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

^*^*^*^*^
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.' "
©1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 31
^*^*^*^*^*

Thought to Consider . . .

God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B I G   B O O K  =  Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge

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

 

Simultaneous

Step Eight: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

"It is usually a fact that our behavior when drinking has aggravated the defects of others. We've repeatedly strained the patience of our best friends to a snapping point, and have brought out the very worst in those who didn't think much of us to begin with. In many instances we are really dealing with fellow sufferers, people whose woes we have increased. If we are now about to ask forgiveness for ourselves, why shouldn't we start by forgiving them, one and all?"

©1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 78

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
DIDN'T WE HURT ANYBODY?

Some of us, though, tripped over a very different snag. We clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt anybody but ourselves.

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 79

This Step seemed so simple. I identified several people whom I had harmed, but they were no longer available. Still, I was uneasy about the Step and avoided conversations dealing with it. In time I learned to investigate those Steps and areas of my life which made me uncomfortable. My search revealed my parents who had been deeply hurt by my isolation from them; my employer, who worried about my absences, my memory lapses, my temper; and the friends I had shunned, without explanation. As I faced the reality of the harm I had done, Step Eight took on new meaning.  I am no longer uncomfortable and I feel clean and light.

©Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.©
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Is Sobriety Enough?

The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others.
Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been
uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil.
We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like
the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To
his wife, he remarked, "Don't see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain't it
grand the wind stopped blowin'?"

<<<>>>

We ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have "harmed" other people. What kinds of "harm" do people do one another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in
collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to
those about us.

1. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 82 - 2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 80
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"To get over drinking will require a transformation of thought and
attitude. We all had to place recovery above everything, for without
recovery we would have lost both home and business."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, To Employers, pg. 143~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

"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
have admitted we are alcoholics, we must have no reservations of any
kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to
alcohol. What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats
time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink?
Parallel with sound reasoning, there inevitably runs some insanely
trivial excuse for taking the first drink. There is little thought
of what the terrific consequences may be." Have I given up all
excuses for taking a drink?

Meditation for the Day

"Where two or three are banded together, I will be there in the
midst of them." When God finds two or three people in union, who
only want His will to be done, who want only to serve Him, He has
a plan that can be revealed to them. The grace of God can come to
people who are together in one place with one accord. A union like
this is miracle-working. God is able to use such people. Only good
can come through such consecrated people, brought together in
unified groups for a single purpose and of a single mind.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may be part of a unified group. I pray that I may
contribute my share to its consecrated purpose.

©Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012©

 

 

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

^*^*^*^*^
Hangovers
^*^*^
"When a drunk has a terrific hangover because
he drank heavily yesterday, he cannot live well today.
But there is another kind of hangover which we all experience
whether we are drinking or not.
That is the emotional hangover,
the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's
excesses of negative emotion -
anger, fear, jealousy, and the like.
If we would live serenely today and tomorrow,
we certainly need to eliminate these hangovers."
©1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 88
^*^*^*^*^*

Thought to Consider . . .

I'd rather be better than bitter.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A  =  Altered Attitudes

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

From "Into Action":

"We don't use this [faith] as an excuse for shying away from the subject of God. When it will serve any good purpose, we are willing to announce our convictions with tact and common sense. The question of how to approach the man we hated will arise. It may be he has done us more harm than we have done him and, though we may have acquired a better attitude toward him, we are still not too keen about admitting our faults. Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth. It is harder to go to an enemy than to a friend, but we find it much more beneficial to us. We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit, confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret.

© 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 77 

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
REPAIRING THE DAMAGE

We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.  If we haven't the will to do this, we ask until it comes. Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

Making a list of people I had harmed was not a particularly difficult thing to do. They had showed up in my Fourth Step inventory:  people towards whom I had resentments, real or imagined, and whom I had hurt by acts of retaliation. For my recovery to be thorough, I believed it was not important for those who had legitimately harmed me to make amends to me. What is important in my relationship with God is that I stand before Him, knowing I have done what I can to repair the damage I have done.

©Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.©
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Humility for the Fellowship, Too

We of A.A. sometimes brag of the virtues of our Fellowship. Let us remember
that few of these are actually earned virtues. We were forced into them, to
begin with, by the cruel lash of alcoholism. We finally adopted them, not
because we wished to, but because we had to.
Then, as time confirmed the seeming rightness of our basic principles, we
began to conform because it was right to do so. Some of us, notably myself,
conformed even then with reluctance.
But at last we came to a point where we stood willing to conform gladly to
the principles which experience, under the grace of God, had taught us.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 224
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. His
recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship
with God, however he may define him.

Alcoholics Anonymous  p. 99,100
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

"None of us like to think that we are bodily and mentally different from
others. Our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain
attempts to prove that we could drink like other people. This delusion that
we are like other people has to be smashed. It has been definitely proved
that no real alcoholic has ever recovered control. Over any considerable
period we get worse, never better. There is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic." Am I convinced that I can never drink again normally?

Meditation for the Day

We should have life and have it more abundantly spiritual, mental, physical,
abundant life-joyous, powerful life. This we can have if we follow the right
way. Not all people will accept from God the gift of an abundant life, a gift
held out free to all. Not all people care to stretch out a hand and take it.
God's gift, the richest He has to offer, is the precious gift of abundant
life. People often turn away from it, reject it, and will have none of it. Do
not let this be true of you.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may hasten to accept the gift of abundant spiritual life. I
pray that I my live the good life to the best of my ability.

©Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012©

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

^*^*^*^*^
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.
Every day is a day when we must carry
the vision of God's will into all of our activities."
©1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 85
^*^*^*^*^*

Thought to Consider . . .

This is a program of limitless expansion. 
The gate is wide but the road is narrow.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
P R O G R A M  =  People Relying On God Relay A Message

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

Letting Go 

From "A Member's Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous:"

 

"The newcomer to A.A. is asked, not so much to learn new values, as to unlearn those he comes in with; not so much to adopt new goals, as to abandon old ones.  To my mind, one of the most significant sentences in the entire book ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is this: 'Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we
let go absolutely.'"

 

c. 1970, A Member's Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous
(A.A. Pamphlet P-41), page 13

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A CLEAN SWEEP

. . . and third, having thus cleared away the debris of the past,  we consider how, with our newfound knowledge of ourselves, we may develop the best possible relations with every human being we know.                        
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 77

As I faced the Eighth Step, everything that was required for successful completion of the previous seven Steps came together:  courage, honesty, sincerity, willingness and thoroughness. I could not muster the strength required for this task at the beginning, which is why this Step reads "Became willing. . ."

I needed to develop the courage to begin, the honesty to see where I was wrong, a sincere desire to set things right, thoroughness in making a list, and willingness to take the risks required for true humility. With the help of my Higher Power in developing these virtues, I completed this Step and continued to move forward in my quest for spiritual growth.

©Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.©
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
The Answer in the Mirror

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.

<<<>>>
My spiritual awakening was electrically sudden and absolutely convincing. At
once I became a part - if only a tiny part - of a cosmos that was ruled by
justice and love in the person of God. No matter what had been the
consequences of my own willfulness and ignorance, or those of my fellow
travelers on earth, this was still the truth. Such was the new and positive
assurance, and this has never left me.

1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 37 - 2. GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1962

*~*~*~*~*^ 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

"We had but two alternatives; one was to go on to the
bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our
intolerable situation as best we could, and the other
was to accept spiritual help. We became willing to
maintain a certain simple attitude toward life. What
seemed at first a flimsy reed has proved to be the
loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been
given us, a design for living that really works. All
of us establish in our own individual way our personal
relationship with God." Have I established my own
relationship with God?

Meditation for the Day

Make it a daily practice to review your character. Take
your character in relation to your daily life, to your
dear ones, your friends, your acquaintances, and your
work. Each day try to see where God wants you to change.
Plan how best each fault can be eradicated or each
mistake be corrected. Never be satisfied with a
comparison with those around you. Strive toward a better
life as your ultimate goal. God is your helper through
weakness to power, through danger to security, through
fear and worry to peace and serenity.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that I may make real progress toward a better life.
I pray that I may never be satisfied with my present state

©Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012©

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