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Rank: Advanced Member  Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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TRADITION SEVEN: Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
"To people familiar with endless drives for charitable funds, A.A. presented a strange and refreshing spectacle. Approving editorials here and abroad generated a wave of confidence in the integrity of Alcoholics Anonymous. They pointed out that the irresponsible had become responsible, and that by making financial independence part of its tradition, Alcoholics Anonymous had revived an ideal that its era had almost forgotten."
c. 1952, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 165
AA Thought for the Day
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Carry the Message
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"We sit at AA meetings and listen,
not only to receive something,
but to give reassurance and support
which our presence can bring.
If our turn comes to speak at a meeting,
we again try to carry AA's message.
Whether our audience is one or many,
it is still Twelfth Step work."
Bill W., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 110
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Thought to Ponder ...
That light at the end of the tunnel may be you.
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. T R U S T = Teaching Recovery Using Steps and Traditions.
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Today's Meditation:
We seek God's presence and "they who seek shall find." It is not a question of searching so much as an inner consciousness of the Divine spirit in your heart. To realize God's presence you must surrender to His will in the small as well as in the big things of life. This makes God's guidance possible. Some things separate you from God-a false word, a fear-inspired failure, a harsh criticism, a stubborn resentment. These are the things that put a distance between your mind and God. A word of love, a selfless reconciliation, a kind act of helpfulness-these bring God closer.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may think and say and do the things that bring God closer to me. I pray that I may find Him in a sincere prayer, a kind word, or an unselfish deed.
Today's Quotable:
How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.
Coco Chanel
Today's Tool:
Walk the Talk
From the BB, p.19: "None of us makes a sole vocation of this work, nor do we think its effectiveness would be increased if we did. We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much more important and practical demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective homes, occupations and affairs."
So, am I walking the walk? When I hit my bottom, one of the loudest thoughts in my brain was that I had lost the ability to get along with others, specifically with my family. While being active in my home group and within my local AA community is important and necessary, the real test of the quality of my sobriety has to do with the quality of my relations at home, at work and within my community.
Have a great day and remember, there will never be another one just like this one!
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Assuring the future:" "When TIME magazine wanted to put Bill on its cover -- that is, put the back of his head of the front of the magazine -- Bill declined, and declined the cover story as well. He reasoned:...'[T]he requirements of the piece would have tended to create a clear and colorful public image of me as a person. This would have created for the future, I am sure, a temptation in our power-driving people to get like pieces -- presently with full names and pictures....I declined the publicity, and I must confess it wasn't easy.'" c. 1984, 'PASS IT ON'...The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world, page 314
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) Evolution It is commonly known that the Traditions evolved from Bill's personal experience and the experience of the Fellowship, as well as from the mistakes made by earlier institutions and movements, the history of which Bill had studied. But not so many AA's are aware that Bill did not use every experience relayed by the groups, nor did he use the group conscience as his guide. He was selective, using only those experiences that went to the heart of AA problems. Since his desire was always the best interest of AA, his so-called manipulations always worked for the good of the Fellowship. (As he put it, "My personal life may not be exemplary, but I have never made a mistake about AA."  c. 1984 AAWS, 'Pass It On', p. 322 With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thought to Ponder . . . The Steps are there to protect me from myself; the Traditions are there to protect AA from me. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . S O B E R = Simply Observe Bill's Exemplary Recovery.
Today's Meditation: Share your love, you joy, your happiness, your time, your food, your money gladly with all. Give out all the love you can with a glad, free heart and hand. Do all you can for others and back will come countless stores of blessings. Sharing draws others to you. Take all who come as sent by God and give them a royal welcome. You may never see the results of your sharing. Today they may not need you, but tomorrow may bring results from the sharing you did today. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may make each visitor desire to return. I pray that I may never make anyone feel repulsed or unwanted. Today's Quotable: Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time wasted in disapproving of others From my buddy Liz
Today's Tool: I woke up early today to feed my grandson his first bottle of the morning since his mother is working nights. He is a happy baby and I enjoy spending time with him. I have no expectations of our time and it is very special. One the other hand, his mother and I have a relationship that is a mine field overflowing with emotion that is often painful to be involved in and I have come to realize is counter productive to our moving forward to a more loving relationship. I have been trying to remove my expectations because they can color each encounter and I find myself reacting not to what is happening but to what I think is going to happen. She reframes each thing I say to her and comes back with something along the lines of "you hate me." March 7 of the Daily Reflection says that the Key is Willingness. Even the smallest amount of willingness, if sincere, is sufficient to allow God to enter and take control over any problem, pain, or obsession. My level of comfort is in direct relation to the degree of willingness I possess at any given moment to give up my self-will, and allow God's will to be manifested in my life God's got this. Have a good day. Barbara
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 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.
"Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing. We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives. Therefore our problem now becomes just how and by what specific means shall we be able to let Him in? Step Three represents our first attempt to do this."
© 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005;
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 34
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Here-and-Now
We discover from our Serenity Prayer
that one of the things we cannot change is time.
The Here-and-Now is the only reality,
whereas in the unreal world of the drinking alcoholic
there was only yesterday-and-tomorrow.
The grace of sobriety lies in accepting the fact
that the past is nonexistent and the future lies only in the present.
c. 1973 AAWS, Came To Believe . . ., p. 113
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
When I live in the past, it costs me the present.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S I T = Stay In Today.
Today's Meditation:
I will try to make the world better and happier by my presence in it. I will
try to help other people find the way God wants them to live. I will try to
be on the side of good, in the stream of righteousness, where all things work
for good. I will do my duty persistently and faithfully, not sparing myself.
