The road to recovery and clearing the path

Dec. 5, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012

A man once ridiculed me in front of a large class in school, and I have hated his guts ever since. That was 35 years ago and I do not know whether he is dead or alive. If he was aware of my intense dislike, it certainly never bothered him. But it certainly bothers me even now. His face springs up in my memory and I begin to hate him all over again. This situation is just pure dumbness: I'm not hurting him, but I am distressing myself.

God teach me to forgive as I hope to be forgiven.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 5, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012

Today's thought from Hazelden is:
Recovery releases our creativity
Creativity implies something new - feeling, thinking, acting in a new way. When we step out of a familiar pattern, we often feel anxious. We wonder if the new way will work or if a new venture will succeed. We take a chance, a risk, and that requires courage.

If we refuse to tolerate a certain amount of anxiety, we will stay in our same old ruts. Safe? Perhaps, but stagnant. And maybe not so safe after all, since the opposite of growth is death.

You and I can live creatively if we are willing to have butterflies in our stomachs from time to time. Recovery releases us from old patterns so that we can try new ways of responding to the opportunities we are given each day. Believing we are supported by a Higher Power gives us the courage to take risks, especially when the outcome promises emotional and spiritual growth.

Today, I will dare to follow a creative inner prompting, even if I feel some anxiety.

From the book:

Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L.

Dec. 4, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

"If we have been thorough about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people. We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 ("How It Works"), p 70.

Just for today, the promise of the Program to move past our resentments and other feelings that hurt ourselves and others is equivalent to an emotional and spiritual rebirth. An intimidating or daunting achievement on the surface, such an overhaul is actually pretty simple. But the first rule is to want it, and the desire becomes a hunger if we accept completely and honestly the First Step - " ...admitted we were powerless." Without that surrender, the task of rebuilding in the subsequent Steps is likely built on an unsteady foundation, and the foundation may cave in by way of a relapse. But if we stop fighting with the realization that there is no reason to fight anymore and immerse ourselves in the First Step, the Second Step of coming to believe that a power greater than ourselves can exist may come easier. With that, we have made stronger the foundation on which we can rebuild our lives. And if we see someday that the person we become in sobriety nowhere resembles who and what we were in our drinking days, we might understand that the rebirth of ourselves is a natural consequence of honestly working the Program. So is the miracle of AA. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

Dec. 4, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
If we allow an alcoholic thought to lodge in our minds for any length of time, we are in danger of having a slip. Therefore, we must dispel such thoughts at once, by refusing their admittance and by immediately putting constructive thoughts in their place. Remember that alcohol is poison to you. Remember that it is impossible for you to drink normally. Remember that one drink will lead to others and you will eventually be drunk. Remember what happened to you in the past as a result of your drinking. Think of every reason you have learned in AA for not taking that drink. Fill your mind with constructive thoughts.

Am I keeping my thoughts constructive?

Meditation for the Day
Always seek to set aside the valuations of the world which seem wrong and try to judge only by those valuations which seem right to you. Do not seek the praise and notice of the world. Be one of those who, though sometimes scoffed at, have a serenity and peace of mind which the scoffers never know. Be one of that band who feel the Divine Principle in the universe, though He be often rejected because He cannot be seen.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not heed too much the judgement of the world. I pray that I may test things by what seems right to me.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 4, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

Reflection for the Day
Most of us in the Program are far more comfortable with the determination that we won't take the first drink today, than we are with the "vow" that we'll never drink again. Saying, "I intendnever to drink again," is quite different from saying, "I'll never drink again." The last statement is far too reflective of self-will; it doesn't leave much room for the idea that God will remove our obsession to drink if we practice the Program's Twelve Steps one day at a time.

Will I continue to fight against complacency, realizing that I'll always be just one drink away from disaster?

Today I Pray
"Never again" demands too binding a commitment, even for the strongest among us. Our past lives were full of "never again's" and "won't ever's," promises that were broken before the next dawn. May I, for now, set my sights on just one straight, sober day at a time.

Today I Will Remember
Never say "never again."

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 4, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

Sometimes people say, "I tried AA but, somehow, it just didn't seem to work for me." They had lost faith in the Program, but a careful analysis of the situation would show that they had not been faithful TO it. No medicine will cure a sick man unless he takes it regularly and according to the doctor's orders.

