June 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Today, of all that I feel, gratitude is foremost — gratitude for grabbing the lifeline of recovery, for the common sense to hold onto it, for the support, experience, strength and hope of all the people I have found here and, perhaps above all, for the gift of recovery, to put all that pain, destruction, fear, self-pity and self-seeking behind me. And I will not reach into yesterday and bring its garbage into today but understand that my recovery is a day-to-day process regardless of how many 24 Hours of sobriety I have been blessed with. And I will understand that the gratitude I feel today is the birth of humility — and it is in humility that I feel all the good there is in being sober. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

June 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Tuesday, June 25, 2024

AA Thought for the Day
One of the most encouraging facts of life is that your weakness can become your greatest asset. Kites and airplanes rise against the wind. In climbing up a high mountain, we need the stony crags and rough places to aid us in our climb. So your weakness can become an asset if you will face it, examine it and trace it to its origin. Set it in the very center of your minds. No weakness, such as drinking, ever turned into an asset until it was first fairly faced.

Am I making my weakness my greatest asset?

Meditation for the Day
Whenever we seek to worship God, we think of the great universe that God rules over, of creation, of mighty law and order throughout the universe. Then we feel the awe that precedes worship. I, too, must feel awe, feel the desire to worship God in wondering amazement. My mind is in a box of space and time and it is so made that I cannot conceive of what is beyond space or time, the limitless and the eternal. But I know that there must be something beyond space and time, and that something must be the limitless and eternal Power behind the universe. I also know that I can experience that Power in my life.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may accept the limitless and eternal Spirit. I pray that it may express Itself in my life.

Hazelden Foundation

June 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Reflection for the Day

If ever I come to the complacent conclusion that I don’t need The Program any longer, let me quickly remind myself that it can do far more than carry me through the anguish of living in the bondage of addiction. Let me further remind myself that I can make even greater strides in fulfilling myself, for The Program and the Twelve Steps is a philosophy – a way of life.

Will I ever out-grow my need for the Program?

Today I Pray

May my Higher Power lead me through the Twelve Steps, not just once, but again and again, until they become the guiding principles of my existence. This is no quickie seminar on improving the quality of my life; this is my life, restored to me through Divine Power and the friendship of my fellow addicts who, like me, are recovering in the best known way.

Today I Will Remember

Step by Step, from bondage to abundant life.

Hazelden Foundation

June 25, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener
Tuesday, June 25, 2024

The fortunes amassed by the Carnegies, the Mellons, the Fords and the Rockefellers have been largely diverted to the welfare of man generally, yet their pooled resources multiplied thousands of times would not accomplish the good that resulted from the heritage left us by the Poorest Man that ever lived.

The power of wealth as compared with the power of Love is puny to the point of being unworthy of comparison.

If your pockets are not lined with gold but your heart is, you can still be a power, not only for this generation but for those yet unborn.

Hazelden Foundation

June 25, 2024 - Good morning and let's shoot for a terrific Tuesday

 

Good morning and let's get psyched for a Tuesday 

that's guaranteed to be great because Monday is out of the way ...and don't let anything and anyone not worth our time screw up the day

June 24, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, June 24, 2024

Today's Gift from Hazelden Bettty Ford Foundation is:

Honesty

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

--Step Five of Al-Anon

Talking openly and honestly to another person about ourselves, in an attitude that reflects self-responsibility, is critical to recovery.

It's important to admit what we have done wrong to others and to ourselves. Verbalize our beliefs and our behaviors. Get our resentments and fears out in the open.

That's how we release our pain. That's how we release old beliefs and feelings. That's how we are set free. The more clear and specific we can be with our Higher Power, ourselves, and another person, the more quickly we will experience that freedom.

Step Five is an important part of the recovery process. For those of us who have learned to keep secrets from ourselves and others, it is not just a step - it is a leap toward becoming healthy.

