AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AA-Alive.net)
January 29, 2014
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Peace of Mind
More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life.
As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind,
as we discovered we could face life successfully,
we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today,
tomorrow, or the hereafter. We were reborn.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 63
Thought to Ponder . . .
Happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and free to anyone.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O P E = Hang On! Peace Exists.
A Member Shares:
Hi, I'm Richard and I'm alcoholic. Keeping my peace starts by no longer having any valid excuses to drink. Any old excuse would work before, but they were never really valid excuses; they were only crazy excuses. Today, I live by the principle of "Live and Let Live," because nowadays I like living sober. My usual stressors come from dealing with people, so my motto is to not let anyone else 'Turn Up My Gravity.' I have to learn to let go -- to leave people alone when I feel they have done something that disagrees with my philosophy of things. I've learned to avoid letting stressors stack up on top of me and weigh me down. I take each thing as a separate opportunity to practice Love, Patience, Tolerance, and Compassion. I used to think I had bad days, or bad weeks, or bad months or years. But I've never really had those. What I've had is a bad 5 minutes of one day and let it spoil the rest of a perfectly good day. So it helps to let go of upsets and emotional entanglements as they happen. And for those things that seem to hang on and linger, I've learned to share those things with a trusted program buddy or sponsor and get those things off my shoulders and vent them in an appropriate place with the appropriate person. I don't let those things build up. The biggest tool I have for keeping my own peace is acceptance. It's all about the acceptance, and not really forgiveness. If I have to forgive you then it means I think you've done something to me and are some how lower than me as if I have never done anything just as bad or worse to someone else. What works better for me is just to accept you, and I want you to accept me and I will stay sober as long as I continue to practice this. Thanks.
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(All shares are reproduced with the kind permission of the person sharing)
Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message.
Blessings in sobriety to all,
In love and service,
joanna b
dailythought@aa-alive.org
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