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

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 14, 2022 The Main Problem We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this. These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 13, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Three Pertinent Ideas Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 60  Thought to Ponder I can't, God can, I' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 12, 2022 The Usual Outcome To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got. The usual outcome was that people continued to wrong us and we stayed sore. Sometimes it was remorse and then we were sore at ourselves. But the more we fought and tried to have our own way, the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of triumph were short-lived. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66 Thought to Ponder It takes st ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 11, 2022 Emotional Insecurity The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression. These stem from causes which sometimes seem to be within us, and at other times to come from without. To take inventory in this respect we ought to consider carefully all personal relationships which bring continuous or recurring trouble. It should be remembered that this kind of insecurity may arise in any area where instincts are threatened. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 10, 2022 Unreasonable Demands Each of us would like to live at peace with himself and with his fellows. We would like to be assured that the grace of God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We have seen that character defects based upon shortsighted or unworthy desires are the obstacles that block our path toward these objectives. We now clearly see that we have been making unreasonable demands upon ourselves, upon others, and upon God.. - Twelve Steps a ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 9, 2022 Tradition Three (The Long Form) Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition) p. 563 Thought to Ponder You're an A.A. mem ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 8, 2022 Alcoholic Illness An illness of this sort—and we have come to believe it an illness—involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 18 Thought to Ponder The gri ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 7, 2022 Essentials of Recovery Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 6, 2022 Design For Living I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment.This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day. Many times I have gone to my old hospital in despair. On talking to a man there, I would be amazingly lifted up and set on my feet. It is a design for living that works in rough going. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading