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

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 3, 2019* *Thankful* Having so considered our day, not omitting to take due note of things well done, and having searched our hearts with neither fear nor favor, we can truly thank God for the blessings we have received and sleep in good conscience. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 76 Thought to Ponder Inventory-taking is not always done in red ink. AA-related 'Alconym' *A A*  =  *A*lways *A*ware. Thanks to all of you for shari ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 2, 2019* *Amends* Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past. We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves. If we haven’t the will to do this, we ask until it comes. Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76 Thought to Ponder It is the highest form of self-respe ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 1, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Thy Will Be Done* We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves. &nb ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 31, 2019* *Alibis* Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic’s drinking bout creates. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 23 Thought to Ponder Insanity is doing ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 30, 2019* *Helping Others* Even the newest of newcomers finds undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him. And then he discovers that by the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has found his own reward, whether his brother has yet received anything or not. - Twelve Ste ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 29, 2019* *Vital Spiritual Experience* Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor’s telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 27 Thought to Ponder A spiritual awakening is our greatest gift. AA-rel ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 28, 2019* *Willing to Believe* My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 27, 2019* *Knowing Peace* We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) pp. 83 - 84 Thought to Ponder I never imagined t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 26, 2019* *Sense of Purpose * Those of us who have spent much time in the world of spiritual make-believe have eventually seen the childishness of it. This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. - Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 130 Thought to Ponder A spiritual awakening is our greatest gift. AA-related 'Alconym' *S O B E R*  =  *S*piritually *O*n *B*eam; *E* ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 25, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Resentments* He said, in effect: “If you have a resentment you want to be free of, if you will pray for the person or the thing that you resent, you will be free. If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you will be free."  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Freedom From Bondage) p. 552  Thought to Ponder Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the ot ...Continue Reading