Thoughts For The Day~*~Defects ^*^*^*^*^ September 25, 2011

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

"What we must recognize now is that we exult
in some of our defects.
We really love them.
Who, for example, doesn't like to feel just a little superior
to the next fellow, or even quite a lot superior?
Isn't it true that we like to let greed
masquerade as ambition?
To think of liking lust seems impossible.
But how many men and women speak love with their lips,
and believe what they say,
so that they can hide lust in a dark corner of their minds?
And even while staying within conventional bounds,
many people admit that their imaginary sex excursions
are apt to be all dressed up as dreams of romance."
c. 1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 66-7
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Thought to Consider . . . 

If I want God to remove my character defects,
I'll have to stop doing them.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
T I M E =  Things I Must Earn

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

 

Common Denominators

From: "On the bridge back to life" 

As Bill read on [in: The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James], his own powers of reasoning helped him extract some important ideas from the weighty and intricate text. He saw that all the cases described by James had certain common denominators, despite the diverse ways in which they manifested themselves. These insights became important to Bill in his thinking about the plight of the alcoholic and his need for spiritual help. (He would later say that James, though long in his grave, had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.) Of the three common denominators in the case histories, the first was calamity; each person James described had met utter defeat in some vital area of his life. All human resources had failed to solve his problems. Each person had been utterly desperate. 

The next common point was admission of defeat; each of the individuals acknowledged his own defeat as utter and absolute. 

The third common denominator was an appeal to a Higher Power. This cry for help could take many forms, and it might or might not be in religious terms. 

1984, AAWS, Inc., 'PASS IT ON' - The story of Bill Wilson and how the AA message reached the world, pages 124-125

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
FIRST THINGS FIRST

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, p. 98

Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a drink:  "She said. . .," "He said. . .," "I got fired yesterday,"  "I  got a great job today."  No area of my life could be good if I  drank again.   In sobriety my life gets better each day. I must always remember not to drink, to trust God, and to stay active in A.A.  Am I putting anything before my sobriety, God, and A.A.  today?

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

"Just like you, I have often thought myself the victim of what other people say and do. Yet every time I confessed the sins of such people, especially those whose sins did not correspond exactly with my own, I found that I only increased the total damage. My own resentment, my self-pity would often render me well-nigh useless to anybody.
"So, nowadays, if anyone talks of me so as to hurt, I first ask myself if there is any truth at all in what they say. If there is none, I try to remember that I too have had my periods of speaking bitterly of others; that hurtful gossip is but a symptom of our remaining emotional illness; and consequently that I must never be angry at the unreasonableness of sick people.
"Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others - also myself. Have you recently tried this?"

LETTER, 1946
*~*~*~*~*^ 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

Let us consider the term "spiritual experience" as given in Appendix II of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous. "A spiritual experience is something that brings about a personality change. By surrendering our lives to God as we understand Him, we are changed. The nature of this change is evident in recovered alcoholics. This personality change is not necessarily in the nature of a sudden and spectacular upheaval. We do not need to acquire an immediate and overwhelming God consciousness, followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. In most cases, the change is gradual." Do I see a gradual and continuing change in myself?

Meditation for the Day

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." For rest from the care of life, you can turn to God each day in prayer and communion. Real relaxation and serenity come from a deep sense of the fundamental goodness of the universe. God's everlasting arms are underneath all and will support you. Commune with God, not so much for petitions to be granted as for the rest that comes from relying on His will and His purposes for your life. Be sure of God's strength available to you, be conscious of His support, and wait quietly until that true rest from God fills your being.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be conscious of God's support today. I pray that I may rest safe and sure therein.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Willingness ^*^*^*^*^ September 24, 2011

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

"My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea.
He said, 'Why don't you choose your own
conception of God?'
That statement hit me hard.
It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow
I had lived and shivered many years.
I stood in the sunlight at last.
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."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 12
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Thought to Consider . . .

The peaks and valleys of my life
have become gentle rolling hills.

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

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

 

Like a Crowbar

From: "Listening to the Wind" 

The Twelve Steps worked like a crowbar, prying into my dishonesty and fear. I didn't like the things I learned about myself, but I didn't want to go back where I had come from. I found out that there was no substance on the planet that could help me get honest. I would do just about anything to avoid working on myself. 