I will be gentle with all people. I will try to see other people's
difficulty and help them to correct it. I will always pray to God to act as
interpreter between me and the other person.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may live in the spirit of prayer. I pray that I may depend on
God for the strength I need to help me to do my part in making the world a
better place.
Today's Quotable:
The place you are in needs you there today.
Today's Tool:
What a beautiful day! It's nice to be sober....it's actually a miracle.
I cannot forget that or I am *%@#!!!!!!
My tool for the day is "Keep your expectations low and your acceptance high".
One of the things I struggle with the most (if I am honest)......is people not doing right.
When I start gnawing on what someone is or is not doing, that is a red flag for me! I think people should do what I do....AND THEY DON'T! BUGGERS!!!! When I let go of the idea that I know what's best for someone else and accept that we are all (especially me cause it's all about me) on our own path and my way is not necessarily the right way, I actually feel relief. Who new that I do not have to be judge and jury for the entire fellowship of AA. That's a load off my chest! When I am doubting or judging someone else, I am saying I don't think God can take care of them. I think there is more to this but we don't have time . Long emails are like when the speaker goes over the 5o minute mark!
Hugs to all!
Laure
Basics Group, Durham NC
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From “Riding the Rods”: "That was two years ago. The way has not been easy. The new way of life was strange at first, but all my thoughts were on it. The going was sometimes slow; halting were my steps among the difficulties of the path. But always, when troubles came, when doubts assailed and temptation was strong and the old desire returned, I knew where to go for aid. Helping others also strengthened me and helped me to grow.” © 2005, AAWS, Inc.; Experience, Strength & Hope, pg. 74
AA Thought for the Day Conflicts Very deep, sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emotional conflicts persist below the level of consciousness. At the time of these occurrences, they may actually have given our emotions violent twists which have discolored our personalities and altered our lives for the worse. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 79  0 Thought to Ponder . . . Serenity is not the absence of conflict but the ability to cope with it. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . A A = Attitude Adjustment.
Today's Meditation: I believe that God's presence brings peace and that peace, like a quiet-flowing river, will cleanse all irritants away. In these quiet times, God will teach me how to rest my nerves. I will not be afraid. I will learn how to relax. When I am relaxed, God's strength will flow into me. I will be at peace. Today's Prayer: I pray for that peace which passes all understanding. I pray for that peace which the world can neither give nor take away. Today's Quotable: Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. Frank Tyger
Today's Tools: I went to my sponsee's house Tues. night and I gave her instructions on her fear inventory. Wow - was that exactly what I needed and where I needed to be! Here's the instructions I gave her and what were given to me: Make a list of fears, ("We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them"-pg 68) which we have most of them already from the fourth column of the resentment inventory: "Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened?" pg 67. Then on page 68, we pulled these five questions: ("We asked ourselves why we had them." 1) Why do I have this fear? 2. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? ("We are in the world to play the role He assigns" 3. What role do I assign (to myself or others) when this fear is present? ("All men of faith have courage" 4. Where do I lack the courage of faith? ("We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be." 5. How would God have me be? I was so glad my sponsee was ready to start her fear inventory - I had no idea how badly I needed to do it. So I sat down last night and wrote out my fears - the BIG ones that are giving me that awful feeling in my stomach this week - namely being alone (no relationship) and fear of failure at work. And after I'd gone through the exercise, I see that I am not depending & relying upon God; I am assigning myself the role of martyr, caretaker, CEO of my company, blah, blah, blah; assigning others the role of keeper of my happiness, .... you get the idea. So I'm reading step 3 out of the BB now from page 60-63-in the first person which always hits home. And trying real hard to mind my own business, and when I get that icky feeling in my stomach saying the fear prayer from page 68. Thank God for sponsors and sponsees!!!! Don't drink!! Love to all, Kathy
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "A Prayer for All Seasons:" "The power of [The Serenity Prayer] is overwhelming in that its simple beauty parallels the A.A. Fellowship. There are times when I get stuck while reciting it, but if I examine the section which is troubling me, I find the answer to my problem....By accepting life as it is, I gain serenity. By taking action, I gain courage and I thank God for the ability to distinguish between those situations I can work on, and those I must turn over. All that I have now is a gift from God: my life, my usefulness, my contentment, and this program. "Alcoholics Anonymous IS the easier, softer way." c. 1990, Daily Reflections, page 221
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^*^ Spiritual Life ^*^*^ "The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Unless one's family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principles we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will convince them more than our words. We must remember that ten or twenty years of drunkenness would make a skeptic out of anyone." Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 83 ^*^**^*^* Thought to Ponder............. We're responsible for the effort, not the outcome. .
