*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 20, 2015* *Discovery* *I figured why I'd been unsuccessful with sobriety in the past.  The answer was on page fifty-eight: "Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program . . ." My problem was not that I could not, because I knew I could; my problem was that I would not. After this discovery, I commenced to follow the program as outlined in the Big Book, and for the first time, I comple ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 19 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Selfishness 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. . . So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making . . . Above all, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us!  God makes that possible.* /- Alcoholics An ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 18, 2015* *Answers* *In thinking about our day we may face indecision.  We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision.  We relax and take it easy.  We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 86 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I asked from the heart, and I received.* *AA-related 'Alco ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 18, 2015* *The First Step* *The First Step and I have always been great friends. I repeated it every five seconds and thanked God each day for my sobriety -- the only grace, maybe, for that day. Gradually, I began to see another part of me emerging -- a grateful me, expecting nothing, but sure that another power was beginning to guide me, counsel me, and direct my ways.  And I was not afraid. . . The adversities, loneliness, sickness, losses, and disappoint ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 16, 2015* *24-Hour Plan* *Getting away from the pull of the first drink is like putting a space vehicle in orbit. It takes a lot of thrust to overcome the initial pull of gravity and get the vehicle off the ground. But once it gets in orbit, all that's required is a small correction from time to time. That's how the 24-hour plan works -- a small daily checkup and corrections to keep us away from the pull of that first drink. The 24-hour plan is a discipline whos ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 15 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Tradition Seven /"Every AA Group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."/* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 160 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The Twelve Steps tell us how it works; the Twelve Traditions tell us why it works.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**live. ** *A Member Shares: Hi, I'm Jocelyn, an alcoholic.  My sponsor always says that giving to th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 14, 2015* *Hope* *Hope is the priceless ingredient for recovery.  This, AA gives, most frequently not in mere words. Upon the alcoholic's first contact with AA, as he looks around the room and sees men and women respectably clothed and in their right minds, enjoying themselves, that flicker of hope begins to burn. And he says to himself, "If those jokers can do it, I can." The first need, beyond any other, is hope.  Without it, there is nothi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 13, 2015* *Making Coffee* *All I thought about as I was making the coffee was making the coffee and how people could enjoy it. At my sponsor's suggestion, I stood near the coffeepot and welcomed everyone who came by. I must have experienced a million smiles in a very short time.  And when I pushed the broom, all I concentrated on was the dust rising from it as I moved across the floor. My troubles were gone for the time that I was doing these things.  ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 12, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Balance Our sponsors come to the rescue.  They can do this, for they are the carriers of AA's experience with Step Four. . . This, the sponsor promptly proves by talking freely and easily, and without exhibitionism, about his own defects, past and present. . . This tends to clear away morbidity and encourage balance.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 46 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A sponsor is someone who holds ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 11, 2015* *Discovery* *It is a positive fact that I shall never attain perfection, but in the attempt I have discovered a new zest for life, a new and more interesting battle every day, and the peace-giving knowledge that at least I am trying something I never experienced before. I believe that man's value to himself is the sum total of his positive reaction to the little things in life.* /- Thank You For Sharing,/ p. 56 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Recovery is d ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 10, 2015* *Just One Day* *Any of us can handle just one day; all each one of us has to try at is our own job, our own family life. We don't have to try fixing up the whole world or understanding what no theologian of any faith has ever understood. We simply stop messing in God's business. And in my opinion, when we stop messing and stop worrying, we /have/ turned our will and our lives over to God (or Good) as we understand (or don't understand) Him.* /- Came To ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 9, 2015* *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 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 8, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Novel Idea My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea.  He said, /"Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"/  That statement hit me hard. . . /It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning./  Would I have it?  Of course I would! Thus I was convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 7, 2015* *Pride* *We alcoholics return to drink more often because of petty difficulties than because of life's serious setbacks and tragedies. The big problems seem to bring out our virtues, petty ones our faults. For God to remove our shortcomings, we need to identify the defect for what it is. . . 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 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 6, 2015* *Children of Chaos* *Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and 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 definitely 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.* /- Twel ...Continue Reading