2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 467-468
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
VIGILANCE

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.  If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33

Today I am an alcoholic. Tomorrow will be no different.  My alcoholism lives within me now and forever. I must never forget what I am.  Alcohol will surely kill me if I fail to recognize and acknowledge my disease on a daily basis. I am not playing a game in which a loss is a temporary setback. I am dealing with my disease, for which there is no cure, only daily acceptance and vigilance.

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

As excuse-makers and rationalizers, we drunks are champions. It is the business of the psychiatrist to find the deeper causes for our conduct. Though uninstructed in psychiatry, we can, after a little time in A.A., see that our motives have not been what we thought they were, and that we have been motivated by forces previously unknown to us. Therefore we ought to look, with the deepest respect, interest, and profit, upon the example set us by psychiatry.

<<<>>>

"Spiritual growth through the practice of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, plus the aid of a good sponsor, can usually reveal most of the deeper reasons for our character defects, at least to a degree that meets our practical needs. Nevertheless, we should be grateful that our friends in psychiatry have so strongly emphasized the necessity to search for false and often unconscious motivations."

1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 236 - 2. LETTER, 1966
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we
be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be
given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask
especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no
request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if
others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own
selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it
doesn't work."

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

Let us continue with Step Twelve. We must practice these principles in all our affairs. This part of the twelfth step must not be overlooked. It is the carrying on of the whole program. We do not just practice these principles in regard to our drinking problem. We practice them in all our affairs. We do not give one compartment of our lives to God and keep the other compartments to ourselves. We give our whole lives to God and we try to do His will in every respect. "Herein lies our growth, herein lies all the promise of the future, an ever-widening horizon." Do I carry the AA. principles with me wherever I go?

Meditation for the Day

"Lord, to whom shall we go but to Thee? Thou hast the words of eternal life." The words of eternal life are the words from God controlling your true being, controlling the real spiritual you. They are the words from God which are heard by you in your heart and mind when these are wide open to His spirit. These are the words of eternal life which express the true way you are to live. They say to you in the stillness of your heart and mind and soul: "Do this and live."

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may follow the dictates of my conscience. I pray that I may follow the inner urging of my soul.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Awakening ^*^*^*^*^September 23 , 2011

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

"Is sobriety all that we are to expect of a spiritual awakening?
Again, the voice of AA speaks up.
No, sobriety is only a bare beginning,
it is only the first gift of the first awakening.
If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on.
And if it does go on, we find that bit by bit
we can discard the old life
-- the one that did not work --
for a new life that can and does work
under any conditions whatever.
Regardless of worldly success or failure,
regardless of pain or joy,
regardless of sickness or health or even of death itself,
a new life of endless possibilities can be lived
if we are willing to continue our awakening."
Bill W., December 1957
c. 1988AAWS, The Language of the Heart,  p. 234
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Thought to Consider . . .

The task ahead of us is never as great
as the Power behind us.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
G I F T =  God Is Forever There

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
 

Anvils of Experience

Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA Unity

So at the outset, how best to live and work together as groups became the prime question. In the world about us we saw personalities destroying whole peoples. The struggle for wealth, power, and prestige was tearing humanity apart as never before. If strong people were stalemated in the search for peace and harmony, what was to become of our erratic band of alcoholics? As we had once struggled and prayed for individual recovery, just so earnestly did we commence to quest for the principles through which AA itself might survive. On anvils of experience, the structure of our Society was hammered out. 

1981, AAWS, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pages 130-131

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
"I WAS AN EXCEPTION"

He [Bill W.] said to me, gently and simply, "Do you think that you
are one of us?"
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 413

During my drinking life I was convinced I was an exception. I
thought I was beyond petty requirements and had the right to be
excused. I never realized that the dark counterbalance of my
attitude was the constant feeling that I did not "belong." At
first, in A.A., I identified with others only as an alcoholic.
What a wonderful awakening for me it has been to realize that,
if human beings were doing the best they could, then so was I!
All of the pains, confusions and joys they feel are not
exceptional, but part of my life, just as much as anybody's.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.

*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Give Thanks

Though I still find it difficult to accept today's pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity - as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do - I can give thanks for present pain nevertheless.
I find the willingness to do this by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering - lessons which have led to the 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.

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

"'There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which
is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in
everlasting ignorance that principle is contempt prior to
investigation.'"