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Today's Meditation: The world doesn't need super men or women, but super-natural people. People who will turn the self out of their lives and let Divine Power work through them. Let inspiration take the place of aspiration. Seek to grow spiritually, rather than to acquire fame and riches. Our chief ambition should be to be used by God. The Divine Force is sufficient for all the spiritual work in the world. God only needs the instruments for His use. His instruments can remake the world. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may be an instrument of the Divine Power. I pray that I may do my share in remaking the world. Today's Quotable: Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death. Anais Nin
Today's Tool: First Things First. I have been in the office for an hour, pounding away at a case, breaking into it when I need a distraction to answer emails, and not doing what's most important. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. ... Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Big Book, pp. 58-59 Two months ago I finally came to understand what it meant to recognize the turning point. And there hasn't been a single turning point in my recovery, there have been many. I lay at a turning point the morning I surrendered my disease and knew I was ready to come back into the rooms, pick up a white chip, and turn my will and my life over to the care of a Power greater than myself. I sat at a turning point two months ago when I had a rude shock about someone I loved and needed God's protection and care to see me through the risk of trusting that all would turn out okay. And this week I am standing at a turning point where I again need God's protection and care as I admit that my old ideas are still around and not working so well. I read this weekend (which is what I do when I know my program's not working) that Steps 6 & 7 are a blend of surrender and effort. Effort is my strong suit. Surrender, not so much. So here I am - asking for His protection and care, with complete abandon. Asking for the willingness to surrender my obstinacy and my need for control. Again. Today's Tool (if you don't like First Things First) - ask for His protection and care. Whatever you're struggling with today, there is help from your higher power. Blessings, Scott It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness. Spurgeon
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Early meetings and Big Book controversies:" "Wally also noted that almost everyone in the room made some sort of witness. 'For one thing, Dr. Bob urged us to say something as quickly as we could at the meeting, with the general idea that if you did make a statement, you were more likely to stay with it.'" c. 1980, DR.BOB and the Good Oldtimers, page 141
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^ Faith ^*^*^ It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start from that point." Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, p. 12 ^*^*^*^*^* Thought to Ponder............. "When faith has entered the front door of our hearts, fear goes out the back." P.S.H., AAGrapevine, February 1949 . * * *
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/____\ . . F A I T H = Fantastic Adventures In Trusting Him . .
Today's Meditation: I must remember that in spiritual matters I am only an instrument. It is not mine to decide how or when I am to act. God plans all spiritual matters. It is up to me to make myself fit to do God’s work. All that hinders my spiritual activity must be eliminated. I can depend on God for all the strength I need to overcome those faults, which are blocks. I must keep myself fit, so that God can use me as a channel for His spirit. Today's Prayer: I pray that my selfishness may not hinder my progress in spiritual matters. I pray that I may be a good instrument for God to work with. Today's Quotable: The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Today's Tool: Happy Today. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN RECOVERY I have this little girl, she's 6. A total tomboy. I get her dressed for school each day in clean and comfortable clothes and she comes home with mud on her coat or her shoes looking like she toured a construction site. It seems she has trouble avoiding puddles and leaf piles. I give her lots of love and lots of baths and I try to point her in less messy directions but I know she's still going to be the same fun-loving kid. I think God deals with us in much the same way. He gives us what we need to survive and then no doubt marvels at some of the choices we make. Some are constructive and healthy and some leave us in a mess. But He always gives us the tools to clean up and move on if we are just willing to use them. I don't believe that God gets involved our daily existence.(I know this is a little controversial, but hear me out.) He leaves the day to day stuff to us, with our wonderful "Free Will." We are free to jump into every puddle we see on the way home. Or free to drink ourselves into oblivion, again and again. Some of us have spent their whole lives making one mess after another. God doesn't love us any less for this just as I will always unconditionally love my little girl. But he doesn't save us from it either. He doesn't prevent us from repeating the same destructive behavior over and over again. I suppose he hopes, like any loving parent, that we will figure out at some point how to stop hurting ourselves. For me, making a decision to get sober was the first time that I stopped the cycle of hurt. With each step along the road of recovery I discovered a way to live that was less hurtful---and less messy! I came to see that God wanted me to be Happy Joyous and Free. But he wasn't going to make that happen through Divine Intervention. No, I was going to have to take actions and do the work of recovery if I wanted that Happiness. God rejoices with each new choice I make that supports my principles and values---but He can't make those choices for me. I love my daughter more than I can adequately explain here. It is a profound and powerful emotion. And if I could, I would do anything to save her the pain I have endured over the years of battling my disease. There is a good chance that along with blonde hair and blue eyes I have passed along to her alcoholism. I hope that if she ever needs this program she will be willing to try it. But I can't get her sober. She will have to take actions using the tools freely given to her and be willing to work at it. If she really needed the program and got sober in AA nothing would make me happier. I think that in this way God rejoices for us every time we go to a meeting, every time we share our experience strength and hope, every time we offer ourselves in service to another. Every time we "practice these Principles in all our affairs." Every time we take responsibility for our own recovery. Have a great Today. Mike
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Step Nine: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. "[W]e usually want to sit down with some member of the family and readily admit the damage we have done by our drinking. Almost always we want to go further and admit other defects that have made us hard to live with. This will be a very different occasion, and in sharp contrast with those hangover mornings when we alternated between reviling ourselves and blaming the family (and everyone else) for our troubles. . . . [I]t is necessary only that we make a general admission of our defects. It may be unwise at this stage to rehash certain harrowing episodes. . . . [W]e must be sure to remember that we cannot buy our own peace of mind at the expense of others." © 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 84
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^*^ Inventory ^*^*^ "We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of our character, every dark cranny of our past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe." ©1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 75 ^*^**^*^* Thought to Ponder ... "I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine." - Bill W. . . * * *
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A Member Shares: I'm Lynn, a recovering alcoholic. The idea of spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection has sustained me throughout the last ten years in my efforts to rid myself of my character defects. Even though I'm a senior citizen, I still try to make improvements in my behavior and in my outlook on life. AA has truly improved my life; firstly in keeping me sober and secondly in helping me be a better person. - Lynn
