Thoughts For The Day~*~ Daily Reprieve^*^*^*^*^ May 22, 2010

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Daily Reprieve

"It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action
and rest on our laurels.
We are headed for trouble if we do,
for alcohol is a subtle foe.
We are not cured of alcoholism.
What we really have is a daily reprieve
contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition."
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 85

Thought to Consider . . .

The road to recovery is always under construction.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
ACTION
Any Change Toward Improving One's Nature

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

Inspiration

From "This Spirit Touch":

"At some time, perhaps in a more moderate way, nearly everyone has experienced this spirit touch of God the fleeting feeling of insight, love, joy, and 'The world is right.' Once, I thought that only unusual circumstances made these moments possible. Actually, I now think, they are forecasts of what one can have if one is willing to take the time and make the effort. Peace, love, and joy can be sought through quiet thinking and honest prayer. The wholeness, the new awareness, that is produced affects one's relationship with God and man to a degree greater than would seem possible in ordinary life."

1973 AAWS, Inc.; Came to Believe, 30^th printing 2004, pg. 65
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
STEP ONE

WE . . . (The first word of the First Step)

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 21

When I was drinking all I could ever think about was "I, I, I," or "Me, Me, Me." Such painful obsession of self, such soul sickness, such spiritual selfishness bound me to the bottle for more than half my life.

The journey to find God and to do His will one day at a time began with the first word of the First Step . . . "We." There was power in numbers, there was strength in numbers, there was safety in numbers, and for an alcoholic like me, there was life in numbers. If I had tried to recover alone I probably would have died. With God and another alcoholic I have a divine purpose in my life . . . I have become a channel for God's healing love.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
God-Given Instincts

Creation gave us instincts for a purpose. Without them we wouldn't be complete human beings. If men and women didn't exert themselves to be secure in their persons, made no effort to harvest food or construct shelter, there would be no survival. If they didn't reproduce, the earth wouldn't be populated. If there were no social instinct, there would be no society.
Yet these instincts, so necessary for our existence, often far exceed their proper functions. Powerfully, blindly, many times subtly, they drive us, dominate us, and insist upon ruling our lives.
<<<>>>
We tried to shape a sane ideal for our future sex life. We subjected each relation to this test: Was it selfish or not? We asked God to mold our ideals and help us to live up to them. We remembered always that our sex powers were God-given and therefore good, neither to be used lightly or selfishly nor to be despised and loathed.

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 42
2. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 69

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our
drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in
full flight from reality, or were outright mental defectives. These
things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent
with some of us. But we are sure that our bodies were sickened as
well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out
this physical factor is incomplete."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Doctor's Opinion, pg. xxvi~


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

What impresses us most at an A.A. meeting is the willingness to share, without holding anything back. And pretty soon we find ourselves sharing also. We start telling our own experiences and by so doing we help the other person.= And when we've got these things off our chest, we feel a lot better. It does us a lot of good to share with some other poor unfortunate person who's in the same box that we were in. And the more we share, the more we have left for ourselves. Do I know that the more I share, the better chance I'll have to stay sober?

Meditation for the Day

Constantly claim God's strength. Once convinced of the right of a course of action, once reasonably sure of God's guidance, claim that strength now. You can claim all the strength you need to meet any situation. You can claim a new supply when your own supply is exhausted. You have a right to claim it and you should use your right. A beggar supplicates, a child appropriates. When you supplicate, you are often kept waiting, but when you appropriate God's strength in a good cause, you have it at once.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may claim God's strength whenever I need it. I pray that I may try to live as a child of God.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Defiance ^*^*^*^*^ May 21, 2010

 ~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Defiance
"'As psychiatrists have often observed,
defiance is the outstanding characteristic of
many an alcoholic.
When we encountered AA,
the fallacy of our defiance was revealed.
At no time had we asked what God's will was for us;
instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be.
No man, we saw,
could believe in God and defy Him, too.
Belief meant reliance, not defiance.
In AA we saw the fruits of this belief:
men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe.'"

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 31

Thought to Consider . . .

While it isn't always easy, if I keep it simple, it works.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
SIT
Stay In Today

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

 

Beginning

From "Tightrope":

"My sponsor was a living damper on my intolerance. But even more, he told me that it would be all right for me to doubt God, that A.A. was not a religious program and, to belong, I did not have to adhere to any set of beliefs.

"He suggested that for me a good starting point would simply be recognition of the fact that I had failed in running the world in short, acceptance of the fact that I was not God. He also suggested that I might try occasionally to act as if I believed. Somewhere I had heard that it is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking than to think yourself into a new way of acting, and this made sense in the context of 'acting as if.'"

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 366

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A LIST OF BLESSINGS

One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings.  .  .  .

AS BILL SEES IT, p.  37

What did I have to be grateful for?  I shut myself up and started listing the blessings for which I was in no way responsible, beginning with having been born of sound mind and body.  I went through seventy-four years of living right up to the present moment.  The list ran to two pages, and took two hours to compile; I included health, family, money, A.A.-- the whole gamut.

