Thoughts For The Day~*~Housecleaning^*^*^*^*^ January 18, 2015

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

If we skip this vital step [Step Five],
we may not overcome drinking.
Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves
certain facts about their lives.
Trying to avoid this humbling experience,
they have turned to easier methods.
Almost invariably they got drunk.
Having persevered with the rest of the program,
they wondered why they fell.
We think the reason is that they never completed
their housecleaning.
c. 1976, 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 72-3
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Thought to Consider . . .
There's no elevator, you have to take the Steps.


*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
N U T S =  Not Using The Steps.

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

Roles

From "Something Was Wrong":

"I had been so elated by that wonderful experience on the road at night that I wanted to stay up in a cloud with God. But this was not to be. It was my place to be down among the suffering alcoholics, not up in a cloud. As long as I keep my feet on the ground, among the suffering, God will come down and remain always with me. -- Glasgow, Scotland"

© 1973 AAWS, Inc.; Came to Believe, 30^th printing 2004, pg. 75

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
WOULD A DRINK HELP?

By going back in our own drinking histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal progression.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  23

When I was still drinking, I couldn't respond to any of life's situations the way other, more healthy, people could.  The smallest incident triggered a state of mind that believed I had to have a drink to numb my feelings.  But the numbing did not improve the situation, so I sought further escape in the bottle.  Today I must be aware of my alcoholism.  I cannot afford to believe that I have gained control of my drinking -- or again I will think I have gained control of my life.  Such a feeling of control is fatal to my recovery.

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

"Dr. Bob was my constant companion and partner in the great A.A. adventure. As the physician and great human being that he was, he chose work with others as his prime A.A. vocation and achieved a record which, in quantity and in quality, none will ever surpass. Assisted by the incomparable Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, he - without charge - medically treated and spiritually infused five thousand sufferers.

<<<>>>

"In all the stress and strain of A.A.'s pioneering time, no hard word ever passed between us. For this, I can thankfully say that the credit was all his."

<<<>>>

I took my leave of Dr. Bob, knowing that he was to undergo a serious operation. The old, broad smile was on his face as he said almost jokingly, "Remember, Bill, let's not louse this thing up. Let's keep it simple!" I turned away, unable to say a word. That was the last time I ever saw him.

1. LETTER, 1966 - 2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 214
*~*~*~*~*^ 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

The new life can't be built in a day. we have to take the program slowly, a little at a time. Our subconscious minds have to be reeducated. We have to learn to think differently. We have to get used to sober thinking instead of alcoholic thinking. Anyone who tries it knows that the old alcoholic thinking is apt to come back on us when we least expect it. Building a new life is a slow process, but it can be done if we really follow the A.A. program. Am I building a new life on the foundation of sobriety?

Meditation for the Day

I will pray daily for faith, for it is God's gift. On faith alone depends the answer to my prayers. God gives it to me in response to my prayers, because it is a necessary weapon for me to possess for the overcoming of all adverse conditions and the accomplishment of all good in my life. Therefore, I will work at strengthening my faith.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may so think and live as to feed my faith in God. I pray that my faith may grow because with faith God's power becomes available to me.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

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Thoughts For The Day~*~Coping ^*^*^*^*^ January 17, 2015

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

God willing, we members of AA may never again
have to deal with drinking,
but we have to deal with sobriety every day.
How do we do it?
By learning -- through practicing the Twelve Steps
and through sharing at meetings --
how to cope with the problems
that we looked to booze to solve, back in our drinking days. . .
We learn how to level out the emotional swings
that got us into trouble
both when we were up and when we were down.
c. 1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 560
                    c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 558
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Thought to Consider . . .
The ankle-biters of everyday struggles will eat away at me
unless I go to meetings and share.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H E A R T  =  Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering, Together

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

Others

From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":

"We also had to determine how best to co-operate with the press, radio, motion pictures, and more recently television; how to deal with employers who wanted special help; what would be the right attitude toward the field of alcohol education, research, and rehabilitation, private and public.

 

"Finding answers to these public relations puzzlers has been a long process. After much trial and error, sometimes punctuated by painful mistakes, the attitudes and practices that would work best for us emerged. The basic ones can be seen today in the A.A. Traditions: 100 per cent [sic] anonymity at the public level; no use of the A.A. name for the benefit of other causes, however worthy; no endorsements or alliances; the carrying of the message as the single purpose for Alcoholics Anonymous; no professionalism; public relations by the principle of attraction rather than promotion these were some of the hard-learned lessons."

