Oct. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change — and we all instinctively avoid it.

— E. B. White

The mysteries of life unravel like threads, moment by moment, every day of our life. Each thread offers us knowledge and opportunity that our Higher Power knows we’re ready to handle. During our life we’ll experience at least a few dramatic changes at specific and meaningful junctures. These changes can deepen our understanding of our purpose.

It’s pretty difficult to continue clinging to old ideas in the face of contrary new information. We may fight a change, even a small one, because our ego is invested in how it was. But within our Twelve Step fellowship, we’re surrounded by people who exemplify the rewards of change. These men and women are grabbing the threads of new knowledge and special opportunities and weaving coats of many colors that will comfort them in the days ahead.

I will seize the threads of life today and trust in my Higher Power.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023

” …I went to my first meeting. I was a very fortunate drunk. God has been good to me both in my drinking and in my sobriety. Because, thank God, since I came into this program, I haven’t had any trouble. Oh yes, I get the dry jitters once in a while, but that isn’t anything to worry about. It passes away. But I’ve never come close to that first drink. I took the advice of people I had heard at meetings, the people in the group. And I jumped in with both feet. Someone told me, ‘When you drank, you didn’t get half-drunk. You went all the way. In this program, there aren’t any halfway measures. In here, you must go all the way, too.’ So I attended as many meetings as possible.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, “They Lost Nearly All,” Ch 8 (“Desperation Drinking”), p 516.

Today, “half measures availed us nothing.” Today, I will apply the full measures I exerted on drinking to get sober, and I will listen to the voices of experience and set aside the egoism that I think I know better than anyone else. And if a shot of the “dry jitters” creeps in, I have the Twelve Steps to fall back on and the promise that, “This, too, shall pass.” But I must first get to the point that enough is enough and, today, I give it up, facing that enough is enough. With that desire for something better, I have taken my first baby step. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Oct. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023

AA Thought for the Day
How do I talk with new prospects? Am I always trying to dominate the conversation? Do I lay down the law and tell prospects what they will have to do? Do I judge them privately and feel that they have small chance of making the program? Do I belittle them to myself? Or am I willing to bare my soul so as to get them talking about themselves? And, then, am I willing to be a good listener, not interrupting, but feel deeply that they are my brothers or my sisters?

Will I do all I can to help them along the path to sobriety?

Meditation for the Day
“The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance forever.” Only when the soul attains this calm, can there be true spiritual work done, and mind and soul and body be strong to conquer and bear all things. Peace is the result of righteousness. There is no peace in wrong doing, but if we live the way God wants us to live, quietness and assurance follow. Assurance is that calmness born of a deep certainty of God’s strength available to us and in His power to love and guard us from all harm and wrong doing.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may attain a state of true calmness. I pray that I may live in quietness and peace.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023

Reflection for the Day

I’ve learned in The Program that I’m wholly powerless over my addiction. At long last, I’ve conceded my powerlessness; as a result, my life has taken a 180-degree turn for the better. However, I do have a power, derived from God, to change my own life. I’ve learned that acceptance does not mean submission to an unpleasant or degrading situation. It means accepting the reality of the situation and then deciding what, if anything, I can and will do about it.

Have I stopped trying to control the uncontrollable? Am I gaining the courage to change the things I can?

Today I Pray

I ask my Higher Power for direction as I learn to sort out the things I can change from the things I can’t, for that sorting process does, indeed, require God-given wisdom. May “the things I cannot change” not give me an excuse for inaction. May “the things I can” not include managing other people’s lives. May I start to understand my own reality.

Today I Will Remember

Acceptance is not inaction. Change is not domination.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2023 - Readings in Recovery; The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023

Promises, vows, pledges, resolutions, doctors, preachers, priests, psychologists, psychiatrists, hospitals, judges, jails, jitter-joints, in fact everything, but nothing worked.

One day, by the Grace of God, we found ourselves sober, and there can be no denying that it was the Grace of God alone that caused it. That same Grace will remain with you as long as you honestly seek it, and you will find that it will prove more than sufficient.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 3, 2023 – Good morning and let’s make it a worthwhile Tuesday

 

Good morning with confidence that it’s going to be a fantastic Tuesday and that we don’t have to be bothered by people and things that aren’t worth our attention

Oct. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Slogans

Live easy but think first.

