*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 2, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Balance* The quick inventory is aimed at our daily ups and downs, especially those where people or new events throw us off balance and tempt us to make mistakes. /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 91 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Once we understand ourselves, the rest of living falls in line. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *B A T H* = **B**alance, **A**ction, **T**hinking, **H**abits. ** *A Member Shares:* Hi all, I'm Lori ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 1, 2016* *“Justifiable” Anger* It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong /with us./ If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule?  What about “justifiable” anger? If somebody cheats us, aren’t we entitled to be mad? Can’t we be properly angry with self-righteous folk?  For us of AA these are dangerous exceptions. We have fou ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 30, 2016* *Amends* To have courage, to be unafraid, are gifts of my recovery. . . . Making amends may require a certain amount of honesty that I feel I lack, yet with the help of God and the wisdom of others, I can reach within and find the strength to act. My amends may be accepted, or they may not, but after they are completed I can walk with a sense of freedom and know that for today, I am responsible. /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 263 *Thought to Ponder . ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 29, 2016* *Practical* I believe that the AA program is simply the will of God being put to practical, everyday use. And I think that the spiritual awakening is the realization that God will help the individual —if the individual is completely honest in his efforts. /- Came to Believe . . .,/ p. 85 *Thought to Ponder . . .* A spiritual awakening is our greatest gift. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *G I F T* = **G**od **I**s **F**orever **T**here. Thanks to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 28, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Action* The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have found a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 17 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Sobriety without action is fantasy. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *A B C* = **A**ction, **B**elief, **C**ontinue. ** *A Member Shares:* Hi! Bates here, an alcoholic ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 27, 2016* *No Cop-outs* We have to keep our sobriety independent of everything else, not entangled with any people, and not hedged in by any cop-outs or conditions. . . Independent, unaffiliated with anything else, our sobriety can grow strong enough to enable us to cope with anything—and everybody. And, as you'll see, we start liking /that/ feeling, too. /- Living Sober,/ p. 64 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Keep your sobriety first to make it last. *AA-relat ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 26, 2016* *A Sturdy Start* We didn’t get sober entirely on our own.  That isn’t the way we learned to stay sober. And the full enjoyment of living sober isn’t a one-person job, either. When we could look, even temporarily, at just a few new ideas different from our old ones, we had already begun to make a sturdy start toward a happy, healthier new life. /- Living Sober,/ p. 73 *Thought to Ponder . . .* I alone can get sober, but I can't get sober alon ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 25, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Resentment But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.  We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.  And with us, to drink is to die.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 66 *Thought to Ponder . . .* * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 24, 2016* *Tornado* 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. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, “Don’t see anything the matter ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 23, 2016* *Fallible* 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. /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 2}, p. 167 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Give me the courage to be imperfect. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A R ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 22, 2016* *Real Willpower* Consider the ways we could manage to get a drink in defiance of all visible possibilities. Merely to get up some mornings—with a rusting cast-iron stomach, all your teeth wearing tiny sweaters, and each hair electrified— takes willpower many nondrinkers rarely dream of. Once you’ve gotten up with your head, on those certain mornings, the ability to carry it all through the day is further evidence of fabulous strength of will. Oh y ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 21, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Self-pity “Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can cut off all effective communication with our fellows because of its inordinate demands for attention and sympathy. It is a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford.”* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 238 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Self-pity is followed by isolation is followed by a drink. AA ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 20, 2016* *Emotional Sobriety* Those adolescent urges that so many of us have for top approval, perfect security, and perfect romance —urges quite appropriate to age seventeen— prove to be an impossible way of life when we are at age forty-seven or fifty-seven. Since AA began, I’ve taken immense wallops in all these areas because of my failure to grow up, emotionally and spiritually. /- The Language of the Heart,/ p. 236 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Growing o ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 19, 2016* *A New Life* Sobriety is only a bare beginning; it is only the first gift of the first awakening. If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life —the one that did not work— for a new life that can and does work under any condition whatever. /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 8 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Life will take on new meaning. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 18, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Our Primary Purpose Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.* /- The AA Grapevine,/ Preamble *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I keep my sobriety by giving it away. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *P R O G R A M** = **P**eople **R**elying **O**n **G**od **R**elaying **A** **M**essage. ** *A Member Shares: Hi everyone, I am Tim, an alcoholic.  When I found AA, my primary purpose was ge ...Continue Reading