*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 13, 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 drin ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 12, 2016* *Listening* *Sometimes, the body can speak an eloquent language all its own.  I see that in meetings. So coming to regular meetings of AA is a priceless experience for me on a great many levels -- mental, spiritual, social, emotional, and now possibly physical. Listening quietly is already a joy to me, and if it calms me down and lowers my blood pressure in the process, that's just another great reason to keep coming back.* /- Thank You For Shari ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 11, 2016* *A New Perspective* *For some of us, it is easier to slow ourselves down if we have the help of another person. We may be unable to generate our own peace, but sometimes we can make ourselves sit quietly and listen to a friend who has achieved a measure of serenity. Full attention to someone else helps restore our equilibrium and gives us a new perspective on our own lives, so that we may see that they don't /have/ to be a rat race.* /- Living Sober,/ ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 10, 2016* *Progress* *As I peel away the layers of day-to-day expediency, I realize that my zigzag, erratic and inconsistent course was in the general direction of progress all the time.  That's good. What right do I have to expect perfection and efficiency in my spiritual growth when the rest of my life is so full of ups and downs, ins and outs, and backs and forths?  Throughout this whole adventure, the only consistency I have maintained is an absol ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 9, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Belief Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid.  It meant the destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 13-14 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Reliance on God enables me ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 8, 2016* *Purpose* *This latest part of my life has had a purpose, not in great things accomplished, but in daily living. Courage to face each day has replaced the fears and uncertainties of earlier years. Acceptance of things as they are has replaced the old impatient chomping at the bit to conquer the world. I have stopped tilting at windmills and, instead, have tried to accomplish the little daily tasks, unimportant in themselves, but tasks that are an integ ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 7, 2016* *Resentments* *Selfishness -- self-centeredness!  That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that in some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, ar ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 6, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Home Group The home group is where recovery begins; it is where AA members grow up in sobriety by the time-honored process of trial and error, to discover that they can be loved, "warts and all." It is where they learn to put the needs of others, especially the needs of the group, ahead of their own desires. It is where they first have the opportunity to serve others, and where they learn of opportunities to serv ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 5, 2016* *Letting Go* *For a long time, I had the idea that I must succeed, I must be right, I must be important. If I let go, I thought, then I wouldn't be anybody.  Well, who was I, anyway?  Just a willful alcoholic woman. Now I'm beginning to see that letting go doesn't mean giving up.  It means opening myself to new vistas. There have been moments of what I would call ecstasy.  I'm thrilled and I'm scared at the same time.* /- Came To Be ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 4, 2016* *The Lesson* *Above all, AA taught me how to handle sobriety.  I have learned how to relate to people; before AA, I could never do that comfortably without alcohol. I have learned to deal with disappointments and problems that once would have sent me right to the bottle. I have come to realize that the name of the game is not so much to stop drinking as to /stay sober./ Alcoholics can stop drinking in many places and many ways -- but Alcoholics An ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 3, 2016* *Surrender* *It is only when I have experienced enough emotional pain, through failed attempts to fix myself, that I become willing to surrender to God's will for my life. Surrender is like the calm after the storm.  When my will is in line with God's will for me, there is peace within.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 77 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The storm has passed.  I've learned a little more about peace.  It was inside all the time.* * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 2, 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. My God, how painful it is to keep demanding the impossible, and how very p ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 1, 2016* *An Explanation* *I woke up the Saturday morning following the beginners meeting with the answer absolutely clear: Religion was something taught me, acquired, an external experience, while spirituality welled up from within, and required no education, no Torah or Bible, no shaman or priest. I believe my Higher Power led me to this explanation, as it was too clear and bright an idea for so early in the morning!* /- Thank You For Sharing,/ p. 199 *Thoug ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 29, 2016* *A Healthy Respect* *Fear may have originally pushed some of us toward looking into the possibility that we may have a drinking problem. And over a short period, fear alone may help some of us stay away from a drink. But a fearful state is not a very happy or relaxed one to maintain for very long. So we try to develop a healthy respect for the power of alcohol, instead of a fear of it, just as people have a healthy respect for cyanide, iodine, or a ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 28, 2016 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Six* /"Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."/ *Is our work solid so far?  Are the stones properly in place? Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation?  Have we tried to make mortar without sand? If we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at /Step Six./  We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. . . If we still cling to somethi ...Continue Reading