April 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Today, appreciation of the power of the spoken word, the one spoken in anger, fear, frustration and sarcasm and which can inflict more damage than any destructive act of my drinking days. Let me understand that a single word can do hurt and injury that might not be healed by any amend. And even if my amend or apology is accepted, the injury and hurt may cut so deeply in the person against whom the wrong word is spoken that something can still be forever lost. I pray for guidance in the 12th Step to practice the Program’s principles in all my affairs, including not caving into anger and unleashing a word that is intended to hurt. Today, I think before I speak, especially if I am angry, frustrated or afraid, because I cannot unspeak it – and atonement may not be enough to repair the damage. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

April 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

The AA program is one of submission, release and action. When we’re drinking, we’re submitting to a power greater than ourselves – liquor. Our own wills are no use against the power of liquor. One drink and we’re sunk. In AA, we stop submitting to the power of liquor. Instead, we submit to a Power, also greater than ourselves, which we call God.

Have I submitted myself to that Higher Power?

Meditation for the Day

Ceaseless activity is not God’s plan for your life. Times of withdrawal for renewed strength are always necessary. Wait for the faintest tremor of fear and stop all work, everything, and rest before God until you are strong again. Deal in the same way with all tired feelings. Then you need rest of body and renewal of spirit-force. St. Paul said: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” This does not mean that you are to do all things and then rely on God to find strength. It means that you are to do the things you believe God wants you to do and only then can you rely on His supply of power.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God’s spirit may be my master always. I pray that I may learn how to rest and listen, as well as how to work.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Reflection for the Day
When I first came to The Program, I was stunned by the constant sound of laughter. I realized today that cheerfulness and merriment make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into laughter over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered, and have helped others to recover. What greater cause could there be for rejoicing than this?

Have I begun to regain my sense of humor?

Today I Pray
May God restore my sense of humor. May I appreciate the honest laughter that is the background music of our mutual rejoicing in our sobriety. May I laugh a lot, not the defensive ego-laugh which mocks another’s weakness, not the wry laugh of the self-putdown, but the healthy laugh that keeps situations in perspective. May I never regard this kind of laughter as irreverent. I have learned, instead, that it is irreverent to take myself too seriously.

Today I Will Remember
A sense of humor is a sign of health.

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Many of us came into AA either in middle life or beyond and feel that with our reasonable life expectancy, it is practically impossible to atone for our previous wrong actions. The thief at the Crucifixion probably thought the same thing but, by one single act, he brought the promise that “this day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”

Hazelden Foundation

April 26, 2023 – Good morning and let’s all have a fantastic Wednesday

 

Good morning and get out there and make today a magnificent Wednesday without the stress and worry that we all bear and without the people and things who aren’t worthy of our attention

April 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

— Oscar Wilde

Just as we don’t have the right to judge someone else, we don’t have the right to judge ourselves. Our addictive script in the past was that when we did something we felt ashamed of, we judged ourselves guilty. All too often, we then punished ourselves.

Was that behavior an expression of our shame and sadness because we’re addicts? Punishing ourselves won’t stop the addiction; loving ourselves will.

We are grateful that our recovery has taught us the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt lets us feel remorse and sadness when our actions violate our values. Guilt helps us know when we’ve acted badly. But shame leaves us hopeless. To give in to shame and self-hatred only harms us and intensifies the power of the addiction. There is a better way, and that’s to learn to love ourselves.

Higher Power, please step in when I feel the urge to take things out on myself. May your love for me teach me to love myself instead.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Today, understand we cannot claim credit if someone we sponsor or to whom we have carried the message finds sobriety. Likewise, let us not feel that we have failed a sponsee or co-member who continues to drink. To claim credit for anyone else’s recovery or to blame ourselves for their continued drinking fires our ego and, because of it, we break the command of being a carrier of the message. Just as we cannot credit anyone for our sobriety other than the Program or to blame our drinking on someone or something other than ourselves, we cannot claim credit for another person’s recovery or lack ot it. Today, let us remember that we are the messenger, not the message. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M., 2023

April 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

I don’t believe that AA works because I read it in a book or because I hear people say so. I believe it because I see people getting sober and staying sober. An actual demonstration is what convinces me. When I see the change in people, I can’t help believing that AA works. We could listen to talk about AA all day and still not believe it, but when we see it work, we have to believe it. Seeing is believing.

Do I see AA work every day?

Meditation for the Day

Try saying: “God bless her (or him)” of anyone who is in disharmony with you. Also say it of those who are in trouble through their own fault. Say it, willing that showers of blessings may fall upon them. Let God do the blessing. Leave to God the necessary correcting or disciplining. You should only desire blessing for them. Leave God’s work to God. Occupy yourself with the task that He gives you to do. God’s blessing will also break down all your own difficulties and build up all your successes.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may use God’s goodness so that it will be a blessing to others. I pray that I may accept God’s blessing so that I will have harmony, beauty, joy and happiness.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Reflection for the Day

I have much more to be grateful for than I realize. Too often, I don’t remember to give thought to all the things in my life that I could enjoy and appreciate. Perhaps I don’t take time for this important meditation because I’m too preoccupied with my own so-called woes. I allow my mind to overflow with grievances; the more I think about them, the more monumental they seem. Instead of surrendering to God and His goodness, I let myself be controlled by the negative thinking into which my thoughts are apt to stray unless I guide them firmly into brighter paths.

Do I try to cultivate an “attitude of gratitude?”

Today I Pray

May God lead me away from my pile-up of negative thoughts, which make for detours in my path of personal growth. May I break the old poor-me habits of remembering the worst and expecting the most dire. May I turn my thoughts ahead to a whole new world out there. May I allow myself to envision the glory of God.

Today I Will Remember

Keep an attitude of gratitude.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Man is a pretty smart duck, but after all these centuries of study, experimentation and reasoning, we still don’t know what we are, where our life came from or what happens to it when we die. True, we have certain faiths and beliefs, but who can say with certainty and with personal knowledge exactly what the answer to the Great Enigma really is?

We have unlocked many of the secrets of Nature, but we still don’t know what we are, how we got here or where we will go when we leave.

God still has many secrets. If man knew them all, there would be no incentive to know God better.

Hazelden Foundation

April 25, 2023 – Good morning to a grand and beautiful Tuesday

 

Good morning with hopes of a terrific and productive Tuesday for everyone — and don’t waste any of the day on people and things who don’t rate our attention