Feb. 3, 2014 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Monday, Feb. 3, 2014

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

Goodwill
Looking at other people with jealousy, envy, and mean and bitter thoughts isn't new to our world. The concept of giving other people the evil eye has been around for a long time. It's mentioned in almost every religion and culture in the world.

Sometimes we're not conscious of the darker thoughts we think. We might believe that ill will and the feelings connected with it - envy, jealousy, and resentment - are wrong. So when we feel that way, we push those feelings and thoughts aside.

"I remember lying in bed one night, tortured by my marriage, but believing it would violate my religious beliefs to get divorced," a woman said. "I started counting the years until I thought my husband might die. A light came on. I realized that wishing him dead was a lot worse than saying good-bye."

We want to believe there's a balancing force that prevails in the world. And while this force is balancing things out, we'd like to get some of the good stuff too. Hey, God, remember me?
Challenge:
The hardest thing about practicing goodwill is believing that when we're happy for other people - even when they're happier than we are - it will make us the happiest people in the world.

From the book:

52 Weeks of Conscious Contact by Melody Beattie

52 Weeks of Conscious Contact © 2003 by Melody Beattie

Feb. 2, 2014 - Step by Step

Step by Step

Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014 

Today, I understand - perhaps for the first time - that dependency is not confined to alcohol and the dynamics of addiction to it, and that dependency CAN impact my relationships with other people. For years, I depended on alcohol to drown feelings I did not want, to "create" feelings I wanted and to shape my attitude and perspective. Is it not logical, then, that I depended on alcohol to define - in part - my relationships with other people? Honesty says yes! And my expectations in those relationships were either to dominate THEM, or to be so emotionally needy and dependent on them that MY unrealistic expectations of them drove them away. Now, in sobriety, I have to admit that quitting drinking is not enough, that I must also be sober in my relationships and find the compromise between being the dominant one - and the needy one. Today, I begin the search for the way to being a contributor to healthy relationships. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2014

Feb. 2, 2014 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014

AA Thought for the Day

We got a kick out of the first few drinks, before we got stupefied by alcohol. For a while, the world seemed to look brighter. But how about the letdown, the terrible depression that comes the morning after? In AA, we get a real kick: not a false feeling of exhilaration, but a real feeling of satisfaction with ourselves, self-respect, and a feeling of friendliness toward the world. We got a sort of pleasure from drinking. For a while, we thought we were happy. But it's only an illusion. The hangover the next day is the opposite of pleasure.

In AA, am I getting real pleasure and serenity and peace?

Meditation for the Day

I will practice love, because lack of love will block the way. I will try to see good in all people, those I like and also those who fret me and go against the grain. They are all children of God. I will try to give love; otherwise, how can I dwell in God's spirit whence nothing unloving can come? I will try to get along with all people, because the more love I give away, the more I will have.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may do all I can to love others, in spite of their many faults. I pray that as I love, so will I be loved.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 2, 2014 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014 

Reflection for the Day

Looking back, I realize just how much of my life has been spent in dwelling upon the faults of others. It provided much self-satisfaction, to be sure, but I see now just how subtle and actually perverse the process became. After all was said and done, the net effect of dwelling on the so-called faults of others was self-granted permission to remain comfortably unaware of my own defects.

Do I still point my finger at others and thus self-deceptively overlook my own shortcomings?

Today I Pray

May I see that my preoccupation with the faults of others is really a smokescreen to keep me from taking a hard look at my own, as well as a way to bolster my own failing ego. May I check out the "why's" of my blaming.

Today I Will Remember

Blame-saying is game-playing. 

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 2, 2014 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014 

Probably no class of people has been brought into deep and turbulent waters of life to the extent of us alcoholics. Thousands of us were saved by a merciful God and emerged from our ordeal cleaner and stronger. That we were spared can be attributed only to the Grace of God. There is nothing haphazard about God's actions. He led us into deep water for a purpose; He extracted us for a purpose. Be sure you fulfill that purpose. 

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 2, 2014 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014

Today's thought from Hazelden is:

The Program works if you want it to work.
 -- Anonymous
Rarely do climbers stare up to see how far away the top still is. Instead, when they rest, they look down toward the starting point of their journey. The view they see assures them that they have already come a long, long way. 

