New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/31/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Self-Respect When my kids used to say, “Mom yelled at me,” what they meant was that I had told them to clean their rooms, or to say "please" and "thank you," or to obey some other parental directive they didn't like. To them, this was yelling because we just weren't a yelly household. So I don't know how my child became comfortable with yelling and swearing at me once he became an addict, but he did. And I let him. I used to be strong. I had self-respect. I would never have let anyone walk all over me. But with my addicted son, I pretty much rolled out the red carpet. He sneered at me and called me names; he was rude, insulting, and mean. He manipulated me, used me, and abused my love and trust. When he said he hated me, didn't call back, or didn't show up, I pretended it didn't hurt. Instead, I groveled. I was desperate, determined to hang on to the last imaginary thread of our relationship-even if it was abusive. This is not love-not of the self. Not of anyone. Unconditional love doesn't mean you have to unconditionally accept bad behaviors. Anonymous You are reading from the book: Tending Dandelions by Sandra Swenson Tending Dandelions © 2017 by Sandra Swenson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/26/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: When I came in, they told me, "Let us love you until you can learn to love yourself." --Anonymous It takes a long time to learn to love ourselves. So many things we've done seem hard to forgive. We might be trying to dig out from under tons of negative garbage, negative images. Fortunately, our friends in this program do love us. That will sustain us as we try to get the picture of ourselves back into proper focus. The thing we must get locked firmly in our mind is that it's all right to be who we have been and who we are now. We know how to repair the damage now. Our program shows us the way to recovery, the way back to genuine esteem in ourselves as God's creations. God made us, and always loves us just the way we are. I will try to love myself, remembering that God and other people love me as I am. You are reading from the book: In God's Care by Karen Casey In God's Care by Karen Casey. © 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/25/2018

Today's thoughts from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation are: If you want to change who you are, change what you do. *** The Big Book is like a cookbook - you can read it all day long and starve. You have to take the action. *** If you stay humble, you will not stumble. *** Our neighbor's window looks much cleaner if we first wash our own. *** Yesterday is a canceled check, tomorrow is a promissory note, today is cash in hand, spend it wisely. You are reading from the book: Keep Coming Back Gift Book by Meiji Stewart Keep Coming Back © 1995 by Meiji Stewart. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/23/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Make yourself at home. It was night, only a few months after I'd begun my skydiving adventure. It was too cold to stay in my tent; I had rented a cabin near the drop zone. Now I'd come back to hang out for a while, before retiring for the night. One of the skydivers I'd met recently was sitting in a lawn chair, under the tarped area between the rows of trailers that had been turned into team rooms and student training areas. The evening lights had been turned on. He was wrapped up in a sleeping bag, reading a book under the hazy glow. He was one of the full-time skydivers, who had been attracted to the gypsy lifestyle of the skydiving community as much as the sport itself. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm in my living room, reading a book," he replied. "Do you like the view of the backyard?" he asked, making a gesture toward the rolling hills that cascaded gently in the background. "That's my patio," he said, pointing to a small area just around the corner. "The morning sun hits there. It's a warm place to sit and eat breakfast. Sometimes I sleep in that tent," he said, pointing off to the side." And sometimes I take my sleeping bag and curl up under the stars in the landing area, over there." I looked around, almost envious of his freedom. Sometimes, we get so busy and involved creating a "home" for ourselves that we create a structure that's too safe, limiting, and confined. We forget about our real home, the planet earth. It's good to sleep indoors. It's nice to make ourselves comfortable in our home. But don't let your cozy nest become a locked, confining box. Stretch your arms, Push the lid off the box. Get out into the world. Walk around. Move about. See the hills, the lakes, the forests, the mountains peaks, the valleys, the rivers. See how big your world can be. See how connected everything is. See how connected you are, too – to all that is. Make yourself comfortable, wherever you are. Make yourself a home and be at home in the world. God, help me relax and make myself at home in your bountiful world. You are reading from the book: More Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie More Language of Letting Go © 2000 by Melody Beattie. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/22/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on. -- Robert Frost If we've ever dug in a garden and unearthed an ants' nest, we can recall their first reaction to our unintended destruction: they do everything possible to save their lives and supplies. The ants scurry around, moving the larvae to an underground room. Exposed contents are then relocated to unseen passages. In a matter of minutes, the ants are again safely underground and ready to resume their daily routines. How do we react when some catastrophe or unplanned event occurs? Do we want to crawl under a rock or are we as resilient as the ants? Instead of moaning over postponed plans or the loss of something in our lives, we can try to be like the ants and learn how to best work with circumstances that come our way. Life doesn't stop for us to lick wounds or add fuel to grievances. Hours pass, we grow older, nature continues. Every event is part of life's cycle. We can't run away from anything. We must meet life head-on and adjust to its ebb and flow. I can look at an unplanned event in my life as part of life's cycle. I need to trust that life will go on. You are reading from the book: Night Light by Amy E. Dean Night Light by Amy E. Dean. © 1986, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/21/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Change Me --Ruth C.'s Prayer Change me, God, Please change me. Though I cringe, Kick, Resist and resent. Pay no attention to me whatsoever. When I run to hide Drag me out of my safe little shelter. Change me totally. Whatever it takes. However long You must work at the job. Change me – and save me From spiritual self-destruction. You are reading from the book: The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D. The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2 by Bill P. and Lisa D. © 2007 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/20/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Grief may be a pathway to our deepest connections. People often say, "I don't want to burden you with my troubles, you have enough to worry about." Yet sharing our troubles with our partner or close friends lightens our burden and restores our balance. Telling someone our experiences and how we feel about them helps us find and create the meaning that lurks behind them, even though they at first seem only crazy and random. Sharing with others pulls us out of isolation and brings our friends and mate into the circle of our lives. We may be surprised to feel the knots in our stomachs loosen when we tell our stories and recount our worries or grief. Grief may make us feel more alone than anything. But it may also be a pathway for our deepest connection with each other. When we reach out and talk with our friends or mate, we break down the wall of isolation and build bridges that connect us. Tell your partner about any grief you carry today. You are reading from the book: The More We Find In Each Other by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum The More We Find in Each Other by Merle Fossum and Mavis Fossum. © 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/19/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Most of us make trouble for ourselves by over-reacting to what others say or do. We have conditioned ourselves to see everyone else as "the enemy" rather than look within ourselves for the real cause of our distress. If we can pause long enough to uncover our own hidden discomfort and distorted attitudes before we react with harsh criticism or vindictive silence, we can change our destructive first impulses into a loving interchange between individuals. Today let me not be quick to criticize or condemn another. I will look at others as friends, not as foes, on my journey toward self-discovery. You are reading from the book: The Reflecting Pond by Liane Cordes The Reflecting Pond by Liane Cordes. © 1981 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/18/2018

Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. -- Seneca When we reach a stressful time in our lives, our vision gets narrow. We fail to see the options and possibilities we have. If we give ourselves over to our worries and fears, our sight closes down even further. Finally, we reach the point of blindness to reality and to all the support around us. In our fearful blindness we say with conviction, "This is too difficult! There is nothing I can do." Spiritual people strive to keep one eye on the horizon, even in a worrisome situation. They breathe deeply so they do not tighten up or close off their exchange with the world. They return to the relationship they have with their Higher Power, trusting the process to carry them through - and they open their eyes to quietly take in the possibilities before them. Close to my Higher Power, I have a place of calm in the midst of difficulty and see the possibilities and dare to act upon them. You are reading from the book: Touchstones by Anonymous Touchstones ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/17/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: A.A. Thought for the Day People often ask what makes the AA program work. One of the answers is that AA works because it gets us away from ourselves as the center of the universe. And it teaches us to rely more on the fellowship of others and on strength from God. Are these things keeping me sober? Meditation for the Day God is the great interpreter of one human personality to another. Each personality is so different. God alone understands perfectly the language of each and can interpret between the two. Here I find the miracles of change and the true interpretation of life. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may be in the right relationship to God. You are reading from the book: Twenty-four Hours a Day for Teens by Anonymous Twenty-Four Hours a Day for Teens © 2004 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! [aarecoveryreadings] AA Thoughts For Today - 3/17

  Bluidkiti's Recovery Forums Recovery Links Daily Recovery Readings NA Just For Today Daily Spiritual Meditations Weekly Spiritual Readings Daily Prayers AA Thought for the Day March 17 Fellowship The fellowship in AA is unique.  Ties are made overnight that it would take years to develop elsewhere. No one needs a false front.  All barriers are down. Some who have felt outcasts all their lives now know they really belong. From feeling as if they were dragging anchor through life, they suddenly sail free before the wind. For now they can be of tremendous and peculiar use to others having a dire need like their own. - The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 259 Thought to Ponder . . . We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . H E A R T = Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering Together. Click here to read more Daily Recovery Readings - http://ift.tt/2mzlLsJ ~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~ Prayer "As the doubter tries the process of prayer,he should begin to add up the results.If he persists, he will surely find more serenity,more tolerance, less fear, and less anger.He will acquire a quiet courage,the kind that isn't tension-ridden.He can look at 'failure' and 'success'for what these really are.Problems and calamity will begin to mean his instruction,instead of his destruction.Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen. "Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, June 1958As Bill Sees It, p. 321 Thought to Consider . . . Trying to pray is praying. *~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~* BS Before Sobriety *~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~* Self-Care >From "To Wives": "Be determined that your husband's [or other loved one's] drinking is not going to spoil your relations with your children or your friends. They need your companionship and your help. It is possible to have a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink. We know women who are unafraid, even happy under these conditions. Do not set your heart on reforming your husband. You may be unable to do so, no matter how hard you try." 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 111 *~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~* "Surrender has nothing to do with giving up. It means to stop fighting." Carrollton, Texas, February 1993 "The Gift of Sobriety"   AA Grapevine ~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~* "On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self- pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives." ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 86~ "Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged. More often than not, it is imperative that a man's brain be cleared before he is approached, as he has then a better chance of understanding and accepting what we have to offer." ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Doctor's Opinion, pg. xxvi~ Therefore, thoroughness ought to be the watchword when taking inventory. -Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 54 Misc. AA Literature - Quote Only God Is Unchanging 'Change is the characteristic of all growth. From drinking to sobriety, from dishonesty to honesty, from conflict to serenity, from hate to love, from childish dependence to adult responsibility - all this and infinitely more represent change for the better. 'Such changes are accomplished by a belief in and a practice of sound principles. Here we must needs discard bad or ineffective principles in favor of good ones that work. Even good principles can sometimes be displaced by the discovery of still better ones. 'Only God is unchanging; only He has all the truth there is.  LETTER, 1966 Prayer For The Day:  Loving Father, search me, and if there be any evil ways in me, correct them, and lead me into the ways everlasting. I pray that I may not be deformed from selfishness, but with a lowly and expectant heart run with patience and triumph the race that is set before me. Amen. Click here to make a Donation This is not spam. You are receiving this because you joined this list. Click here to receive Daily Recovery Readings in email. Click here to receive AA Thoughts For Today in email. Click here to receive Daily Prayers in email. Click here to receive Weekly Spiritual Meditations in email. **Click here to receive all 4 in email. ***If at anytime you wish to unsubscribe then send an email to bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com with unsubscribe in the subject line.  Please note what you are unsubscribing from. If this message was forwarded by someone other than bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com, please reply to the person sending the email.

