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Rank: Advanced Member  Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Please keep this thread open for the AA program.
Anonymous
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From article in "The Saturday Evening Post," 1941 "All the time he is drinking, he tells himself and those who butt into his affairs that he can really become a controlled drinker if he wants to. To demonstrate his strength of will, he goes for weeks without taking a drop. He makes a point of calling at his favorite bar at a certain time each day and ostentatiously sipping milk or a carbonated beverage, not realizing that he is indulging in juvenile exhibitionism. Falsely encouraged, he shifts to a routine of one beer a day, and that is the beginning of the end once more. Beer leads inevitably to more beer and then to hard liquor. Hard liquor leads to another first-rate bender. Oddly, the trigger which sets off the explosion is as apt to be a stroke of business success as it is to be a run of bad luck. An alcoholic can stand neither prosperity nor adversity." The Jack Alexander Article about A.A. (A.A. Pamphlet P-12) - pages 18-19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) January 13, 2010 Defenseless The fact is that most alcoholics for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice to drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 24 With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thought to Ponder . . . Sobriety is a choice and a treasure. AA-related ’Alconym’ . . . K I S S = Keep It Simple, Surrender. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today’s Meditation: You cannot see the future. It’s a blessing that you cannot. You could not bear to know all the future. That is why God only reveals it to you day by day. The first step each day is to lay your will before God as an offering, ready for God to do what is best for you. Be sure that, if you trust God, what He does for you will be for the best. The second step is to be confident that God is powerful enough to do anything He wills, and that no miracle in human lives is impossible with Him. Then leave the future to God. Today’s Prayer: I pray that I may gladly leave my future in God’s hands. I pray that I may be confident that good things will happen, as long as I am on the right path. Today’s Quotable: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Martin Luther King, Jr. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today’s Tool: Practice self-care. The first step for me with this tool is being able to tell the difference between self-care and self-indulgence, and I often require guidance in making this distinction in a given situation. Self-indulgence is my default mode when I’m *not* practicing self-care -- I start feeling like a victim and you know where that goes -- poor me, poor me, pour me another drink! Self-care -- for me, today -- means making sure I don’t get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired, going to meetings, talking with my sponsor and other people in the program, practicing the steps, praying, scheduling down time, balancing my responsibilities with activities I enjoy, etc. So maybe I’ll offer a second tool here (or actually a pre-tool tool) -- make a list of what self-care means for you!  Michele
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Starting Over
from: "The Victory of Surrender"
"When alcohol influenced every facet of my life, when bottles became the symbol of all my self-indulgence and permissiveness, when I came to realize that, by myself, I could do nothing to overcome the power of alcohol, I realized I had no recourse except surrender. In surrender I found victory - victory over my selfish self-indulgence, victory over my stubborn resistance to life as it was given to me. When I stopped fighting anybody or anything, I started on the path to sobriety, serenity and peace."
© 1990, Daily Reflections, page 14
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AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 15, 2010
A Way of Life
AA is not a plan for recovery that can be finished and done with.
It is a way of life, and the challenge contained in its principles
is great enough to keep any human being striving for as long as he lives.
We do not, cannot, outgrow this plan.
As arrested alcoholics, we must have a program for living
that allows for limitless expansion.
Keeping one foot in front of the other is essential
for maintaining our arrestment.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 275
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
AA is not something you join; it’s a way of life.
AA-related ’Alconym’ . . .
A A W O L = A A Way Of Life.
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Today’s Meditation:
When trouble comes, do not say: "Why should this happen to me?" Leave
yourself out of the picture. Think of other people and their troubles and
you will forget about your own. Gradually get away from yourself and you
will know the consolation of unselfish service to others. After a while, it
will not matter so much what happens to you. It is not so important any
more, except as your experience can be used to help others who are in the
same kind of trouble.
Today’s Prayer:
I pray that I may become more unselfish. I pray that I may not be thrown off
the track by letting the old selfishness creep back into my life.
