Thoughts For The Day~*~Money Matters ^*^*^*^*^ February 6, 2011

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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/AA\
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Money Matters
Money gradually became our servant
and not our master.
It became a means of exchanging love and service
with those about us.
When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot,
then we found we could live at peace with ourselves
and show others who still suffered the same fears
that they could get over them, too.
We found that freedom from fear was
more important than freedom from want.
c. 1952 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 122
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Thought to Consider . . .

It's more important to feel happy about who I am
than who I think I should be.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*

P A C E  =  Positive Attitudes Change Everything.

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

Hope

From "The Keys of the Kingdom":

"I stayed up all night reading that [Big] book. For me it was a wonderful experience. It explained so much I had not understood about myself, and, best of all, it promised recovery if I would do a few simple things and be willing to have the desire to drink removed. Here was hope. Maybe I could find my way out of this agonizing existence. Perhaps I could find freedom and peace, and be able once again to call my soul my own."

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 273

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A RALLYING POINT

Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us.  "Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on this Step.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  33

I feel that A.A. is a God-inspired program and that God is at every A.A. meeting.  I see, believe, and have come to know that A.A. works, because I have stayed sober today.  I am turning my life over to A.A. and to God by going to an A.A. meeting.  If God is in my heart and everyone else's, then I am a small part of a whole and I am not unique.  If God is in my heart and He speaks to me through other people, then I must be a channel of God to other people.  I should seek to do His will by living spiritual principles and my reward will be sanity and emotional sobriety.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
A Full and Thankful Heart

One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine - both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of living.
I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your
morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still
sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But
obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it
that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come
to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 164~


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

On a dark night, the bright lights of the comer tavern look mighty inviting. Inside, there seems to be warmth and good cheer. But we don't stop to think that if we go in there we'll probably end up drunk, with our money spent and an awful hangover. A long mahogany bar in the tropical moonlight looks like a very gay place. But you should see the place the next morning. The chairs are piled on the tables and the place stinks of stale beer and cigarette stubs. And often we are there too, trying to cure the shakes by gulping down straight whiskey. Can I look straight through the night before and see the morning after?

Meditation for the Day

God finds, amid the crowd, a few people who follow Him, just to be near Him, just to dwell in His presence. A longing in the Eternal Heart may be satisfied by these few people. I will let God know that I seek just to dwell in His presence, to be near Him, not so much for teaching or a message, as just for Him. It may be that the longing of the human heart to be loved for itself is something caught from the Great Divine Heart.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have a listening ear, so that God may speak to me. I pray that I may have a waiting heart, so that God may come to me.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Faith^*^*^*^*^ February 5, 2011

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Faith
People of faith have a logical idea
of what life is all about.
Actually, we used to have no reasonable
conception whatever.
We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting
spiritual beliefs and practices
when we might have observed that many
spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors and creeds
were demonstrating a degree of stability,
happiness and usefulness
which we should have sought ourselves.
c. 2002 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 49
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Thought to Consider . . .

Feed your faith and starve your doubt.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F A I T H =  Finding Answers In The Heart.

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

Faith

Step Two: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

"'When we encountered A.A., 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 A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.'"

1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 31
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A GLORIOUS RELEASE

"The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel.  Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life.  I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now.  To acquire it, I had only to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A.'s program as enthusiastically as I could.  "

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  27

After years of indulging in a "self-will run riot," Step Two became for me a glorious release from being all alone.  Nothing is so painful or insurmountable in my journey now.  Someone is always there to share life's burdens with me.  Step Two became a reinforcement with God, and I now realize that my insanity and ego were curiously linked.  To rid myself of the former, I must give up the latter to one with far broader shoulders than my own.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Humility First

"A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress."

<<<>>>

For Dr. Bob, the insatiable craving for alcohol was evidently a physical phenomenon which bedeviled several of his first years in A.A., a time when only days and nights of carrying the message to other alcoholics could cause him to forget about drinking. Although his craving was hard to withstand, it doubtless did account for some part of the intense incentive that went into forming Akron's Group Number One.
Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work and the sharpest vigilance.

1. LETTER, 1959 - 2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p, 69 - 3. LETTER, 1954
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"...with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a
spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely
grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings
we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity
of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to
die."

Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 66
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

One thing we learn in A.A. is to take a long view of drinking instead of a short view. When we were drinking we thought more about the pleasure or release that a drink would give us than we did about the consequences that would result from our taking that drink. Liquor looks good from the short view. When we look in a package store window, we see liquor dressed up in its best wrappings, with fancy labels and decorations. They look swell. But have I learned that what's inside those beautiful bottles is just plain poison to me?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that life is a school in which I must learn spiritual things. I must trust in God and He will teach me. I must listen to God and He will speak through my mind. I must commune with Him in spite of all opposition and every obstacle. There will be days when I will hear no voice in my mind and when there will come no intimate heart-to-heart communion. But if I persist, and make a life habit of schooling myself in spiritual things, God will reveal Himself to me in many ways.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may regularly go to school in things of the spirit. I pray that I may grow spiritually by making a practice of these things.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Humility ^*^*^*^*^ February 4, 2011

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Humility
Every newcomer in AA is told, and soon realizes for himself,
that his humble admission of powerlessness
over alcohol is his first step toward liberation
from its paralyzing grip.
So it is that we first see humility as a necessity.
But this is the barest beginning. . .
A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness
cannot be set in reverse all at once.
Rebellion dogs our every step at first.
c. 1952 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 72-3
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Thought to Consider . . .
Many people haven't even a nodding acquaintance
with humility as a way of life.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
T R U S T  =  Teaching Recovery Using Steps and Traditions

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

Relief

From "More about Alcoholism":

"'They grinned, which I didn't like too much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were really licked this time.

"'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.'"

2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg.42

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
Sometimes A.A. comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have tried faith and found it wanting.  They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  28

I was so sure God had failed me that I became ultimately defiant, though I knew better, and plunged into a final drinking binge.  My faith turned bitter and that was no coincidence.  Those who once had great faith hit bottom harder.  It took time to rekindle my faith, though I came to A.A. I was grateful intellectually to have survived such a great fall, but my heart felt callous.  Still, I stuck with the A.A.  program; the alternatives were too bleak!  I kept coming back and gradually my faith was resurrected.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Suffering Transmuted

"While A.A. has restored thousands of poor Christians to their churches, and has made believers out of atheists and agnostics, it has also made good A.A.'s out of those belonging to the Buddhist, Islamic, and Jewish faiths. For example, we question very much whether our Buddhist members in Japan would ever have joined this Society had A.A. officially stamped itself a strictly Christian movement.
"You can easily convince yourself of this by imagining that A.A. started among the Buddhists and that they then told you you couldn't join them unless you became a Buddhist, too. If you were a Christian alcoholic under these circumstances, you might well turn your face to the wall and die."

LETTER, 1954
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter
you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start,
this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our
first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we
found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach. That was growth, but if we wished to grow we had to begin
somewhere. So we used our own conception, however limited it was."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 47~

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

Treating others to drinks gave us a kind of satisfaction. We liked to say, "Have a drink on me." But we were not really doing the other people a favor. We were only helping them to get drunk, especially if they happened to be alcoholic. In A.A. we really try to help other alcoholics. We build them up instead of tearing them down. Drinking created a sort of fellowship. But it really was a false fellowship, because it was based on selfishness. We used our drinking companions for our own pleasure. In A.A. we have real fellowship, based on unselfishness and a desire to help each other. And we make real friends, not fair-weather friends. With sobriety, have I got everything that drinking's got, without the headaches?

Meditation for the Day

I know that God cannot teach anyone who is trusting in a crutch. I will throw away the crutch of alcohol and walk in God's power and spirit. God's power will so invigorate me that I shall indeed walk on to victory. There is never any limit to God's power. I will go step by step, one day at a time. God's will shall be revealed to me as I go forward.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may have more and more dependence on God. I pray that I may throw away my alcoholic crutch and let God's power take its place.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Resentments ^*^*^*^*^ February 3, 2011

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Resentments
In AA we slowly learned that something had to be done
about our vengeful resentments, self-pity,
and unwarranted pride.
We had to see that every time we played the big shot,
we turned people against us.
We had to see that when we harbored grudges
and planned revenge for such defeats,
we were really beating ourselves with
the club of anger we had intended to use on others.
We learned that if we were seriously disturbed,
our first need was to quiet that disturbance,
regardless of who or what we thought caused it.
c. 1952 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 47
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Thought to Consider . . .

Resentment is like acid,
eating away at the vessel it is stored in.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
C A L M =  Can Anger Leave Me?

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
 

Service

Tradition Two: "For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as he may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

"The group now has a so-called rotating Committee, very sharply limited in its authority. In no sense whatever can its members govern or direct the group. They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless privilege of doing the group's chores."

(c) 1981, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 134

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
FILLING THE VOID

We needed to ask ourselves but one short question.  "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.  47

I was always fascinated with the study of scientific principles.  I was emotionally and physically distant from people while I pursued Absolute Knowledge.  God and spirituality were meaningless academic exercises.  I was a modern man of science, knowledge was my Higher Power.  Given the right set of equations, life was merely another problem to solve.  Yet my inner self was dying from my outer man's solution to life's problems and the solution was alcohol.  In spite of my intelligence, alcohol became my Higher Power.  It was through the unconditional love which emanated from A.A. people and meetings that I was able to discard alcohol as my Higher Power.  The great void was filled.  I was no longer lonely and apart from life.  I had found a true power greater than myself, I had found God's love.  There is only one equation which really matters to me now: God is in A.A.

