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Rank: Advanced Member  Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "There Is a Solution:"
"If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it he takes that one drink?
"The main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis...They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself on the head with a hammer so that he can't feel the ache."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 22 & 23
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
February 23, 2010
Living Sober
Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober
turns out not to be the grim, wet-blanket experience we had expected!
While we were drinking, a life without alcohol seemed like no life at all.
But for most members of AA,
living sober is really living -- a joyous experience.
We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking.
One more note: anyone can get sober.
We have all done it lots of times. The trick is to stay and to live sober.
c. 1998 AAWS, Living Sober, preface
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' . . .
H A L T = Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.
A MEMBER SHARES:
Hi everyone! My name is Kelly and I am an alcoholic. "HALT" ... what a helpful tool! I need reminding daily. I even need to be reminded just to eat. It doesn't take long for me to work myself into a frenzy mentally as a result of not eating. If I don't eat, I tire quickly, which snowballs into anger, and I become lonely. Who wants to be around a grump? When I call my sponsor, she asks every time, "Kelly, how are you doing? Did you eat today?" See, that's usually where my problems start.
Simple, but oh so hard for me to remember. It really is hard to break old habits. But it's clear as a bell to me that if I don't eat, the others follow and can so easily result in a drink, or another form of escape. It will keep me out of trouble, even if I am just home alone. If I don't "HALT," I waste a day. So if you never heard of the term "HALT," write it down. Tape it to your forehead if need be. Getting sober is one thing, staying that way is another. We need to take care of our bodies to help us to stay away from the other stuff, and function with some form of sanity in a crazy world.
Today's Meditation:
You must admit you helplessness before your prayer for help will be heard by
God. Your own need must be recognized before you can ask God for the
strength to meet that need. But once that need is recognized, your prayer is
heard above all the music of heaven. It is not theological arguments that
solve the problems of the questing souls, but the sincere cry of that soul to
God for strength and the certainty of that soul that the cry will be heard
and answered.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may send my voiceless cry for help out into the void. I pray
that I may feel certain that it will be heard somewhere, somehow.
Today's Quotable:
We are not human beings sharing a spiritual journey, but spiritual beings
sharing a human journey.
Today's Tool:
Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. Everything passes away except God.
--Saint Theresa
Learning to detach may be the most demanding and difficult part of this program. Detachment means being filled with closeness and love toward someone, yet knowing we cannot fix or protect that person. It means we can be in emotional contact but don't have to react to someone else's issues. We respond from our own center with what is fitting for us. Being detached means we allow others to be in the hands of God because we cannot live their lives for them. Detachment gives us an inner calm, an acceptance of our limits, and the freedom to live our own lives with integrity.
Detachment is a skill in living, and like other skills, we can practice it. Gradually, it becomes a natural response. True detachment takes root and grows within us over a period of time as we deepen our relationship with the Steps and with our Higher Power.
In other words, Let Go and Let God. Easily said, but sometimes really really difficult for me to do.
Klaus
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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:"
"In the beginning we could not sober up women. They were different, they said. But when they saw other women get well, they slowly followed suit. The derelict, the rich man, the socialite -- all these once thought A.A. was not for them. So did certain people of other races and tongues and creeds. But when they clearly saw the alcoholic tragedy for which they were headed, they could forget their differences and join A.A.
"As these new trends came into full view, we were overjoyed. Today more than half of A.A.'s membership consists of mild cases and those who once thought they were 'different.'"
c. 1957, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pages 199-200
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
February 24, 2010
Gifts
When I face a fear, I am given courage:
when I support a brother or sister, my capacity to love myself is increased;
when I accept pain as part of the growing experience of life,
I realize a greater happiness;
when I look at my dark side, I am brought into a new light;
when I accept my vulnerabilities and surrender to a Higher Power,
I am graced with unforeseen strength.
I stumbled through the doors of AA in disgrace, expecting nothing from life,
and I have been given hope and dignity.
Miraculously, the only way to keep the gifts of the program is to pass them on.
© 1990 AAWS, Daily Reflections, p. 62
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G I F T S = Getting It From The Steps.
Today's Meditation:
In improving our personal lives, we have Unseen help. We were not made so
that we could see God. That would be too easy for us and there would be no
merit in obeying Him. It takes an act of faith, a venture of belief, to
realize the Unseen Power. Yet we have much evidence of God's existence in
the strength that many people have received from the act of faith, the
venture of belief. We are in a box of space and time and we can see neither
our soul nor God. God and the human spirit are both outside the limitations
of space and time. Yet our Unseen help is effective here and now. That has
been proved in thousands of changed lives.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may make the great venture of belief. I pray that my vision
may not be blocked by intellectual pride.
Today's Quotable:
The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude
towards them.
Antoine de Saint Exupery
Today's Tool:
One on One
The Meeting After the Meeting
"The meeting after the meeting" used to be a regular part of my evenings in
early sobriety, but the practice seems to have died out in my area. I
sometimes go out to breakfast after the Saturday morning Moss Bay Group's
meeting but the evening groups I go to seem to have most folks showing up
late and leaving early to make up for it. My sponsor told me that meetings
weren't necessary to sobriety. There's a ton of folks who stay sober without
them, but contact with another alcoholic is vital. "Meetings," he said,
"introduce you to the folks who'll keep you sober. The real work of AA
happens one-on-one." Well, there's a restaurant not far from my home group.
Next Tuesday I think I'll see what I can do to restart an old and good habit
there.
Dennis O.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "More about Alcoholism:"
"I came to work on Tuesday morning. I remember I felt irritated that I had to be a salesman for a concern I once owned. I had a few words with the boss, but nothing serious. Then I decided to drive into the country and see one of my prospects for a car. On the way I felt hungry so I stopped at a roadside place where they have a bar. I had no intention of drinking. I just thought I would get a sandwich...I sat down at a table and ordered a sandwich and a glass of milk. Still no thought of drinking. I ordered another sandwich and decided to have another glass of milk.
"'Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn't hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely sensed I was not being any too smart, but felt reassured as I was taking the whiskey on a full stomach. The experiment went so well that I ordered another whiskey and poured it into more milk. That didn't seem to bother me so I tried another.'
