*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 6, 2019* *Excuses* Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count. How true this is, few realize.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 23 Thought to Ponder Alcohol — cunning, baf ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 5, 2019* *Our Big Book* To you, some of the ideas which it contains are novel. Perhaps you are not quite in sympathy with the approach we suggest. By no means do we offer it as the last word on this subject, but so far as we are concerned, it has worked with us. After all, are you not looking for results rather than methods?  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (To Employers) p. 144 Thought to Ponder When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book. AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 4, 2019* *Faith and Courage* The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 68 Thought to Ponder Courage is faith that has said its prayers. AA-re ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 3, 2019* *No Such Thing* Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish this, but it hasn’t done so yet.  - Alcoholic ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 2, 2019* *Our Troubles* 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 Anonymous, (How It ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 1, 2019* *Causes and Conditions* Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 31, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *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.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 133  Thought to Ponder Happiness is part of the journey, not some distant destination.  AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 30, 2019* *Unthinking* The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil. We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 82 Thought to Ponder We're not living just to be sober; we are living to learn, to serve and to love. AA-r ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 29, 2019* *Power and Simplicity* In any meeting, anywhere, A.A.’s share experience, strength, and hope with each other, in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.’s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Foreward to the Fourth Edition) p. xxiv Thought to Ponder Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession. AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 28, 2019* *In God's Hands* When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 100 Thought to Ponder Take a walk with God. He will meet you at the Steps. AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 27, 2019* *Dividends* Joy at our release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) pp. 128 - 129 Thought to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 26, 2019* *Carry This Message* This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 89 Thought to Ponder In AA we don't carry the alcoholic; we carry the message. AA-related 'Alconym' *A A W O L*  =  *A* *A* *W*ay *O*f *L*ife. Thanks to all of you for sharing so gen ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 25, 2019* *Personality Change* "It has often been said of A.A. that we are interested only in alcoholism. That is not true. We have to get over drinking in order to stay alive. But anyone who knows the alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking permanently without undergoing a profound personality change."  - As Bill Sees It, (Letter, 1940) p. 1 Thought to Ponder If I don't change, my sobriety date will ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 24, 2019 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Four Reasons* I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learned to others who want and need it badly. I do it for four reasons: 1. Sense of duty. 2. It is a pleasure. 3. Because in so doing I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me. 4. Because every time I do it I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Doctor Bob's Nightmare) pp. 180 - 181&n ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 23, 2019* *Grudges and Revenge* 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 Expectations are premeditated resentmen ...Continue Reading