Thoughts For The Day~*~Lessons ^*^*^*^*^ Mar 6, 2010

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Lessons

"I find the willingness to give thanks by contemplatingthe lessons learned from past suffering--lessons which have led to blessings I now enjoy.I can remember how the agonies of alcoholism,the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride,have often led me to God's grace,and so to a new freedom.

"Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, March 1962As Bill Sees It, p. 266

 

Thought to Consider . . .

Remember that we deal with alcohol --
cunning, baffling, powerful!

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
TRUST

Try Relying Upon The Steps

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

 

Self-sufficient

From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":

"At the Foundation, meanwhile, we had taken a significant action that was incorporated in these Traditions. In 1945 we wrote [our early supporters] Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the 1940 dinner guests that we would no longer need their financial help. The book royalties could now look after Dr. Bob and me; group contributions could pay the general office expenses. If these were insufficient, the reserve accumulated out of literature sales could meet the deficit. This meant that we had finally declared for full self-support. Since that time A.A.'s Board of Trustees has steadfastly refused outside contributions."

2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 203-04
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
THE IDEA OF FAITH

Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.

               ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  47

The idea of faith is a very large chunk to swallow when fear, doubt and anger abound in and around me.  Sometimes just the idea of doing something different, something I am not accustomed to doing, can eventually become an act of faith if I do it regularly, and do it without debating whether it's the right thing to do.  When a bad day comes along and everything is going wrong, a meeting or a talk with another drunk often distracts me just enough to persuade me that everything is not quite as impossible, as overwhelming as I had thought.  In the same way, going to a meeting or talking to a fellow alcoholic are acts of faith; I believe I'm arresting my disease.  These are ways I slowly move toward faith in a Higher Power.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Growth by the Tenth Step

In the years ahead A.A. will, of course, make mistakes. Experience has taught us that we need have no fear of doing this, providing that we always remain willing to admit our faults and to correct them promptly. Our growth as individuals has depended upon this healthy process of trial and error. So will our growth as a fellowship.
Let us always remember that any society of men and women that cannot freely correct its own faults must surely fall into decay if not into collapse. Such is the universal penalty for the failure to go on growing. Just as each A.A. must continue to take his moral inventory and act upon it, so must our whole Society if we are to survive and if we are to serve usefully and well.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 231
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show,
humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We
are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-
pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do
not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we
did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 87~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

In A.A. we must surrender, give up, admit that we're helpless. We surrender our lives to God and ask Him for help. When He knows that we're ready, He gives us by His grace the free gift of sobriety. And we can't take any credit for having stopped drinking, because we didn't do it by our own willpower. There's no place for pride or boasting. We can only be grateful to God for doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. Do I believe that God has made me a free gift of the strength to stay sober?

Meditation for the Day

I must work for God, with God, and through God's help. By helping to bring about a true fellowship of human beings, I am working for God. I am also working with God because this is the way God works, and He is with me when I am doing such work. I cannot do good work, however, without God's help. in the final analysis, it is through the grace of God that any real change in human personality takes place. I have to rely on God's power, and anything I accomplish is through His help.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may work for God and with God. I pray that I may be used to change human personalities through God's help.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Self-will ^*^*^*^*^ Mar 5, 2010

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Self-will

"No matter how one wishes to try, exactly how can he turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.

"Twelve Steps and  Twelve Traditions,  p. 35As Bill Sees It, p. 35

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
EDI not DIE Easy Does It not Does It Easy

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Explanation

From "More about Alcoholism":

"We learned we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.

"We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals  usually brief  were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization."

 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 30
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A LIFELONG TASK

        "But just how, in these circumstances, does a fellow 'take it easy?' That's what I want to know."

