*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 10, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Wine of Success We must be careful when we begin to achieve some measure of importance and material success. For no people have ever loved personal triumphs more than we have loved them; we drank of success as of a wine which could never fail to make us elated. Blinded by prideful self-confidence, we were apt to play the big shot.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p.19 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The smallest package in the world is a ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 9, 2016* *A Million Potentials* Perfection would limit me; imperfection offers me the freedom of a million potentials. All the excitement and interest and wonder of adventure are mine to explore, ever-new, ever-changing, ever-becoming. Thank God, as a result of AA and sobriety, I am liberated from /dreaming/ the impossible dream and free, finally, to start /living/ the possible dream. /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. 61 *Thought to Ponder . . .* It's ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 8, 2016* *The Here-And-Now* The nondrinking alcoholic discovers in AA that you cannot Get Ahead until you learn to Be Here. We discover from our Serenity Prayer that one of the things we cannot change is time. The Here-and-Now is the only reality.  The active alcoholic tends to live in the future or in the past. The sober alcoholic, using part of the philosophy in his AA experience, lives or strives to live in the present. /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 113 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 7, 2016* *Step Seven* /“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”/ For God to remove our shortcomings, we need to identify the defect for what it is. Thus we attain the humility required by Step Seven. And certainly the most difficult fault to see in ourselves is pride, aptly termed the first deadly sin. /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 3], p. 208 *Thought to Ponder . . .* If I want God to remove my character defects, I'll have to stop doing them. *AA-r ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 6, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Slips It isn’t easy to start over again, to try to be teachable after being one of the teachers, to try to become humble after being successful in AA and a career. I dug out my AA books, the ones I nearly threw out the last time I moved. . . It looks like a slow, uphill process. But at least I no longer feel as if I’m going downhill on a greased slide.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 3], pp. 304-305 *Thought to Ponder . . ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 5, 2016* *Alternatives* If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. /- Alcoholics An ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 4, 2016* *Firecrackers* It occurred to me that we alcoholics are like firecrackers. Yes, when we first go into AA we are like firecrackers with short wicks and when those short wicks get lighted with resentment or self-pity or any of the things that cause us to go off on a tangent, it doesn’t take long before we explode. The longer we go to meetings, the longer the wick becomes. /- Thank You For Sharing,/ p. 61 *Thought to Ponder . . .* RULE #62: "Don't ta ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 3, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Hope Hope is the key that unlocks the door of discouragement. The program promises me that if I do not pick up the first drink today, I will always have hope.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 70 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *H O P E** = **H**eart **O**pen; **P**lease **E**nter. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Steve, an alcoholic.  I d ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 2, 2016* *Revelation* While at my first AA meeting, I heard two things I have never forgotten. The first was “You don’t have to drink again.”  This was a total revelation to me. For a long time I had believed that alcohol was one of the few positive things left in my life. I looked forward to my first drink every evening and thought that alcohol was holding my life together. I had to drink to survive, let alone to have any comfort. Yet here, people who had ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 1, 2016* *Comfort* I let myself be comforted in knowing that my life is now in the hands of my Higher Power, a master craftsman who is shaping each part of my life into a unique work of art. By working my program I can be satisfied, knowing that “in doing the best that we can for today, we are doing all that God asks for us.“ /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 191 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Life will take on new meaning. *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *G O D* = **G**ood * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 30, 2016* *Healing Ourselves* We realize now that we were excessively self-centered, chiefly concerned about /our/ feelings, /our/ problems, other people’s reactions to /us/, and /our/ own past and future. Therefore, trying to get into communication with and to help other people is a recovery measure for us, because it helps take us out of ourselves. Trying to heal ourselves by helping others works, even when it is an insincere gesture. Try it some time. /- Livi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 29, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Belief Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they might mean to you.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 1 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What are you coming to believe?  Belief is a continuing action. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *A B C** = **A**cceptance, **B**elief, **C**hange. ** *A Member Shares: Hiya all, Claudia here, an alcoholic.  AA is not a religi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 28, 2016* *Today* But today is always here.  Life /is/ daily; today is all we have; and anybody can go one day without drinking. First, we try living in the now just in order to stay sober—and it works. Once the idea has become a part of our thinking, we find that living life in 24-hour segments is an effective and satisfying way to handle other matters as well. /- Living Sober,/ p. 7 *Thought to Ponder . . .* Just for today, I choose not to drink. *AA-re ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 27, 2016* *The Journey* My circumstances have steadily improved as my spiritual life grows and matures. Words cannot begin to describe the feelings in my heart as I sometimes ponder how far I’ve come, and how much there is yet to discover. And though I’m not sure where my journey may take me next, I know I’ll owe it to the grace of God and to three words of the Twelve Steps: continue, improve, and practice. Oh, and one more thing they told me: Humility is the ke ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 26, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Grace As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. We all need the light of God’s reality, the nourishment of His strength, and the atmosphere of His grace. To an amazing extent the facts of AA life confirm this ageless truth.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 97-98 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The will of God will never take me where the Grace of God will not protect me. AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading