*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 3, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Freedom from Bondage "God, I offer myself to thee -- to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will."* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 63 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Prayer is neither black magic nor is it a form of demand note.  Prayer is a relationship.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *P U S H* = **P**ray **U**ntil **S**omething **H**appens. ** *A Me ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 2, 2015* *Step Five* /"Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."/ *Even AA oldtimers, sober for years, often pay dearly for skimping this Step.  They will tell how they tried to carry the load alone; how much they suffered of irritability, anxiety, remorse, and depression; and how, unconsciously seeking relief, they would sometimes accuse their best friends of the very character defects they themselv ...Continue Reading

*The Best of the Grapevine* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 1, 2015* *An Important Milestone* *For many of us, the admission that we are alcoholics was so difficult, painful, embarrassing, and shocking that we arrived in the program just by saying the words "I'm an alcoholic."  Some of us held back, afraid to let the words out. Others of us were defiant, obstinately refusing to be railroaded by a bunch of eager beavers with the Big Book in hand. When the moment of admission finally came, it was a milesto ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 30, 2015* *Anger* *It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong /with us./ If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also.  But are there any exceptions to this rule? What about "justifiable" anger?  If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad? Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk?  For us of AA these are dangerous exceptions. We have ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 30, 2015* *Anger* *It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong /with us./ If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also.  But are there any exceptions to this rule? What about "justifiable" anger?  If somebody cheats us, aren't we entitled to be mad? Can't we be properly angry with self-righteous folk?  For us of AA these are dangerous exceptions. We have ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 29, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Promise We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 84 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**wesome. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Charlie J., and I have Alcoholism.  I don't ever remember talking about this in AA.  All my life I have had so ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 28, 2015* *The Ladder* *No one who drank as I did wakes up on the edge of the abyss one morning and says: Things look pretty scary; I think I'd better stop drinking before I fall in. I was convinced I could go as far as I wanted, and then climb back out when it wasn't any fun anymore. What happened was, I found myself at the bottom of the canyon thinking I'd never see the sun again. AA didn't pull me out of that hole. It did give me the tools to construct a lad ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 27, 2015* *Children of Chaos* *Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely a band of ego-driven individuals. Children of chaos, we have defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and, we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand today.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 26, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Serenity "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.  Thy will, not mine, be done."* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 41 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *K I S S* = **K**eep **I**t **S**erenely **S**imple. ** *A Memb ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 25, 2015* *Centered* *Getting myself into the present centers me.  I've come to believe that God is taking care of me. The relief was swift as I realized I only had to get through the next hour, half-hour, or even ten minutes. It's a miracle how the process works.* /- Thank You For Sharing,/ p. 55 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Every recovery from alcoholism began with one sober hour.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *S I T* = **S**tay **I**n **T**oday. Thanks ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 24, 2015* *Discovery* *By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction. Without a willing and persistent effort to do this, there can be little sobriety or contentment for us. Without a searching and fearless moral inventory, most of us have found that the faith which really works in daily living is still out of reach.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 43 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Recovery is discovery.* *AA-r ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 23, 2015* *Belonging* *We discover -- but can hardly dare to believe right at first -- that /we are not alone./  We are /not/ totally unlike /everybody,/ after all. The brittle shell of protective and fearful egocentricity is cracked open by the honesty of other recovered alcoholics. We sense, almost before we can articulate it, that we do belong somewhere, and the loneliness starts leaking away. Relief is too weak a word to convey our initial feeling. * / ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 22, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Unmanageable The unmanageable aspect is part of day-to-day living and carries in it the trigger for the alcoholic's obsession with drink. All the laws that are at work in the world are going to make every life unmanageable from time to time. But for the alcoholic there is not only an additional danger, but also an additional opportunity. AA offers us a program that can put life's unmanageability into perspective.* /- The Best ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 21, 2015* *Sponsorship* *Sponsorship is a bridge to trusting the human race, the very race we once resigned from. In learning to trust, we are strengthening our sobriety.* The AA Grapevine, February, 1984 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We need trust to combat fear.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**wesome. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message. Blessings in sobriety to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2015* *Action* *The program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy.  But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 42 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What is now proved was once only imagined.* *AA-r ...Continue Reading