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! [aarecoveryreadings] Daily Readings - 3/19

  Daily Recovery Readings Bluidkiti's Recovery Forums Daily Recovery Readings and Meditations Recovery Links More Recovery Readings NA Just For Today Daily Spiritual Meditations Daily Prayers Disclaimer Click here to make a Donation God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; and Wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done. March 19 Daily Reflections PRAYER: IT WORKS It has been well said that "almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough." TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97 Having grown up in an agnostic household, I felt somewhat foolish when I first tried praying. I knew there was a Higher Power working in my life -- how else was I staying sober? -- but I certainly wasn't convinced he/she/it wanted to hear my prayers. People who had what I wanted said prayer was an important part of practicing the program, so I persevered. With a commitment to daily prayer, I was amazed to find myself becoming more serene and comfortable with my place in the world. In other words, life became easier and less of a struggle. I'm still not sure who, or what, listens to my prayers, but I'd never stop saying them for the simple reason that they work. *********************************************************** Twenty-Four Hours A Day A.A. Thought For The Day When we were drinking, we used to be ashamed of the past. Remorse is terrible mental punishment: ashamed of ourselves for the things we've said and done, afraid to face people because of what they might think of us, afraid of the consequences of what we did when we were drunk. In A.A. we forget about the past. Do I believe that God has forgiven me for everything I've done in the past, no matter how black it was, provided I'm honestly trying to do the right thing today? Meditation For The Day God's spirit is all about you all day long. You have no thoughts, no plans, no impulses, no emotions, that He does not know about. You can hide nothing from Him. Do not make your conduct conform only to that of the world and do not depend on the approval or disapproval of others. God sees in secret, but He rewards openly. If you are in harmony with the Divine Spirit, doing your best to live the way you believe God wants you to live, you will be at peace. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may always feel God's presence. I pray that I may realize this Presence constantly all through the day. *********************************************************** As Bill Sees It Clearing A Channel, p. 78 During the day, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request "Thy will, not mine, be done." If at these points our emotional disturbances happens to be great, we will more surely keep our balance provided we remember, and repeat to ourselves, a particular prayer or phrase that has appealed to us in our reading or meditation. Just saying it over and over will often enable us to clear a channel choked up with anger, fear, frustration, or misunderstanding, and permit us to return to the surest help of all--our search for God's will, not our own, in the moment of stress. 12 & 12, pp. 102-103 *********************************************************** Walk in Dry Places   Where is God? Guidance. AA members have always had a difficult time explaining the "God business".  We didn't want to be considered religious, but at the same time we've always believed some contact with a Higher Power is necessary for real personal growth. There's nothing wrong… for our purposes… in simply visualizing God as a  Higher Power that has always been within us and around us.  "Before they call, I will answer," goes an old saying, and that was true even in our darkest days.  Many of us also believe that a higher power helped bring AA into being and move it along to become a worldwide force for good. But God works in ways that can seem to come from change or coincidence. Quite often, we'll find that little events had far-reaching results in our lives. When we review how such things happened, we should not conclude that this happens only to certain  "special" people. All human beings are part of God's creation and can avail themselves of guidance and direction.  The more serious problem is that guidance and direction are sometimes ignored or rejected. I'll go about my affairs today with the knowledge that my Higher Power is making the important decisions in my life.  I'll come out about where God wants me to be. *********************************************************** Keep It Simple Speak when you're angry and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret. Lawrence J. Peter When we used alcohol or other drugs, most of us were hotheads. We thought we were right. If we were proven wrong, we may have made life hell for everyone. People knew enough to stay away from us. In recovery, things will still go badly at times. We'll get hurt. And we'll get angry. But now, we turn our anger to our Higher Power. In our groups, we talk about what makes us angry. Then we leave the anger behind when the meeting is over. We find that being at peace is now more important than getting even. Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, when I'm angry, help me slow down, Help me remember it's okay to be angry, but its not okay to abuse people. Action for the Day:  I will remember a time when I turned anger, into rage and hurt someone. I will also remember a time I was angry in a respectful way. *********************************************************** Each Day a New Beginning I realized a long time ago that a belief which does not spring from a conviction in the emotions is no belief at all.  --Evelyn Scott >From pillar to post we bounced, most of us not knowing what we actually believed about nearly any situation before getting to this program. Perhaps we believed what was most convenient at the time because of the people we were with. And maybe we jumped the fence quickly when in a new setting. Values were sometimes talked about but not defined, and certainly not adhered to. It's difficult to develop a strong sense of self, to have a very secure self-image when the parameters offered by a value system are lacking. Our values define who we are. They offer us direction when making choices. They quietly demand that we behave responsibly. Living in concert with our values brings peace to our souls. Gone are the days when we rode first one fence and then another, never knowing what side of any issue we honestly believed in. The program has offered us a plan for living, a plan that erases the many uncertainties, the inner turmoil of past years. *********************************************************** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS We turned back to the list, for it held the key to the future. We were prepared to look for it from an entirely different angle. We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that state, the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, had power to actually kill. How could we escape? We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? We could not wish them away any more than alcohol. p. 66 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories The Man Who Mastered Fear He spent eighteen years in running away, and then found he didn't have to run.  So he started A.A. in Detroit. Twenty-odd years ago, I made a mess out of my one and only marriage,  It was therefore not extraordinary that I should shy away from any serious thought of marriage for a great many years after joining A.A.  Here was something requiring a greater willingness to assume responsibility and a larger degree of cooperation and give and take than even business requires of one.  However, I must have felt, deep down inside myself, that living the selfish life of a bachelor was only half living.  By living alone you can pretty much eliminate grief from your life, but you also eliminate joy.  At any rate the last great step toward a well-rounded life still lay ahead of me.  So six months ago I acquired a ready-made family consisting of one charming wife, four grown children to whom I am devoted and three grandchildren.  Being an alcoholic, I couldn't dream of doing anything by halves!  My wife, a sister member in A.A., had been a widow nine years and I had been single eighteen years.  The adjustments in such a case are difficult and take time, but we both feel that they are certainly worth it.  We are both depending upon God and our use of the Alcoholics Anonymous program to help us make a success of this joint undertaking. p. 257 ************ ********* ********* ********* ********* ********* ** Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Tradition Four - "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole." But alas, this bright scene was not long in darkening. Confusion replaced serenity. It was found that some drunks yearned for education, but doubted if they were alcoholics. The personality defects of others could be cured maybe with a loan. Some were club-minded, but it was just a question of taking care of the lonely heart. Sometimes the swarming applicants would go for all three floors. Some would start at the top and come through to the bottom, becoming club members; others started in the club, pitched a binge, were hospitalized, then graduated to education on the third floor. It was a beehive of activity, all right, but unlike a beehive, it was confusion compounded. An A.A. group, as such, simply couldn't handle this sort of project. All too late that was discovered. Then came the inevitable explosion - something like that day the boiler burst in Wombley's Clapboard Factory. A chill chokedamp of fear and frustration fell over the group. pp. 148-149 *********************************************************** "All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people." -Alexis Carrel, Reflections on Life Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. --Helen Keller "If you want to be respected by others, the great thing is to respect yourself." --Fyodor Dostoyevsky "A closed mouth gathers no feet." --Anon. We cannot think our way into sober living. We live our way into sober thinking. We in AA don't carry the alcoholic; we carry the message. Listening feeds the spirit. When I am too busy to pray - I am just too busy. *********************************************************** Father Leo's Daily Meditation MADNESS "Sanity is madness put to good use." -- George Santayana I heard the phrase "make the disease work for you". It made a great deal of sense to me and still does. I am a recovering alcoholic. My alcoholism is still within me and every day I take the necessary steps to stay sober. My disease is that "mad" part of me that wants to destroy my life, relationships and understanding of God. What I need to do is accept my "madness" and turn it around so that it works for me. My suffering is the key to my spiritual growth. My anger and manipulation helps me to understand the imperfections of others. My powerlessness over alcohol give me an understanding of humility that is based on reality. The acceptance of my "madness" keeps me sane! O God, give me the sanity to accept my imperfections so that I can grow into the "best" that I can be. *********************************************************** "From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." Psalms 61:2 Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Psalms 141:3 Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1 *********************************************************** Daily Inspiration When you meet God in prayer, everything becomes new. Lord, may I be humbly joyful in my faith. Take less for granted and you will become very busy enjoying all that you have. Lord, thank you for my blessings and for all those that I am able to share them with. Ask and you shall receive, Seek and ye shall find, Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Matthew 7:7 Click Here to Read More Daily Recovery Readings Daily Recovery Readings Archive Click here to make a Donation Click here to receive Daily Recovery Readings in email. Click here to receive AA Thoughts For Today in email. Click here to receive Daily Prayers in email. Click here to receive Weekly Spiritual Meditations in email. **Click here to receive all 4 in email. This is not spam. You are receiving this because you joined this list. ***If at anytime you wish to unsubscribe then send an email to bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com with unsubscribe in the subject line.  Please note what you are unsubscribing from. If this message was forwarded by someone other than bluidkiti@bluidkiti.com, please reply to the person sending the email.

