AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 29, 2022 Greater Challenge Like most people, we have found that we can take our big lumps as they come. But also like others, we often discover a greater challenge in the lesser and more continuous problems of life. Our answer is in still more spiritual development. Only by this means can we improve our chances for really happy and useful living. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114 Thought to Ponder Life is a steady drizzle of small things - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 28, 2022 Step Five 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. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 60 Thought to Ponder If you want to get free, you have to fir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 27, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Whistling in the Dark Now and then a serious drinker, being dry at the moment says, “I don’t miss it at all. Feel better. Work better. Having a better time.” As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally. We know our friend is like a boy whistling in the dark to keep up his spirits. He fools himself. Inwardly he would give anything to take half a dozen drinks and get away with them. He will presently try the old game again, for ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 26, 2022 Errors to Assets Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 124 Thought to Ponder The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit them. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   Face Everyt ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 25, 2022 A Fair Hearing We looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves. We missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 50 Thought to Ponder When I change the way I ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 24, 2022 Spiritual Awakening Maybe there are as many definitions of spiritual awakening as there are people who have had them. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others. And these things which they have in common are not too hard to understand. When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided stre ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 23, 2022 Inventory-Taking When evening comes, perhaps before going to sleep, many of us draw up a balance sheet for the day. This is a good place to remember that inventory-taking is not always done in red ink. It's a poor day indeed when we haven't done something right. As a matter of fact, the waking hours are usually well filled with things that are constructive. Even when we have tried hard and failed, we may chalk that up as one of the greatest credits of all. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 22, 2022 Faith and Utopia There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 15 Thought to Ponder It is when you act on faith that you ac ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 21, 2022 Accurate Self-Appraisal Must A.A.'s spend most of their waking hours drearily rehashing their sins of omission or commission? Well, hardly. The emphasis on inventory is heavy only because a great many of us have never really acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and sometimes hours spent in self-examinat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 20, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ All or Nothing? Acceptance and faith are capable of producing 100 per cent sobriety. In fact, they usually do; and they must, else we could have no life at all. But the moment we carry these attitudes into our emotional problems, we find that only relative results are possible. Nobody can, for example, become completely free from fear, anger, and pride. Hence, in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. So ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 19, 2022 Diagnose Yourself We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) pp. 31 - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 18, 2022 Instincts Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct. When that happens, our great natural assets, the instincts, have turned into physical and mental liabilities. Step Four is our vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder Instincts on rampage balk at investigation. AA-related 'Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 17, 2022 Without Defense The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 24 Thought to Ponder The fir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 16, 2022 Morning Meditation If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing. There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 87 Thought to Ponder Trying to pray is praying. AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 15, 2022 A Great Thought Our friend’s gorge rose as he bitterly cried out: "If there is a God, He certainly hasn’t done anything for me!" But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question: "Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?" While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else: "Who are you to say there is no ...Continue Reading