Transcript

Getting Well · Sober Readings

Scott Hayes: Good morning and welcome back to Sober Readings. Today is Tuesday, the eighteenth of August. My name is Scott, and I am happy you are here with me today. Let's get started today with the Serenity Prayer. God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Today's reading from Daily Reflections Getting Well. Very deep, sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emotional conflicts persist below the level of consciousness. That's from pages seventy nine to eighty in twelve steps and twelve traditions. Only through positive action can I remove the remains of guilt and shame brought on by alcohol. Throughout my misadventures when I drank, my friends would say, Why are you doing this? You're only hurting yourself. Little did I know how true were those words. Although I harmed others, some of my behavior caused grave wounds to my soul. Step eight provides me with a way of forgiving myself. I alleviate much of the hidden damage when I make my list of those I have hurt. In making amends I free myself of burdens, thus contributing to my healing. Today's reading from twenty four hours a day. August eighteen, AA thought for the day. We of agnostic temperament have found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express a willingness to believe in a power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that power which we call God. As soon as you can say that you do believe or are willing to believe, you are on your way. Upon this simple cornerstone A wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built. So ask yourself today, am I willing to depend on a power that I cannot fully define or comprehend? The meditation for the day. We seek God's presence, and they who seek shall find. It is not a question of searching so much as an inner consciousness of the divine spirit in your heart. To realize God's presence, you must surrender to His will in the small as well as in the big things of life. This makes God's guidance possible. Some things separate you from God. A false word A fear inspired failure, a harsh criticism, a stubborn resentment. These are the things that put a distance between your mind and God. A word of love, a selfless reconciliation, a kind act of helpfulness, these bring God closer. And today's prayer for the day. I pray that I may think and say and do the things that bring God closer to me. I pray that I may find Him that In a sincere prayer, a kind word, or an unselfish deed. Today's Meditation from Touchstones The years forever fashion new dreams when old ones go. God pity the one dream man And that's a quote from Robert Goddard. A painful loss can seem like the end of hope for us. It is true that the place a lost loved one had in our lives will never be filled. The loss of a job may dash a dream that will not come true. At least not as we thought it would. The aging of our body compromises our physical strength, and we lose options that will not come around a second time. But change is a basic fact of life. We must empty a glass before we can fill it with something else. Our spiritual task is to become less rigid in our attachments and more accepting of the flow of life. When we look straight at our losses and allow ourselves to cry and grieve over them, we are saying goodbye and letting go. Grief cleanses the soul and frees us to move on to new dreams. The loss of a job may put us in a position to discover undreamed of possibilities. In time, the loss of a love heals. And it deepens our relationship with our higher power and with our friends. The other side of grief is freedom, and we are learning to have many new dreams in our lives. I pray for the freedom that comes with having dreams in my life. And for today's final reading, we're gonna get started on a book called Day by Day Daily Meditations for Recovering Addicts and this is a Hazelden publication. August eighteenth Adjusting and Coping. Many of us in recovery do not like the idea of having to adjust and cope. We have, quote, controlled our lives for so many years, it's hard to believe that the world does not revolve around us. But it doesn't. And we can see now that forcing situations to suit ourselves inevitably leaves other people unsuited and unhappy. The good news may not seem to make sense at first. If we find ways to adjust and cope, our lives will actually get easier. Things will go our way more often. We will experience less stress, both externally and internally. We will experience harmony. The question in here is Am I learning to adjust and cope? Higher power, help me to want what I have. Today I will adjust to or cope with others' wants or needs by dot dot dot. And that last sentence is for you to finish. So again it says, Today I will adjust to or cope with others' wants or needs by and you fill in the blank. And that's it for today's readings, but before I go, I'd like to talk about this last sentence in this in this last reading day by day, where it says, Higher power, help me to want what I have. Help me to want what I have is a prayer for contentment and gratitude. Instead of constantly asking God for something different, more money, a better job, a different relationship, more recognition, and easier life, you're asking for your desires to change. You're saying Help me recognize the value of life that is already in front of me. There's also something powerful about this idea in recovery. Relentlessness can come from focusing on what we think is missing. I should be further along. I should have more. Life should feel better than this. That kind of thinking can make even a good life feel inadequate. Help me to want what I have turns the focus away from getting more and toward appreciating more. It doesn't mean you have to stop having goals or trying to improve your life. It means your happiness doesn't have to wait until something changes. You can work toward tomorrow while still being grateful for today. So, in a sense, the prayer could almost be expanded to say, God, instead of giving me everything I think I need to be happy, help me see the happiness that already exists in what you have given me. Sometimes peace isn't found by finally getting what we want. It's found when we learn to want the life we already have. And so I hope you enjoyed that last reading from Day by Day. That is a new book that I just picked up, which I will be incorporating into Sober Readings maybe not every day, but pretty often. So I hope you enjoyed that. And that's gonna do it for today's episode of Sober Readings. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, hit that like button and share this episode. And also subscribe. Leave a comment down below if you ⁓ if you enjoyed it. And also, if you'd like to be a guest reader on the show, I would love to have you just send me an email at sober readings with Scott at gmail.com. And also, if you'd like to drop a dollar in the virtual donation basket for today's readings, just go to soberreadings.com and scroll down until you find that donate button. So again, thank you so much for listening today. Stay sober, keep reading, and I'll catch you in the next episode. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other, and remember, just for today. Don't drink, go to a meeting, and keep coming back. Have a great day, everyone, and as my friend Larry says, best day ever.