AA Thought For The Day

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 15, 2006
Substitution
"I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I?
Have you a sufficient substitute?"
Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that.
It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous.
There you will find release from care, boredom, and worry.
Your imagination will be fired.
Life will mean something at last.
The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead.
Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you.


Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 152, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
The person who says it cannot be done
should not interrupt the person doing it.


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Recovery Related Acronym

A A = Achieve Anything.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 16, 2006
Blessings
Today, I'm counting my blessings instead of my troubles.
When I walked into the friendly atmosphere
of my first AA meeting, I knew where I belonged.
Here were people who had thought and felt as I had.
Here was the understanding
I'd been searching for all my life.
These people were my friends,
and I felt their sincere interest in me. . .
I was able to make the decision to stop drinking,
a day at a time -- because I, too, was an alcoholic.


Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 355, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
I'm not alone anymore.


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Recovery Related Acronym

H E A R T = Healing, Enjoying, And Recovering, Together.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 17, 2006
Willingness for Today
I am an alcoholic. If I drink I will die.
My, what power, energy, and emotion
this simple statement generates in me!
But it's really all I need to know for today.
Am I willing to stay alive today?
Am I willing to stay sober today?
Am I willing to ask for help and am I willing to be a help
to another suffering alcoholic today?
Have I discovered the fatal nature of my situation?
What must I do, today, to stay sober?


Reprinted from Daily Reflections, Page 34, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
What have I been given today?
Am I willing to reach out and grasp it?


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Recovery Related Acronym

O D A A T = One Day At A Time.

[caressa]

The person who says it cannot be done
should not interrupt the person doing it.

This is a great statement. The program works when you work for it. The Steps and Service were what kept me clean and sober. I could quit before but couldn't stay stopped.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 18, 2006
Listening
When I practice listening in AA meetings,
I am learning something I can use in private
meditation practice.
It took me a while to learn how to really listen
to others in AA,
to have my mind solely on what the speaker was saying,
instead of hearing only the part that plugged me into
my own preferred thinking.
What I do at meetings is called listening.
When I listen alone with God, it is called meditating.


Reprinted from The Best of the Grapevine (Vol. 1), Page 218, from the Grapevine. Reprinted with permission of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Learn to listen; listen to learn.


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Recovery Related Acronym

H O P E = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Patience, Effort.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 19, 2006
Citizens
Yes, we are again citizens of the world.
It is a distraught world, very tired, very uncertain.
It has worshiped its own self-sufficiency -- and that has failed.
We AA's are a people who once did that very thing.
That philosophy failed us, too.
So perhaps, here and there,
our example of recovery can help.
As individuals, we have a responsibility,
maybe a double responsibility.
It may be that we have a date with destiny.
- Bill W., October 1944.


Reprinted from The Language of the Heart, Page 100, from the Grapevine. Reprinted with permission of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
I am responsible for the effort -- not the outcome.


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Recovery Related Acronym

A A = Adventurers Anonymous.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 20, 2006
Gratitude
I am grateful not only for sobriety,
but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought.
God has been gracious enough to give me sober days
and a life blessed with peace and contentment,
as well as the ability to give and receive love. . .
For all of this, I have "a full and thankful heart."


Reprinted from Daily Reflections, Page 93, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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


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Recovery Related Acronym

H O P E = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Patience, Effort.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 20, 2006
Gratitude
I am grateful not only for sobriety,
but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought.
God has been gracious enough to give me sober days
and a life blessed with peace and contentment,
as well as the ability to give and receive love. . .
For all of this, I have "a full and thankful heart."


Reprinted from Daily Reflections, Page 93, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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


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Recovery Related Acronym

H O P E = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Patience, Effort.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 22, 2006
Amends
I cannot make an amends when I am still condemning
or forgiving myself or the one I am making amends to.
I have always found condemnation to be a lonely road
and have found forgiveness to be a confusing
and impossible task.
When I forgive someone I guess what I really mean to say
is that I admit I judge others.
Forgiving and condemning are God's business, not mine.
Only He has the mercy to judge and to accept
at the same time.
My job is to achieve enough humility to see myself in others
and to accept both myself and others, by identifying.
The willingness to make amends will grow
from this act of love.


Reprinted from The Best of the Grapevine (Vol. 2), Page 162, from the Grapevine. Reprinted with permission of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Don't mess up an amends with an excuse.


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Recovery Related Acronym

H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 23, 2006
Into Action
I heard this from an old-timer with lots of good sobriety.
He held up four fingers and said,
"AA is a simple program.
There are four things you should do,
One, put the plug in the jug.
Two, go to plenty of AA meetings.
Three, ask for help in the morning,
and four, say thank-you at night."
I'd like to add one more thing to that list
to make it five:
Get into action as soon as possible.


Reprinted from The Best of the Grapevine (Vol. 1), Page 141, from the Grapevine. Reprinted with permission of The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Never mistake motion for action.


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Recovery Related Acronym

A A = Accountable Actions.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 24, 2006
A Subtle Foe
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.
"How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done."
These are thoughts which must go with us constantly.
We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish.
It is the proper use of the will.


Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 85, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Willpower ... our will-ingness to use a Higher Power.


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Recovery Related Acronym

W O W = Willingness Over Willpower.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 25, 2006
Survival
It becomes plain that the group must survive
or the individual will not. . .
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 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.


Reprinted from Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 130-131, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Together we can do what we could never do alone.


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Recovery Related Acronym

Y A N A = You Are Not Alone.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
May 26, 2006
The Answer
It finally became obvious to me
that the God I thought had judged and d**ned me
had done nothing of the sort.
He had been listening,
and in His own good time His answer came.
His answer was threefold:
the opportunity for a life of sobriety;
Twelve Steps to practice, in order to attain and maintain
that life of sobriety;
fellowship within the program, ever ready to sustain
and help me each twenty-four-hour day.


