AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 19, 2021 Day By Day As we work the first nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the adventure of a new life. But when we approach Step Ten we commence to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all conditions? A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real desire to learn and grow by this means, are necessities ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 18, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Seven When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." We have then completed Step Seven.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76  Tho ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 17, 2021 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) April 16, 2021 Change We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn't to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder If you want to change who you are, change what you do. AA-related 'A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 15, 2021 Divine Help "As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. Had you offered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it. People like you are too heartbreaking. Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours. For most cases, there is virtually no other solu ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 14, 2021 Essential Requirements Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) pp. 13 - 14 Thought to Ponder While it isn't always easy, if I keep it sim ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 13, 2021 Now 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. This doesn't mean we need to wander morbidly around in the past. It requires an admission and correction of errors ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 12, 2021 Obstacles 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 and Twelve Tr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 11, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Pride and Fear So when A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Both his pride and his fear beat him back every time he tries to look within himself. Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But the testimony of A.A.'s who have really tried a moral inventory is that pride and fear of this sort t ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 10, 2021 Healer of Pain Then, in A.A., we looked and listened. Everywhere we saw failure and misery transformed by humility into priceless assets. We heard story after story of how humility had brought strength out of weakness. In every case, pain had been the price of admission into a new life. But this admission price had purchased more than we expected. It brought a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain. - Twelve Steps and Twelve T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 9, 2021 The Third Step We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him. We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser. But it is better to meet God alone than with one who might misunderstand. The wording was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it without reservation. Th ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 8, 2021 Making the Approach That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured—these are the conditions we have ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 7, 2021 Take Inventory Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. These are the first fruits of Step Four. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) pp. 49 - 50 Thought to Ponder Clear vision for tomorrow comes only after a real l ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 6, 2021 Fear This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune we felt we didn’t deserve. But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling? Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing. It seems to cause more trouble. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 67 - 68 Thought to P ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 5, 2021 Motives Or, the person concerned not being present, we thought we were helping others to understand him, when in actuality our true motive was to feel superior by pulling him down. We sometimes hurt those we love because they need to be "taught a lesson", when we really want to punish. We were depressed and complained we felt bad, when in fact we were mainly asking for sympathy and attention. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 94 ...Continue Reading