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: This is a real-time tool. Went to bed late last night, kids woke up at midnight crying inconsolably (both of them) and our youngest ended up sleeping in our bed. I woke up two hours late, missing my 6:30 am AA meeting AND was late for work (not to mention fulfilling this tool commitment). I'm absolutely crazed now trying to catch up. And boy am I being an asshole to everyone around me. The worst thing about it is that I am fully aware of this fact, wish I was acting differently, and seem to lack the ability to change it by sheer force of will. What did I forget? This simple tool: it's never too late to restart the day. So, taking a deep breath, I close my eyes, center myself and say the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Thy will (not mine) be done. I have hopes that this tool will help. Will let you know tomorrow how it worked! Peace, Dan
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Serenity Prayer? "No one can tell for sure who first wrote the Serenity Prayer. Some say it came from the early Greeks; others think it was from the pen of an anonymous English poet; still others claim it was written by an American naval officer; and Jack Alexander [of the 'Saturday Evening Post'], who once researched the matter, attributes it to the Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr of the Union Theological Seminary. Anyhow, we have the prayer and it is said thousands of times daily. We count its writer among our great benefactors. ----- God, grant us the Serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, and Wisdom to know the difference. c. 1985, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 196
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^*^ Power ^*^*^ "We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves." Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 45 ^*^**^*^* Thought to Ponder ... Willpower ... our willingness to use a Higher Power. . . * * *
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Today's Meditation: Fear is the curse of the world. Many are our fears. Fear is everywhere. I must fight fear as I would a plague. I must turn it out of my life. There is no room for fear in the heart in which God dwells. Fear cannot exist where true love is or where faith abides. So I must have no fear. Fear is evil, but “perfect love casteth out all fear.” Fear destroys hope and hope is necessary for all of humanity. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may have no fear. I pray that I may cast all fear out of my life. Today's Quotable: Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what happens to him. Aldous Huxley
Today's Tool: Tool: Love and Tolerance of others is our code. p.84 BB When I don't do my morning meditation, this particular lady at my office really irritates me. I realized this morning that she irritates me because, she reminds me of the person that I was when I was drinking. That today, I have to work real hard on not being. I heard one time in a meeting "if someone else is the problem I have no solution". I really liked that. I try to remember that I am the only one I can change. Sometimes, I'm just not willing. I guess that's why I keep coming back! Thank you for allowing me to be of service this week. Thank God for AA! Leslie
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "The Central Experience": "I have become more and more aware of the infinite expansion of happiness which is accessible within. The Upanishad, part of the Hindu scriptures, concludes: 'From Joy all things are born; by Joy all things are sustained; to Joy all things return.' The more thoroughly I can surrender to this proposition, the more thoroughly I enjoy my life. Ultimately, my God as I understand Him is joy and the expansion of joy. - Toronto, Ontario" © 1973 AAWS, Inc.; Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 100
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^*^ Meditation ^*^*^ "Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. With it comes the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go further. We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower and to grow. But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our step out into the sun." ©1953 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 98 ^*^**^*^* Thought to Ponder ... Meditation means trusting the silence around me for a while, as if it were an answer I had long sought. . . * * *
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Today's Meditation: We should try to be grateful for all the blessings we have received and which we do not deserve. Gratitude to God for all His blessings will make us humble. Remember that we could do little by ourselves, and now we must rely largely on God's grace in helping ourselves and others. People do not care much for those who are smug and self-satisfied or those who gossip and and criticize. But people are impressed by true humility. so we should try to walk humbly at all times. Gratitude to God and true humility are what make us effective. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may walk humbly with God. I pray that I may rely on His grace to carry me through. Today's Quote: Life is not the way it's suppose to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference. -- Virginia Satir
Today's Tool: Today's tool is: what am I supposed to be doing? "Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us." --BB p 77 From time to time I find myself in existential crisis: why am I here and what's it all mean, anyway. And why shouldn't I get that cool new car/house/toy/thing? And why shouldn't I manipulate the world to get what I think I want? Who's looking out for me? Two reasons why that doesn't work well for me: 1. It makes me miserable 2. Eventually I will take something to ease the pain of my misery So, when I start to question my reason for existence and the utility of continuing to maintain a spiritual life, I think back on those lines above. Have a good day, Dan
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Staying away from the first drink:"
"Expressions commonly heard in A.A. are 'If you don't take that first drink, you can't get drunk' and 'One drink is too many, but twenty are not enough.'
"Doctors who are experts on alcoholism tell us that there is a sound medical foundation for avoiding the first drink. It is the first drink which triggers, immediately or some time later, the compulsion to drink more and more until we are in drinking trouble again."
c. 1998, Living Sober, pages 4 & 5
AA Thought for the Day
Honesty
I know the biggest word for me in AA is "honesty."
I don't believe this program would work for me
if I didn't get honest with myself about everything.
Honesty is the easiest word for me to understand
because it is the exact opposite of what I've been doing all my life.
Therefore, it will be the hardest to work on. . .
If I work on it every day, it will be easier to be honest with myself.
Then getting honest with other people will come automatically.
I know I will be grateful for a chance to make amends
to everybody I have hurt in the past.
c. 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 400-401
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Honesty isn't an event ... it's a process.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
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 used to help people change.
Today's Quotable:
Promote yourself, but do not demote another. Israel Salanter
Today's Tool:
Today's tool: easy does it.
My tendency is to jump in, attack "problems", obsessively work on them 'till I think they're fixed and find myself at the end of the day frazzled. "Easy does it" tells me to take breaks, call friends, meet friends for lunch, socialize with co-workers (yikes) - sometimes laugh it up with them, pray... When I take breaks like these and loosen up my expectations on when the "problem" should be resolved; I feel healthy, more peaceful, more happy, joyous and free.
I picked this tool because it seems that today has more in it than I can handle. Sharing with you this morning on the solution is helping loosen my timetable.
Thanks for letting me do the tools this week.
Good day, eh.
David
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "When A.A. Came of Age":
"There came next to the lectern [at the 1955 Convention] a figure that not many A.A.'s had seen before, the Episcopal clergyman Sam Shoemaker. It was from him that Dr. Bob and I [Bill W.] in the beginning had absorbed most of the principles that were afterward embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, steps that express the heart of A.A.'s way of life. Dr. Silkworth gave us the needed knowledge of our illness, but Sam Shoemaker had given us the concrete knowledge of what we could do about it. One showed us the mysteries of the lock that held us in prison; the other passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated."
