Step by Step
Friday, May 24, 2013

“Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. This just isn’t so. In some cases, the (spouse) will never come back …(R)ecovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God.” - Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 7, pp 99-100.

Today, grant me understanding why my alcoholism, sobriety and recovery are dependent only on me and that I cannot make my recovery a condition of what someone else does or how some situation plays out. Just as none of those dynamics can be “blamed” for my alcoholic drinking, neither can they be the reason for my recovery. To place conditions of my sobriety on someone or something else does little more than substantiate my refusal to take responsibility and consequences and exert emotional blackmail on an external source that I cannot or will not stop drinking if I don’t get from them what I want. Today, my addiction, my character defects, my spiritual defects are my responsibility, the result of my reckless and selfish behavior, and no one else’s fault; likewise, no one and nothing outside of me are responsible for my recovery. And if addiction is as selfish as the Program says, then so it is for my recovery. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Friday, May 24, 2013

AA Thought for the Day
In Twelfth-Step work, the second thing is confession. By frankly sharing with prospects, we get them talking about their own experiences. They will open up and confess things to us that they haven’t been able to tell other people. And they feel better when this confession has been made. It’s a great load off their minds to get these things out and into the open. It’s the things that are kept hidden that weigh on the mind. They feel a sense of release and freedom when they have opened up their hearts to us.

Do I care enough about other alcoholics to help them to make a confession?

Meditation for the Day
I should help others all I can. Every troubled soul that God puts in my path is the one for me to help. As I sincerely try to help, a supply of strength will flow into me from God. My circle of helpfulness will widen more and more. God hands out the spiritual food to me and I pass it on to others. I must never say that I have only enough strength for my own need. The more I give away, the more I will keep. That which I keep to myself, I will lose in the end.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may have a sincere willingness to give. I pray that I may not hold back the strength I have received for myself alone.

Hazelden Foundation

A Day at a Time
Friday, May 24, 2013

Reflection for the Day
Getting over years of suspicion and other self-protective mechanisms can hardly be an overnight process. We’ve become thoroughly conditioned to feeling and acting misunderstood and unloved – whether we really were or not. Some of us may need time and practice to break out of our shell and the seemingly comfortable familiarity of solitude. Even though we begin to believe and know we’re no longer alone, we tend to sometimes feel and act in the old ways.

Am I taking it easy? Am I learning to wear The Program and life like a loose garment?

Today I Pray
May I expect no sudden, total reversal of all my old traits. My sobriety is just a beginning. May I realize that the symptoms of my disease will wear off gradually. If I slip back, now and then, into my old self-pity bag or my grandiosity, may I not be discouraged but grateful. At last, I can face myself honestly and not let my delusions get the best of me.

Today I Will Remember
Easy does it.

Hazelden Foundation

The Eye Opener
Friday, May 24, 2013

The only impossible thing in the world is a full conception of the things that are possible.

Within the limits of our lifetime, we have seen many marvels: the transmission of sound and pictures across the continent without visible means; we cook and freeze with the same unit of energy; man can now exert a force of 20,000 tons simply by pushing a button. Nothing seems beyond the vision of the scientist in his study and use of the unlimited forces of Nature.

The power of God, however, is still virgin territory. Man hasn’t scratched the surface in his efforts to put this force to work for man. When this is accomplished, the word “impossible” will not be in anybody’s dictionary.

Hazelden Foundation

Friday, May 24, 2013

Today’s thought from Hazelden is:

Reflection for the Day
Every man and woman who has joined The Program and intends to stick around has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn’t it true that, in all matters related to their addictions, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of The Program? So already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one’s own will and one’s own ideas about the addiction in favor of those suggested by The Program. If this isn’t turning one’s will and life over to a new-found “Providence,” then what is it? Have I had a spiritual awakening as the result of The Steps?

Today I Pray
For myself, I pray for a God-centered life. I thank God often for the spiritual awakening I have felt since I turned my life over. May the words “spiritual awakening” be a clue to others that there is a free fund of spiritual power within each person. It must only be discovered.

Today I Will Remember
I will try to be God-centered.

From the book:

A Day at a Time (Softcover) by Anonymous

A Day at a Time © 1989 by Hazelden Foundation

Step by Step
Thursday, May 23, 2013

“It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. …But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal.” - Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976, Ch 5, p 66

Today, I will understand and accept that resentments are both futile and unhappy and, by holding onto them, other words in the Big Book are gospel: ” …(H)arboring such (resentment), we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.” Because I cannot afford to empower anything so strongly that my sobriety and, subsequently, my life are imperiled, I will listen to my Higher Power for the way to release to Him my resentments without taking them back. By holding onto and later taking back resentment, I must follow the Big Book’s conclusion that I am still spiritually sick and that the sickness can magnify to trigger a slip or relapse. Today, I beg in sincerity and humility for the courage, strength and willingness to release that which I cannot control. And our common journey continues. Step by step. - Chris M., 2013

Twenty-Four Hours a Day
Thursday, May 23, 2013

AA Thought for the Day
The Twelfth Step of AA, working with others, can be subdivided into five parts, five words beginning with the letter C – confidence, confession, conviction, conversion and continuance. The first thing in trying to help other alcoholics is to get their confidence. We do this by telling them our own experiences with drinking so that they see that we know what we’re talking about. If we share our experiences frankly, they will know that we are sincerely trying to help them. They will realize that they’re not alone and that others have had experiences as bad or worse than theirs. This gives them confidence that they can be helped.

Do I care enough about other alcoholics to get their confidence?

Meditation for the Day
I fail not so much when tragedy happens as I did before the happening, by all the little things I might have done but did not do. I must prepare for the future by doing the right thing at the right time now. If a thing should be done, I should deal with that thing today and get it righted with God before I allow myself to undertake any new duty. I should look upon myself as performing God’s errands and then coming back to Him to tell Him in quiet communion that the message has been delivered or the task done.

Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may seek no credit for the results of what I do. I pray that I may leave the outcome of my actions to God.

Hazelden Foundation