*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 16, 2015* *Reality* *Above all, we reject fantasizing and accept reality.  The more I drank, the more I fantasized everything. I imagined getting even for hurts and rejections.  In my mind's eye I played and replayed scenes in which I was plucked magically from the bar where I stood nursing a drink and was instantly exalted to some position of power and prestige.  I lived in a dream world. AA led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 15, 2015* *Self-worth* *I know that I am not a total loss, even when I think I am. I know that freedom and usefulness, love, outgoingness, and sharing are the important things in life. But even more important, I have to care for me and achieve a sense of self-worth. So I continue to listen.  I am still open to suggestions.  I continue on my way.  And I am on my way up.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], pp. 24-25 *Thought to Ponder . . .* * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 14, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Divine Grace I'm still mystified by how I got sober, and the only answer that makes sense is that I stopped drinking through the grace of God. I was thinking about those of us who get sober and those who are still drinking, and I believe the difference is that we have accepted the grace that was offered. Every day, my Higher Power gives me the grace to be sober, and every day I make the choice not to drink, to accept the grace ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 13, 2015* *Infinite Debt* *It is with the deepest feeling that I here cast up AA's debt to the clergy: without their works for us, AA could never have been born; nearly every principle that we use came from them. Their example, their faith, and their beliefs in some part, we have appropriated and made our own. Almost literally, we AAs owe them our lives, our fortunes, and such salvation as each of us has found. Surely, this is an infinite debt!* /- The Language ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 12, 2015* *Truth* *I began with blind faith, but the proof of truth is that /it works./ I believed those who said they had suffered from alcoholism, but, through AA, were now enjoying sobriety. So the truth was there for me to see.  But shortly I knew the truth from my own experience. I was not only released from the compulsion to drink; I was guided toward a compulsion to live!* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 3 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Truth is to inner ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 11, 2015* *Freedom* *I ran into a personal crisis which filled me with a raging and righteous anger. And as I fumed helplessly and planned to get good and drunk and /show them,/ my eye caught a sentence in the book lying open on my bed: "We cannot live with anger." The walls crumpled -- and the light streamed in.  I wasn't trapped.  I wasn't helpless. I was /free,/ and I didn't have to drink to "show them." This wasn't "religio ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 10, 2015* *Blessings* *I started listing the blessings for which I was in no way responsible, beginning with having been born of sound mind and body. I went through seventy-four years of living right up to the present moment. The list ran to two pages, and took two hours to compile; I included health, family, money, AA -- the whole gamut. . . When I remember my gratitude list, it's very hard to conclude that God is picking on me.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 150 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 9, 2015* *Resentments* *I must face the fact that the resentment process is not only fruitless, it is self-defeating. Justified or not, the resentment, and my efforts to bolster its justification, will eat away at my peace of mind and my enjoyment of life. Meanwhile, the person I resent couldn't care less. Here I am burning myself to a crisp over something he or she may not be totally aware of, something I can't change. . . So maybe what I need to do is take a l ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 8, 2015* *"If"* *Alcoholism respects no ifs.  It does not go away, not for a week, for a day, or even for an hour, leaving us nonalcoholic and able to drink again on some special occasion or for some extraordinary reason -- not even if it is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration, or if a big sorrow hits us, or if it rains in Spain or the stars fall on Alabama. Alcoholism is for us unconditional, with no dispensations available at any price.* /- Living ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 7, 2015 ~ 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 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 . . .* *If I self-forget I find.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**ttitu ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 6, 2015* *Traditions* *The Twelve Traditions point straight at many of our individual defects. By implication they ask each of us to lay aside pride and resentment.  They ask for personal as well as group sacrifice. . . The Traditions guarantee the equality of all members and the independence of all groups. They show how we may best relate ourselves to each other and to the world outside. They indicate how we can best function in harmony as a great whole.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 5, 2015* *The Stairway* *It seems clear that we do not have a "stairway to the stars"; what we have is a working, utilitarian stairway of life. We climb it to show our gratitude for sobriety -- to become gracious receivers of this precious gift. And we move down it, too, not merely to meet the newcomer, but as we recommit ourselves in surrender to our Higher Power again and again. As we meditate, pray, and seek greater conscious contact with God as we ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 4, 2015* *Motives* *Among AA's there is still a vast amount of mix-up respecting what is material and what is spiritual. I prefer to believe that it is all a matter of motive. If we use our worldly possessions too selfishly, then we are materialists. But if we share these possessions in helpfulness to others, then the material aids the spiritual.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 287 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *How we treat others is a consequence of the depth of our own ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 3, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Tradition Twelve /"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."/ Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as AA members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public. As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe that each of us takes part in the weaving of a protect ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 2, 2015* *Kindness* *Now is the time, the only time there is.  And if we are not kind to ourselves right now, we certainly cannot rightfully expect respect or consideration from others. We have found we can enjoy, sober, every good thing we enjoyed while drinking -- and many, many more. It takes a little practice, but the rewards more than make up for the effort.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 42 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *There is only one corner of the universe I ...Continue Reading