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

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 4, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Dark Past Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have—the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 124  Thought to Ponder We will not regret the past nor wish ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 3, 2021 Principles Before Personalities And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (12 Traditions; Lo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 2, 2021 A Way Up and Out We have been talking about problems because we are problem people who have found a way up and out, and who wish to share our knowledge of that way with all who can use it. For it is only by accepting and solving our problems that we can begin to get right with ourselves and with the world about us, and with Him who presides over us all. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 125 Thought to Ponder The Three A's .. Awareness, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 1, 2021 His Will Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: ". . . knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." A request for this fits in any part of our day. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, ( ...Continue Reading