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Appendice II, Spiritual
Experience, pg. 568~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Step Twelve is, "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of
these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to
practice these principles in all our affairs." Note that the basis
of our effectiveness in carrying the message to others is the reality
of our own spiritual awakening. If we have not changed, we cannot be
used to change others. To keep this program, we must pass it on to
others. We cannot hoard it for ourselves. We may lose it unless we
give it away. It cannot flow into us and stop; it must continue to
flow into us as it flows out to others. Am I always ready to give
away what I have learned in A.A.?

Meditation for the Day

"Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you." When you are
faced with a problem beyond your strength, you must turn to God by
an act of faith. It is that turning to God in each trying situation
that you must cultivate. The turning may be one of glad thankfulness
for God's grace in your life. Or your appeal to God may be a prayerful
claiming of His strength to face a situation and finding that you have
it when the time comes. Not only the power to face trials, but also
the comfort and joy of God's nearness and companionship are yours for
the asking.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may try to draw near to God each day in prayer. I pray
that I may feel His nearness and His strength in my life.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

Thoughts For The Day~*~Faith ^*^*^*^*^ September 22, 2011

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

"While drinking, we were certain that our intelligence,
backed by will power, could rightly control our inner lives
and guarantee us success in the world around us.
This brave philosophy, wherein each man played God,
sounded good in the speaking,
but it still had to meet the acid test:
How well did it actually work?
one good look in the mirror was answer enough."
c. 1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It,  p. 225
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Thought to Consider . . .

Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
and the evidence of things not seen

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

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

 

Another Difficulty

From: "To Wives" 

Still another difficulty is that you may become jealous of the attention he bestows on other people, especially alcoholics. You have been starving for his companionship, yet he spends long hours helping other men and their families. You feel he should now be yours. The fact is that he should work with other people to maintain his own sobriety. Sometimes he will be so interested that he becomes really neglectful. Your house is filled with strangers. You may not like some of them. He gets stirred up about their troubles, but not at all about yours. It will do little good if you point that out and urge more attention for yourself. We find it a real mistake to dampen his enthusiasm for alcoholic work. You should join in his efforts as much as you possibly can. We suggest that you direct some of your thought to the wives of his new alcoholic friends. They need the counsel and love of a woman who has gone through what you have. 

2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 119

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A "LIMITLESS LODE"

Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last ounce of food,
our pick struck gold. Joy at our release from a lifetime of
frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something
better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to
himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a
limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for
the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 128-29

When I talk with a newcomer to A.A., my past looks me straight in
the face. I see the pain in those hopeful eyes, I extend my hand,
and then the miracle happens: I become healed. My problems vanish
as I reach out to his trembling soul.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Neither Dependence nor Self-Sufficiency

When we insisted, like infants, that people protect and take care of us or that the world owed us a living, then the result was unfortunate. The people we most loved often pushed us aside or perhaps deserted us entirely. Our disillusionment was hard to bear.
We failed to see that, though adult in years, we were still behaving childishly, trying to turn everybody - friends, wives, husbands, even the world itself - into protective parents. We refused to learn that overdependence upon people is unsuccessful because all people are fallible, and even the best of them will sometimes let us down, especially when our demands for attention become unreasonable.

<<<>>>

We are now on a different basis: the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us do, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 115 - 2. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 68
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family
back. This just isn't so. In some cases the wife will never come
back for one reason or another. Remind the prospect that his
recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his
relationship with God. We have seen men get well whose families have
not returned at all. We have seen others slip when the family came
back too soon."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 99~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Step Eight is, "Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and
became willing to make amends to them all." Step Nine is, "Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others." Making restitution for the wrongs
we have done is often very difficult. It hurts our pride. But the
rewards are great. When we go to a person and say we are sorry,
the reaction we get is almost invariably good. it takes courage
to make the plunge, but the results more than justify it. A load
is off your chest and often art enemy has been turned into a friend.
Have I done my best to make all the restitution possible?

Meditation for the Day

There should be joy in living the spiritual life. A faith without
joy is not entirely genuine. If you are not happier as a result of
your faith, there is probably something wrong with it. Faith in God
should bring you a deep feeling of happiness and security, no matter
what happens on the surface of your life. Each new day is another
opportunity to serve God and improve your relationships with other
people. This should bring joy. Life should be abundant and
outreaching. It should be glowing and outgoing, in ever-widening
circles.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that my horizons may grow ever wide. I pray that I may keep
reaching out for more service and companionship.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012