© 2001 AAWS, Inc.;
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 38-39
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
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:
Turn out all thoughts of doubt and fear and resentment. Never tolerate them
if you can help it. Bar the windows and doors of your mind against them, as
you would bar your home against a thief who would steal in to take away your
treasures. What greater treasures can you have than faith and courage and
love? All these are stolen from you by doubt and fear and resentment. Face
each day with peace and hope. They are results of true faith in God. Faith
gives you a feeling of protection and safety that you can get in no other way.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may feel protected and safe, but not only when I am in the
harbor. I pray that I may have protection and safety even in the midst of
the storms of life.
Today's Quotable:
Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what
they can do when they stick together. Vista M. Kelly
Today's Tool:
Happy sober morning!
My life is a miracle in so many ways: I have a loving and wonderful family that continues to grow, truly good friends, an incredibly supportive partner, interesting things to see, do, explore, and last but certainly not least AA's program for living that gave me back my life and has made all the rest possible. Gratitude is the feeling that comes to mind.
And, yet, when I'm not careful, present, conscious, I become fearful of not being a success professionally. "Our spiritual and emotional growth in A.A. does not depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks...We A.A.'s have had no better teacher than Old Man Adversity, except in those cases where we refuse to let him teach us." (As Bill Sees It, pg.. 184).
So, the tool in all this is to know that success in any aspect of my life doesn't come without failures and setbacks. It's all good and thanks to this program, I know what to do.
Cynthia
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Step Seven: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. "Certainly no alcoholic, and surely no member of A.A., wants to deprecate material achievement. Nor do we enter into debate with the many who still so passionately cling to the belief that to satisfy our basic natural desires is the main object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics. For thousands of years we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted. "In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility." © 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 71
AA Thought for the Day ^*^*^*^*^ Self-Restraint ^*^*^*^*^ "We enjoy certain inherent advantages which should make our task of self-restraint relatively easy. There is no really good reason for anyone to object if a great many drunks get sober. Nearly everyone can agree that this is a good thing. If, in the process, we are forced to develop a certain amount of honesty, humility, and tolerance, who is going to kick about that? If we recognize that religion is the province of the clergy and the practice of medicine is for doctors, we can helpfully cooperate with both. Certainly there is little basis for controversy in these areas. It is a fact that AA has not the slightest reform or political complexion. We try to pay our own expenses, and we strictly mind our single purpose." - Bill W. ©1962AAWS, Twelve Concepts for World Service, 26th Printing, p. 69 ^*^*^*^*^* Thought to Ponder . . . We are not living just to be sober; we are living to learn, to serve, and to lov [center]. * * *
[center]. * (\ ---- /) *
. ( \ (_)/ )
. * (_ / \ _) *
. /____\ . . S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, and Trust. .
Today's Meditation: In our time of meditation, we again seem to hear: "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you a rest." Again and again we seem to hear God saying this to us. "Come unto me" for the solution of every problem, for the overcoming of every temptation, for the calming of every fear, for all our need, physical, mental, or spiritual, but mostly "come unto me" for the strength we need to live with peace of mind and the power to be useful and effective. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may go to God today for those things which I need to help me live. I pray that I may find real peace of mind. Today's Quotable: If you're not a lion tamer, don't go into the lion's den.
Today's Tool: From the Big Book, page 64: Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. In dealing with resentments, we set them down on paper. I just got back from a fourth step meeting tonight. It was great hearing people share about this step. Having done several fourth steps, and many tenth steps, I’ve learned that this process of self-examination will always be necessary for my sobriety, and that focusing first on my resentments is always the best way for me to start the process. And yes, it always works best if I write them down. Tool for today: Do I have a resentment that is bothering me? If so, I should talk to my sponsor, and do what is required to take care of it. Have a great day! -Keith
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "It Might Have Been Worse:"
"Doing our best, living each day to the fullest is the art of living. Yesterday is gone, and we don't know whether we will be here tomorrow. If we do a good job of living today, and tomorrow comes for us, then the chances are we will do a good job when it arrives -- so why worry about it? "The A.A. way of life is the way we always should have tried to live."
c. 2001, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 357
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Laughter
AA has filled my days with friends, laughter, growth,
and the feeling of worth that is rooted in constructive activity.
My faith in, and contact with, my Higher Power
shines more brightly than I dreamed it could. . .
I am free to laugh all my laughter,
free to trust and be trusted, free to both give and receive help.
I am free from shame and regret, free to grow and work.
I have left that lonely, frightening, painful express train through hell.
I have accepted the gift of a safer, happier journey through life.
c.2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 543
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Take time to laugh -- it is the music of the soul.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H J F = Happy, Joyous, Free.
Today's Meditation:
I must rely on God. I must trust Him to the limit. I must depend on the
Divine Power in all human relationships. I will wait and trust and hope,
until God shows me the way. I will wait for guidance on each important
decision. I will meet the test of waiting until a thing seems right before I
do it. Every work for God must meet this test of time. The guidance will
come, if I wait for it.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may meet the test of waiting for God’s guidance. I pray that I
will not go off on my own.