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

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.

<<<>>>

In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.

<<<>>>

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life.

TWELVE AND TWELVE - 1. p. 104 - 2. p. 102 - 3. p. 98
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"As each member of a resentful family begins to see his shortcomings
and admits them to the others, he lays a basis for helpful
discussion. These family talks will be constructive if they can be
carried on without heated argument, self-pity, self-justification or
resentful criticism."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 127~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

By drinking, we escaped from boredom for a while. We almost forgot our troubles. But when we sobered up, out troubles were twice as bad. Drinking had only made them worse. In A.A. we really escape boredom. Nobody's bored at an A.A. meeting. We stick around after it's over and we hate to leave. Drinking gave us a temporary feeling of importance. When we're drinking, we kid ourselves into thinking we are somebody. We tell tall stories to build ourselves up. In A.A. we don't want that kind of self-importance. We have real self-respect and honesty and humility. Have I found something much better and more satisfactory than drinking?

Meditation for the Day

I believe that my faith and God's power can accomplish anything in human relationships. There is no limit to what these two things can do in this field. Only believe, and anything can happen. Saint Paul said, "I can do all things through Him who strengtheneth me." All Walls that divide you from other human beings can fall by your faith and God's power. These are the two essentials. Everyone can be moved by these.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may try to strengthen my faith day by day. I pray that I may rely more and more on God's power.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Juggernaut ^*^*^*^*^ February 2, 2011

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Juggernaut
We who are alcoholics can consider ourselves
fortunate indeed.
Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter
with the juggernaut of self-will,
and has suffered enough under its weight
to be willing to look for something better.
So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue
that we have been driven to AA,
have admitted defeat,
have acquired the rudiments of faith,
and now want to make a decision
to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.
c. 1952 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 37-8
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Thought to Consider . . .

If faith without works is dead,
then willingness without action is fantasy.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
W H O  =  Willingness, Honesty, Openmindedness

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

Self-concern

From "'Selfish?'"

 

"Some A.A. speakers say, 'A.A. is a selfish program.'  The word 'selfish' ordinarily implies that one is acquisitive, demanding, and thoughtless of the welfare of others.  Of course, the A.A. way of lifedoes not at all imply such undesirable traits.

 

"If we cannot or will not achieve sobriety, then we become truly lost, right in the here and now.  Therefore, our own recovery and spiritual growth have to come first -- a right and necessary kind of self-concern."

 

c. 1967, As Bill Sees It, page 81

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
RESCUED BY SURRENDERING

Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner integrity.  .  .  .  Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from man or God. He, the alcoholic, is and must be the master of his destiny.  He will fight to the end to preserve that position.

A.A.  COMES OF AGE, p.  311

The great mystery is: "Why do some of us die alcoholic deaths, fighting to preserve the 'independence' of our ego, while others seem to sober up effortlessly in A.A.?"  Help from a Higher Power, the gift of sobriety, came to me when an otherwise unexplained desire to stop drinking coincided with my willingness to accept the suggestions of the men and women of A.A.  I had to surrender, for only by reaching out to God and my fellows could I be rescued.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
All or Nothing?

Acceptance and faith are capable of producing 100 per cent sobriety. In fact, they usually do; and they must, else we could have no life at all. But the moment we carry these attitudes into our emotional problems, we find that only relative results are possible. Nobody can, for example, become completely free from fear, anger, and pride.
Hence, in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. So we shall have to settle, respecting most of our problems, for a very gradual progress, punctuated sometimes by very heavy setbacks. Our oldtime attitude of "all or nothing" will have to be abandoned.

GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations
with his children. Their young minds were impressionable while he
was drinking. Without saying so, they may cordially hate him for
what he has done to them and to their mother. The children are
sometimes dominated by a pathetic hardness and cynicism. They cannot
seem to forgive and forget. This may hang on for months, long after
their mother has accepted dad's new way of living and thinking.

In time they will see that he is a new man and in their own way they
will let him know it."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 134~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

We got a kick out of the first few drinks, before we got stupefied by alcohol. For a while, the world seemed to look brighter. But how about the letdown, the terrible depression that comes the morning after? In A.A., we get a real kick: not a false feeling of exhilaration, but a real feeling of satisfaction with ourselves, self respect, and a feeling of friendliness toward the world. We got a sort of pleasure from drinking. For a while we thought we were happy. But it's only an illusion. The hangover the next day is the opposite of pleasure. In AA., am I getting real pleasure and serenity and peace?

Meditation for the Day

I will practice love, because lack of love will block the way. I will try to see good in all people, those I like and also those who fret me and go against the grain. They are all children of God. I will try to give love; otherwise, how can I dwell in God's spirit whence nothing unloving can come? I will try to get along with all people, because the more love I give away, the more I will have.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may do all I can to love others, in spite of their many faults. I pray that as I love, so will I be loved.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012