"Thus started one more journey to the asylum for Jim."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 36
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
February 25, 2010
First Things First
This is strictly a matter of survival for us.
We have learned that alcoholism is a killer disease,
leading to death in a large number of ways.
We prefer not to activate that disease by risking a drink. . .
When we view alcoholism as the life-or-death matter it is,
the answer is plain.
If we do not save our health -- our lives -- then certainly
we will have no family, no job, and no friends.
If we value family, job, and friends,
we must first save our own lives in order to cherish all three.
c. 1998 AAWS, Living Sober, p. 32
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Keep your sobriety first to make it last.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S T O P = Sobriety Tops Our Priorities.
Today's Meditation:
Persistence is necessary if you are to advance in spiritual things. By persistent prayer, persistent, firm and simple trust, you achieve the treasures of the spirit. By persistent practice, you can eventually obtain joy, peace, assurance, security, health, happiness, and serenity. Nothing is too great, in the spiritual realm, for you to obtain, if you persistently prepare yourself for it.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may persistently carry out my spiritual exercises every day. I pray that I may strive for peace and serenity.
Today's Quotable:
Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words? Marcel Marceau
Today's Tool:
Wow, it is amazing to me how the weeks are just flying by. I have been
trying to take time each night with one or two of the children to sit
and just read with them one on one. I find that it is easier for me to
do this if I take a deep breath and remember that ALL the other stuff I
feel must be done can be secondary. It will still be there later.
This is giving me the opportunity to appreciate my children without
pressuring anyone to Hurry UP and Finish. It helps me to take a few
minutes in the evening to stop and count my blessings. This continues
to be something I have to make a conscious effort to accomplish
otherwise I am rushing to get all the evening chores done, my stress
level quickly rises and my teeth are clenched. I start by turning it
over to God.
"I pray that I may have a yielded will. I pray that my will may be
attuned to the will of God."
Today is part of the promise that I have received by being present in
my life.
Have of good day.
Barbara
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Back to the Fundamentals":
"The answer I was looking for was on page 12, in Ebby’s words to Bill: '"Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?"'
“'I’ve tried everything else,' I thought, 'and I’ve got no place else to go. I might just as well.' I sat down at my desk, got a pad of paper and a pencil, and asked myself, 'If you could pick the kind of God that you could believe in, what would He be like?' I bore in mind the facts that I was an alcoholic and that I had been a perfectionist all my life. The world was never perfect enough for me. Everything that I ever believed in, every ideal that I ever followed turned out to have feet of clay. Here was my chance. For the first time in my life, I could create something perfect. All right!
"I wrote across the page, 'God is the perfection I’ve been searching for all my life. He is too perfect to have human characteristics and faults.' That was the start. "Then I wrote, 'God is the ultimate perfection. He is the perfect love, the perfect truth, the perfect goodness, the perfect understanding, tolerance, mercy, forgiveness. God is so perfect that no matter how evil, how unclean we may be, He’ll forgive us if we ask, and grant us strength to overcome our shortcomings.'"
© 1973 AAWS, Inc.;
Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pgs. 63-64
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
February 26, 2010
Awakening
"For the first time, I felt that I really belonged.
I knew that I was loved and could love in return.
I thanked my God, who had given me a glimpse of His absolute self.
Even though a pilgrim upon an uncertain highway,
I need be concerned no more, for I had glimpsed the great beyond."
Bill Wilson had just had his 39th birthday,
and he still had half his life ahead of him.
He always said that after that experience,
he never again doubted the existence of God.
He never took another drink.
c. 1984 AAWS, 'Pass It On,' p. 121
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
A spiritual awakening is our greatest gift.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Alive.
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
Today's Tool:
This is one of my favorite passages from our literature. It's also been my experience that the below passage is TRUE. I get a lot of hope from the AA literature. I hope you do too!
We discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms. Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God. He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does “move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”
--Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 104-105
Happy Tuesday.
Ariana
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "A Vision for You:" "We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. 'How can I best serve Thee -- Thy will (not mine) be done.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will." c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 85
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) March 1, 2010 Expectations Perhaps the best thing of all for me is to remember that my serenity is inversely proportional to my expectations. The higher my expectations . . . the lower is my serenity. I can watch my serenity level rise when I discard my expectations. . . I must keep my magic magnifying mind on my acceptance and off my expectations, for my serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance. When I remember this, I can see I've never had it so good. Thank God for AA! c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 420 With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thought to Ponder . . . My disappointments are equal to my expectations. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . G R A C E = Gently Releasing All Conscious Expectations.
Today's Meditation: To God, a miracle of change in a person's life is only a natural happening. But it is a natural happening operated by spiritual forces. There is no miracle in personalities too marvelous to be an everyday happening. But miracles happen only to those who are fully guided and strengthened by God. Marvelous changes in people's natures happen so simply, and yet they are free from all other agency than the grace of God. But these miracles have been prepared for by days and months of longing for something better. They are always accompanied by a real desire to conquer self and to surrender one's life to God. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may expect miracles in the lives of people. I pray that I may be used to help people change. Today's Quotable: Promote yourself, but do not demote another. Israel Salanter
Today's Tool: We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined. -- AABB pg 88. I did not get this line at all for a long time in AA. Submitting to a kind loving God, I could wrap my head around; but submitting to a God that would discipline me, even if it was only when I asked, seemed way to similar to some bad experiences I had a long time ago. Honestly, I thought it was like masochistic, self loathing, 1939 Judeo-Christian bullshit. It took a long time, but as I have stuck around here and worked some steps, I'm starting to get it. I could never understand whether this line referred to the 11th step or the whole book up to this point. I can tell you that when i consistently started practicing steps 10 and 11 in way that was "logically interwoven" I discovered an "unshakable foundation for life". For an alcoholic like me, that's a flat out miracle. The spiritual discipline of these two steps opens the door that allows God to come into my life. Wow. Today's tool: Submit to spiritual discipline: do something you don't want to do for someone else, just for today  Have a happy health sober day Love ya, Katrina
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Just For Today! -- Simple
From "He Had to be Shown:"
"The very simple program they advised me to follow was that I should ask to know God's will for me for that one day, and then, to the best of my ability, to follow that, and at night to express my gratefulness to God for the things that had happened to me during the day. When I left the hospital I tried this for a day and it worked, for a week and it worked, and for a month, and it worked -- and then for a year and it still worked. It has continued to work now for nearly eighteen years."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 208-209
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 2, 2010
Action
In shame and despair, I went to my first AA meeting.