Like the climbers, we need to keep our eyes on where we are and where we've been, not on where we're going. When we become discouraged with the progress of our recovery, we only need to look back over how far we have come. The rewarding view gives us courage to continue. Many of us recall times when we lived without hope and the sense of impending doom. Now we look forward to life with confidence. 

Today, I will remember to face my climb with optimism. Even if my progress sometimes seems slow to me, it's still a long way from where I once was.

From the book:

Easy Does It by Anonymous

Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 1, 2014 - Step by Step

Step by Step

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 

Today, I begin to tear down the wall that BITTERNESS has built between me and the promises of the Program and recovery - serenity with the world and myself, inclusion instead of exclusion from others in recovery who have found what I have not, a positive instead of a negative influence of everyone around me. Unlike anger, which in some cases is justified, bitterness has NO justification; like alcohol, the power of bitterness is in its destruction not only of everything and everyone around me but of myself as well. And, like alcohol, bitterness is the epitome of selfishness, of rejection of all that is good and constructive - and a validated ticket to loneliness and isolation. With as much work as I expended on drinking, it takes as much if not more work emotionally and physically to keep bitterness going. Today, I'm too tired and disgusted with bitterness to give it the time and effort needed to empower it. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2014

Feb. 1, 2014 - Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 

AA Thought for the Day

When we think about having a drink, we're thinking of the kick we get out of drinking, the pleasure, the escape from boredom, the feeling of self-importance and the companionship of other drinkers. What we don't think of is the letdown, the hangover, the remorse, the waste of money and the facing of another day. In other words, when we think about that first drink, we're thinking of all the assets of drinking and none of the liabilities.

What has drinking really got that we haven't got in AA? Do I believe that the liabilities of drinking outweigh the assets?

Meditation for the Day

I will start a new life each day. I will put the old mistakes away and start anew each day. God always offers me a fresh start. I will not be burdened or anxious. If God's forgiveness were only for the righteous and those who had not sinned, where would be its need? I believe that God forgives us all of our sins, if we are honestly trying to live today the way He wants us to live. God forgives us much and we should be very grateful.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my life may not be spoiled by worry and fear and selfishness. I pray that I may have a glad, thankful and humble heart.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 1, 2014 - A Day at a Time

A Day at a Time

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 

Reflection for the Day

The longer I'm in The Program, the more clearly I see why it's important for me to understand why I do what I do and say what I say. In the process, I'm coming to realize what kind of person I really am. I see now, for example, that it's far easier to be honest with other people than with myself. I'm learning, also, that we're all hampered by our need to justify our actions and words.

Have I taken an inventory of myself as suggested in the Twelve Steps? Have I admitted my faults to myself, to God and to another human being?

Today I Pray

May I not be stalled in my recovery process by the enormity of The Program's Fourth Step, taking a moral inventory of myself or by admitting these shortcomings to myself, to God and to another human being. May I know that honesty to myself about myself is all-important.

Today I Will Remember

I cannot mend if I bend the truth. 

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 1, 2014 - The Eye Opener

The Eye Opener

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 

To us alcoholics, our Twelve Steps of Recovery are the stars on which we set our course of sobriety. Like the seafaring man, we will not get them completely in our grasp, nor do we need to do so. If we but follow the course they indicate, we, too, will reach our haven.

Hazelden Foundation

Feb. 1, 2014 - Today's Gift from Hazelden

Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014

Today's thoughts from Hazelden are:

Bring the body, and the mind will follow.
 -- Saying heard in meetings

Newcomer
What do people in recovery mean when they say they have "smart feet"?

Sponsor
In recovery, we develop daily habits that we don't question: the habit of attending meetings, the habit of picking up the telephone to call a sponsor or to share with another recovering person, the habit of starting and ending the day with our preferred combination of prayer, literature, and meditation. We do these things whether we feel like doing them or not, and in time they become second nature to us, automatic as our addictive behavior was in the past. If we don't have to discuss these habits with ourselves, argue about whether or not they'll make us feel better, or question whether we've outgrown them, our burden is lighter.

Once we're at a meeting or sharing with another recovering person or with our Higher Power, the unexpected happens. We're lifted out of the tyranny of addictive thinking. "Smart feet" are feet that carry us to a place we need to be, whether we know it ahead of time or not.

Today, I'm grateful for simple habits that open my heart and mind to recovery.

From the book:

If You Want What We Have by Joan Larkin

If You Want What We Have © 1998 by Joan Larkin