Today's Quotable:
Vision: the art of seeing things invisible. Jonathan Swift
Today's Tool:
Which brings me to the tool for today: ask for help when you need it
When I first came to AA, I had never ever voluntarily asked anyone for help in any way. I felt deeply humiliated by the fact that I was not equipped to live life on life’s terms. Little did I know that no alcoholic is properly equipped, but I found out! One of the things my sponsor repeatedly said to me was, be on the outside what you are on the inside. She told me that if I didn’t let people know I needed help they couldn’t help me. It was that simple. But NOT easy for a drunk like me that spent her life trying to hide how desperate she was. I’ve been sober since 1983 and I still have to ask the HP for the willingness to be on the outside what I am on the inside. It was in doing that, that I found out the AA and the HP really did work!
Have a sober day,
Mary F.
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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STEP SEVEN: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
"The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear -- primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration.
"The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God."
c. 1981, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 76
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
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 in my attitudes.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 417
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Attitude Adjustment.
Today's Meditation:
I will have faith, no matter what may befall me. I will be patient, even in
the midst of troubles. I will not fear the strain of life, because I believe
that God knows just what I can bear. I will look to the future with
confidence. I know that God will not ask me to bear anything that could
overcome or destroy me.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may put this day in the hands of God. I pray for faith, so
that nothing will upset me or weaken my determination to stay sober.
Today's Quotable:
If you feel driven out, BOOZE will bring you back.
Today's Tool:
Feeling "different than" and "apart from" was a common theme during my drinking days, and feeling uncomfortable in certain social situations has come up repeatedly as a challenge in sobriety. A few years ago my sponsor offered a suggestion that has helped immensely in this area -- whenever I am feeling uncomfortable (this is not necessarily limited to social situations, mind you), I can look around (this in itself was a novel idea to me -- what, there's stuff going on OUTSIDE ME??) and ask the question "How can I be useful?" Maybe there are some cups sitting around that could be thrown away or washed. Perhaps there is someone else looking uncomfortable who I could go and talk with. Anyway, posing the question and taking action serves the purpose of getting me outside of my head (where all the trouble tends to brew).
Love,
Michele
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "We Agnostics":
"In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself."
© 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition;
Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 50
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Courage
When fear persisted, we knew it for what it was,
and we became able to handle it.
We began to see each adversity
as a God-given opportunity to develop the kind of courage
which is born of humility, rather than bravado.
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 91
With permission, Alcoholics AnonymousWorld Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Courage is fear in action.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
F E A R = Face Everything And Recover.
Today's Meditation:
I should strive for a friendliness and helpfulness that will affect all who
come near to me. I should try to see something to love in them. I should
welcome them, bestow little courtesies and understandings on them, and help
them if they ask for help. I must send no one away without a word of cheer,
a feeling that I really care about them. God may have put the impulse in
some despairing one's mind to come to me. I must not fail God by repulsing
that person. They may not want to communicate with me unless they are sure
of a warm welcome.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may warmly welcome all who come to me for help. I pray that I
may make them fell that I really care.
Today's Quotable:
Teach us to delight in simple things, and mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done, and love to all men 'neath the sun. Rudyard
Kipling
Today's Tool:
Labor Day was one more reason to get drunk for me (not that I needed an excuse then). It was a beautiful day in Vermont today. I didn't have to drink today and I'm grateful for that. I have many incredible friends in and outside of this fellowship and for that I'm grateful. I'm able to get up and go to work without a hangover and I'm grateful for that. I'm able to contribute to others in a positive way and be contributed to and I'm grateful for that. As I was leaving the gym this evening, I noticed a fabulous full moon and it was cause for gratitude. Last, but not least, I'm grateful for a God of my understanding who also understands me.
Tool for the day? Make a gratitude list.
Alana
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Two alcoholics meet:"
"'I have placed both operation and myself in God's hands. I'm going to do what it takes to get sober and stay that way.'
"Just before they stopped [at the hospital, where Dr. Bob was to perform surgery], Bill, who also had his practical side, gave him a bottle of beer...The bottle of beer Bill gave him that morning was the last drink he [Dr. Bob] ever had.
"Although arguments have been and will be made for other significant occasions in A. A. history, it is generally agreed that Alcoholics Anonymous began there, in Akron, on that date: June 10, 1935."
c. 1980, Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, pages 74-75
AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
Action
Then they outlined the spiritual answer
and program of action which a hundred of them
had followed successfully.
Though I had been only a nominal churchman,
their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow.
But the program of action, though entirely sensible,
was pretty drastic.
It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions
out of the window.
That was not easy.
But the moment I made up my mind to go through
with the process,
I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved,
as in fact it proved to be.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 42
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
^*^*^*^*^
Thought to Ponder . . .
Action conquers fear.
* * *
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A C T I O N = Any Change Toward Improving One's Nature.
Today's Meditation:
Refilling with the spirit is something you need every day. For this
refilling with the spirit, you need these times of quiet communion, away,
alone, without noise, without activity. You need this dwelling apart, this
shutting yourself away in the very secret place of your being, away alone
with your Maker. From these times of communion you came forth with new
power. This refilling is the best preparation for effective work. When you
are spiritually filled, there is no work too hard for you.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may be daily refilled with the right spirit. I pray that I
may be full of the joy of true living.
Today's Quotable:
Every exit is an entrance somewhere else. Tom Stoppard
Today's Tool:
Its morning and I am grateful for today
Today's tool is: The answer is GOD before you even ask the question.
My sponsor tells us girls this all the time, and just yesterday I was reminded once again. When I spend too much time in my head I remain lost and disconnected.
Today I do not have to have all the answers, prove my way is right, or control the outcome of any situation. Connecting with the God in me for guidance and direction I am free. i don't have to fight anymore.
Thanks for letting me share.
P.S. thanks to Michelle for reminding me!!!!!!!!!!