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Thoughts For The Day~*~Honesty ^*^*^ March 16

~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~^*^*^*^*^(\  ~~~  /)(    \(AA)/    )(_ /AA\ _)/AA\^*^*^*^*^Honesty "Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest."Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58Thought to Consider . . .Half measures availed us nothing.*~*AACRONYMS*~*H O W Honest, Open-minded and Willing *~*^Just For Today!^*~* Greater StrengthFrom "Letting go of old ideas:" "It is now well established that willpower all by itself is about as effective a cure for alcohol addiction as it is for cancer . . . Most of us tried going it alone, hoping either to control our drinking or to stop, and we had no lasting success in either endeavor. But we finally asked ourselves: Wouldn't it be more intelligent to seek out and tap a strength greater than our own than to persist in our futile solo efforts . . . ?" c. 1998, Living Sober, page 73   *^Daily Reflections^*AS WE UNDERSTAND HIMMy friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea . . . "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 12I remember the times I looked up into the sky and reflected on who started it all, and how. When I came to A.A., an understanding of some description of the spiritual dimension became a necessary adjunct to a stable sobriety. After reading a variety of versions, including the scientific, of a great explosion, I went for simplicity and made the God of my understanding the Great Power that made the explosion possible. With the vastness of the universe under His command, He would, no doubt, be able to guide my thinking and actions if I was prepared to accept His guidance. But I could not expect help if I turned my back on that help and went my own way. I became willing to believe and I have had 26 years of stable and satisfying sobriety.Copyright 1990ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC. *~*^As Bill Sees It^*~* Losing Financial Fears"When a job still looked like a mere means of getting money rather than an opportunity for service, when the acquisition of money for financial independence looked more important than a right dependence upon God, we were the victims of unreasonable fears. And these were fears which would make a serene and useful existence, at any financial level, quite impossible. But as time passed we found that with the help of A.A.'s Twelve Steps we could lose those fears, no matter what our material prospects were. We could cheerfully perform humble labor without worrying about tomorrow. If our circumstances happened to be good, we no longer dreaded a change for the worse, for we had learned that these troubles could be turned into great values, for ourselves and for others."TWELVE AND TWELVE, pp. 121-122Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. *~*^Big Book Quote^*~*"At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected."Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th EditionThere Is A Solution, pg. 24*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^* A.A. Thought for the DayBefore we decide to quit drinking, most of us have to come up against a blank wall. We see that we're licked, that we have to quit. But we don't know which way to turn for help. There seems to be no door in that blank wall. A.A. opens the door that leads to sobriety. By encouraging us to honestly admit that we're alcoholics and to realize that we can't take even one drink, and by showing us which way to turn for help, A.A. opens the door in that blank wall. Have I gone through that door to sobriety?Meditation for the DayI must have a singleness of purpose to do my part in God's work. I must not let material distractions interfere with my job of improving personal relationships. It is easy to become distracted by material affairs, so that I lose my singleness of purpose. I do not have time to be concerned about the multifarious concerns of the world. I must concentrate and specialize on what I can do best.Prayer for the DayI pray that I may not become distracted by material affairs. I pray that I may concentrate on doing what I can do best.Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012 ​​ You have 2 Options to Participate in the Transitions Daily Email & Discussion Group:1.  Join the Private Announcement Only Google Group TransitionsDaily, send an email to TransitionsDaily@gmail.com with “Join” in the subject line. You will be manually added to the closed Google Group TransitionsDaily.IF YOU ALREADY RECEIVE THE DAILY TOPIC EMAIL, NO ACTION IS NECESSARY ON YOUR PART TO CONTINUE. MORE DETAILS CAN BE FOUND AT http://ift.tt/2f53TEc members of this group cannot be seen by other members or by non-members. You are completely anonymous with no sale or disclosure of membership to other members or the redistribution of emails of any kind. Once you have been added, you will receive a confirmation email. Please allow 24 – 48 hours for entry. You will then receive one topic email daily.2.  Join the Transitions Daily Secret Facebook Group, send an email to TransitionsDaily@gmail.com with “Join Facebook Group” in the subject line. Make sure and either send from the email associated with your Facebook account or specify your Facebook email in the message. You will receive an invitation via email to join the secret Facebook group where all discussion takes place. Every day the topic email is also posted in the Secret Facebook group.If your anonymity in regards to other members of the Facebook group is an issue, it is suggested that you create a Facebook personal profile with no personal information, using only your first name and last name initial. Only members of the group are able to see your information. Non-members cannot see your posts or that you are a member. It is suggested that you turn on your notifications to be reminded of new posts.Topics are posted Daily via Email and Facebook!​​​ -- TransitionsDaily.org is an Open A.A. Online Meeting Service #000720350.   Did someone forward this message to you? For more Information and to join go to http://ift.tt/1MBbjVt.   Feel free to share http://ift.tt/1MBbjVt in meetings, with friends, sponsors, and especially your sponsees in recovery!   You can also download the Transitions Daily Flyer by clicking on this link http://ift.tt/1MBbjVv to use in your service work!   To Donate Go to: http://ift.tt/1LFEb4b   To unsubscribe, it is best to email us at TransitionsDaily@gmail.com with your request.

