*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 10, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Control We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn't control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn't make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn't seem to be of real help to other people -- was not a basic solution of these bedevilments more important than whether we should see newsreels of lunar flight? Of course i ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 9, 2014* *Acceptance* *And acceptance is the answer to /all/ my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's world by mistake.  Until I could accept my alcoholism, I ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 8, 2014* *Fudge* *I was brought up in a little Yankee town of about fifty houses, East Dorset, Vermont. I was born under the shadow of a mountain there called Mount Aeolus. An early recollection is one of looking up and seeing that vast and mysterious mountain and wondering what it was and whether I would ever climb that high. But I was presently distracted by my aunt who, as a fourth-birthday present, made me a plate of fudge. For the next thirty-five year ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 7, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Faith If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color, are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those who have religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies. There is no friction among ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 6, 2014* *Habits* *Our drinking was connected with many habits -- big and little. Some of them were thinking habits, or things we felt inside ourselves. Others were doing habits -- things we did, actions we took. In getting used to not drinking, we have found that we needed new habits to take the place of those old ones. . . After we spent a few months practicing these new, sober habits or ways of acting and thinking, they became almost second nature to mos ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 5, 2014* *The Haven* *Hopelessness has been replaced by abundant hope and sincere faith. The people of AA have provided a haven where, if I remain aware and keep my mind quiet enough, my Higher Power leads me to amazing realizations. I find joy in my daily life, in being of service, in simply being. I have found rooms full of wonderful people, and for me each and every one of the Big Book's promises have come true.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 475 *Thoug ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 4, 2014* *Twelve Steps* *Only Twelve Steps.  In a day when we are exposed to fantastic statistics, a mere dozen doesn't seem to rate much. But what is involved in the Twelve Steps makes a great difference. . . That first step is very important, whether it is the first step of a beloved child learning to walk -- or the First Step, taken by a man on his way to a new life. Looking into my little ones' faces, I can see the same qualities the we need for th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 3, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Willingness A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond to moment we again pick up the key of willingness.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 35 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 3, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Willingness A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond to moment we again pick up the key of willingness.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 35 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 2, 2014* *Relief* *At first it was a shock to realize I was an alcoholic, but the realization that there was hope made it easier. The baffling problem of getting drunk when I had every intention of staying sober was simplified. It was a great relief to know I didn't /have/ to drink any more.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous /[Third Edition], p. 379 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Alcohol -- cunning, baffling, powerful!* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *H O P E* = **H**e ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 1, 2014* *Isolation* *Isolation creeps up on us.  We can mask it with familiar props that are not in themselves bad. We can isolate ourselves in an attempt to clean up our apartments (and then not do the cleaning); we can isolate ourselves in churches or in sleep; we can use family, sweethearts, compulsive working, television.  The list is long. Reach out -- people can't read your mind.  Say ouch!  Someone hears.  Always. * /- The B ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 31, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Rule #62 "Don't take yourself too damn seriously."* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 149 *But we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 132 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Take time to laugh -- it is the music of the soul.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **T L C** = **T**ears, **L**au ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 30, 2014* *Essentials* *Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. /Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery.  But these are ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 29, 2014* *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. All of us felt at times we were regaining control, but such intervals -- usually brief -- were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. . . . Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. * /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 30 *T ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *August 28, 2014* *Sunlight* *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. /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./ * /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 12 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I have been ...Continue Reading