Every day in my prayers, I ask God to help me remember my list, and to be grateful for it throughout the day.  When I remember my gratitude list, it's very hard to conclude that God is picking on me.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
"Restore Us to Sanity"

Few indeed are the practicing alcoholics who have any idea how irrational they are, or, seeing their irrationality, can bear to face it. For example, some will be willing to term themselves "problem drinkers," but cannot endure the suggestion that they are in fact mentally ill.
They are abetted in this blindness by a world which does not understand the difference between sane drinking and alcoholism. "Sanity" is defined as "soundness of mind." Yet no alcoholic, soberly analyzing his destructive behavior, whether the destruction fell on the dining-room furniture or his own moral fiber, can claim "soundness of mind" for himself.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 32-33

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We
must, or it kill us! God makes that possible. And there often seems
no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us
had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live
up to them even though we would have liked to."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 62~

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

One of the finest things about A.A. is the sharing. Sharing is
a wonderful thing because the more you share the more you have.
in our old drinking days, we didn't do much sharing. We used to
keep things to ourselves, partly because we were ashamed, but
mostly because we were selfish. And we were very lonely because
we didn't share. When we came into A.A., the first thing we found
was sharing. We heard other alcoholics frankly sharing their
experiences with hospitals, jails, and all the usual mess that
goes with drinking. Am I sharing.?

Meditation for the Day

Character is developed by the daily discipline of duties done.
Be obedient to the heavenly vision and take the straight way. Do
not fall into the error of calling "Lord, Lord," and doing not
the things that should be done. You need a life of prayer and
meditation, but you must still do your work in the busy ways of
life. The busy person is wise to rest and wait patiently for
God's guidance. If you are obedient to the heavenly vision, you
can be at peace.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be obedient to the heavenly vision. I pray if
I fall, I will pick myself up and go on.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Communicate ^*^*^*^*^ May 20, 2010

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

"From the beginning,
communication in AA has been no ordinary transmission
of helpful ideas and attitudes.
It has been unusual and sometimes unique.
Because of our kinship in suffering,
and because our common means of deliverance
are effective for ourselves only when
constantly carried to others,
our channels of contact have always been charged with
the language of the heart."

Bill W., July 1960
1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 243
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Thought to Consider . . .

To help each other, is to help ourselves.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
 

Honesty

STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

"More realism and therefore more honesty about ourselves are the great gains we make under the influence of Step Five. As we took inventory, we began to suspect how much trouble self-delusion had been causing us. This had brought a disturbing reflection. If all our lives we had more or less fooled ourselves, how could we now be so sure that we weren't still self-deceived? How could we be certain that we had made a true catalog of our defects and had really admitted them, even to ourselves? Because we were still bothered by fear, self-pity, and hurt feelings, it was probable we couldn't appraise ourselves fairly at all. Too much guilt and remorse might cause us to dramatize and exaggerate our shortcomings. Or anger and hurt pride might be the smoke screen under which we were hiding some of our defects while we blamed others for them. Possibly, too, we were still handicapped by many liabilities, great and small, we never knew we had.

"Hence it was most evident that a solitary self-appraisal, and the admission of our defects based upon that alone, wouldn't be nearly enough. We'd have to have outside help if we were surely to know and admit the truth about ourselves the help of God and another human being."

1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pgs. 58-59

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
ONE DAY AT A TIME

Above all, take it one day at a time.

AS BILL SEES IT, p.11

Why do I kid myself that I must stay away from a drink for only one day, when I know perfectly well I must never drink again as long as I live? I am not kidding myself because one day at a time is probably the only way I can reach the long-range objective of staying sober.

If I determine that I shall never drink again as long as I live, I set
myself up. How can I be sure I won't drink when I have no idea what the future may hold?

On a day-at-a-time basis, I am confident I can stay away from a drink for one day. So I set out with confidence. At the end of the day, I have the reward of achievement. Achievement feels good and that makes me want more!

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Defects and Repairs

More than most people, the alcoholics leads a double life. He is very much the actor. To the outer world he presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. He wants to enjoy a certain reputation, but knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it.
<<<>>>
Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at
self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others.
<<<>>>
"The moral inventory is a cool examination of the damages that occurred to us during life and a sincere effort to look at them in a true perspective. This has the effect of taking the ground glass out of us, the emotional substance that still cuts and inhibits."

1. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 73
2. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961
3. LETTER, 1957

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"We alcoholics are sensitive people. It takes some of us a long time
to outgrow that serious handicap."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 125~

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

If we get up in a meeting and tell something about ourselves
in order to help the other person, we feel a whole lot better.
It's the old law of the more you give the more you get.
Witnessing and confession are part of keeping sober. You
never know when you may help somebody. Helping others is one
of the best ways to stay sober yourself And the satisfaction
you get out of helping a fellow human being is one of the
finest experiences you can have. Am I helping others?

Meditation for the Day

Without God, no real victory is ever won. All the military
victories of great conquerors have passed into history. The
world might be better off without military conquerors. The
real victories are won in the spiritual realm. "He that
conquers himself is greater than he who conquers a city."
The real victories are victories over sin and temptation,
leading to a victorious and abundant life. Therefore, keep
a brave and trusting heart. Face all your difficulties in
the spirit of conquest. Remember that where God is, there
is the true victory.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that the forces of evil in my life will flee before
God's presence. I pray that with God I will win the real
victory over myself.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012