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/16/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.... --Antoine de Saint Exupery If we look at the world through suspicious or angry eyes, we'll find a world that mirrors our expectations - a world where tension will mount, arguments will abound, strife will be present where none need be. However, our experiences in some manner bless us, and we'll recognize that if we'll look upon them with gratitude. Everything in our path is meant for our good and we'll see the good when our hearts act as the eyes for our minds. When we see with our hearts, our responses to the turmoil around us, the fighting children, the traffic snarls, the angry lovers, will be soft acceptance. When our hearts guide the action we can accept those things we cannot change, and change those we can. And the heart, as the seat of all wisdom, will always know the difference. You are reading from the book: Worthy of Love by Karen Casey Worthy of Love by Karen Casey. © 1985 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/15/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Opening Ourselves to Love Open ourselves to the love that is available to us. We do not have to limit our sources of love. God and the Universe have an unlimited supply of what we need, including love. When we are open to receiving love, we will begin to receive it. It may come from the most surprising places, including from within ourselves. We will be open to and aware of the love that is and has been there for us all along. We will feel and appreciate the love from friends. We will notice and enjoy the love that comes to us from family. We will be ready to receive love in our special love relationships too. We do not have to accept love from unsafe people - people who will exploit us or with whom we don't want to have relationships. But there is plenty of good love available - love that heals our heart, meets our needs, and makes our spirit sing. We have denied ourselves too long. We have been martyrs too long. We have given so much and allowed ourselves to receive too little. We have paid our dues. It is time to continue the chain of giving and receiving by allowing ourselves to receive. Today, I will open myself to the love that is coming to me from the Universe. I will accept it and enjoy it when it comes. You are reading from the book: The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie The Language of Letting Go © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/14/2018

Today's thought from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Fear is only an illusion. It is the illusion that creates the feeling of separateness - the false sense of isolation that exists only in your imagination. --Jeraldine Sounders We are only alone in our minds. In reality, we are each contributing necessary parts offering completion to the wholeness of the universe. Our very existence guarantees our equality, which, when fully understood, eases our fears. We have no reason to fear one another's presence, or to fear new situations when we realize that all of us are on equal footing. No one's talents are of greater value than our own, and each of us is talented in ways exactly appropriate to our circumstances. Freedom from fear is a decision we can choose to make at any time. We can simply give it up and replace it with our understanding of equality with all persons. Taking responsibility for our fear, or our freedom from it, is the first step to a perspective promising healthier emotional development. If I am fearful today, it's because I have forgotten the reality of my existence. I am equal to all the people in my world, and we are necessary to one another. You are reading from the book: The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey and Martha Vanceburg The Promise of a New Day by Karen Casey & Martha Vanceburg. © 1983, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/13/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Before My Child Was an Addict Before my son was an addict, he was a child. My child. But he could have been anyone's child. Before my son was an addict, he liked to joke around, give big hugs, and work hard and play harder. Sometimes, he also lied, or said things that were mean, sulked, or was crabby. In other words, my child was perfectly normal. Even though he has done some bad things while being an addict, my son is not a bad person. He's a sick person. When addiction scooped up my child, it did so indiscriminately; my son, at his core, is one of the least "bad" people I know. Before my son was an addict, I used to judge the dusty addict on the corner very harshly. Now I know that being an addict isn't something anyone would choose. I wish I hadn't waited for the worst to happen before I opened my eyes and heart. Before I looked beyond the addict's dust to the person he was meant to be. To the person my child could easily become . . . and did. Addiction can happen to anyone. Don't judge, just love. Anonymous You are reading from the book: Tending Dandelions by Sandra Swenson Tending Dandelions © 2017 by Sandra Swenson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/12/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way. --Author unknown A millionaire wanted his son to understand that the world was made up of those who had great happiness in the world because they never wanted for anything, and those who lived in unhappiness because their struggles were never-ending. He asked one of his lowest-paid workers if his son could stay for a weekend, and the employee agreed. When the weekend was over, the millionaire picked up his son. On the way home he asked his son, "What did you learn about how others live?" "A lot," the boy replied as he sat with his shoulders slumped, "We have a dog, but they have three dogs and a couple of cats. They even have chickens and ducks and a donkey. We have a swimming pool, but they have this great big lake. We have a deck, but they have a back yard that stretches for miles and miles. And at dinner, they all sit around a table and laugh and talk together." The millionaire sat in silence, listening to his son. "I guess the lesson I learned, Dad, is how poor we really are." Rather than rue what I do not have, I will be happy for all that I have been given. You are reading from the book: Morning Light by Amy E. Dean Morning Light © 2011 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/10/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: If there's a harder way of doing something, someone will find it. -- Ralph E. Ross When we used alcohol or other drugs, we did most things the hard way. We could turn a simple task into a day-long project. We could turn a simple problem into an argument. We were creative giants in doing things the hard way! We need to change this. We deserve easier lives. It's okay to take the smooth road. In our program, we have slogans for this: Keep It Simple, Let Go and Let God, First Things First, and Easy Does It. These slogans remind us that it's okay to live with as little trouble as possible. Prayer for the Day Higher Power, show me how to live a simple life. I don't have to do everything the hard way if I listen better to You. Action for the Day I'll list three or four things I do that make my life harder than it needs to be. I'll share them with a friend. You are reading from the book: Keep It Simple by Anonymous Keep It Simple © 1989 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/9/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: You are the hero of your life. Each of us plays the starring role in the drama that is our life. We co-create the script along with our Higher Power. Sometimes we forget our lines, and so we improvise as best we can. We are heroes, each of us, as we move through the events of the day, refining our character and using our gifts to shape the action of every scene. We can each be a hero in the drama of recovery. To the casual observer, what we do and say may not appear to be at all heroic. But we - as insiders who are only too well acquainted with our individual limitations - can appreciate and applaud a difficult decision or action. When we accept our role in life, when we pledge to use our energies to do the best we can, and when we rely on our Higher Power for guidance and support, we will be well on our way toward recovering. I can be a hero today, even if it doesn't show. You are reading from the book: Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. This book is now out of print and no longer available to purchase. Inner Harvest by Elisabeth L. © 1990 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/8/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it. --Ethiopian Proverb Newcomer I'm getting closer to 90 days - I'm in the 80s now. I'm excited. It's a miracle that I've been able to stay in recovery without interruption for this long. But I feel worried, too - or maybe I'm scared. I don't know what I'm feeling! Sponsor "Anniversary anxiety" is something many of us experience in recovery. For the preceding days or weeks, we're aware of the upcoming anniversary and its implications. We may anticipate speaking at a meeting or celebrating with recovering friends. Will we measure up to their expectation? To our own? Perhaps we've been sharing our day count and enjoying the applause. As we approach 90 days, we may be afraid we'll become "invisible" at meetings. Depending on local program and group customs, we may be eligible to chair meetings. Are we going to have to handle more responsibilities than we feel ready for? The day of the anniversary itself, and the days following it, may be a setup for feeling as if we've graduated or won an athletic event. We may be afraid that recovery will disappoint us, once the cheering dies down. It helps to know that this phenomenon is a common one. If you're experiencing it, one of the best antidotes is to share your concerns, both at meetings and with a sponsor. We've been there. Today, I use the same tools of recovery that worked in the very beginning: meetings, sharing, reading recovery literature, and prayer. They work. You are reading from the book: If You Want What We Have by Joan Larkin If You Want What We Have © 1998 by Joan Larkin. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/7/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: As a child, I walked through the world with wonder and awe. Each day started with a question and ended with a question. I had the mind of a beginner. --Anonymous Did you ever notice that children ask the best questions? Why are things the way they are? How do they work? How did we get here? Who made us? Why? These are the most important questions in life. Most of us never really get our questions answered. We just learn to stop asking people. We act like the things they tell us answer the questions, but they really don't. Such questions are questions of the spirit. We can ask our Higher Power to help us learn the answers. We can talk with other people who are also interested in these questions and share our thoughts and ideas. Now that we are sober we can even read books that explore these questions. The truth is, we may never understand the answers because we are only human beings. But thinking about these things is good because it helps us be thankful for the mystery of life. Prayer for the Day Higher Power, I know I'll never understand everything, but will You please teach me something interesting today? Thank You. Today's Action What have I done lately to learn more about the mystery of life? What is one thing I can do today? You are reading from the book: God Grant Me... by Anonymous God Grant Me. . . © 2005 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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The 12 Steps: Judge the Outcome - not the Methodology