By some minor miracle, I was able to suspend opinion,
analysis, judgment, and criticism,
and instead to listen and hear.
I heard someone say that AA works for those who work for it,
those who put action into the program. . .
I heard that I should forget about yesterday
and instead concentrate on today
and staying away from the first drink today -- now.
I tried it and it worked.
c. 1973 AAWS, Came To Believe . . ., p. 42
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
What have I been given today?
Am I willing to reach out and grasp it?
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
J F T = Just For Today.
Today's Meditation:
Think of God as a Great Friend and confident and try to realize the wonder of that
friendship. When you give God not only gratitude, obedience, and allegiance,
but also close companionship, then He becomes your friend, even as you are
His. You can feel that He and you are working together. He can do things
for you and you can do things for Him. Your prayers become more real to you
when you feel that God counts on your friendship and you count on His.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may think of God as my Friend. I pray that I may feel that I
am working for Him and with Him.
Today's Quotable:
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around
and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan
Today's Tool:
Third Step Prayer:
I didn't like this one at first because I could not get my own self
out of the way enough and did want to trust the HP without knowing
what was going to happen first and I didn't like all of the "Thy"
language because it scared me. After some humbling experiences, this
prayer makes more sense and I have been willing to give up this fear
of the all of the capital letters in this prayer in order to be free
from my own thinking and be helpful to others. In addition, a friend
pointed out that in the next paragraph, it says "The wording was, of
course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it
without reservation." BB pg 63.
God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with as Thou
wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy
will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear
witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of
Life. BB p 63.
Sarah Washburn.
"And the key, it works differently, I forget every time. The
forgetting defies me, but that's what defines me." --Ani DiFranco.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. "…Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked…the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: ‘This is the way to a faith that works.’” © 2005, AAWS, Inc.; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 34
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) March 4, 2010 The Tyrant In the life of each AA member, there lurks a tyrant. His name is alcohol. He is cunning, ruthless. And his weapons are misery, insanity, and death. No matter how long we may be sober, he always stands at each man's elbow, ever watchful of an opportunity to resume his destruction. Like an agent of the Gestapo he ever threatens each AA citizen with torture or extinction. Unless, of course, the AA citizen is willing to live unselfishly, often placing the welfare of AA as a whole ahead of his own personal plans and ambitions. Apparently no human being can force alcoholics to live happily and usefully together. But Mr. John Barleycorn can -- and he often does! - Bill W., July 1946 c. 1988 The AA Grapevine, Inc, The Language of the Heart, p. 34 Thought to Ponder . . . Alcohol -- cunning, baffling, powerful! AA-related 'Alconym' . . . B A R = Beware Alcohol, Run!
Today's Meditation: Each day is a day of progress, steady progress forward, if you make it so. You many not see it, but God does. God does not judge by outward appearance. He judges by the heart. Let Him see in your heart a simple desire always to do His will. Though you may feel that your work has been spoiled or tarnished, God sees it as an offering for Him. When climbing a steep hill, a person is often more conscious of the weakness of his stumbling feet than of the view, the grandeur, or even of the upward progress. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may persevere in all good things. I pray that I may advance each day in spite of my stumbling feet. Today's Quotable: Don't be afraid your life will end, be afraid it will never begin.
Today's Tool: From p. 100 of Big Book: "When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!" This has been so true for me!! My body has been a great tool for determining whether I'm putting myself in God's hands or wriggling to get out -- feeling tight, scrunched up, with clenched jaw and unsettled stomach are pretty consistent giveaways that I'm trying to run the show. If I can notice this as it happens, remind myself to breathe and at least TRY to let it go, life just goes a whole lot smoother. Today's tool: Let go and let God. Michele
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Just For Today! -- A Start
From "To Wives:"
"If you and your husband find a solution for the pressing problem of drink you are, of course, going to be very happy. But all problems will not be solved at once. Seed has started to sprout in a new soil, but growth has only begun. In spite of your new-found happiness, there will be ups and downs."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 117
From "The Family Afterwards":
"Cessation of drinking is but the first step away
from a highly strained, abnormal condition. A doctor
said to us, "Years of living with an alcoholic is
almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The
entire family is, to some extent, ill." Let families
realize, as they start their journey, that all will
not be fair weather. Each in his turn may be footsore
and may straggle. There will be alluring shortcuts and
by-paths down which they may wander and lose their way."
© 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition;
Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 122-23
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Complacency
When things are going great,
so well you feel almost on a non-alcoholic high -- look out!
At such times (even after several years of sobriety),
the thought of a drink may seem quite natural,
and the misery of our old drinking days temporarily dims.
Just one drink begins to seem less threatening,
and we start thinking that it wouldn't be fatal, or even harmful.
Sure enough, one would not be -- for the average person.
But our experience with a drinking problem shows us
what that one supposedly harmless, fateful drink
would do to us unaverage people.
c. 1998 AAWS, Living Sober, p. 43
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
The first drink has the last say.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S L I P = Sobriety Lost Its Priority.
Today's Meditation:
Try to look for God's leading in all your personal relationships, in all
your dealings with other persons. God will help you to take care of your
relationships with people, if you are willing to let Him guide you. Rejoice
that God can protect you and keep you from temptation and failure. God can
protect you in all situations during the day, if you will rely on His
strength and go forward. You should feel that you are entering upon the
stage of success in the proper way of living. You should not doubt that
better things are ahead for you. Go forward unafraid because you feel
deeply safe under God's protection.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that God may protect and keep me as long as I try to serve Him. I
pray that I may go forward today unafraid.
