*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 18, 2018* *Ugly Facts* "For God’s sake, how did I ever get started again?"’ Only to have that thought supplanted by "Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink." Or "What’s the use anyhow?" When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by l ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 17, 2018* *Rationalization* "Maybe I can postpone dealing with some of my problems indefinitely." Of course, this won't do. Such a bluffing of oneself will have to go the way of many another pleasant rationalization. At the very least, we shall have to come to grips with some of our worst character defects and take action toward their removal as quickly as we can. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 69 Thought to Ponder Rationalizing is a de ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 16, 2018 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Step Five* We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.  - Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 72 Thought to Pon ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 15, 2018* *Change* Change is the characteristic of all growth. From drinking to sobriety, from dishonesty to honesty, from conflict to serenity, from hate to love, from childish dependence to adult responsibility -- all this and infinitely more represent change for the better. . . Only God is unchanging; only He has all the truth there is. - As Bill Sees It, p. 76 Thought to Ponder If I don't change, my sobriety date will.  AA-related 'Alconym' *C H ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 14, 2018* *Lost Faith* Sometimes A.A, comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have tried faith and found it wanting. They have tried the way of faith and the way of no faith. Since both ways have proved bitterly disappointing, they have concluded there is no place whatever for them to go. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 28 Thought to Ponder Hope leads to faith if you l ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 13, 2018* *A Spiritual Experience* On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything necessary. His wife came, scarcely daring to be hopeful, though she thought she saw something different about her husband already. He had begun to have a spiritual experience. That afternoon he put on his clothes and walked from the hospital a free man. - Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 158 Thought ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 12, 2018* *Prayer* All of us, without exception, pass through times when we can pray only with the greatest exertion of will. Occasionally we go even further than this. We are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray. When these things happen we should not think too ill of ourselves. We should simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we know to be good for us. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 105 Thought to Ponder Tr ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 11, 2018* *Step Three* All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: “This is the way to a faith that works.” - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 34 Thought to Ponder Faith makes the impossible possible.  AA-related 'Alconym' * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 10, 2018* *Obsession*Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt—and one more failure. - Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 151 Thought to PonderWithin our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession.  AA-related 'Alconym'*H O P E*  =  *H* ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 9, 2018 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Fellowship*Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. - Preamble, The AA Grapevine, Inc. Thought to PonderIn AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without receiving, or receive without giving. AA-related 'Alconym'*F E L L O W S H I P*  =  *F*aith, *E*m ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 8, 2018* *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, p. 107 Thought to PonderCourage is not the absence of fear, but taking the action in spite of the fear.  AA-related 'Alconym'*F E A R*  =  *F*ace *E*verything *A*nd *R*ecover. Thanks to all of you ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 7, 2018* *Consequences*But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened. We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what the terrific consequences might be.- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 37 Thought to PonderWhen I choose the behavior, I choose t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 6, 2018* *Excuses*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, p. 23 Thought to PonderInsanity is doing the same thing over and ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 5, 2018* *Entire Abstinence*All these, and many others, have one symptom in common: they cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving. This phenomenon, as we have suggested, may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity. It has never been, by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently eradicated. The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence.- Alcohol ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day*(courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 4, 2018* *Our Traditions*We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. The "12 Traditions" of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.’s believe, the best answers that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, "How can A.A. best function?" and, "How can A.A. best stay whole and so survive?"- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 561 Thought to PonderThe Steps help me live wi ...Continue Reading