The 12 Steps: Judge the Outcome - not the Methodology 

The 12 Steps are, in there very essence a methodology designed to produce a very specific outcome.  The program as outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is not the least bit; theoretical, academic, or hypothetical in terms of the outcome produced by working through 12 Steps as instructed.  That’s right, the Big Book’s first 164 pages are an instruction manual on how to achieve a change within ourselves sufficient enough to arrest our addiction and/or alcoholism.  The methodology of the 12 Steps don’t appear to make a whole hell of a lot of sense at first blush.  Admitting powerlessness and unmanageability doesn’t appear to be incredibly helpful if we’re trying to overcome addiction.  Trusting in a higher power to restore sanity around our disease sounds more like religious voodoo than a solid plan to eradicate the obsession to drink and use.  Moral inventories and removal of character defects might be swell, but what does that have to do with the fact that I don’t sober well?  Making amends sounds a lot like apologizing, and I’m pretty sure nobody I know wants to hear another empty apology.  Steps 11 and 12 seem like lofty goals to aspire to, but somehow not pertinent to the fact that all I ever want to do is get out of my own skin – to smash that eject button in the form of whatever substance or behavior that able to convince myself that it’s okay to use.  

The 12 Steps are a methodology that must be worked thoroughly in order to produce the desired outcome – a spiritual awakening sufficient to recover; that is that the obsession is arrested provided we do what is asked of us.  Our job then, is to judge the results of working the steps – not to pre-judge the methodology prior to working through it.  I believe this has to be true for other recovery programs as well; that they must be worked as directed in order to achieve the desired result.  Simply attending recovery meetings and fellowship is likely not going to be an effective long-term solution.  We must do the work; and be observant of the results.  For me; when I worked Step One I realized the result was I made way for a power greater than myself to operate within me.  Steps two and three allowed me to tap into that God of my Understanding which has proven to be the absolute difference maker in my Recovery – despite how skeptical I was of thinking that creating my own Higher Power would provide any meaningful relief of my condition.  But I prayed anyhow – and something I still can’t explain happens when I continue to pray to a God I absolutely did not understand in the beginning.  Steps four and five gave me necessary insight to my behavior patterns and what was the root cause of these destructive behaviors; as well as essential shame shedding by virtue of sharing my inner most demons with the God of My Understanding and another person.  Steps eight and nine allowed me to get right with the people I had harmed as a result of my destructive default programming; the behavior patterns I was operating with because it was the only way I knew how to get through life.  Steps 10 & 11 allow me to continue to be mindful of the principles I learned in Steps 1-9 on a daily basis; so my disease continues to be arrested; one day at a time.  Step 12; having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.  I learned that in order to keep what I have, I MUST give it away to anyone who’ll have it.  