Today's Quotable:
Resolve to find thyself; and to know that he who finds himself, loses his
misery.
Today's Tool:
Page 56 of the Big Book says "Who are you to say there is no God?".
When I was about 15 years old, 2 or 3 years into my drinking career, I was
at the mall with my cousin. Some person there was preaching and trying to
convert people to believe in God. My cousin angrily said to the man "Who
are you to say there is a God?" Well, that stuck with me for a long time. I
moved farther and farther away from the god of my childhood as I got older
and my drinking increased. When I finally found AA, several "coincidences"
happened right before that time that opened my mind a teeny tiny bit to the
concept of a Higher Power.
Today, after many 24 hours of being sober, I have a Higher Power in my life
that is always there and that I know loves me unconditionally. Sometimes my
will gets in the way and I'm alone and afraid and overwhelmed. Ok, lots of
times. Especially on Sundays for some reason. And it was vital to me that I
was able to define this Higher Power, any way it worked for me. Today, my
Higher Power was able to break through some of my rage and fear through me
listening/talking to another alcoholic, going to a meeting (kicking and
screaming), and starting a fourth step on my anger. Oh yeah, and doing this
tool.
So, today's tool is to remember that you are never alone.
Have a good day,
Rita
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "A Teen-ager's Decision:"
"My sponsor used to say to me, 'If I could only paint you a picture of how beautiful life can be without booze...' I wanted so badly to see the picture as it was in her mind. Well, now I'm living it and trying to paint it for others. A.A. has become a way of life and living for me. It has brought about a revelation of self, the discovery of an inner being, an awareness of God.
"I wouldn't give it up or trade it for anything. And the only one who can take it away from me is me -- by taking that first drink."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 355
AA Thought for the Day
March 8, 2010
Sanity
"My actions drunk or sober, before AA,
were not those of a sane person.
My desire to be honest with myself made it necessary
for me to realize that my drinking was irrational.
It had to be, or I could not have justified
my erratic behavior as I did.
I've been benefited from a dictionary definition I found
that reads: 'rationalization is giving
a socially acceptable reason for
socially unacceptable behavior,
and socially unacceptable behavior is a form of insanity."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 550-1
^*^*^*^*^
Thought to Ponder . . .
Let the lunatic out of the attic.
* * *
AA-related Acronym . . .
K I S S = Keep It Simple, Surrender.
A Member Shares:
I am Janie, and I am an alcoholic. I want to welcome newcomers ... we need you all! Step Two was easy for me, since I knew instantly I was insane. So, on the first day, I believed I was on Step Four, got a sponsor, and told her I was ready for Four. She said, "Wait a minute, let's back up here." That is when I wrote out a drinking log. This helped, and I went right on quickly through to the Steps. Step Two wasn't difficult, since I was so ready to do that. I had a Higher Power already. I was a member of a church for years, and did know God. The only thing is, I didn't know I had a disease ... nope, sure didn't! So, when I came into the room of AA, and the first three people spoke, I thought they were telling my story. It was the strangest feeling. I picked up a "Desire Chip" that day. I was so ready to do something to get out of where I was. Definitely, insanity had me gripped, and it was painful.
The pain was so excruciating that I wasn't sure I could withstand it, and couldn't have, if it weren't for the people in this room. They understood better than I. At least, I could not express it, and could only act out in anger ... I was full of it. I didn't hurt anybody, but I made them think I would. I hurt so much, I didn't want anybody to think they could come near. That is insanity to the fullest! Anyway, I did keep coming back, and I did work the Steps and did do as suggested, mostly. And now, twelve years later, I am in sweet sanity most of the time. I do what I need to do. I am happy, joyous and free. Yes, AA is giving me sweet life, and I will continue to keep coming back. As I do this, life keeps getting better and better! I suggest each newcomer keep coming back, and do as suggested in these rooms. Thanks! - Janie
Today's Meditation:
I will be renewed. I will be remade. In this, I need God's help. His
spirit shall flow through me and, in flowing through me; it shall sweep away
all the bitter past. I will take heart. The way will open for me. Each day
will unfold something good, as long as I am trying to live the way I believe
God wants me to live.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may be taught, just as a child would be taught. I pray that I
may never question God's plans, but accept them gladly.
Today's Quotable:
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a
habit. Aristotle
Today's Tool: (and every day)
HALT
hungry, angry, lonely, tired
One of my character hurdles as an insecure (egomaniacal) alcoholic is that I believe that if I do not accomplish absolutely everything, or if for some reason not absolutely everybody loves me, I will be discovered as the fraud I really am and the failure I deserve will become my life. (clearly this obsession does not carry over to spelling.) As a result, I am constantly exhausting myself in an attempt to accomplish everything and have everyone love me. Very tiring. Usually I do Ok for a while and then I explode in anger, or collapse in exhaustion, thereby making a huge mess and placing myself in self pity mode with just a couple "poor me.." and "f---- it" from a drink. Last night I actually called and cancelled an evening meeting because I needed a break. Even I catch on eventually.
So the tool for today: HALT- before you are halted
Kevin
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "When A.A. Came of Age":
"Then Bill [D., A.A. #3] told us how, during the night, hope had dawned on him. If Bob and I [Bill W.] could do it, he could do it. Maybe we all could do together what we could not do separately. Two days later Bill suddenly said, 'Henrietta, fetch me my clothes, I'm going to get up and get out of here.' Bill walked out of that hospital a free man and he never took a drink again. The spark that was to flare into the first A.A. group had been struck."
© 2001 AAWS, Inc.;
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 72
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 9, 2010
Entanglements
Tying our sobriety to someone we are emotionally involved with
proves flatly disastrous.
"I'll stay sober if so-and-so does this or that"
puts an unhealthy condition on our recovery.
We have to stay sober for ourselves,
no matter what other people do or fail to do.
We should remember, too, that intense dislike
also is an emotional entanglement, often a reversal of past love.
We need to cool any overboard feeling,
lest it flip us back into the drink.
c.1998 AAWS, Living Sober, p. 62
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Keep your sobriety first to make it last.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
R E L A T I O N S H I P =
Really Exciting Love Affair Turns Into Outrageous Nightmare;
Sobriety Hangs In Peril.
