A Day at a Time: Daily Reflections for Recovering People (Hazelden Meditations)

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I admitted that I couldn’t win the battle against substance abuse and compulsions on my own. So I finally began to accept the critically important fact that dependence on a Higher Power could help me achieve what had always seemed impossible. I stopped running. I stopped fighting. For the first time, I began accepting. And for the first time, I began to be really free. Do I realize that it doesn’t matter what kind of shoes I’m wearing when I’m running away? Today I Pray May I know power through powerlessness, victory through surrender, triumph through defeat. May I learn to relinquish any trace of secret pride that I can do it by myself. Let my will be absorbed and steered by my Higher Power. Today I Will Remember May goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. May I never cease to wonder at the greatest miracle in my life—that I am alive, here, on this green earth, and growing healthier with the life-preserving tools I have been given. Since my Higher Power has chosen to give me life and to preserve my life, even through the dangers of addiction, may I always continue to listen for the greater plan for me. May I always believe in miracles. Today I Will Remember This best-selling app from Hazelden Publishing offers daily thoughts, meditations, and prayers for those in recovery from alcohol and other drugs.

When I sit quietly and compare my life today with the way it used to be, the difference is almost beyond belief. But things aren’t always rosy; some days are a lot better than others. I tend to accept the bad days more easily on an intellectual level than I do emotionally, or at gut level. There are no pat answers, but part of the solution surely lies in a constant effort to practice and live all of the Twelve Steps. Do I accept the fact that my Higher Power will never give me more than I can handle—one day at a time? Today I Pray May my Higher Power grant me the patience to apply those same principles of faith and acceptance that are keys to my recovery to the whole of my emotional being. May I learn to recognize the festering of my own human anger, my hurt, my frustration, my sadness. With the help of my Higher Power, may I find appropriate ways to deal with these feelings without doing harm to myself or others. Today I Will RememberThe practice of humility involves accepting our true nature, honestly being ourselves. We don't have to grovel or abase ourselves, nor must we try to appear smarter, wealthier, or happier than we really are. Humility simply means we drop all pretense and live as honestly as we can. The goal is to take the word from our ears - and place it into our hearts - our minds - and our daily lives. These lessons can bring the Daily Bible Readings from Mass to life for your students!

Let me carry only the weight of twenty-four hours at one time, without the extra bulk of yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s anxieties. Let me breathe the blessings of each new day for itself, by itself, and keep my human burdens contained in daily perspective. May I feel the balance of a soul that continues growing more connected to its Higher Power. Today I Will Remember Based on the readings from Holy Mass for every day of the month, Our Daily Readings lessons are for both older and younger learners. In addition to the Bible readings from Daily Mass, they include 'Questions for Reflection' which are based upon those Readings.To truly desire to do God’s will, therein lies happiness fora human being. We start out wanting our own way. We want ourwills to be satisfied. We take and we do not give. Graduallywe find that we are not happy when we are selfish, so we beginto make allowances for other peoples’ wills. But this againdoes not give us full happiness, and we begin to see that theonly way to be truly happy is to try to do God’s will. In thesetimes of meditation, we seek to get guidance so that we canfind God’s will for us. May I share my love, my joy, my happiness, my time, my hospitality, my knowledge of things on earth, and my faith in a Higher Power. Even though I may not see the results of my acts of sharing, may I take joy in the acts themselves. May sharing and connecting with others become as natural to me as speaking or breathing. Today I Will Remember Hazelden's classic daily meditations book has guided millions of recovering people toward a deeper and more intimate connection with a Higher Power of their understanding. The way of A.A. is the way of sobriety, fellowship, serviceand faith. Let us take up each one of these things and see ifour feet are truly on the way. The first and greatest to usis sobriety. The others are built on sobriety as a foundation.We could not have the others if we did not have sobriety. Weall come to A.A. to get sober, and we stay to help others getsober. We are looking for sobriety first, last and all thetime. We cannot build any kind of decent life unless we staysober. Am I on the A.A. way? The first psychiatrist to recognize the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Harry Tiebout, used many concepts of the program in his own practice. Over many years, the doctor’s study of the conversion experience led him to see, first, that it is the act of surrender that initiates the switch from negative to positive; second, that the positive phase is really a state of surrender that follows the act of surrender; and third, that the state of surrender, if maintained, supplies an emotional tone to all thinking and feeling that ensures healthy adjustment. Am I living in a constant state of surrender? Today I Pray

May peace fill the place within me that once harbored my despair. May an appreciation for living—even for life’s trials—cancel out my former negative attitudes. During heart-heavy moments, help me remember that my heart was once much heavier still. Today I Will Remember I praise my wonder-working Higher Power for giving me the tools for recovery, once I admitted I was powerless over my addiction and gave myself over to the will of my Higher Power—as I’ve conceived of it. I give thanks for the Twelve Steps and for the fellowship of the group, which can help me see myself honestly. I give thanks for those words and phrases that become, as we understand them more completely, banners in our celebration of sobriety. Today I Will RememberThe program and my friends in the fellowship have provided me with a whole new set of tools for living. Even the slogans that once seemed so trite and corny are now becoming an important part of my daily life: Easy does it; First things first; This too will pass. If I use all of my tools regularly and well, they’ll also help rid me of such negative feelings as guilt, anxiety, rebellion, and pride. When I’m feeling depressed, do I use the tools that have been proven effective? Or do I grit my teeth and suffer in painful silence? Today I Pray I have been told over and over that I must constantly work to give up my old ideas. That’s easy for you to say, I’ve sometimes thought. All my life, I have been programmed, computer-style; specific inputs brought forth predictable responses. My mind still tends to react as a computer reacts, but I am learning to destroy the old tapes and literally reprogram myself. Am I fully willing to abandon my old ideas? Am I being fearless and thorough on a daily basis? Today I Pray

May my Higher Power remove from me the arrogant pride that keeps our connection from growing ever stronger. May my unhealthy dependence on substances and my clinging dependence on those nearby be transformed into a reliance on my Higher Power. Only through my reliance on a Higher Power will I find personal transformation. Today I Will Remember

November 28, 2023

In the beginning, the press could not understand ourrefusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinelybaffled by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they gotthe point. Here was something rare in the world — asociety which said it wished to publicize its principlesand its work, but not its individual members. The presswas delighted with this attitude. Ever since, thesefriends have reported A.A. with an enthusiasm which themost ardent members would find hard to match. It was far easier for me to accept my powerlessness over my addiction than it was for me to accept the notion that some sort of Higher Power could accomplish that which I had been unable to accomplish myself. Simply by seeking help and accepting the fellowship of others similarly afflicted, the craving left me. And I realized that if I was doing what I was powerless alone to do, then surely I was doing so by some Power outside my own and obviously greater. Have I surrendered my life into the hands of my Higher Power? Today I Pray