AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 31, 2021 Experiment We liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong. Of course we finally did experiment, and when unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer. And that, we have found, can happen to anybody who tr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 30, 2021 Development As we have seen, self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. It is a step in the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go further. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 98 Thought to Ponder I must walk through the darkness to find the light. AA-relat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 29, 2021 Great Persuader Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 48 Thought to Ponder Open your mind, your brain won't fall out. AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 28, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Thy Will What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done.’’ These are thoughts which must go with us constantly.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 85  Thought to Ponder Reliance on God enables me to match calamity with ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 27, 2021 Humility and Grace The whole emphasis of Step Seven is on humility. It is really saying to us that we now ought to be willing to try humility in seeking the removal of our other shortcomings just as we did when we admitted that we were powerless over alcohol, and came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. If that degree of humility could enable us to find the grace by which such a deadly obsession could be banished, the ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 26, 2021 Tradition Three Why did A.A. finally drop all its membership regulations? . . . The answer, now seen in Tradition Three, was simplicity itself. At last experience taught us that to take away any alcoholic's full chance was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his own sick brother? As group after group saw these possibilities, they finally abandoned all members ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 25, 2021 Insurance As an insurance against "big-shot-ism" we can often check ourselves by remembering that we are today sober only by the grace of God and that any success we may be having is far more His success than ours. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92 Thought to Ponder The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual. AA-related 'Alconym' T G I F  =   Thanking God Is Freedom. Thanks to all of you for sharing so gen ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 24, 2021 Convinced In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 70 - 71 Thought to Ponder Faith makes the impossible possible. AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H  =   For All I Trust Him. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 23, 2021 A Genuine Reliance For just so long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible. This was true even when we believed that God existed. We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves. As long as we placed self- reliance first, a genuine reliance upon a Higher P ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 22, 2021 True Tolerance We begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92 Thoug ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 21, 2021 Amends Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth. It is harder to go to an enemy than to a friend, but we find it much more beneficial to us. We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit, confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret. Under no condition do we criticize such a person or argue. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 77 Thought to Ponder Don't mess up an amend with an excuse. AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 20, 2021 Clearly See Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility—a word often misunderstood. To those who have made progress in A.A., it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be. Therefore, our first practical move toward humility must consist of recognizing our deficiencies. No defect can be corrected unless we clearly see what it is ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 19, 2021 Transformed In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which, in one way or another, he had hitherto denied himself. He finds himself in possession of a degree of honesty, tolerance, unselfishness, peace of mind, and love of which he had thought himself quite incapable. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 107 Thought to Ponder We're not living just to be sober; we are living to learn, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 18, 2021 Freedom from Fear When, with God’s help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 122 Thought to Ponder What I fear is rarely as bad as the fear itself. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   Face E ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 17, 2021 Principles A.A.'s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Foreward) p. 15 Thought to Ponder AA is not something we join; it's a way of life. AA-related 'Alconym' S T E P S  =   Solutions Through Each Powerful Step. Thanks to all of you for sharing ...Continue Reading