Today's Meditation:
The grace of God cures disharmony and disorder in human relationships.
Directly you put your affairs, with their confusion and their difficulties,
into God's hands, He begins to effect a cure of all the disharmony and
disorder. You can believe that He will cause you no more pain in the doing
of it than a physician, who plans and knows that he can effect a cure, would
cause his patient. You can have faith that God will do all that is
necessary as painlessly as possible. But you must be willing to submit to
His treatment, even if you cannot see the meaning or purpose of it.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may willingly submit to whatever spiritual discipline is
necessary. I pray that I may accept whatever it takes to live a better
life.
Today's Quotable:
And the wind said: "May you be as strong as the oak, yet flexible as the
birch; may you stand tall as the Redwood, live gracefully as the willow; and
may you always bear fruit all your days on this earth." Native American
prayer
Today's Tool:
My tool for today is Reach out and ask for help.
I often have a need to struggle with an issue for far to long. Until the discomfort and confusing emotions make me so uncomfortable that I become willing. I do not need to stew so long. I know what to do. I can ask for my sponsor's or friends experience strength, hope, and guidance.
I must humble my self and ask for help if I want to quiet the committee that resides between my ears.
Yours in recovery, on life's terms, and One day at a time.
Klaus
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
"This vital Step was also the means by which we began to get the feeling that we could be forgiven, no matter what we had thought or done. Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled Step Five that we inwardly knew we'd be able to receive forgiveness and give it, too."
c. 1981, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 57-58
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 10, 2010
Resentments
If you have a resentment you want to be free of,
if you will pray for the person or the thing you resent,
you will be free.
If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself
to be given to them, you will be free.
Ask for their health, their prosperity, their happiness,
and you will be free.
Even when you don't really want it for them,
and your prayers are only words and you don't mean it,
go ahead and do it anyway.
Do it every day for two weeks and you will find
you have come to mean it and to want it for them,
and you will realize that where you used to feel
bitterness and resentment and hatred,
you now feel compassionate understanding and love.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 552
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Trying to pray is praying.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A S A P = Always Say A Prayer.
Today's Meditation:
Make it a daily practice to review you character. Take your character in
relation to your daily life, to your dear ones, your friends, your
acquaintances, and your work. Each day try to see where God wants you to
change. Plan how best each fault can be eradicated or each mistake
corrected. Never be satisfied with a comparison with those around you.
Strive toward a better life as your ultimate goal. God is your helper
through weakness to power, through danger to security, through fear and worry
to peace and serenity.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may make real progress toward a better life. I pray that I may
never be satisfied with my present state.
Today's Quotable:
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein
Today's Tool:
I came into AA with a powerful resentment against two people that were important to me. My entire head was rented out to them and there was no room for recovery to enter. Before I ever took the first step, my sponsor made me read the story "Freedom From Bondage" about a woman who prays for her mother to be free of a lifelong resentment. He told me if I prayed for them, by name, each one separately, for God to give them all the things I wanted, I could be free. He told me to ask that God give them health, prosperity and happiness and then to add precisely the things I most wanted to that prayer so they could have it.
It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.
And one of the most amazing. Today, I am free of that resentment to the point that my heart is full of gratitude for them. They helped set me free. My life before recovery was full of conflict with other people. And while my relations with others are not completely perfect and conflict-free today, I have a tool that sets me free from my old tools of judgment, resentment and conflict. If I pray for others, we are both set free.
Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for being out there and thanks to all those who checked in this week. See you on the road...
In love and service,
Glenn
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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STEP TEN: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
"[A] great many of us have never really acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and sometimes hours spent in self-examination are bound to make all the other hours of our day better and happier."
c. 1952, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pages 89-90
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 11, 2010
Humility
You get just a little sobriety, and you get just a little humility.
Not much, just a little.
Not the humility of sackcloth and ashes,
but the humility of a man who's glad he's alive and can serve.
You get just a little tolerance, not too much,
but just enough to sit and listen to the other guy.
Somewhere along the line, if you've forgotten how to pray,
you learn a little about that too. . .
And you realize that if you put all this together, you get a little humility,
a little tolerance, a little honesty, a little sincerity, a little prayer
-- and a lot of AA.
c. 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 201-202
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
B O G G L E = Bad Or Good, God Loves Everyone.
Today's Meditation:
Breathe in the inspiration of goodness and truth. It is the spirit of
honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. It is readily available if we are
willing to accept it wholeheartedly. God has given us two things-His spirit
and the power of choice-to accept or not, as we will. We have the gift of
free will. When we choose the path of selfishness and greed and pride, we
are refusing to accept God's spirit. When we choose the path of love and
service, we accept God's spirit and it flows into us and makes all things new.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may choose the right way. I pray that I may try to follow it
to the end..
Today's Quotable:
You can't expect to hit the jackpot if you don't put a few nickels in the
machine. Flip Wilson
Today's Tools:
“Nothing is wasted in God’s economy.”
--From somewhere in As Bills Sees It
One of my sponsors used to remind me that folks who irk me are my teachers. Whether I’m irked or not, people are my teachers and there are lessons to be learned. Sometimes I have to look a little harder for these lessons than others. Still, the lessons are there. Lessons I’ve learn from watching/interacting with others that come to mind include:
When in doubt, don’t.
When tragedy strikes, go to a meeting (the other stuff can wait).
How I don’t want to act.
How I DO want to act.
Helping drunks works magic.
You can’t save your butt and your face at the same time.
Nothing is wasted in God’s economy; all my experiences can be put to use.
What lessons have you learned?
Ariana
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Getting ahead:"
"Ever since I became extricated from the turmoil of alcoholic living, it has interested me to muse over this business of Getting Ahead. In the excesses of my alcoholic-inspired ambition, I used to imagine that to Get Ahead I would need to be like some preternatural bulldozer, plowing its way upward and onward, plunging inexorably over the embankments of life, grinding, heaving, snorting, reckless of obstacles, impelled by the virtues of ambition and the seductions of success -- the kind of success that comes effortlessly to us from a barroom bottle.