2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 197-98

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
HAPPINESS COMES QUIETLY

"The trouble with us alcoholics was this: We demanded that the world give us happiness and peace of mind in just the particular order we wanted to get it -- by the alcohol route.  And we weren't successful.  But when we take time to find out some of the spiritual laws, and familiarize ourselves with them, and put them into practice, then we do get happiness and peace of mind .  .  .  There seem to be some rules that we have to follow, but happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and free to anyone."

DR.  BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS, p.  308

The simplicity of the A.A. program teaches me that happiness isn't something I can "demand."  It comes upon me quietly, while I serve others.  In offering my hand to the newcomer or to someone who has relapsed, I find that my own sobriety has been recharged with indescribable gratitude and happiness.

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

The perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one permeates human affairs from top to bottom. This subtle and elusive kind of self-righteousness can underlie the smallest act or thought. Learning daily to spot, admit, and correct these flaws is the essence of character-building and good living.

<<<>>>

The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the deception of ourselves.

<<<>>>

Somehow, being alone with God doesn't seem as embarrassing as facing up to another person. Until we actually sit down and talk aloud about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical. When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God.

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, pp. 94-95 - 2. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961 - 3. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 60
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Everybody knows that those in bad health, and those who seldom play,
do not laugh much. So let each family play together or separately as
much as their circumstances warrant. We are sure God wants us to be
happy, joyous, and free."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 132~

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

It doesn't do much good to come to meetings only once in a while and sit around, hoping to get something out of the program. That's all right at first, but it won't help us very long. Sooner or later we have to get into action by coming to meetings regularly, by giving a personal witness of our experience with alcohol, and by trying to help other alcoholics. Building a new life takes all the energy that we used to spend on drinking. Am I spending at least as much time and effort on the new life that 1rn trying to build in A.A.?

Meditation for the Day

With God's help, I will build a protective screen around myself which will keep out all evil thoughts. I will fashion it out of my attitude toward God and my attitude toward other people. When one worrying or impatient thought enters my mind, I will put it out at once. I know that love and trust are the solvents for the worry and frets of life. I will use them to form a protective screen around me.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that frets and impatience and worry may not corrode my protective screen against all evil thoughts. I pray that I may banish all these from my life.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

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Thoughts For The Day~*~Reminder ^*^*^*^*^ January 16, 2015

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

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.
1976, 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 87-8
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Thought to Consider . . .
It works -- it really does.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F I T  =  Faith, Intuition, Trust.

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~* 

How

From "Physician, Heal Thyself!":

"What is this power that A.A. possesses? This curative power? I don't know what it is. I suppose the doctor might say, This is psychosomatic medicine.  I suppose the psychiatrist might say, This is benevolent interpersonal relations.  I suppose others would say, "This is group psychotherapy."

"To me it is God."

2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 308

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
HITTING BOTTOM

Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first?  The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom.  For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven Steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.  24

Hitting bottom opened my mind and I became willing to try something different.  What I tried was A.A.  My new life in the Fellowship was a little like learning how to ride a bike for the first time: A.A. became my training wheels and my supporting hand.  It's not that I wanted the help so much at the time; I simply did not want to hurt like that again.  My desire to avoid hitting bottom again was more powerful than my desire to drink.  In the beginning that was what kept me sober.  But after a while I found myself working the Steps to the best of my ability.  I soon realized that my attitudes and actions were changing --if ever so slightly.  One Day at a Time, I became comfortable with myself, and others, and my hurting started to heal.  Thank God for the training wheels and supporting hand that I choose to call Alcoholics Anonymous.

Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
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~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Never Again!

"Most people feel more secure on the twenty-four-hour basis than they do in the resolution that they will never drink again. Most of them have broken too many resolutions. It's really a matter of personal choice; every A.A. has the privilege of interpreting the program as he likes.
"Personally, 1 take the attitude that I intend never to drink again. This is somewhat different from saying, 'I will never drink again.' The latter attitude sometimes gets people in trouble because it is undertaking on a personal basis to do what we alcoholics never could do. It is too much an act of will and leaves too little room for the idea that God will release us from the drink obsession provided we follow the A.A. program."