Today’s Quotable:
Never was I to pray for myself…. Big Book of AA
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Today’s Tools:
My sponsor once told me "the workplace is fertile ground for spiritual growth...." how true, and still true today, two jobs later! (but that’s another story.........) It seems to me my character defects tend to want to come out most in the workplace. My supervisor and I share a small office and I guess I spend more time with him than anyone else in my life. When he is yelling, sighing, blaming, etc.: I can retaliate, come off with a smart remark, talk bad about him to my co-workers; OR: I can practice what it says in the BB: "The spiritual life is not a theory - we have to live it......."Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them."......"Love and tolerance of others is our code"...."And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone......"......"In thinking about the day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or decision." ...."As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. ...."We resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help." These are all "tools" I try to remember and sometimes recite under my breath before I say or do something I’ll owe an amend for. I also like "breathe"...that works. And sometimes I have to ask myself.. "Have I walked in this man’s shoes?" And the answer is always..."NO!"
Have a great day, and remember to relax, take it easy, and don’t struggle!
Kathy
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Rank: Advanced Member 
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Message was deleted by User. ~ Insults Should Be Written In Sand ~ Compliments Should Be Carved In Stone ~
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Message was deleted by User. ~ Insults Should Be Written In Sand ~ Compliments Should Be Carved In Stone ~
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From “Working with Others”:
"Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny another alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy.”
© 2001 AAWS, Inc.;
Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 96
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AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Convincing Evidence
My abuse of alcohol was the exterior manifestation
of a disease much more complex and consuming than simple drunkenness,
and similarly, my abstinence is the exterior manifestation
of a wellness much more rewarding than simple sobriety.
The most convincing evidence I have
is that Alcoholics Anonymous is working for me.
c.2003 The AA Grapevine, Inc., Thank You For Sharing, p. 181
Thought to Ponder . . .
I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic,
than go through life drunk,
trying to convince myself that I am not.
AA-related ’Alconym’ . . .
N E W = Nothing Else Worked.
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Today’s Meditation:
The world would sooner be brought close to God, His will would sooner be done
on earth, if all who acknowledge Him gave themselves unreservedly to being
used by Him. God can use every human being as a channel for divine love and
power. What delays the bringing of the world closer to God is the
backwardness of His followers. If each one lived each day for God and
allowed God to work through Him, then the world would soon be drawn much
closer to God, its Founder and Preserver.
Today’s Prayer:
I pray that I may be used as a channel to express the Divine Love. I pray
that I may so live as to bring God’s spirit closer to the world.
Today’s Quotable:
Talk does not cook rice.
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Today’s Tool:
As I mentioned yesterday, in the last week I’ve been experiencing a lot
of fear and self-pity. Taking inventory, I see how I set myself up for this.
This past year, I have for the most part felt good about my life. Doing
about four meetings a week, involved in my homegroup, sponsoring a
couple of guys, getting things accomplished in the work place and
personal projects. Things going well.
I started thinking that I had grown past emotional turmoil, that I had
reached a new level in sobriety. I felt like very good things were really going
my way. My abilities would be clearly recognized by my superiors, I would
meet that special someone, that personal projects would have bigger and
bigger results...
Recently, someone at work was hired for a position that I was originally
considered, I am still single, and my hobbies have not made me
famous. I am feeling frustrated and anxious because all these "wonderful"
things I’ve been expecting are not materializing. Life seems hard, unfair.
Something’s got to change. That something is me. My attitude.
Tools:
- keep my expectations low and my acceptance high
- pray the serenity prayer
Have a good day. See ya tomorrow,
David
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Please keep this thread open for the AA program.
Anonymous
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 12/1/2009
Posts: 36
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I appreciate the sentiment that I believe motivates your avid adherance to the AA programme. And I have done some study of the basis for it’s enception. In fact I know all about the founders and what was their theses or selected method and first principles. However, I must say something to you as regards your "Todays Prayer": ====quote-----\ Today’s Prayer: I pray that I may be used as a channel to express the Divine Love. I pray that I may so live as to bring God’s spirit closer to the world. =====End quote----/ Right off the bat: we don’t ’channel’ ’Divine Love.’ All love is ’divine’ to the loving one, as it suspends all fears, all worry, and settles us in confidence and peace being our natural container. It doesn’t ’flow through us’ as from without or some ’yonder’ place like a ’heaven’. We are in very heaven as we are in love, being surrounded by the very love we are allowing to flow out or stand forth. It comes from our own heart or innermost being. The ’innermost’, as a phrase or word simply signifies to one that no part is inactive of we ourselves and so is sincerity itself. The ’object’ of love, real love is another living being. Even when such is a mere rock, deemed alive and receptive to that love and returning that love. This mutual expression and reception of love immerses both or all parties with this warmth and cheery light. We don’t ’channel’ anything, ever as we are being ourselves and spontaneous and genuine and sincere. When we ’channel’ we are mere puppettes, and blowing wind. We will eventually feel resentment and disgust at this phoney-ness we have slavishly adopted, if ever. I would not detract from your chosen model for how you construct your own thinking, but when you put the stamp of ’God’ on anything, you had better understand what that implies and speak genuinely and sincerely and so with authority and therefore truly. And that prayer: not so true. Not that good. It implies goodness Itself, makes puppettes of us. Nothing could be further from the truth. Therefore: as not true, how can it be good? So, it is not even a prayer. It is a belief system, of which I feel justified in being frank with you about this. If you would like to peruse something, as a web site, that very much reflects my view on this, and AA in general, see: http://www.orange-papers.orgroger
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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rsc123
If you would like to peruse something, as a web site, that very much reflects my view on this, and AA in general, see:
******************************************************
Your post here is not welcomed.