"I did not know then that if you want to Get Ahead with any degree of peace, you must first learn to Stay Here...It takes humility to ask, patience to wait for the answer, and faith that the answer will come. These, it strikes me, are hardly bulldozer "'virtues.'"
c. 1973, Came to Believe..., page 114
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 12, 2010
Ninety Days
Angry doesn't begin to describe how I felt
when I had to admit I was an alcoholic.
Even though I was grateful not to be nuts, as I'd first supposed, I felt cheated.
All the people I saw sitting around the tables of AA
had been granted many more years of drinking than I.
It just wasn't fair!
Someone pointed out to me that life was rarely fair.
I wasn't amused, but extending my drinking career
simply wasn't an option anymore.
Ninety days sober cleared my thinking enough
to make me realize I'd hit bottom.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 314
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
I came; I came to; I came to believe.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.
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:
Do One Thing Differently
A good tool, but hard to accomplish. I have recently come to terms with the
fact that most of my pain is caused by my own thoughts and actions, or
inactions. Which leads to the conclusion that I need to change, not the
world. But that's where the opportunity for growth is - and I don't mean
the growth that is pain, I mean the willingness to be open to doing things
differently, thinking along different lines, experimenting and learning. It
can actually be exciting at times to challenge my own negative thoughts and
preconceptions, and try to act differently. So do one thing differently
today and let me know how it goes.
- Julie
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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 drank for the whole flight—before dinner, during dinner, and after dinner. As we approached our destination, I searched in my pocket for a pen to fill out the in-flight magazine response card. I found this large coin. I took it out to see what it was. It was my ninety-day pocket piece, and I was reminded of what I was doing. And the thought came to me: Wow, those guys at the meeting were right—I am powerless over alcohol. I put that coin back in my pocket and from that day to this, some 15½ years later, I have had no urge to drink."
© 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition;
Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 405
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Attitudes
Personally, I take the attitude that I intend never to drink again.
This is somewhat different from saying, "I will never drink again."
The latter attitude sometimes gets people in trouble
because it is undertaking on a personal basis
to do what we alcoholics could never do.
It is too much an act of will and leaves too little room
for the idea that God will release us from the drink obsession
provided we follow the AA program.
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 16
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Altered Attitudes.
Today's Meditation:
"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Confidence means to
have faith in something. We could not live without confidence in others.
When you have confidence in God's grace, you can face whatever comes. When
you have confidence in God's love, you can be serene and at peace. You can
rest in the faith that God will take care of you. Try to rest in God's
presence until His life-power flows through you. Be still and in that
stillness the still, small Voice will come. It speaks in quietness to the
human mind that is attuned to its influence.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I find strength today in quietness. I pray that I may be content
today that God will take care of me.
Today's Quotable:
1. Don't sweat the small stuff.
2. It's all small stuff.
Today's Tool:
"...infinite power and love." p 56 AA BB
As the story goes, the drunk, locked up in a hospital, asked who he was to say there was no God. Then he tumbled out of bed and became overwhelmed by the power of something greater than himself, he found himself in the presence of "infinite power and love."
I have written in my book, "what did i want when i was drinking? power and love. What does this book tell me i can have from God? Infinite power and love." Now, the power part... that gets sketchy if i let it... the kind of power I wanted when i was drinking is not the same kind i want today. That is all thanks to the steps and the people of AA. Yeah, that 3rd step, and then that 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th step sequence, where I attempted to align my will and life with Gods will and plan for my life... those worked as you all said they would (imagine that). Only then could I truly tap into Gods infinite power- the power to follow his will for me, the power to carry out his plan for me, and not my finite plan for myself.
The love part is doubtless, and without misinterpretation. I felt i lacked love, as i surely did in terms of friendship, true partnership with another human being, and love for myself. i didn't get the love that I WANTED (and felt the world owed me). when i was able to open up to Gods infinite love, however, i was able to get a glance at what true love what about. not that I'm able to carry that into my daily life as well as i would hope (especially not my married life, ahem), but the taste is there and so is God.
Tool for today:
Stand, for a moment at least, in the presence of true partnership and love, whatever your god looks like to you. If your not into the God thing, that's cool. call your sponsor, or someone else with whom you discuss this aspect of the program and discuss true love and the rightful use of your power. Shoot, you can even try this if you are into the God thing.
In any event, I hope you have a wonderful happy and sober Tuesday.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
"There was always that mysterious barrier we could neither surmount nor understand. It was as if we were actors on a stage, suddenly realizing that we did not know a single line of our parts. That’s one reason we loved alcohol too well. It did let us act extemporaneously. But even Bacchus boomeranged on us; we were finally struck down and left in terrified loneliness."
© 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005;
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 57
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Freedom
Freedom for me is both freedom from and freedom to.
The first freedom I enjoy is freedom from the slavery of alcohol.
What a relief!
The I begin to experience freedom from fear -- fear of people,
of economic insecurity, of commitment, of failure, of rejection.
Then I begin to enjoy freedom to --
freedom to choose sobriety for today, freedom to be myself,
freedom to express my opinion, to experience peace of mind,
to love and be loved, and freedom to grow spiritually. . .
What a joy to be free!
c. 1990 AAWS, Daily Reflections, p. 38
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and free to anyone.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H J F = Happy, Joyous, Free.
Today's Meditation:
You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and God. Priceless beyond all earth's rewards is that union. In merging your heart and mind with the heart and mind of the Higher Power, a oneness of purpose results, which only those who experience it can even dimly realize. That oneness of purpose puts you in harmony with God and with others who are trying to do His will.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may become attuned to the will of God. I pray that I may be in harmony with the music of the spheres.
Today's Quotable:
When all else fails to bring you back to center, be of service to another…always good for interesting results.
Tool for the day: Expect good things (see reading below)
"Be expectant. Constantly expect better things. Believe that what God has in store for you is better than anything you had before. The way to grow old happily is to expect better things right up to the end of your life and even beyond that. A good life is a growing expanding life, with ever-widening horizons, an ever-greater circle of friends and acquaintances, and an ever-greater opportunity for usefulness.