Basha
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "A Small White Card:" "When I came to A.A., I was a self-ordained atheist, a part-time agnostic, and a full-time antagonist -- antagonistic toward everyone, everything in general, and God in particular... "Yet I had a spiritual experience the night I called A.A., though I didn't realize it until later. Two angels came, carrying a real message of hope, and told me about A.A. My sponsor laughed when I denied that I had prayed for help. I told him that the only time I had mentioned God was when, in my despair at being unable to get either drunk or sober, I had cried out, 'God! What am I going to do?' "He [my sponsor] replied, 'I believe that prayer was a pretty good one from an atheist. It got an answer, too.' And so it did" c. 1973, Came to Believe..., pages 24-25
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) Jan Prayer We discover that we 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. c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 33 With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thought to Ponder . . . Prayer is neither black magic nor is it a form of demand note. Prayer is a relationship. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . H O P E = Hang On; Pray Every day.
A MEMBER SHARES: My name is Jim, and I'm an alcoholic. AA says something about how when at first we try prayer and meditation, we discover it may not always be on the level of inspiration. In fact, many have used the concepts behind prayer and meditation to justify some of the most harebrained ideas that have ever been thought up. Today, I was talking with a few folks about some ideas I had, before praying about it. Now at the time, I could justify my thinking. But at work today as I was mulling over what I wanted to do, the thought occurred to me that this is something I really should seek the knowledge of God's will for me. So while working, I said a short prayer, which was, "What is Your will in this situation?" I've heard it will take time for the knowing to come, but today I was flooded with the answers immediately. First of all, how do I know what God's will for me in my situation is? Well, if I don't want to do it, that's a good sign right away. I want to do what I want to do, on my terms at my leisure. Gee, I didn't realize God would say, "Hey Jim, dummy ... it's more than likely that if you want to do it, bud, with the historical facts about you, it is wrong!" If it is God's will for me, it will require me to grow and continue to grow spiritually. It will require me to live out virtues to make it possible for this to happen. It will require for me to lay aside vice or defect or sins, and it is good for everyone concerned. Now I know some about of those things and I am certain what I should do for the best of everyone involved. Do I like it? At first thought I would say no, but the truth of the matter is, you bet your sweet and very last bottom dollar on this one, I do have the power to do these things. I don't know why when I immediately said, "OK I will do it," but I instantly knew it could be done, and that it would turn out as good as could possibly be possible.
Today's Meditation: I will try to keep my life calm and unruffled. This is my great task, to find peace and acquire serenity. I must not harbor disturbing thoughts. No matter what fears, worries and resentments I may have, I must try to think of constructive things, until calmness comes. Only when I am calm can I act as a channel for God's spirit. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may build up instead of tearing down. I pray that I may be constructive and not destructive. Today's Quotable: If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting? Stephen Levine
Today's Tools: Good morning! I walked into my office this morning with my mind going in 1,000 directions -- all basically reinforcing that it is not humanly possibly to get done everything that needs to get done in the next few days. Typically, what happens then (and what was already beginning to happen this morning) is that I get so overwhelmed that sometimes I do nothing. Or (what I was doing today), I put off the things that I really don't want to do -- because of fear or one of my other many character defects -- and spend time doing things that really aren't necessary. So after stopping and praying I did the first thing that is in front on me - today's tool. Next, I'll do one of the tasks that I am dreading -- asking for help for help from a colleague at the new job I will be starting later this week. Today's tool  : Pray Easy does it Ask for help if you need it Have a great day. Trish
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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Step Seven: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. "We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basic ingredient of all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing." © 2005, AAWS, Inc.; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 72
AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AAOnline.net) An Infinite Debt It is with the deepest feeling that I here cast up AA's debt to the clergy: without their works for us, AA could never have been born; nearly every principle that we use comes from them. Their example, their faith, and their beliefs in some part, we have appropriated and made our own. Almost literally, we AA's owe them our lives, our fortunes, and such salvation as each of us has found. Surely, this is an infinite debt! - Bill W., September 1957 c.1988 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Language of the Heart, p. 179 Thought to Ponder . . . I have learned how a heart full of gratitude feels. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . H O P E = Heart Open; Please Enter.
Today's Meditation: You should not dwell too much on the mistakes, faults, and failures of the past. Be done with shame and remorse and contempt for yourself. With God's help, develop a new self-respect. Unless you respect yourself, others will not respect you. You ran a race, you stumbled and fell, you have risen again, and now you press on toward the goal of a better life. Do not stay to examine the spot where you fell, only feel sorry for the delay, the shortsightedness that prevented you from seeing the real goal sooner. Today's Prayer: I pray that I may not look back. I pray that I may keep picking myself up and making a fresh start each day. Today's Quotable: If you can DREAM it, you can DO it. Walt Disney
Today's Tool: Hi Tool Buddies, DON'T LEAVE. DON'T DRINK. NO MATTER WHAT. PRAY YOUR HEAD OFF (OR BACK ON). At the Thursday Brentwood (CA) meeting, a speaker was asked, "What one message would you give to the newcomer?" That would be my message. I left AA for 7 years because I never believed I was an alcoholic. It is HELL to watch multiple people leave AA, now that I am back, for the same reason. I have talked to them, sharing the HELL I was in for 7 years, ending up homeless on the streets of LA (well, technically, living in a stolen car). I'm shocked when they leave, because I always wondered why no one tried to convince me to stay once it was clear I was leaving AA. Now I wonder how many people tried to get through to me. It really is brutal to watch them leave, they have no idea. It's like there is some weird invisible bubble around them they can't hear through. I have NEVER seen someone come through the doors of AA that wasn't an alcoholic. God sent you to the rooms, so STAY. If you have any doubts about being an alcoholic, stop what you are doing, RIGHT NOW, pick up the phone, tell another alcoholic, and hit your knees and ask God for clarity about your disease. "But, I didn't drink enough" argument to leave: Then you definitely need to stay, so when someone new comes in that doesn't think they drank enough, you can be there to tell them it's not about the amount you eventually guzzle, it's the first sip. Reading the Original manuscript really helped me, plus it's just really cool to read: http://silkworth.net/ori...apter4.html#WEAGNOSTICS
STAY. Love you, KAKI
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "He Sold Himself Short:"
"A few months after I made my original trip to Akron I was feeling pretty cocky, and I didn't think my wife was treating me with proper respect, now that I was an outstanding citizen. So I set out to get drunk deliberately, just to teach her what she was missing. A week later, I had to get an old friend from Akron to spend two days sobering me up. That was my lesson, that one could not take the moral inventory and then file it away; that the alcoholic has to continue to take inventory every day if he expects to get well and stay well."