This thread is for the group working the 12 steps.
The prayer is from an AA mail out not my own words.
Please refrain from posting your personal beliefs.
Please keep this thread open for the AA program.
I thank all for your respect of these requests.
pastor
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Please keep this thread open for the AA program.
Anonymous
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Please
Look in this thread
General
thought for the day: comments
use this thread to post comments about AA page.
not the group page.
I thank you. pastor
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Changing Beliefs":
"Slowly and painfully, I became aware of myself. I began to see it wasn’t true that I didn’t believe in anything. Rather, I had believed in the wrong things … ’There is good in all of us. Seek it out, nurture it, tend it, and it will flourish.’ So I began searching for the positives within me."
© 1973 AAWS, Inc.;
Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 103
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AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 18, 2010
Service
All I thought about as I was making the coffee was making the coffee
and how people could enjoy it.
At my sponsor’s suggestion, I stood near the coffeepot
and welcomed everyone who came by.
I must have experienced a million smiles in a very short time.
And when I pushed the broom all I concentrated on
was the dust rising from it as I moved across the floor.
My troubles were gone for the time that I was doing these things.
And so it can be for you.
If you can’t live and you can’t die, make coffee.
c. 1993 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA, p. 43
Thought to Ponder . . .
Into service out of self.
AA-related ’Alconym’ . . .
A B C = Ashtrays, Brooms, Coffee.
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Today’s Meditation:
I will pray only for strength and that God’s will be done. I will use God’s
unlimited store of strength for my needs. I will seek God’s will for me. I
will strive for consciousness of God’s presence, for He is the light of the
world. I have become a pilgrim, who needs only marching orders and strength
and guidance for this day.
Today’s Prayer:
I pray that I may seek God’s guidance day by day. I pray that I may strive
to abide in God’s presence.
Today’s Quotable:
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that
one’s work is terribly important. Bertrand Russell
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Today’s Tools:
We didn’t have a key for the meeting last night and a friend that chaired
our lovely outside meeting on the steps suggested the topic of willingness
(very apropos). It later got me to thinking about the following passage:
“We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the
program. Willingness, honesty, and open-mindedness are the essentials of
recovery. But these are indispensable.”
--From Appendix II (Spiritual Experience) of the Big Book:
TOOL: Practice honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness
You can stop here or see what I do (I know these tools can get a bit long
when you are in rush)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
These three practices can take all sorts of forms for me.
Honesty:
Not just cash register honesty but also more subtle forms such as honesty
with myself about my motives.
Open-mindedness:
- To suggestions
- New ideas (especially when they don’t make sense to me)
- To people that I don’t initially like (because we are all in this
together? life, AA, etc.)
Willingness:
- To go to a meeting (especially when I don’t want to)
- To do some service (especially when I don’t want to)
- To pick up a drunk for a meeting (especially when I don’t want to)
- To do whatever it is I need to stay sober (and sane, let’s not forget
sane), meet my responsibilities, etc.
- If I am not willing to do whatever it is I need to do, to pray for the
willingness to be willing.
So that’s my story. Hope you all have a great week.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "A Drunk, Like You:"
"I finally began to separate the religious aspects of my life from A.A.’s spiritual program. Now the big difference to me is that religion is the ritual, and we all differ there, and spirituality is the way we feel about what we do. It’s about my personal contact with my personal Higher Power, as I understand Him.