Reading these steps and trying to apply our current experience in order to predict the efficacy will not produce the vital change needed to recover.  We MUST work each and every step with honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness.


© 2018 The Way Out Podcast www.wayoutcast.com

New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/6/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge. -- Confucius How is it we can hear so much better after we have worked our Steps? Does someone clean the wax out of our ears at night? We find ourselves able to listen to what people are actually saying, not just what we think they are saying. Our Program teaches us not to judge words before or after they are spoken. We leave judging to God. We try to learn from everybody, for each person we meet has knowledge. Knowledge has become available to us as never before. We no longer fear new ideas and opinions which are not our own. Our recovery becomes deeper each moment we open our minds to new ideas. Knowledge is freely offered. In turn, I keep myself growing and accepting the knowledge that comes my way. When I don't know something, I admit it. Knowing that I don't know is also knowledge. You are reading from the book: Easy Does It by Anonymous Easy Does It © 1999 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/5/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: Defeat may serve as well as victory To shake the soul and let the glory out. --Edwin Markham So life has given us some dents. So what? Dents are necessary, besides being unavoidable and painful. Each dent is a part of the process that enables us to embrace life as a creative experience and to see the world in a new way, a way of compassion and understanding. Recovery is not a matter of escaping further blows or of disguising the dents we already have. It's a matter of understanding what the dents mean and how we can work with them. Dents are neither soft spots in our characters that should make us ashamed nor saber scars that should make us proud. They are simply evidence that we have been alive for a while. Recovery offers us the chance to learn from our dents, to accept them as new spaces for growth. When we decide to see our dents as opportunities gained rather than opportunities lost, we stand much taller in our own eyes and in the eyes of others. Today, I will look on my difficult life experiences in a new light. Today, I will plant some seeds. You are reading from the book: Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty Days of Healing, Days of Joy by Earnie Larsen and Carol Larsen Hegarty. © 1987, 1992 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/2/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: When we do for other people what they should do for themselves, we both stay stuck. Perhaps it's human nature to grow and change only when we have to. Unrelenting pain can serve as a motivator. Sometimes ultimatums are effective too. But making excuses for others or taking over their responsibilities, even when it's for their benefit, never inspires change. We're learning that the only change we can be certain of is one we make in ourselves. One of the first changes we can make is to let go of others: their opinions, their behavior, and their responsibilities. Our need for them to fulfill our expectations is related to our insecurity, not theirs. Every time we preach or take on others' duties, we must recognize that we are preventing much-needed growth, ours and theirs. Our intentions might always have been good. But the time has come to let others live their own lives. It's quite enough to take care of ourselves. I will not do someone else's task today. Growth comes from each of us being responsible for ourselves. You are reading from the book: A Life of My Own by Karen Casey A Life of My Own by Karen Casey. © 1993 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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New Post on The Official Blog of The Way Out Podcast! Today's Gift - 3/1/2018

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is: It's an esteemable act to stop and smell the roses. For years I diligently and faithfully read my daily meditations. I worked them into my routine activities, just as I shower, brush my teeth, and press my clothes. After each reading, I'd stop and digest the material, allowing myself to mentally interpret each passage's meaning. It was a great way to begin my day. But over the years, I became careless in my reading and rushed through my daily meditations. As a result, I missed the essence of what keeps me grounded. Do you really take the time to understand the meaning of your daily readings? On average, I'd imagine too few of us do. When we skim through our readings, we miss the real benefit of these powerful, inspirational, mind-altering tools. There is a richness in our reading that has the power to change a day, avert a disaster, calm a nerve, or untwist a mind wrought with anger. Think of a time when you needed help in making sense of an experience and you opened your book to just the right page, seemingly by accident. When we don't process what we read, how can it help us? Yet if we invest the time, we will experience more abundance and a greater sense of serenity. We'll discover tools for living that previously eluded us. We'll feel better equipped to handle situations that used to baffle us because we're participating in our solution. We'll know a new freedom and a new happiness because we'll know we are not alone. You're invited to take time to read, understand, and really digest your daily inspirational readings. The more you practice reading for understanding, the easier it becomes and the more you will benefit. You are reading from the book: 52 Weeks of Esteemable Acts by Francine Ward 52 Weeks of Esteemable Acts © 2005 by Francine Ward. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden. Online daily inspirations Read a Thought for the Day from six of our most popular daily meditations books. They're posted online, every day, at hazeldenbettyford.org.   Are you or a loved one struggling with alcohol or other drugs? Help starts here. Call us at: 1-866-755-3221               Managing your email subscriptions Have an account on hazelden.org?  Sign in now to manage your preferences. Can't sign in? Send us an email to Change your email address.   Unsubscribe from Today's Gift. Stop all Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation email. To send us feedback, please email todaysgift@hazeldenbettyford.org Hazelden Betty Ford Foundtion, 15251 Pleant Valley Rd., P.O. Box 11, RW3, Center City, MN 55012-0011, 1-866-755-3221 Please feel free to forward this email to a friend.    

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