*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 10, 2015* *Self-righteousness* *The perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one permeates human affairs from top to bottom. This subtle and elusive kind of self-righteousness can underlie the smallest act or thought. Learning daily to spot, admit, and correct flaws is the essence of character-building and good living.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 17 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 9, 2015* *Baggage* *I have more than enough to handle today, without dragging along yesterday's baggage too. I must balance today's books, if I am to have a chance tomorrow. So I ask myself if I have erred and how can I avoid repeating that particular behavior. Did I hurt anyone, did I help anyone, and why? Some of today is bound to spill over into tomorrow, but most of it need not if I make an honest daily inventory.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 287 *Thought ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 8, 2015* *Action* *In shame and despair, I went to my first AA meeting.  By some minor miracle, I was able to suspend opinion, analysis, judgment, and criticism, and instead to listen and hear. I heard someone say that AA works for those who work for it, those who put action into the program. . . I heard that I should forget about yesterday and instead concentrate on today and staying away from the first drink today -- now. I tried it and it worked.* /- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 7, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Meeting Adversity Our spiritual and emotional growth in AA does not depend so much upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. . . We AA's have had no better teacher than Old Man Adversity, except in those cases where we refuse to let him teach us.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 184 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *There is no education like adversity. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . *S W A T** = **S**urrender, **W**illingness, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 6, 2015* *A Habit of Gratitude* *It will come as a pleasant surprise to discover that it is not difficult to develop the habit of gratitude if we just make some effort. Many of us were reluctant to try.  But the results, we have to admit, did speak for themselves.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 48 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *T H I N K* = **T**he **H**appiness **I** **N* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 5, 2015* *Cured?* *I was cured.  Three years later, I found that there is no cure.  I had forgotten I am an alcoholic. . . I've learned once more that the decision as to whether I lead a life of repeated wrong steps and steady declination of reputation and character, or a life whereby I gain respect from others and consequently regain my own self-respect, boils down to the one choice: whether or not I take that first drink.* /- Thank You For Sharing ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 4, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Family Disease It is important for me to realize that, as an alcoholic, I not only hurt myself, but also those around me. Making amends to my family, and to the families of alcoholics still suffering, will always be important. Understanding the havoc I created and trying to repair the destruction, will be a lifelong endeavor. The example of my sobriety may give others hope, and faith to help themselves.* /- Daily Reflectio ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 3, 2015* *Inventory* *The emphasis on inventory is heavy only because a great many if us have never acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and sometimes hours spent in self-examination are bound to make all the other hours of our day better and happier.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 89-90 *Th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 2, 2015* *Rewards* *Most importantly, I know who I am.  I know my goals, dreams and boundaries, and I know how to protect, nurture, and validate them. Those are the true rewards of sobriety, and they're what I was looking for all along. I am so grateful that my Higher Power stepped in to show me the way to the truth.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 327 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Gratitude is not a word in AA.  It's an action.* *AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 2, 2015* *Rewards* *Most importantly, I know who I am.  I know my goals, dreams and boundaries, and I know how to protect, nurture, and validate them. Those are the true rewards of sobriety, and they're what I was looking for all along. I am so grateful that my Higher Power stepped in to show me the way to the truth.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 327 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Gratitude is not a word in AA.  It's an action.* *AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *October 1, 2015* *Promises* *We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.  We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.  No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.  That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.  Self-seeki ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 30, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Attitudes After we come into AA, if we go on growing, our attitudes toward security -- emotional security and financial security -- commence to change profoundly.  Our demand for emotional security, for our own way, had constantly thrown us into unworkable relations with other people. Though were sometimes quite unconscious of this, the result always had been the same.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 115 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 29, 2015* *A New Dimension* *Now I was to plunge into the dark, joining that endless procession of sots who had gone before. I thought of my poor wife.  There had been much happiness after all. What would I give to make amends.  But that was over now. No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions.  I had been overwhelmed.  Alcohol was my master. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 28, 2015* *Prayer* *I have had to discard all the thoughts and beliefs that were once there.  I gave them up reluctantly. I didn't want to believe in God, but through AA I got to a point where I had to. Now I believe it to be the strongest force on earth -- if the quietest.  You don't have to be aware of power. It doesn't have to be loud, like a hurricane. . . Before AA, I wanted more than anything else to get sober. That was a positive thought, a ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 27, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Pride If God can solve the age-old riddle of alcoholism, He can solve your problems too. We wives found that, like everybody else, we were afflicted with pride, self-pity, vanity and all the things which go to make up the self-centered person; and we were not above selfishness or dishonesty.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 116 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *False pride became the reverse side that ruinous coin marked "Fea ...Continue Reading