*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *July 1, 2014* *Challenges* *There is no easier, softer way. To bring the great escape act into sobriety is to travel with a companion that led me to despair long ago. The teaching I receive in Alcoholics Anonymous about courage and love helps me to continue to grapple with the challenges of life as they are given to me, one day at a time.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 3], p. 320 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The peaks and valleys of my life have become gentle r ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 30, 2014* *Radical Formula* *We AA's tried out a radical and old-time formula, one rather out of fashion nowadays, and it had worked.  "We admitted we were powerless -- that our lives had become unmanageable." and "we made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to God /as we understood Him."/ Every one of us who could make and fairly well maintain this humbling admission and sweeping decision had found relief from obsession and ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 29, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Meditation Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an individual adventure, something which each one of us works out in his own way. But its object is always the same: to improve our conscious contact with God, with His grace, wisdom, and love. And let's always remember that meditation is in reality intensely practical. One of the first fruits is emotional balance.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Tr ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 29, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Meditation Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an individual adventure, something which each one of us works out in his own way. But its object is always the same: to improve our conscious contact with God, with His grace, wisdom, and love. And let's always remember that meditation is in reality intensely practical. One of the first fruits is emotional balance.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Tr ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 28, 2014* *Progress* *Walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen.  When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 100 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Walk softly and carry a Big Book.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *G O D* = **G**ood **O**rderly **D**irection. Thanks to all of ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 27, 2014* *New Friends* *I had found friends -- understanding friends who often knew what I was thinking and feeling better than I knew myself -- and who didn't allow me to retreat into my prison of loneliness and fear over a fancied slight or hurt. Talking things over with them, great floods of enlightenment showed me myself as I really was -- and I was like them.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 206-207 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A friend is one who sees throu ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 26, 2014* *Now* *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. . . Unless we cherish our own recovery, we cannot survive to become unselfish, ethical, and socially resp ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 25, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Willingness The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 115 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *What have I been given today Am I willing to reach out and grasp it?* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **W H O** = **W**illingness, **H**onesty, **O**pen-mindedness. ** *A Member Shares: Hi all, Claudia here, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 24, 2014* *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 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 correction to keep us away from the pull of that first drink. The 24-hour plan is a discipline whose yield i ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 23, 2014* *Inner Resource* *I promise to watch for every opportunity to turn toward my Higher Power for guidance. I know where this power is: it resides within me, as clear as a mountain brook, hidden in the hills -- it is the un-suspected Inner Resource. . . I trust it today and hope it trusts me to make all effort to find the right thought or action today.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 28 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I asked from the heart, and I received.* *AA- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 22, 2014* *Rewards* *The rewards of sobriety are bountiful and as progressive as the disease they counteract. Certainly among these rewards for me are the release from the prison of uniqueness, and the realization that participation in the AA way of life is a blessing and a privilege beyond estimate -- a blessing to live a life free from the pain and degradation of drinking and filled with the joy of useful, sober living, and a privilege to grow in sobriety one ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 21, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Why AA? Life will take on new meaning.  To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends -- this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 89 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Every recovery, though it may go unnoticed, improves the world in some way.* *AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 20, 2014* *Fact* */The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink./* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 24 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The first drink h ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 19, 2014* *Character Defects* *If I drew a line between active alcoholism on one side and life as God wants me to live and has equipped me to on the other, then I'm somewhere in the middle, striving toward the ideal. If I allow my character defects to rule my life again and forget the AA program, forget where the power to change for the better comes from, I will, in the long run, inevitably drink again.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 3], p. 187 *Thought ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *June 18, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Faith We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 55 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **F A I T H** = **F**inding **A**nswers **I**n **T**he **H**ear ...Continue Reading