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  26

I was never known for my patience.  How many times have I asked, "Why should I wait, when I can have it all right now?"  Indeed, when I was first presented the Twelve Steps, I was like the proverbial "kid in a candy store." I couldn't wait to get to Step Twelve; it was surely just a few months' work, or so I thought!  I realize now that living the Twelve Steps of A.A. is a lifelong undertaking.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Search for Motives

Some of us clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt anybody but ourselves. Our families didn't suffer, because we always paid the bills and seldom drank at home. Our business associates didn't suffer, because we were usually on the job. Our reputations didn't suffer, because we were certain few knew of our drinking. Those who did would sometimes assure us that, after all, a lively bender was only a good man's fault. What real harm, therefore, had we done? No more, surely, than we could easily mend with a few casual apologies.
This attitude, of course, is the end result of purposeful forgetting. It is an attitude which can be changed only by a deep and honest search of our motives and actions.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 79
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could
not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that
either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He
isn't."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 53~

*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Sometimes we try too hard to get this program. It is better to relax and accept it. It will be given to us, with no effort on our part, if we stop trying too hard to get it. Sobriety can be a free gift of God, which He gives us by His grace when He knows we are ready for it. But we have to be ready. Then we must relax, take it easy, and accept the gift with gratitude and humility. We must put ourselves in God's hands. We must say to God: "Here am I and here are all my troubles. I've made a mess of things and can't do anything about it. You take me and all my troubles and do anything you want with me." Do I believe that the grace of God can do for me what I could never do for myself?

Meditation for the Day

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.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have no fear. I pray that I may cast all fear out of my life.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Motives ^*^*^*^*^ Mar 4, 2010

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Motives

"Suppose we fall short of the chosen ideal and stumble? Does this mean we are going to get drunk? Some people tell us so. But this is only a half-truth. It depends on us and our motives. If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink.

"Alcoholics Anonymous,  p. 70 

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*

TRUST Try Relying Upon The Steps

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Fear

From "Fear of Fear":

"Many women who have reached the stage that I had reached in my drinking have lost husbands, children, homes, everything they hold dear. I have been very fortunate in many ways. The important thing I lost was my own self-respect. I could feel fear coming into my life. I couldn't face people. I couldn't look them straight in the eyes, although I had always been a self-possessed, brazen person. I'd brazen anything out. I lied like a trooper to get out of many scrapes.

"But I felt a fear coming into my life, and I couldn't cope with it. I got so that I hid quite a bit of the time, wouldn't answer the phone, and stayed by myself as much as I could. I noticed that I was avoiding all my social friends, except for my bridge club. I couldn't keep up with many of my other friends, and I wouldn't go to anyone's house unless I knew they drank as heavily as I did. I never knew it was the first drink that did it. I thought I was losing my mind when I realized that I couldn't stop drinking. That frightened me terribly."

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 291-92 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
WEEDING THE GARDEN

The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.

AS BILL SEES IT, p.  115

By the time I had reached Step Three I had been freed of my dependence on alcohol, but bitter experience has shown me that continuous sobriety requires continuous effort.

Every now and then I pause to take a good look at my progress.  More and more of my garden is weeded each time I look, but each time I also find new weeds sprouting where I thought I had made my final pass with the blade.  As I head back to get the newly sprouted weed (it's easier when they are young), I take a moment to admire how lush the growing vegetables and flowers are, and my labors are rewarded.  My sobriety grows and bears fruit.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Free of Dependence

I asked myself, "Why can't the Twelve Steps work to release me from this unbearable depression?" By the hour, I stared at the St. Francis Prayer: "It is better to comfort than to be comforted ."
Suddenly I realized what the answer might be. My basic flaw had always been dependence on people or circumstances to supply me with prestige, security, and confidence. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionist dreams and specifications, I fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression.
Reinforced by what grace 1 could find in prayer, I had to exert every ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies upon people and upon circumstances. Then only could I be free to love as Francis had loved.

GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1958
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic
commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God. He
clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until
his material needs are cared for. Nonsense. Some of us have taken very
hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job — wife or no wife — we
simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other
people ahead of dependence on God."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 98~

*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Having surrendered our lives to God and put our drink problem in His hands doesn't mean that we'll never be tempted to drink. So we must build up strength for the time when temptation will come. In this quiet time, we read and pray and get our minds in the right mood for the day. Starting the day right is a great help in keeping sober. As the days go by and we get used to the sober life, it gets easier and easier. We begin to develop a deep gratitude to God for saving us from that old life. And we begin to enjoy peace and serenity and quiet happiness. Am I trying to live the way God wants me to live?

Meditation for the Day

The elimination of selfishness is the key to happiness and can only be accomplished with God's help. We start out with a spark of the Divine Spirit but a large amount of selfishness. As we grow and come in contact with other people, we can take one of two paths. We can become more and more selfish and practically extinguish the Divine Spark within us, or we can become more unselfish and develop our spirituality until it becomes the most important thing in our lives.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may grow more and more unselfish, honest, pure, and loving. I pray that I may take the right path every day.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Meetings ^*^*^*^*^ March 3, 2010

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Meetings

"We have also found that going to meetings is not something to

be done only when we feel the temptation to drink.  We often

get more good from the meetings by attending them when we

feel fine and haven't so much as thought of drinking. And

even a meeting which is not totally, instantly satisfying, is

better than no meeting at all.

"Living Sober,  p. 81
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
ALCOHOLICS

A Life Centered On Helping Others Live In Complete Sobriety

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B E S T  =  Been Enjoying Sobriety Today?

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
 Bottom

From "Bill's Story":

"No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master."

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 8 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
OVERCOMING SELF-WILL

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making.  They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so.  Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness.  We must, or it kills us!

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  62

For so many years my life revolved solely around myself I was consumed with self in all forms -- self-centeredness, self-pity, self-seeking, all of which stemmed from pride.  Today I have been given the gift, through the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, of practicing the Steps and Traditions in my daily life, of my group and sponsor, and the capacity -- if I so choose -- to put my pride aside in all situations which arise in my life.

Until I could honestly look at myself and see that I was the problem in many situations and react appropriately inside and out; until I could discard my expectations and understand that my serenity was directly proportional to them, I could not experience serenity and sound sobriety.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
A Different Swinging Door

When a drunk shows up among us and says that he doesn't like the A.A. principles, people, or service management, when he declares that he can do better elsewhere - we are not worried. We simply say, "Maybe your case really is different. Why don't you try something else?"
If an A.A. member says he doesn't like his own group, we are not disturbed. We simply say, "Why don't you try another one? Or start one of your own." To those who wish to secede from A.A. altogether, we extend a cheerful invitation to do just that. If they can do better by other means, we are glad. If after a trial they cannot do better, we know they face a choice: They can go mad or die or they can return to A.A. The decision is wholly theirs. ( As a matter of fact, most of them do come back. )

TWELVE CONCEPTS, pp. 72 - 73
Copyright 1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: 'Once an
alcoholic, always an alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period
of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever."

Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 33
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

After we've made a surrender, the drink problem is out of our hands and in the hands of God. The thing we have to do is to be sure that we never reach out and take the problem back into our own hands. Leave it in God's hands. Whenever I'm tempted to take a drink, I must say to myself: "I can't do that. I've made a bargain with God not to drink. I know God doesn't want me to drink and so I won't do it." At the same time I say a little prayer to God for the strength needed to keep the bargain with Him. Am I going to keep my bargain with God?

Meditation for the Day

I will try to grow in this new life. I will think of spiritual things often and unconsciously I will grow. The nearer I get to the new life, the more I will see my unfitness. My sense of failure is a sure sign that I am growing in the new life. It is only struggle that hurts. in sloth---physical, mental, or spiritual---there is no sense of failure or discomfort. With struggle and effort, I am conscious not of strength but of weakness until I am really living the new life. But in the struggle, I can always rely on the power of God to help me.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may see signs of my growth in the new life. I pray that I may always keep trying to grow.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012