c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 293-294
AA Thought for the Day
Debits
"As we glance down the debit side of the day's ledger,
we should carefully examine our motives
in each thought or act that appears to be wrong.
In most cases our motives won't be hard to see and understand.
When prideful, angry, jealous, anxious, or fearful,
we acted accordingly, and that was that.
Here we need only recognize that we did act or think badly,
try to visualize how we might have done better,
and resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow,
making, of course, any amends still neglected."
c.1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 94
^*^*^*^*^
Thought to Ponder . . .
Life is too short to be small.
* * *
AA-related Acronym . . .
H O W N O W = Honest, Open-minded, Willing. No Other Way!
Today's Meditation:
There are two things we must have if we are going to change our way of life. One is faith, the confidence in things unseen, the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience: that is, living according to our faith, living each day as we believe that God wants us to live, with gratitude, humility, honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Faith and obedience, these two, will give us all the strength we need to overcome sin and temptation and to live a new and more abundant life.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that I may have more faith and obedience. I pray that I may live a more abundant life as a result of these things.
Today's Quotable:
If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world. Chinese Proverb
Today's Tool:
Good morning,
Each day when I get up, the first things that happens is that my mind races to overdrive with all the things I want to accomplish before I go to work. So I have been making a conscious effort to slow down each morning and take the time I need to pray and meditate before I start racing around. I wish I could say the I have noticed an immediate effect but I can not. What I can say is that I plan to continue to act as if and it will help me.
My tool for today is
Maintain your conscious contact with God your higher power.
thank you for allowing me to share this week.. I view it as an opportunity to check myself.
Barbara
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Rank: Advanced Member Joined: 10/7/2008 Posts: 2,498 Location: Caldwell Tex
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From "Stay Sober on Love":
"The things I thought I needed for so many years no longer seem important, now that I have become aware of the spiritual resources God has given me. With these, I don't need alcohol to function. What a joy to stay sober on love instead of fear!" – Toronto, Ontario/Canada
© 1973 AAWS, Inc.;
Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pg. 35
AA Thought for the Day
H.A.L.T.
"Don't become too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired."
My use of "H-A-L-T" is possible only because of the awareness's I receive
through the use of the Twelve Steps.
They remain the hub on my wheel of sobriety.
I am trying very hard to use them better and better. . .
Although my main goal is staying sober and alive today,
I do recognize that my happiness with God, myself, and life
has been the result of a consistent application of the Steps.
To them, I can never call a halt.
Reprinted from Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, January 1982, Vol. 38 No. 9
Reprinted with permission of The AA Grapevine, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Life is a steady drizzle of small things -- carry an umbrella.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H A L T = Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.
Today's Meditation:
"If your spiritual eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." The eye of
the soul is the will. If your will is to do the will of God, to serve Him
with your life, to serve Him by helping others, then truly shall your whole
body be full of light. The important thing is to strive that your will be
attuned to the will of God, a single eye to God's purpose, desiring nothing
less than that His purposes be fulfilled. Try to seek in all things the
advance of His kingdom, seek the spiritual values of honesty and purity,
unselfishness and love, and earnestly desire spiritual growth. Then your
life will emerge from the darkness of futility into the light of victory.
Today's Prayer:
I pray that my spiritual eye may be single. I pray that my life may be lived in the
light of the best that I know.
Today's Quotable:
Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to
your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor… Let no one
ever come to you without leaving better or happier. Be the living expression
of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in
your smile; kindness in your warm greeting. Mother Teresa
Today's Tool:
Last year during the holidays, my former sponsor had me write and send three letters of gratitude to people who had a big impact on me during the year.
One of the people I chose was my vet; she had been wonderful treating my dog over the years and finally putting her down that summer. I figured she probably doesn't get to hear very often what a difference she makes in peoples' lives.
Two days after mailing her letter I listened to my "intuitive voice" and went jogging on the Tobacco Trail instead of going to the gym. As I was singing at the very top of my lungs I realized that there was someone else on the trail. Embarrassed, I decided to slink by her as best I could--only to realize it was my vet. I hadn't seen her in 7 months. She never leaves the office during lunch. I never go on the trail at that time. I've never seen her outside her office. You know.
After we got over our mutual heart attacks, she said she had gotten my letter that morning, and that she had needed to hear some gratitude since people had been hostile with her all morning. We talked about God doing for both of us what we cannot possibly do for ourselves.
I know this is a little sentimental, but I think those "God-shots" need to be shared--if they can happen for me, they can happen for all of us.
"What is this but a miracle of healing? Yet its elements are simple. Circumstances made him willing to believe. He humbly offered himself to his Maker - then he knew... Even so has God restored us all to our right minds.... He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us!" BB p. 57
Today's Tool: Put your gratitude into action today. Who has made an impact on your life today?
Have a great day, everyone.
Julie
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