"Everything has turned around....All this and more I owe to the Fellowship in the rooms and the program in the book."
c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 406
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AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 19, 2010
Solitude
Solitude can be sought and experienced in many ways --
in the silence of nature, in reading poetry, in listening to music,
in looking at pictures, and in sincere thoughtfulness.
We are alone, but not lonely. . .
Some of us long to become creative in some realm of life.
But we cannot become or remain creative without solitude.
One hour of conscious solitude will enrich our creativity
far more than hours of trying to learn the creative process.
c. 1973 AAWS, Came To Believe . . ., p. 109
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Meditation means trusting the silence around me for a while,
as if it were an answer I had long sought.
AA-related ’Alconym’ . . .
B E S T = Been Enjoying Sobriety Today?
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Today’s Meditation:
I know that the vision and power, which I receive from God, are limitless, as
far as spiritual things are concerned. But in temporal and material things,
I must submit to limitations. I know that I cannot see the road ahead. I
must go just one step at a time, because God does not grant me a longer view.
I am in uncharted waters, limited by my temporal and spatial life, but
unlimited in my spiritual life.
Today’s Prayer:
I pray that, in spite of my material limitations, I may follow God’s way. I
pray that I may learn that trying to do His will is perfect freedom
Today’s Quotable:
Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing. Albert Einstein
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Today’s Tool:
I have been thinking about the things in the literature that help me so
here’s one about fear. When I get overwhelmed by fear I typically cannot
think straight, I have no perspective, and feel DOOMED. SO...I really like
a passage from the 4th step in the Big Book. Based on this passage I:
1. List my fears (usually they are about looking stupid, that’s my biggy.
Heaven FORBID I should not be hip, slick, & cool at all times.)
2. I ask myself why I have them. It’s usually because I have excluded the
HP from the equation and have been feeling like IT IS ALL UP TO ME. So
this reminds me there IS a Higher Power and I am NOT doomed.
3. I ask the Higher Power to remove my fear and direct my attention to what
He would have me be. (Sometimes I say this a lot).
Here’s the passage.
"This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was
an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through
with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us
misfortune we felt we didn’t deserve. But did not we, ourselves, set the
ball rolling? Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing. It
seems to cause more trouble.
"We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we
had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had
them. Wasn’t it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as
far as it went, but it didn’t go far enough. Some of us once had great
self-confidence, but it didn’t fully solve the fear problem, or any other.
When it made us cocky, it was worse.
"Perhaps there is a better way, we think so. For we are now on a different
basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than
our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to
the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him,
does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.
We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh
at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is
the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage.
All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for
God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him
to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At
once, we commence to outgrow fear."
Have a good day! I saw a drunk (a sober one) while I was waiting for the
bus and he gave me a ride to work. Nice way to start the day!
Ariana
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Please keep this thread open for the AA program.
Anonymous
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Deep Down Within Us:"
"It was out of the depths of loneliness, depression and despair that I sought the help of A.A. As I recovered and began to face the emptiness and ruin of my life, I began to open myself to the possibility of the healing that recovery offers through the A.A. program. By coming to meetings, staying sober, and taking the Steps, I had the opportunity to listen with increasing attentiveness to the depths of my soul. Daily I waited, in hope and gratitude, for that sure belief and steadfast love I had longed for in my life. In this process, I met my God, as I understand Him."
c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 177
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 2010
Love and Laughter
Love will teach us values in life.
It shows us that the things that count
are never held in the hand but always in the heart.
And people who are loving always live in the now.
They cannot afford to live in the past
or project into tomorrow.
People who love laugh more
and believe that a day without laughter is a lost day.
c. 1998 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 3], p. 297
Thought to Ponder . . .
Laughter is the sun
that drives winter from the human face.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
T L C = Tears, Laughter, Caring.
Today's Meditation:
In silence comes God's meaning to the heart. I cannot judge when it enters
the heart. I can only judge by results. God's word is spoken to the secret
places of my heart and, in some hour of temptation, I find that word and
realize its value for the first time. When I need it, I find it there.
"Thy Father, who sees in secret, shall reward thee openly."
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may see God's meaning in my life. I pray that I may gladly
accept what God has to teach me.
