*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 4, 2016* *Red Flags* Many years later, although alcohol is not a part of my life and I no longer have the compulsion to drink, it can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me, from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds right down to my stretched out tingling toes. As my sponsor used to point out, such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right, that I am stretched beyond my sober limit. It's time to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 4, 2016* *Red Flags* Many years later, although alcohol is not a part of my life and I no longer have the compulsion to drink, it can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me, from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds right down to my stretched out tingling toes. As my sponsor used to point out, such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right, that I am stretched beyond my sober limit. It's time to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 3, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Love and Tolerance* /"Love and tolerance of others is our code." - Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 84 *Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong. When this happens, we approach true tolerance and we see what real love for our fellows actually means.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 203 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Let us always love the best in oth ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 2, 2016* *Step Four* */"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."/ Step Four is our vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are. We want to find exactly how, when, and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 1, 2016* *"Conditions"* *We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found we couldn't to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 47 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Make a change, move a muscle.* *AA-related 'Alcony ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 31, 2016* *Hangovers* *Few people who have ever had a hangover could forget how unreasonably irritable it makes you feel. Sometimes, we took it out on family members, fellow workers, friends, or strangers who had certainly not earned our displeasure. That tendency can hang around awhile after we start staying sober, the way wraiths of stale smoke do in a closed-up barroom, reminding us of drinking days -- until we do a good mental housecleaning.* /- Living Sobe ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 30, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Change The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 115 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Learn to change, change to learn. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *A B C** = **A**cceptance, **B**eliief,**C**hange. ** *A Member Shares: Hi all, I'm Deb, and I am an alcoholic.  I still get a good chuckle at r ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 29, 2016* *Facing Challenges* *Life is meant to be lived by facing the challenges it brings.  Otherwise, I'm not living, just existing. God didn't give me this gift of sobriety to sit in a rocking chair, imagining myself as some wise old woman who has arrived somewhere. There is no easier, softer way. . . The teaching I receive in Alcoholics Anonymous about courage and love helps me to continue to grapple with the challenges of life as they are given to me ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 28, 2016* *In His Hands* *Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have -- the key to life and happiness for others.  With it you can avert death and misery for them.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 124 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**wesome. Thanks to all of you ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 27, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Tolerance Learning how to live in the greatest peace, partnership, and brotherhood with all men and women of whatever description, is a moving and fascinating adventure.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 145 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Love and tolerance of others is our code. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *P U T** = **P**atience, **U**nderstanding,**T**olerance. ** *A Member Shares: Lance here, an alcoholic.  Someone once said the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 26, 2016* *Spirituality* *I finally began to separate the religious aspects of my life from AA's spiritual program. Now the big difference to me is that religion is the ritual, and we all differ there, and spirituality is the way we feel about what we do. It's about my personal contact with my personal Higher Power, as I understand Him.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 406 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Spirituality is the essence of being.  It can shape reality ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 25, 2016* *Willpower* *It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we begin to use it rightly. . . /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./* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 40 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I can't do His will my way.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *W H O* = **W**illingness, **H**on ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 24, 2016* *Depressions* *My depressions are mostly brought on by frustration, fear of the future, self-pity, rage at my lot in life, but above all /fear./ AA has taught me that I will not be asked to bear more than I can, regardless of what I think, but that I am responsible for reporting for duty and making the effort to overcome the adversity, and in so doing to overcome myself, which is my first responsibility.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. 56 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 23, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Tradition Two /"For our group purpose there is one ultimate authority -- a loving God as He may express Himself in our Group Conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern."/ We A.A.'s have learned this principle the hard way. Few obstacles have been tougher to remove than those which blocked the way to realization that A.A.'s group conscience can be the only ultimate authority in our affairs. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 22, 2016* *Changing Attitudes* *I realize that blaming myself for all the trouble in my life can be an ego trip back into powerlessness. Asking for help and listening deeply to the messages inherent in the Steps and Traditions of the program make it possible to change those attitudes which delay my recovery.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 35 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Attitudes are contagious.  Is yours worth catching? * *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = ...Continue Reading