AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 7, 2021 Rationalization But in other instances only the closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy, rationalization, has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really didn't. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 94 Thought to Ponder Don't believe everything you think. AA-related 'Alconym' J A D E&n ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 6, 2021 Resolution and Willingness How can we possibly summon the resolution and the willingness to get rid of such overwhelming compulsions and desires? But again we are driven on by the inescapable conclusion which we draw from A.A. experience, that we surely must try with a will, or else fall by the wayside. At this stage of our progress we are under heavy pressure to do the right thing. We are obliged to choose between the pains of trying and the certain penaltie ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 5, 2021 Happy, Joyous and Free We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. But it is clear that we made our own misery. God didn't do it. Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery, but if trouble comes, cheerfully capitalize it as an opportunity to demonstrate His omnipotence. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 133 Thoug ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 4, 2021 Everything or Nothing 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' B I G  B O O K  = Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 3, 2021 Bedeviled To escape looking at the wrongs we have done another, we resentfully focus on the wrong he has done us. This is especially true if he has, in fact, behaved badly at all. Triumphantly we seize upon his misbehavior as the perfect excuse for minimizing or forgetting our own. Right here we need to fetch ourselves up sharply. It doesn't make much sense when a tosspot calls a kettle black. Let's remember that alcoholics ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 2, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Humility and Responsibility All A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. Ever deepening humility, accompanied by an ever greater willingness to accept and to act upon clear cut obligations—these are truly our touchstones for all growth in the life of the spirit. They hold ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 1, 2021 Acquiring Faith We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 28 Thought to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 30, 2021 Insanity He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk! Whatever the precise definition of the word may be, we call this plain insanity. How can such a lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight, be called anything else? - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) pp. 3 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 29, 2021 Spiritual Experience Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the "educational variety" because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (App ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 28, 2021 Without Defense The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power 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 fi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 27, 2021 Ghosts of Yesterday If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed in stark relief those experiences we'd rather not remember, if we have come to know how wrong thinking and action have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 26, 2021 A New Foundation By now the newcomer has probably arrived at the following conclusions: that his character defects, representing instincts gone astray, have been the primary cause of his drinking and his failure at life; that unless he is now willing to work hard at the elimination of the worst of these defects, both sobriety and peace of mind will still elude him; that all the faulty foundation of his life will have to be torn out and built anew on bedroc ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 25, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Resentments We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? We could not wish them away any more than alcohol. This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 66 - 67  Thought to Ponder "God save me from being ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 24, 2021 Review Our Day When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? . . . After making our review we ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 86 Th ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 23, 2021 Motives In most cases our motives won't be hard to see and understand. When prideful, angry, jealous, anxious, or fearful, we acted accordingly, and that was that. Here we need only recognize that we did act or think badly, try to visualize how we might have done better, and resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow, making, of course, any amends still neglected. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 94 Thought to Pon ...Continue Reading