*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 18, 2019* *Our Thinking* On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 86 Thought to Ponder Prayer asks the question. Meditation listens for the answer. AA-related 'Alconym' *G I F T*  =  *G*od *I*s *F*orever *T*here. T ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 17, 2019* *New Lessons* He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God /does/ "move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 105 Thought to Ponder Faith is like a muscle, the more we us ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 16, 2019* *Avoiding Amends* The temptation to skip the more humiliating and dreaded meetings that still remain may be great. We will often manufacture plausible excuses for dodging these issues entirely. Or we may just procrastinate, telling ourselves the time is not yet, when in reality we have already passed up many a fine chance to right a serious wrong. Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Nine) p. 8 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 15, 2019* *Willing to Believe* Let us make haste to reassure you. We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 46 Thought to Ponder Willpower ... our will-ingness to use a Higher Power. AA-related ' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 14, 2019* *Avoidance* Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. - Alcoholic ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 13, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Self* Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.  - Alcoholics An ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 12, 2019* *Resentment* But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66 Thought to Ponder Resentment is like taking poison and ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 11, 2019* *Challenges* Like most people, we have found that we can take our big lumps as they come. But also like others, we often discover a greater challenge in the lesser and more continuous problems of life. Our answer is in still more spiritual development. Only by this means can we improve our chances for really happy and useful living. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114 Thought to Ponder Life is a steady drizzle of small things ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 10, 2019* *Bankruptcy* Beginning with Step Four, we commenced to search out the things in ourselves which had brought us to physical, moral, and spiritual bankruptcy. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 107 Thought to Ponder A fear faced is a fear erased. AA-related 'Alconym' *S O L U T I O N S*  =  *S*aving *O*ur *L*ives *U*sing *T*he *I*nventory *O*f *N*eeded *S*teps. Thanks to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 9, 2019* *Individual Strength* This lack of anchorage to any permanent values, this blindness to the true purpose of our lives, produced another bad result. 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. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 77 Thought ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 8, 2019* *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 Pon ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 7, 2019* *Two Alternatives* 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. - Alcoholi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 6, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Fully Concede* The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death. We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 30  Tho ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 5, 2019* *Disturbance* We had to see that when we harbored grudges and planned revenge for such defeats, we were really beating ourselves with the club of anger we had intended to use on others. We learned that if we were seriously disturbed, our first need was to quiet that disturbance, regardless of who or what we thought caused it. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 4, 2019* *Progress* "Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be consumed by maudlin guilt for failure to achieve His likeness and image by Thursday next. Progress is our aim, and His perfection is the beacon, light-years away, that draws us on." - As Bill Sees It, p. 15 Thought to Ponder Spiritual progress isn't what gets us sober, it's what keeps us sober. AA-related 'Alconym' *F R O G*  =  *F*ully *R* ...Continue Reading