Today's Quotable:
Teachers open the door. . . You enter by yourself. --Chinese Proverb
Today's Tool:
This morning I did not want to get out of bed. I have a lot of changes going on; all are good. Son is going to boot camp, daughter is completing college, the job is advancing and a relationship that is growing, but yet I did not want to participate in life. I finally decided that I needed to do the next right thing, go take a shower, which led to the next right thing. By the time I was in my car I got a notice to send the tool. AA has taught me to do the next right thing and it can be as simple as, go take a shower. By taking the shower, I did not miss the tool and now I want to participate in life today.
Tool for the day, do the next right thing. You will never know what the day holds for you unless you participate.
Tess V.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "The Three Legacies of A.A.:" "Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authority whatever. We have two authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign. There is God, our Father, who very simply says, 'I am waiting for you to do my will.' The other authority is named John Barleycorn [alcohol], and he says, 'You had better do God's will or I will kill you.'" c. 1957, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 105
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) January 21, 2010 Acceptance And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes. c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 417 With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thought to Ponder . . . The more accepting I am of myself, the more accepting I am of others. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.
Today's Meditation: A truly spiritual man or woman would like to have a serene mind. The only way to keep calm in this troubled world is to have a serene mind. The calm and sane mind sees spiritual things as the true realities and material things as only temporary and fleeting. That sort of mind you can never obtain by reasoning, because your reasoning powers are limited by space and time. That kind of a mind you can never obtain by reading, because other minds are also limited in the same way. You can only have that mind by an act of faith, by making the venture of belief. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may have a calm and sane mind. I pray that I may look up, around, and away from myself. Today's Quotable: "Grown men may learn from little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss." Black Elk
Today's Tool: Yesterday i created a charter and sent it to my AA sponsor. i knew that i am in a place where i need to be exercising my spirituality more than i have been. it had become clear from the way i was acting and treating people in my life that self-will had taken high command. part of getting back in the spiritual plane was to increase the exercise of the things that help place me on the spiritual plane. i also need to be held accountable because left to my own devices i will talk myself out of the things i committed to do. So i sent a charter of five things i am going to do between now and the end of September to my AA sponsor and asked him to hold me accountable to them. the list included increased time with my sponsor, more aa meetings and more contact with other alcoholics. So my tool is today is this - think of areas in your spiritual development that may have been suffering and see if you can commit to increasing it just a little. write that down in a 'charter' and send it to someone who will hold you accountable. A little accountability never hurt anyone  God bless and happy Thursday. -James
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Message was deleted by User. ~ Insults Should Be Written In Sand ~ Compliments Should Be Carved In Stone ~
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous:"
"Drinkers would not take pressure in any form, excepting from John Barleycorn himself. They always had to be led, not pushed....We found we had to make haste slowly. When first contacted, most alcoholics just wanted to find sobriety, nothing else. They clung to their other defects, letting go only little by little."
c. 1985, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 74
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Easier, Softer Way
When I couldn't find an easier, softer way
I looked for the person with the magic wand,
the one person in AA who could make me all better, right now.
This was a frustrating task, and I finally realized that if I wanted this life,
I was going to have to do what the others had done.
No one made me drink, and no one was going to make me stay sober.
This program is for people who want it, not people who need it.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 315
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
While it isn't always easy, if I keep it simple, it works.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P R O G R A M = People Relying On God Relaying A Message.
Today's Meditation:
Do you want the full and complete satisfaction that you find in serving God
and all the satisfactions of the world also? It is not easy to serve both
God and the world. It is difficult to claim the rewards of both. If you
work for God, you will still have great rewards in the world. But you must
be prepared to sometimes stand apart from the world. You cannot always turn
to the world and expect all the rewards which life has to offer. If you are
trying sincerely to serve God, you will have other and greater rewards than
the world has to offer.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may not expect too much from the world. I pray that I may also
be content with the rewards that come from serving God.
Today's Quotable:
Most people live and die with their music still unplayed. They never dare to
try. Mary Kay Ash
Today's Tool:
"Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail." p.89 Alcoholics Anonymous.
I am once again taking a new sponsee through the process of recovery in the Big Book…we meet once a week and read the book paragraph by paragraph, discussing what it means to be an alcoholic, what the solution is and why. Next week, we will do the 3rd step together. I will show her the directions in the book for beginning her 4th step and she will begin the process of writing her 4th step. What an amazing gift to be part of someone's path to a spiritual experience.
Tool: Carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to other alcoholics.
