accept my experience as a simple message of truth.
You are reading from the book:
Touchstones ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Today, instead of an alcoholic, I'm a soberholic. If "alcoholic" calls attention to the fact that I am addicted to alcohol, can't "soberholic" stake my addiction to sobriety? Despite AA's progress in striking down the image of the alcoholic as the down-and-out'er sleeping in alleys or drying out in a flophouse, a jail's drunk tank or mental hospital, a stigma remains. Might I be able to erode that stigma by labeling my addiction to sobriety instead of to alcohol? If so, maybe I can renew my self-confidence and weaken any temptation or lingering doubt about drinking again. As someone addicted to sobriety, why do I need alcohol? Today, at the risk of angering those who warn against trading one addiction for another, I'll substitute dependence on alcohol to addiction to sobriety. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
April 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Saturday, April 30, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith because we find that we must have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going to get sober. We're helpless before alcohol, but when we turn our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which we call God is the essential part of the AA program.
Is faith still strong in me?
Meditation for the Day
Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet, but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God's spirit which can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys, such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God's love.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life.
Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Reflection for the Day
We're taught in The Program that "faith without works is dead." How true this is for the addicted person. For if an addicted person fails to perfect or enlarge his or her spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, s/he can't survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If s/he doesn't work, s/he'll surely return to his or her addiction; and if s/he returns to addiction, s/he'll likely die. Then faith will be dead indeed.
Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer?
Today I Pray
May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of The Program be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming similar addictions. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts, but it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own sobriety.
Today I Will Remember
The more faith I can give, the more I will have.
Hazelden Foundation
April 30, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Saturday, April 30, 2016
It is most discouraging to many of us to find, after many weary months of trying to work on our moral inventory and studied efforts to eliminate some of our worst character defects, that the more we do the more we find to do. It is not that we are not making progress, but as we steady ourselves from a coldly analytical viewpoint, we find more defects than we ever realized we possessed.
Do not become discouraged when this situation exists. It is very evident proof of progress that you have come to a conscious realization that these new defects exist and you are at least bringing them out in the open where you can get a crack at them.
Hazelden Foundation
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April 29, 2016 - Recovery: On being gay and sober
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April 29, 2016 - Commentary: The ghost children of Mormon country
April 29, 2016 - Commentary: The ghost children of Mormon country
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April 29, 2016 - Photo gallery: The moment a guy realizes he's gay
April 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Friday, April 29, 2016
Today's thoughts from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation are:
Moving fast is not necessarily the same thing as going somewhere.
*****
If you are waiting for your ship to come in - you may have already missed the boat.
*****
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
*****
Faith is our greatest gift. Sharing it with others is our greatest responsibility.
*****
The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit to them.
*****
The best way to multiply happiness is to divide it.
*****
Try the program for 90 days. If not satisfied we will be glad to refund your misery.
Moving fast is not necessarily the same thing as going somewhere.
*****
If you are waiting for your ship to come in - you may have already missed the boat.
*****
Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
*****
Faith is our greatest gift. Sharing it with others is our greatest responsibility.
*****
The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit to them.
*****
The best way to multiply happiness is to divide it.
*****
Try the program for 90 days. If not satisfied we will be glad to refund your misery.
You are reading from the book:
Keep Coming Back © 1995 by Meiji Stewart
April 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, April 29, 2016
AA Thought for the Day
The AA program is one of faith, hope and charity. It's a program of hope because when new members come into AA, the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through AA. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it.
Is hope still strong in me?
Meditation for the Day
The rule of God's kingdom is perfect order, perfect harmony, perfect supply, perfect love, perfect honesty, perfect obedience. There is no discord in God's kingdom, only some things still unconquered in God's children. The difficulties of life are caused by disharmony in the individual man or woman. People lack power because they lack harmony with God and with each other. They think that God fails because power is not manifested in their lives. God does not fail. People fail because they are out of harmony with Him.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be in harmony with God and with other people. I pray that this harmony will result in strength and success.
Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step
Friday, April 29, 2016
Today, service to other people or causes as an essential element in my recovery, that expending some of my attention to something other than myself may make my problems not as bad as I think they are. Service can range from giving a lead talk, talking to a sponsor or sponsee, volunteering to make the coffee for a meeting or simply listening to someone else's problems or experiences. And possibly, the problems I have, or think I have and maybe exaggerate, may seem somewhat less serious. Adversely, I must respect prudence in not expending myself to the extreme that my own needs and working on problems are sacrificed and neglected. In the end, my program requires that I not focus all that I have completely on myself and that sharing or volunteering for some degree of service work may make my own problems less heavy. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2016
April 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time
 |
| The Serenity Prayer |
Friday, April 29, 2016
Reflection for the Day
As I grow in The Program - sharing, caring and becoming more and more active - I find that it's becoming easier to live in the Now. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as "could've," "should've," "would've," "might've." What's done is done and what will be will be. The only time that really matters is Now.
Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in The Program?
Today I Pray
That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for the future and compact them into the neater confines of Today. Only by living in the Now may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go.
Today I Will Remember
Make room for today.
Hazelden Foundation
April 29, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener
Friday, April 29, 2016
Effort has been made to carry AA into schools and young people's organizations, but the effective response has been so negligible that it has usually been abandoned after a short trial.
AA is a program for ALCOHOLICS - persons suffering from alcoholism. It was designed to appeal to them and them only. It is probably true that we can tell the kids a lot about drinking, but it will fall on deaf ears. Unfortunately, we must be pricked by the sharp thorn of experience in order to learn.
Hazelden Foundation
April 28, 2016 - Commentary: Why Black Pride matters
April 28, 2016 - A man's what-not-to-do for depression checklist
April 28, 2016 - Why Bernie Sanders really needs to stay in the race
April 28, 2016 - Donald Trump and America's culture of fear and paranoia
April 28, 2016 - Editorial: Donald Trump’s strange worldview
April 28, 2016 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
You can feel only your own feelings, not another person's
Having empathy for those we love, and being able to share their joys and sorrows, is part of our nature as warm, caring human beings. Taken to an extreme, however, too much empathy can mean that we lose our boundaries as emotionally separate individuals. When that happens, nobody wins.
We're responsible for our own feelings. If we're too deeply involved in another person's emotional state, we may not be truly aware of our own feelings. If we take on someone else's response to a situation, we lose our own in the process.
In any situation, particularly one that is highly charged with negative emotions, we need to maintain a sense of self. If we allow ourselves to be swept up in the anger, fear, grief, or despair of someone close to us, we become less capable of giving help and support. Emotional maturity is one of the goals of recovery. We progress toward it as we differentiate how we feel from how another person appears to feel.
I can respect the feelings of others without making them my own.
You can feel only your own feelings, not another person's
Having empathy for those we love, and being able to share their joys and sorrows, is part of our nature as warm, caring human beings. Taken to an extreme, however, too much empathy can mean that we lose our boundaries as emotionally separate individuals. When that happens, nobody wins.
We're responsible for our own feelings. If we're too deeply involved in another person's emotional state, we may not be truly aware of our own feelings. If we take on someone else's response to a situation, we lose our own in the process.
In any situation, particularly one that is highly charged with negative emotions, we need to maintain a sense of self. If we allow ourselves to be swept up in the anger, fear, grief, or despair of someone close to us, we become less capable of giving help and support. Emotional maturity is one of the goals of recovery. We progress toward it as we differentiate how we feel from how another person appears to feel.
I can respect the feelings of others without making them my own.
You are reading from the book:
This book is now out of print and no longer available to purchase. Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation
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