AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 9, 2020 The Actor More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor. To the outer world he presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. He wants to enjoy a certain reputation, but knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 73 Thought to Ponder Character is what I am; reputation is what people think I am. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   Frantic Ef ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 8, 2020 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Five In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. Many of us thought it necessary to go much further. We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so. The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 72  Thought to Ponder I cannot mend if I b ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 7, 2020 Our Instincts We have learned that the satisfaction of instincts cannot be the sole end and aim of our lives. If we place instincts first, we have got the cart before the horse; we shall be pulled backward into disillusionment. But when we are willing to place spiritual growth first—then and only then do we have a real chance. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114 Thought to Ponder Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 6, 2020 Gravely Affected To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 33 Thought to Ponder W ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 5, 2020 Permanent Recovery But when the broker gave him Dr. Silkworth’s description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never before been able to muster. He sobered, never to drink again up to the moment of his death in 1950. This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no nonalcoholic could. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with ano ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 4, 2020 Newfound Peace To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or anxiety—in other words, to all of us—this newfound peace is a priceless gift. Something new indeed has been added. Where humility had formerly stood for a forced feeding on humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing ingredient which can give us serenity. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 74 Thought to Ponder Humility is not thinking less of my ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 3, 2020 Complete Defeat Who cares to admit complete defeat? Practically no one, of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it from us. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 21 Thought to Ponder Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the doo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 2, 2020 Meeting Conditions An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem. In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) November 1, 2020 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Carry This Message Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 89  Thought to Ponder In AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without rece ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 31, 2020 This Question 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 God?" ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 30, 2020 Becoming Impossible If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. - Alcoholics ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 29, 2020 Anger If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66 Thought to Ponder Anger is but a mask for fear. AA-related 'Alconym' C A L M  =   Cause Anger Left Me. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA me ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 28, 2020 Fearlessly Face When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be? - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 53 Thought to Ponder I came; I came to; I came to believe. AA-related 'Alconym' G I F T  =   God Is Forever There. Thanks to all of you for shari ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 27, 2020 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'll ask Him to. AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 26, 2020 Continue to Watch Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84 Thought to Ponder I can’t fix something if I don’t know what’s wrong. AA-rel ...Continue Reading