Today I will remember that it's okay to talk about the issues that bother me. It is by sharing my issues that I will grow beyond them.

Hazelden Foundation

June 24, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Step by Step

 

Step by Step

Monday, June 24, 2024

“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” — Step 5

“This (Step) is perhaps difficult — especially discussing our defects with another person. We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves. There is doubt about that. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. …We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so. The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. …Trying to avoid this humbling experience, (members) have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk.” — Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, Ch 6 (“Into Action”), pp 72-3.

Today, understand that the purpose of Step Five is to unburden myself of the emotional baggage of guilt, fear, resentment and anger that will likely impair my recovery if I do not let go of that weight. I cannot expect to reap the Program’s full benefits if I cannot be unconditionally honest with myself and others by keeping bottled inside those events or feelings that might have contributed to my drinking — and hurt to others. Along with humility, Step Five requires courage. Failing to muster both honesty and courage to release what now hurts me will predictably impede my recovery. And, in letting go by confiding in another person, I may find fresh perspectives, useful direction and an unbiased opinion that what I think is so bad may not be as bad as I think. Today, I look for the honesty and courage to take Step Five and, hopefully, find reconciliation. And our common journey continues. Step by step. — Chris M., 2024

June 24, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: Twenty-Four Hours a Day

 

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Monday, June 24, 2024

AA Thought for the Day
Alcohol is our weakness. We suffer from mental conflicts from which we look for escape by drowning our problems in drink. We try through drink to push away from the realities of life. But alcohol does not feed, alcohol does not build, it only borrows from the future and it ultimately destroys. We try to drown our feelings in order to escape life’s realities, little realizing or caring that in continued drinking we are only multiplying our problems.

Have I got control over my unstable emotions?

Meditation for the Day
When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with what I know to be my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track and I am undoing all I have built up by doing the right thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no clear guidance from God, I must go forward quietly along the path of duty. The attitude of quiet faith will receive its reward as surely as acting upon God’s direct guidance. I must not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques upset me.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that I may go quietly along the path I have chosen.

Hazelden Foundation

June 24, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: A Day at a Time

 

A Day at a Time
Monday, June 24, 2024

Reflection for the Day
The primary purpose of The Program is freedom from addiction; without that freedom, we have nothing. But that doesn’t mean I can say, for example, “Sobriety is my only concern. Except for my drinking, I’m really a super person, so give me sobriety, and I’ve got it made.” If I delude myself with such specious nonsense, I’ll make so little progress with my real life problems and responsibilities that I’ll likely return to my addiction. That’s why The Program’s Twelfth Step urges us to “practice these principles in all our affairs.”

Am I living just to be free of chemical dependence, or also to learn, to serve and to love?

Today I Pray
May I relish and be grateful for my sobriety, which is where all good things begin. But let me not stop at that and give up trying to understand myself, the nature of God and of humanity. Freedom from dependency is the first freedom. May I be certain that there are more to come – freedom from tight-mindedness, from the unrest of bottled-up feelings, from over-dependence on others, from a Godless existence. May The Program which answered my acute needs also answer my chronic ones.

Today I Will Remember
Sobriety is just a beginning.

Hazelden Foundation

June 24, 2024 - Readings in Recovery: The Eye Opener

 

The Eye Opener

Monday, June 24, 2024

The poor old drunk has ever had to face the wrath of the law and an indignant world. Lectures, threats, jail sentences, booby hatches and asylums have proven to be but waste of words, efforts and public funds. Nothing — absolutely nothing — worked.

AA tried a revolutionary ministration of sympathy and understanding. It recognized his condition as an illness, threefold in its nature, and that the only medication that would prove effective must treat his physical, mental and spiritual disorder at one and the same time.

Hazelden Foundation

June 24, 2024 - Rise 'n shine with confidence in this beautiful Monday and new week

 

Good morning with optimism that we can do another 

Monday and new week  as best we can and not be deterred by people and things that don't amount to jack