*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 18, 2019* *Foundation For Life* There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 98 Thought to Ponder AA is not something we join; it's a way of life. AA-related 'Alconym' *P U S H*  =  *P*ray *U*ntil ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 17, 2019* *Prayer* Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: “. . . knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” A request for this fits in any part of our day. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (S ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 16, 2019* *Singleness of Purpose* "Singleness of purpose" is essential to the effective treatment of alcoholism. The reason for such exaggerated focus is to overcome denial. The denial associated with alcoholism is cunning, baffling, and powerful and affects the patient, helper, and the community. Unless alcoholism is kept relentlessly in the foreground, other issues will usurp everybody’s attention. - A.A. World Services, Inc.,(About AA, F-13 Fall ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 15, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *The Keynotes* Courtesy, kindness, justice, and love are the keynotes by which we may come into harmony with practically anybody. When in doubt we can always pause, saying, "Not my will, but Thine, be done." And we can often ask ourselves, "Am I doing to others as I would have them do to me—today?"  - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 93  Thought to Ponder We are prisoners of our ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 14, 2019* *Knowledge* 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. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 13, 2019* *Freedom* Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better. Taking this book down from our shelf we turn to the page which contains the twelve steps. Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 12, 2019* *Meaningful Sobriety* Many an A.A., once agnostic or atheistic, tells us that it was during this stage of Step Five that he first actually felt the presence of God. And even those who had faith already often become conscious of God as they never were before. This feeling of being at one with God and man, this emerging from isolation through the open and honest sharing of our terrible burden of guilt, brings us to a resting place where we may prepar ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 11, 2019* *Our Intelligence* We are certain that our intelligence, backed by willpower, can rightly control our inner lives and guarantee us success in the world we live in. This brave philosophy, wherein each man plays God, sounds good in the speaking, but it still has to meet the acid test: how well does it actually work? One good look in the mirror ought to be answer enough for any alcoholic. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) p. 37 Thoug ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 10, 2019* *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, (S ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 9, 2019* *Human Will* If there was a Devil, he seemed the Boss Universal, and he certainly had me. But my friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 8, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Tradition Three* The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.  - Alcoho ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 7, 2019* *An Open Mind* Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Appendix II, Spiritual Experience) p. 568 Thought to Ponder Minds are like parachutes -- they won't work unless they're open. AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 6, 2019* *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 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 5, 2019* *Loneliness* The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 151 Thought to Ponder I must walk through the darkness to find the light. AA-related 'Alconym' *A A*  =  *A*nswer *A*vailable. Thanks ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 4, 2019* *Forgiveness for All* We've repeatedly strained the patience of our best friends to a snapping point, and have brought out the very worst in those who didn't think much of us to begin with. In many instances we are really dealing with fellow sufferers, people whose woes we have increased. If we are now about to ask forgiveness for ourselves, why shouldn't we start out by forgiving them, one and all? - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) ...Continue Reading