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

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 16, 2021 Spiritual Malady Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 64 Thought to Ponder We are prisoners of our own resentments. Forgiveness unlocks the do ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 15, 2021 Step Six We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all—every one? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76 Thought to Ponder The Three "P's" -- Pause, Pray, Proceed. AA-related 'Alconym' H O W  =   Honest, Open-minde ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 14, 2021 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Thoroughly Followed RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not, completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 58  Thought to Ponder The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.  AA- ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 13, 2021 Transformed Until now, our lives have been largely devoted to running from pain and problems. We fled from them as from a plague. We never wanted to deal with the fact of suffering. Escape via the bottle was always our solution. Character-building through suffering might be all right for saints, but it certainly didn't appeal to us. Then, in A.A., we looked and listened. Everywhere we saw failure and misery transformed by humility into priceless assets. - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 12, 2021 At Home When your prospect has made such reparation as he can to his family, and has thoroughly explained to them the new principles by which he is living, he should proceed to put those principles into action at home. That is, if he is lucky enough to have a home. Though his family be at fault in many respects, he should not be concerned about that. He should concentrate on his own spiritual demonstration. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 11, 2021 Fear The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear—primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of reducing these demands. The difference between a demand and a simple request is plain to anyone. - Twelve Steps ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 10, 2021 Whatever Price "Belief meant reliance, not; defiance. In A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.&qu ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 9, 2021 Humility For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all. Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they still haven't much chance of becoming truly happy. Without it, they cannot live to much useful purpose, or, in adversity, be able to summon the faith that can meet any emergency. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 70 Th ...Continue Reading