Reprinted from Came to Believe, Page 11, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
Joy is in knowing there is an answer.


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Recovery Related Acronym

A A = Answer Available.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
July 23, 2007
A New Path
I approached Alcoholics Anonymous with fear and hesitation.
Then, urged by the dread of what was behind me,
I took tiny delicate steps onto this new path.
When I found the footing was firm,
each tentative move brought me a little nearer to trust.
Confidence grew, faith in my Higher Power expanded,
and I came to recognize a light I had not known existed.
Something within me shifted and welcomed a new source of strength,
understanding, tolerance, and love.


Reprinted from Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 542-543, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.


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Thought to Ponder....
May the road always lead where you need to be.


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Recovery Related Acronym

S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, Trust.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day

(courtesy AAOnline.net)

July 23, 2007

Resentments

I saw that all the things I had considered facts,
were not facts at all, but my own thoughts.
And that this was very fortunate, because I could do something about
changing my thoughts
but nothing about changing the people around me.
So the fault was mine after all.
I felt humiliated; but there was a sense of relief, too.
While I felt totally inadequate to deal with the faults of the world and its people,
I did not feel quite so inadequate to deal with my own mind.
So I think that the most important factor in eliminating resentments
is to know you have them.
You can't fix something if you don't know what's wrong.
c. 1985 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], p. 44



Thought to Ponder . . .
Nobody can change my thoughts but me.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G R A C E = Gently Releasing All Conscious Expectations.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day

(courtesy AAOnline.net)

~ Scroll down for share ~

July 25, 2007

Inventory

Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision,
action and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our nature.

With it comes the development of that kind of humility
that makes it possible to receive God's help.

c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 10
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .
Trust God. Clean house. Help others.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
A MEMBER SHARES:
Hi, I am Terry, a grateful alcoholic. Peace to us all and blessings on our meeting from our Higher Power -- whomever or however we conceive and understand. Over the past few months in my second year of sobriety, thank HP, I finally struggled into the Fearless Moral Inventory: AKA -- Step Four. I pushed this Step off as long as I could, in part because of my own scruples, my own desire to do this perfectly. I have struggled and wrestled and found the most complicated format I could to make SURE I got it right. I hear in voices here and there people whose HP is guiding them at different paces, with different gifts and different struggles. And as people come in and are welcomed and challenged, I see in myself my own joy and annoyance, and know that my struggles with others tell me about my own defects. Impatience is part of growth. We all want to arrive without growing through change. Change is sometimes painful and sometimes takes a long time. My Experience, Strength, and Hope is that my Step Four was one I did not want to do. I did not want to look at my past and present and open the dark corners and look face-to-face the fears and things for which I was ashamed. Yet as my sponsor gave me a deadline of today, I had to push myself to finish. And in the past few days especially, my honest and as thorough as I could be, Inventory started to change me to change how I saw myself; to humble me into realizing that I don't know whether my defects or virtues are more powerful in sobriety and this fellowship -- and ultimately to realize that it is the whole package that is loved first by my HP. I thank you for all you have done for me in bringing me thus far, and ask you to share the joys, lest we get lost amidst the struggles. Again, thank you.
To respond to the sharer, please email [e-mail] and it will be forwarded to them.
(All shares are reproduced with the kind permission of the person sharing)

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
July 26, 2007
Spirituality
AA is a spiritual program and a spiritual way of life.
Even the first half of the First Step,
"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol,"
is a spiritual experience.
An AA member needs more than physical capabilities;
he needs the use of his full faculties as a human being to hear the message,
to think about it, to review the effects of the past,
to realize, to admit, and to accept.
These processes are activities of the mind,
which is part of the spirit.
Yes, I began with blind faith, but the proof of truth is that it works.
c. 1973 AAWS, Came To Believe. . ., p. 3
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .
I saw, I felt, I believed.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)

July 27, 2007

Revolutionary Change

The AA preoccupation with sobriety is sometimes misunderstood.
To some, this single virtue appears to be the sole dividend of our Fellowship.
We are thought to be dried-up drunks who otherwise
have changed little, or not at all, for the better.
Such a surmise widely misses the truth.
We know that permanent sobriety can be attained
only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the individual
-- by a spiritual awakening that can banish the desire to drink.
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 171
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .
Without change I am just a non-drinking drunk.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P A C E = Positive Attitudes Change Everything.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)
July 28, 2007
Childishness
The man with the grown-up brain and the childish emotions
-- vanity, self-interest, false pride, jealousy,
longing for social approval, to name a few --
becomes a prime candidate for alcohol.
To my way of thinking, that is a definition of alcoholism;
a state of being in which the emotions have failed to grow
to the stature of the intellect.
I know there are some alcoholics who seem terribly, terribly grown-up,
but I think that they are trying to make themselves think they are grown-up,
and the strain of their effort is what is causing them to drink --
a sense of inadequacy, a childish vanity to be the most popular,
the most sought after, the mostest of the most.
And all this, of course, is, in the popular modern jargon,
"compensation" for immaturity.
c. 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 423-4
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .
Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional,
growing spiritually is up to you.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
P R I D E = Personal Recovery Involves Deflating Ego.

[caressa]

AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AAOnline.net)

August 29, 2007

Back to Basics

Although alcohol is not part of my life
and I no longer have the compulsion to drink,
it can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me,
from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds
to my stretched out tingling toes. . .
Such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right,
that I am stretched beyond my sober limit.
It's time to get back to basic AA and see what needs changing.
That special relationship with alcohol will always be there,
waiting to seduce me again.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 396-7
With permission, Alcoholics AnonymousWorld Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .
Without change I am just a non-drinking drunk.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.