You will have no occasion to lose faith in the Program if you live faithfully to its precepts.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 4, 2012 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012

Today's thought from Hazelden is:
We need four hugs a day for survival.
We need eight hugs a day for maintenance.
We need twelve hugs a day for growth.
-- Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir was an internationally acclaimed therapist. She knew a lot about what people need to behealthy and happy and to live in good relationships with each other. She was very smart, and most of her advice was pretty simple.

Take hugs, for example. What could be more simple? One person reaching out to touch another person with safety and care. Very simple. But what do hugs give people? Comfort. Acceptance. The basics we all need no matter where we are at today.
Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, help me ask for the hugs I need and want today. Remind me today to offer hugs to the people around me. And help me feel the big hug You have for me too.
Today's Action
Today I will talk with my sponsor about this question: What is easier for me - to get a hug or to give a hug?

From the book:

God Grant Me... by Anonymous

Dec. 3, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Monday, Dec. 3, 2012

"The explanation that alcoholism was a disease of a two-fold nature, an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind, cleared up a number of puzzling questions for me. ...
"The obsession of the mind was a little harder to understand, and yet everyone has obsessions of various kinds. The alcoholic has them to an exaggerated degree. Over a period of time, he has built up self-pity, resentments toward anyone and everyone who dares to cross him, vanity and a critical attitude are character defects that gradually creep in and become a part of his life. Living with fear and tension inevitably results in wanting to ease that tension, which alcohol seems to do temporarily." - Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, "They Stopped in Time," Ch 10 ("It Might Have Been Worse"), p 380.

Just for today: "The alcoholic has (obsessions) to an exaggerated degree." If today I catch myself critical or resentful of something or someone, myself included, let me remember that I might be feeling an exaggerated emotion that is possibly one of my spiritual defects that began long before my drinking but was numbed with alcohol. If resentment comes easy to me even in sobriety or if I suspect my own expectations of myself are unrealistic, let me see that I may also expect too much of others and that I may resent them if they do not meet my standards. Likewise, let me see that I risk all sorts of self-destructive feelings if I fail to meet my own standards. Today, grant me honesty and knowledge to determine if the "exaggerated" feelings I harbored in my drinking days have carried into my sobriety and, if so, to find my answers in the 12 Steps. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012

Dec. 3, 2012 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, Dec. 3, 2012

AA Thought for the Day
There is some alcoholic thought, conscious or unconscious, that comes before every slip. As long as we live, we must be on the lookout for such thoughts and guard against them. In fact, our AA training is mostly to prepare us, to make us ready to recognize such thoughts at once and to reject them at once. The slip comes when we allow such thoughts to remain in our minds, even before we actually go through the motions of lifting the glass to our lips. The AA program is largely one of mental training.

How well is my mind prepared?

Meditation for the Day
Fret not your mind with puzzles that you cannot solve. The solutions may never be shown to you until you have left this life. The loss of dear ones, the inequality of life, the deformed and the maimed, and many other puzzling things may not be known to you until you reach the life beyond. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now." Only step by step, stage by stage, can you proceed in your journey into greater knowledge and understanding.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be content that things which I now see darkly will some day be made clear. I pray that I may have faith that someday I will see face to face.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec 3, 2012 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time
Monday, Dec. 3, 2012

Reflection for the Day
Our ancient enemy, self-will, wears a mask, confronting me with this sort of rationalization: "Why do I have to lean on God? Hasn't He already given me the intelligence to think for myself?" I have to pause when such thoughts creep into my mind, remembering that I've never really been able to bring about the results I wanted simply by relying on my own devices. I'm not self-sufficient, nor do I know all the answers; bitter experience alone teaches me that.

Do I know that I need God's guidance? Am I willing to accept it?

Today I Pray
I pray that, as I become stronger in my conviction and in my sobriety, I will not begin to shrug off my dependence on a Higher Power. May I continue to pray for guidance, even when things seem to be going along smoothly. May I know that I need my Higher Power as much in times of triumph as in times of trauma.

Today I Will Remember
Self-sufficiency is a godless myth.

Hazelden Foundation

Dec. 3, 2012 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener
Monday, Dec. 3, 2012

I feel good today and I ought to. I slept like a baby last night, had a fine breakfast that I relished, the wife and kids kissed me as I left the house, I arrived at the office whistling and didn't give a damn whether the boss was in a good humor or not. The work, too, seemed so much easier to do and the gang in the office seemed so much friendlier. It's payday, too, and I drew a whole week's pay and I haven't borrowed a cent from a soul in the office. The whole envelope can go home unopened.

AA gave me all this. To me, an alcoholic, this is heaven.

Hazelden Foundation