—Anonymous

“Live and let live,” “Easy does it,” “But for the grace of God,” “Think, think, think,” and “First things first” are the five slogans we most often hear and see on the walls of our meeting rooms. The first word of each of these five slogans also creates a popular slogan: “Live easy but think first.”

Many newcomers hear that we begin recovery on the slogans and stay in recovery on the Twelve Steps. The slogans were developed for use in recovery from the experience of many others. They at first appear to us as too simple (and sometimes too corny) for our use. The slogans are anything but corny. We need to check if we are using them in our daily lives.

The slogans helped me when I first came in. I continue to use them to keep me on the program, but I also remember not to be a “slogan slinger” and ram them down everyone’s throat.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

“It would be wonderful were I able to tell you that my confidence in God and my application of the Twelve Steps to my daily living have utterly banished fear. This would not be the truth. The most accurate answer I can give you is this: Fear has never again ruled my life since that day …when I found that a Power greater than myself could not only restore me to sanity but could keep me both sober and sane. Never in 16 years have I dodged anything because I was afraid of it. I have faced life instead of running away from it.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous Number Three, Ch 9 (“The Man Who Mastered Fear”), pp 284-85.

Today: fear of what? Of the uncertain but predictable consequences of drinking? Of the untested and unfamiliar path of recovery? Of taking responsibility for the consequences of my actions when drunk, when sober? Of telling someone I’m sorry? Of admitting that I can’t do it alone anymore, that I need something higher and stronger than myself? Of the risk of opening myself knowing that once the heart is open nothing will ever be the same? Of facing fear? Of what fear will do to me? Today, if on nothing more than blind faith in something stronger and greater than myself, I confront my fears because I’ve empowered them for far too long. In facing them, God granting, may I have control of my fears — not the other way around. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2023

Oct. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

AA Thought for the Day

What makes an effective talk at an AA meeting? It is not a fine speech with fine choice of words and an impressive delivery. Often a few simple words direct from the heart are more effective than the most polished speech. There is always a temptation to speak beyond your own experience, in order to make a good impression. This is never effective. What does not come from the heart does not reach the heart. What comes from personal experience and a sincere desire to help the other person reaches the heart.

Do I speak for effect or with a deep desire to help?

Meditation for the Day

“Thy will be done” must be your oft-repeated prayer. And in the willing of God’s will there should be gladness. You should delight to do that will because when you do, all your life goes right and everything tends to work well for you in the long run. When you are honestly trying to do God’s will and humbly accepting the results, nothing can seriously hurt you. Those who accept the will of God in their life may not inherit the earth, but they will inherit real peace of mind.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have a yielded will. I pray that my will may be attuned to the will of God.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

Reflection for the Day
An entire philosophy of life is condensed in the slogan “Live and Let Live.” First we’re urged to live fully, richly and happily — to fulfill our destiny with the joy that comes from doing well whatever we do. Then comes a more difficult challenge: “Let live.” This means accepting the right of every other person to live as he or she wishes, without criticism or judgment from us. The slogan rules out contempt for those who don’t think as we do. It also warns against resentments, reminding us not to interpret other people’s actions as intentional injuries to us.

Am I becoming less tempted to involve my mind with thoughts of how others act or live?

Today I Pray
May I live my life to the fullest, understanding that pure pleasure-seeking is not pleasure-finding, but that God’s goodness is here to be shared. May I partake of it. May I learn not to take over the responsibility for another’s adult decisions; that is my old controlling self trying, just one more time, to be the executive director of other people’s lives.

Today I Will Remember
Live and let live.

Hazelden Foundation

Oct. 2, 2023 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, Oct. 2, 2023

Most of us have met persons whom we thought extremely homely until we knew them better. Then we ceased observing their lack of facial beauty and began to appreciate those persons for what they really were.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were what might be called extremely homely men, yet the beauty and strength of their characters was such that practically all present-day pictures show little of their ugliness.

You can’t do a whole lot to improve an ugly face, but you can hide it behind a lovely character.

Hazelden Foundation