Peace,
Constance
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From “He Who Loses His Life”:
“[T]he man with the grown-up brain and the childish emotions - vanity, self-interest, false pride, jealousy, longing for social approval, to name a few - becomes a prime candidate for alcohol. To my way of thinking, that is a definition of alcoholism; a state of being in which the emotions have failed to grow to the stature of the intellect.”
© 2003, AAWS, Inc.;
Experience, Strength & Hope, pg. 411
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 24, 2010
Membership
You are an AA member if you say so.
You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out.
No matter who you are, no matter how low you've gone,
no matter how grave your emotional complications --
even your crimes -- we still can't deny you AA.
We don't want to keep you out.
We aren't a bit afraid you'll harm us,
never mind how twisted or violent you may be.
We just want to be sure that you get the same great chance
for sobriety that we've had.
So you're an AA member the minute you declare yourself.
c. 1953 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 139
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
If you think you are an alcoholic, chances are you are.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = All Accepted.
Today's Meditation:
When I let personal piques and resentments interfere with what I know to be
my proper conduct, I am on the wrong track and I am undoing all I have built
up by doing the right thing. I must never let personal piques interfere with
living the way I know God wants me to live. When I have no clear guidance
from God, I must go forward quietly along the path of duty. The attitude of
quiet faith will receive its reward as surely as acting upon God's direct
guidance. I must not weaken my spiritual power by letting personal piques
upset me.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may not let myself become too upset. I pray that I may go
quietly along the path I have chosen.
Today's Quotable:
About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for
you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you
at all.
Today's Tools:
I spent most of my day yesterday being frustrated with one of our cars
that is overdue for inspection because the computer in the car reads as
not ready. The way to have it become ready is to drive it, but it is
not inspected.... A catch-22. So I spent yesterday trying to drive the
car in the drive sequence necessary to trip the systems into the ready
mode. It is still not done, and then my son threw up and his project
for school is not ready yet. Which means my Tuesday plans are changing
too. so the tool for today is. I often say the serenity prayer
throughout the day to keep me centered because I have been trying to
keep my frustrations from overwhelming me and those around me. So....
Let go and let God.
thank you for today
Barbara
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous:"
"For the first time we had begun to sense that the character of A.A. was changing. We were beginning to have success with milder alcoholics and even some potential alcoholics. In the first years, those of us who sobered up in A.A. had been grim and utterly hopeless cases, almost without exception. But now younger folks began to appear. Lots of people turned up who still had jobs and homes and health and even good social standing. These in their turn were able to
persuade others like themselves of the need for A.A."
c. 1957, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 199
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
January 26, 2010
Sacrifices
At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol. We had to, or it would have killed us.
But we couldn't get rid of alcohol unless we made other sacrifices.
Big-shotism and phony thinking had to go.
We had to toss self-justification, self-pity, and anger right out the window.
We had to quit the crazy contest for personal prestige
and big bank balances.
We had to take personal responsibility for our sorry state
and quit blaming others for it.
Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were.
To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all
we had to give up what had been our dearest possession
-- our ambitions and our illegitimate pride.
- Bill W., January 1955
c. 1988 The AA Grapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 210
Thought to Ponder . . .
Alcohol -- cunning, baffling, powerful!
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
Today's Meditation:
A consciousness of God's presence as One who loves you makes all life
different. The consciousness of God's love promotes the opening of your
whole being to God. It brings wonderful relief from the cares and worries of
our daily lives. Relief brings peace and peace brings contentment that no
one can take from you. Feel sure of God's unfailing love and care for you and
for all His children. There is freedom and serenity in those who walk in
God's love, held safe in His loving care.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may walk in God's love. I pray that, as I go, I may feel the
spring of God's power in my steps and the joy of His love in my heart.
Today's Quotable:
Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while A great wind is
bearing me across the sky. Ojibwa Saying
Today's Tool:
One day at a time
Lately, I have found myself traveling a lot into the future, spending a vast amount of time figuring out to make things work out (my way of course). This has been slowing chipping away at my serenity. So this morning, I will try to change my focus to the present, this day and do the next right thing. I have heard at meetings that my Higher Power lives in the present, that if I go into the future or past I go here alone. I found this to be true. When I start worrying about tomorrow and the days after, I do feel disconnected from God. So I will try to stay in the day, today
have a good one,
David
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