*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 24, 2015* *Courage* *Before we could recognize the illness in ourselves, we had to unload this tired old myth: It would be a sign of shameful weakness to admit that we couldn't handle the sauce any more (if we ever could). Weakness?  Actually, it takes considerable courage to stare unblinkingly at the hard truth, sparing nothing, without excuses, and without kidding ourselves.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 72 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If I have the courage to be ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 23, 2015* *Righteous Indignation* *The positive value of righteous indignation is theoretical -- especially for alcoholics. It leaves every one of us open to the rationalization that we may be as angry as we like provided we can claim to be righteous about it.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 58 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Those who anger me, conquer me.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A N G E R* = **A** **N**egative **G**rudge **E**ndangers **R**ecovery. Thanks to al ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 22, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Concept My friend suggested what seemed then a novel idea.  He said, /"Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"/  That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 12 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Take a walk with God.  He will meet you at the Steps.* *AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 21, 2015* *No Middle-of-the-Road* *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.* /- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 20, 2015* *Fellowship* *I have had my share of problems, heartaches, and disappointments because that is life, but also I have known a great deal of joy and a peace that is the handmaiden of an inner freedom. I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 276 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 19, 2015* *Silent Revolution* *Gradually, in a manner I cannot explain, I began to re-examine the beliefs I had thought beyond criticism. Almost imperceptibly my whole attitude toward life underwent a silent revolution.  I lost many worries and gained confidence. I found myself saying and thinking things that a short time ago I would have condemned as platitudes! A belief in the basic spirituality of life has grown and with it belief in a supreme and guidi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 18, 2015* *The Helmsman* *Having seen for myself that my own navigation served only to slam my boat up against shoals, I have at last become willing to turn the steering over to a more adept helmsman.  The decision is clear. Tomorrow I may be drunk.  But today I have the tired peace that comes from doing the things you have to do when you turn the wheel over to a mariner who knows that way across, but makes you work with him through every inch of the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 17, 2015* *Control* *We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic /ever/ recovers control. . . We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p.30 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control.* *AA-related 'Alcony ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 16, 2015* *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 they can be loved "warts and all.". . . It is where they begin to adopt the guiding principles of AA as working realities in their own sober lives.* /- The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA,/ Preface *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The Three M's: Meeting makers make it.* *AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 15, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Anger If we were to live, we had to be free of anger.  The grouch and the sudden rage were not for us. Anger is the dubious luxury of normal men, but for us alcoholics it is poison.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Anger rules nothing except itself.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A A** = **A**void **A**nger. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Greg W., an alcoholic.  Before I stopped drinking and came t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 14, 2015* *Forgiveness* *I must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in my heart. I do this not for the other persons' sake, but for my own sake. Resentment, anger, or a desire to see someone punished, are things that rot my soul. Such things fasten my troubles to me with chains. They tie me to other problems that have nothing to do with my original problem.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 88 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Forgiveness of oth ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 13, 2015* *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. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 12, 2015* *Cured?* *I was cured.  Three years later I found that there is no cure.  I had forgotten that 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 Shar ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 11, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Letting Go 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 Believe . . .,/ p. 41 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Get a grip on lett ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 10, 2015* *Willfulness* *And so I "made a decision" to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him. . . I am not saying that for me the Third Step has been completed. My willfulness is still very much a part of me and may always be a stumbling block to progress in my life. So I will have to stay very close to AA, where my strength lies. I am so full of human frailty that I think it is a miracle I am here today at all.  It ...Continue Reading