"I pray that I may await with complete faith for the next good thing in store for me. I pray that I may always keep an expectant attitude toward life."
So when I first read this I felt like it contradicted the whole "high acceptance, low expectations" thing. But my experience has been that if I'm being expectant not of *specific* things that *I* think would be good, but just expectant that what's on its way is all good even if I can't see it at the time, then my perspective shifts and I'm better able to see the positive in whatever is going on.
Love,
Michele
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Step Seven: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
"We saw we needn’t always be bludgeoned and beaten into humility. It could come quite as much from our voluntary reaching for it as it could from unremitting suffering. A great turning point in our lives came when we sought for humility as something we really wanted, rather than as something we must have."
© 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005;
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 75
AA Thought for the Day
March 18, 2010
Criticism
"Now and then all of us fall under heavy criticism.
When we are angered and hurt,
it's difficult not to retaliate in kind.
Yet we can restrain ourselves
and then probe ourselves,
asking whether our critics were really right.
If so, we can admit our defects to them.
This usually clears the air for mutual understanding. . .
Maybe a sense of humor can be our saving grace --
thus we can both forgive and forget."
Bill W., Letter, 1966
c. 1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 184
^*^*^*^*^
Thought to Ponder . . .
The best way to get even is to forget.
* * *
AA-related Acronym . . .
S O B E R = Son Of a Basket, Everything's Real.
Today's Meditation:
Try to see the life of the spirit as a calm place, shut away from the
turmoil of the world. Think of your spiritual home as a place full of
peace, serenity, and contentment. Go to this quiet meditative place for the
strength to carry you through today's duties and problems. Keep coming back
here for refreshment when you are weary of the hubbub of the outside world.
From this quietness and communion comes our strength.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may keep this resting place where I can commune with God. I
pray that I may find refreshment in meditation on the Eternal.
Today's Quotable:
I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or
misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. Martha
Washington
Today's Tool:
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Kindness is contagious". This reminds me of one of the tools on the Penultimate( I think that's what they called it) tool List:
"My attitude is contagious, is it worth catching"......well that's a no brainer....If I am in a bad spot I certainly don't want it to rub off on people (or do I?). Some days it takes much more energy for me to become positive than it does to be negative. Really and truly it doesn't take much for me to be a Pain in the rear. So there are times in my sobriety where I have to work a little harder for my good feelings/Gratitude. It always pays off when I have the willingness to do something that makes me feel better. I don't always want to, or agree with the action but my experience is that I always feel better when taking a positive action and can get my ego out of the way.
Hope all of you have a great day!
Laure
Basics Group, Durham NC
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Because I'm an Alcoholic:"
"For weeks I sat in the back of the rooms, silent when others shared their experience, strength, and hope. I listened to their stories and found so many areas where we overlapped -- not all of the deeds, but the feelings of remorse and hopelessness. I learned that alcoholism isn't a sin, it's a disease. That lifted the guilt I felt. I learned that I didn't have to stop drinking forever, but just not pick up that first drink one day, one hour at a time. I could manage that. There was laughter in those rooms and sometimes tears, but always love, and when I was able to let it in, that love helped me heal."
c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 344
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 19, 2010
Anonymity
I place myself where I want to be, and so I choose anonymity.
I want my God to use me, humbly, as one of His tools in this program.
Sacrifice is the art of giving of myself freely.
With sobriety, I suppress that urge to cry out to the world,
"I am a member of AA" and I experience inner joy and peace.
I let people see the changes in me
and hope they will ask what happened to me.
I place the principles of spirituality ahead of judging,
fault-finding, and criticism.
c. 1990 AAWS, Daily Reflections, p. 250
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
but thinking of yourself less.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A N O N Y M O U S =
Actions, Not Our Names Yield Maintenance Of Unity and Service.
Today's Meditation:
Divine control and unquestioning obedience to God are the only conditions necessary for a spiritual life. Divine control means absolute faith and trust in God, a belief that God is the Divine Principle in the universe and that He is the Intelligence and the Love that controls the universe. Unquestioning obedience to God means living each day the way you believe God wants you to live, constantly seeking the guidance of God in every situation and being willing to do the right thing at all times.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may always be under Divine Control and always practice unquestioning obedience to God. I pray that I may be always ready to serve him.
Today's Quotable:
The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
Today's Tool:
For today my thoughts are on Keeping It Simple. I quote an Asheville AA member, "Don't let what AA gave you keep you from AA." My life has grown beyond my dreams and with those blessings come many responsibilities. Keep It Simple helps me to remember what I need to prioritize first in my life. Keep It Simple also helps me with the feelings of being overwhelmed, prideful and despairing. Try it or another tool today!
Peace & Sobriety,
Ginger
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Gutter Bravado:"
"Today I'm much more comfortable with life, as Alcoholics Anonymous has promised, and I know they're right when they say it keeps getting better. My circumstances have steadily improved as my spiritual life grows and matures. Words cannot begin to describe the feelings in my heart as I sometimes ponder how much my life has changed, how far I've come, and how much there is yet to discover. And though I'm not sure where my journey will take me next, I know I'll owe it to the grace of God and to three words of the Twelve Steps: continue, improve, and practice."
c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 511
AA Thought for the Day
March 22, 2010
Escape Act
I was at a dead halt -- spiritually, mentally, and physically.
Depression smothered my muffled thinking even more. . .
Thank God I never gave up on meetings,
so my Higher Power finally got through to me.
I realized I'd been playing the great escape act all this time.
I know now I have a lot of work to do.
© 1998 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 3], p 320
Thought to Ponder . . .
Into action, out of self.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Attitude Adjustment.
Today's Meditation:
If you believe that God's grace has saved you, then you must believe that He is meaning to save you yet more and to keep you in the way that you should go. Even a human rescuer would not save you from drowning only to place you in other deep and dangerous waters. Rather, he would place you on dry land, there to restore you. God, who is your rescuer, would certainly do this and even more. God will complete the task He sets out to do. He will not throw you overboard, if you are depending on Him.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may trust God to keep me in the way. I pray that I may rely on Him not to let me go.