LETTER, 1949
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"A body badly burned by alcohol does not often recover overnight nor do twisted thinking and depression vanish in a twinkling. We are convinced that a spiritual mode of living is a most powerful health restorative."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, Page 133~

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

The A.A. program is more a way of building a new life than just a way of getting over drinking, because in A.A. we don't just stop drinking. We did that plenty of times in the old days when we "went on the wagon." And, of course, we always started to drink again, because we were only waiting for the time when we could fall off. Once we've gotten sober through the A.A. program, we start going uphill. In our drinking days, we were going downhill, getting worse and worse. We either go down or up. Am I going uphill, getting better and better?

Meditation for the Day

I will try to obey God's will day in and day out, in the wilderness plains as well as on the mountain tops of experience. It is in the daily strivings that perseverance counts. I believe that God is Lord of little things, the Divine Controller of little happenings. I will persevere in this new way of life. I know that nothing in the day is too small to be part of God's scheme.

Prayer for theDay

I pray that the little stones that I put into the mosaic of my life may make a worthwhile pattern. I pray that I may persevere and so find harmony and beauty.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

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Thoughts For The Day~*~Fear ^*^*^*^*^ January 15, 2015

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

The achievement of freedom from fear
is a lifetime undertaking,
one that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness,
or in other conditions of serious insecurity,
we shall all react to this emotion --
well or badly, as the case may be.
Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.
Bill W., Grapevine, January 1962
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It,  p. 263
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Thought to Consider . . .
Courage is the willingness to accept fear and act anyway.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F E A R =  Face Everything And Recover


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

Paradox

Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol , that our lives had become unmanageable.

"We had approached A.A. expecting to be taught self-confidence. Then we had been told that so far as alcohol is concerned, self-confidence was no good whatever; in fact, it was a total liability. Our sponsors declared that we were the victims of a mental obsession so subtly powerful that no amount of human willpower could break it. There was, they said, no such thing as the personal conquest of this compulsion by the unaided will.  The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process. Few indeed were those who, so assailed, had ever won through in single-handed combat."

1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 22

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
AN UNSUSPECTED INNER RESOURCE

With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp.  569-70

From my first days in A.A., as I struggled for sobriety, I found hope in these words from our founders.  I often pondered the phrase: "they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource."  How, I asked myself, can I find the Power within myself, since I am so powerless?  In time, as the founders promised, it came to me: I have always had the choice between goodness and evil, between unselfishness and selfishness, between serenity and fear.  That Power greater than myself is an original gift that I did not recognize until I achieved daily sobriety through living A.A.'s Twelve Steps.

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

Many people will have no truck at all with absolute spiritual values. Perfectionists, they say, are either full of conceit because they fancy they have reached some impossible goal, or else they are swamped in self-condemnation because they have not done so.
Yet I think that we should not hold this view. It is not the fault of great ideals that they are sometimes misused and so become shallow excuses for guilt, rebellion, and pride. On the contrary, we cannot grow very much unless we constantly try to envision what the eternal spiritual values are.

<<<>>>

"Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be consumed by maudlin guilt for failure to achieve His likeness and image by Thursday next. Progress is our aim, and His perfection is the beacon, light-years away, that draws us on."

1. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961 - 2. LETTER, 1966
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"Some day we hope that Alcoholics Anonymous will help the public to
a better realization of the gravity of the alcoholic problem, but we
shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or
hostility. Drinkers will not stand for it.

After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a
symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We
have to!"

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 103~

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

The A.A. program is a way of life. It's a way of living and we have to learn to live the program if we're going to stay sober. The twelve steps in the book are like guide-posts. They point the direction in which we have to go. But all members of the group have to find their own best way to live the program. We don't all do it exactly alike. Whether by quiet times in the morning, meetings, working with others, or spreading the word, we have to learn to live the program. Has the A.A. way become my regular, natural way of living?

Meditation for the Day

I will relax and not get tense. I will have no fear, because everything will work out in the end. I will learn soul-balance and poise in a vacillating, changing world. I will claim God's power and use it because if I do not use it, it will be withdrawn. As long as I get back to God and replenish my strength after each task, no work can be too much.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may relax and that God's strength will be given to me. I pray that I may subject my will to God's will and be free from all tenseness.

Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012

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