*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 30, 2017* *It Never Fails* If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails, if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 181 *Tho ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 29, 2017* *Pride* For pride, leading to self-justification, and always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the basic breeder of most human difficulties, the chief block to true progress. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given instincts. /- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions,/ pp. 48 - 49 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Swallowing my pride will not get me dru ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 28, 2017* *The Bright Spot* Life will take on new meaning.  To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends—this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 89 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Get it - Give it - ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 27, 2017* *A Double-Edged Sword* The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process. Few indeed were those who, so assailed, had ever won through in singlehanded combat. It was a statistical fact that alcoholics almost never recovered on their own resources. /- Twelve Steps and ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 26, 2017* *We Asked God* Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done." /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 67 *Thought to P ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 25, 2017* *At Once Followed* 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. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 64 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Delay is the deadliest form of denial. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 24, 2017* *Shortcomings* *I have shortcomings and defects of character.  I never have been and never can be perfect. As that realization became a part of me -- and it took time -- it brought me one of the greatest of the many blessings that have come to me from AA. I learned to accept myself as a fallible human being.  I do not have to strive for perfection. Mistakes are permissible.  I have the right to be wrong.  And what a com ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 23, 2017* *Seeking Humility* We saw we needn't always be bludgeoned and beaten into humility.   It could come quite as much from our voluntary reaching for it as it could from unremitting suffering. A great turning point in our lives came when we sought for humility as something we really wanted, rather than as something we must have. /- Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions,/ p. 75 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Humility is not a station we ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 22, 2017* *Independence* And the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit. /- /Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 36/ *Thought to Ponder . . .* If faith without works is dead; then willingness without action is fantasy. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* H O ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 21, 2017 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Ready* If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.  At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p 58 *Thought to Ponder . . .* The elevator i ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 20, 2017* *Inventory* We did exactly the same thing with our lives. We took stock honestly. First, we searched out the flaws in our make-up which caused our failure. Being convinced that self, manifested in various ways, was what had defeated us, we considered its common manifestations. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 64 *Thought to Ponder . . .* I must walk into darkness to find the light. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* A R T  =  Alway ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 19, 2017* *Our Will* It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation.    Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God's intention for us. /- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions,/ p. 40 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Willpower ... our will-ingness to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 18, 2017* ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ *Rough Going* This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day. Many times I have gone to my old hospital in despair. On talking to a man there, I would be amazingly lifted up and set on my feet. It is a design for living that works in rough going. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 15 *Thought to Ponder . . .* New ideals and new atti ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 17, 2017* *Prayer* Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason.  When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. /- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions,/ p. 97 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Today I pray over the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 16, 2017* *Spiritual Life* For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed.  With us it is just like that. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 14 - 15 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Spiritual progress isn't wha ...Continue Reading