Today's Quotable:
"Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no future." Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Today's Tool:
I know, I know. I remember the first time I heard someone say he/she
was a "grateful alcoholic." You're a what? I thought.
Some years later, I am one. Grateful I'm sober, grateful I've made
lists of character defects and managed to correct some of them,
grateful for the life tools I've been handed -- tools that work on
problems that have nothing to do with drinking, grateful I've learned
to start my day over when it's started poorly, grateful I've learned
to live and let live, grateful -- probably above all -- that -- having
made amends where I had done people wrong -- I can go anywhere in the
world, grateful that wherever I go in the world, there we are.
Have a sober day.
JO
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Going to A.A. meetings:"
"We need to be as diligent in attending A.A. meetings as we were in drinking. What serious drinker ever let distance, or weather, or illness, or business, or guests, or being broke, or the hour, or anything else keep him or her from that really wanted drink? We cannot let anything keep us from A.A. meetings, either, if we really want to recover."
c. 1998, Living Sober, page 81
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 23, 2010
Sharing
Sharing problems at meetings
with other alcoholics to whom I relate,
or privately with my sponsor, can change aspects
of the positions in which I find myself.
Character defects are identified
and I begin to see how they work against me.
When I put my faith in the spiritual power of the program,
when I trust others to teach me what I need to do
to have a better life,
I find that I can trust myself to do what is necessary.
c. 1990 AAWS, Daily Reflections, p. 226
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
The ankle-biters of everyday struggles
will eat away at me unless I go to meetings and share.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H E A R T = Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering, Together.
Today's Meditation:
You cannot help others unless you understand the person you are trying to
help. To understand the problems and temptations of others, you must have
been through them yourself. You must do all you can to understand others.
You must study their backgrounds, their likes and dislikes, their reactions
and their prejudices. When you see their weaknesses, do not confront the
person with them. Share your own weaknesses, sins, and temptations and let
other people find their own convictions.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may serve as a channel for God’s power to come into the lives
of others. I pray that I may try to understand them.
Today's Quotable:
If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but
your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment
now. Marcus Aurelius
Today's Tool:
Here are some questions to ponder from The Traditions Checklist from the AA
Grapevine:
Tradition One: Our common welfare comes first; personal recovery depends
on AA unity.
1. Am I in my group a healing, mending, integrating person, or am I
divisive? What about gossip and taking other members' inventories?
2. Am I a peacemaker? Or do I, with pious preludes such as "just for the
sake or discussion," plunge into argument?
3. Am I gentle with those who rub me the wrong way, or am I abrasive?
4. Do I make competitive AA remarks, such as comparing one group with
another or contrasting AA in one place with AA in another?
5. Do I put down some AA activities as if I were superior for not
participating in this or that aspect of AA?
6. Am I informed about AA as a whole? Do I support, in every way I can, AA
as a whole, or just the parts I understand and approved of?
7. Am I as considerate of AA members as I want them to be of me?
8. Do I spout platitudes about love while indulging in secretly justifying
behavior that bristles with hostility?
9. Do I go to enough AA meetings or read enough AA literature to really
keep in touch?
10. Do I share with AA all of me, the bad and the good, accepting as well
as giving the help of fellowship?
Just things to think about to see if I am being a force for unity! Food for thought.....
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,847 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "The Man Who Mastered Fear:"
"Fear has never again ruled my life since that day...when I found that a
Power greater than myself could not only restore me to sanity but could keep me both sober and sane. Never in sixteen years have I dodged anything because I was afraid of it. I have faced life instead of running away from it."
c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 256
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
March 23, 2010
Isolation
Isolation sneaks up on us.
We can mask it with familiar props that are not in themselves bad.
We can isolate ourselves in an attempt
to clean up our apartments (and then not do the cleaning);
we can isolate ourselves in churches or in sleep;
we can use family, sweethearts, compulsive working,
television. The list is long.
The nicest way to end it is the way you and I do: together.
Reach out -- people can't read your mind.
Say ouch! Someone hears. Always.
c. 1985 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], pp. 84-5
Thought to Ponder . . .
I stood in the sunlight at last.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone.
A MEMBER SHARES:
Hi everyone, I'm Sharon and I'm an alcoholic. When I was first coming around to meetings I'd always hear slogans like, "Your head is like an unsafe neighborhood; don't go there alone." I had a lot of trouble with Step Two in admitting I was insane in many ways. Now that I am eleven years sober, I see the difference between much-needed solitude and isolating. When I isolate, I stay away from meetings, don't use the phone to talk to my AA friends, stop reading literature, praying, etc. I cut myself off from what the Eleventh Step so beautifully calls "The Sunlight of the Spirit." And after a while, I start to feel really creepy and crazy. My low self-esteem returns, I think about self-destructive behavior, I get really cranky and irritable. Then I make myself go to a meeting and the relief is immediate and I kick myself for having stayed away. Alcoholism really is a disease of the mind, body and spirit. When I'm out of touch with the program, I'm out of my mind! Thanks for listening.
Today's Meditation:
"God will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able, but with the
temptation He will also find a way of escape, that you may be able to bear
it." If you have enough faith and trust in God, He will give you all the
strength you need to face every temptation and to overcome it. Nothing will
prove too hard for you to bear. You can face any situation. "Be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world." You can overcome any temptation with
God's help. So fear nothing.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may face every situation without fear. I pray that nothing
will prove too hard for me to bear.
Today's Quotable:
If you learn from your suffering, and really come to understand the lesson
you were taught, you might be able to help someone else who's now in the
phase you may have just completed. Maybe that's what it's all about after
all...
Today's Tool:
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.
this is one of those concepts that we are all incredibly familiar
with but i so often forget - or don't quite believe. my disposition is
often: ok god you have done everything for me so far, but this time i
am sure to be dumped on my butt if i don't take over and do it right.
then of course i get tired and realize that things work much better
(and infinitely easier) when i relax the reins a bit and leave room for
the spirit to guide. it's amazing how many times i go through this
cycle. so the tool for today is:
remember who is in charge
kevin
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