*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 28, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Fear For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a stepping-stone to prudence and to a decent respect for others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate.  And the more we have of respect and justice, the more we shall begin to find the love which can suffer much, and yet be freely given. So fear need not always be destructive, becau ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 27, 2014* *Home Group* *This is where the AA member begins to learn about the /how/ of Alcoholics Anonymous. By selecting a home group, the newcomer begins to feel like he belongs somewhere. He begins to know people and let people know him. He feels safe in this meeting because he knows everyone's story and where they came from. He gets to watch people come and go, so he can see what works and what doesn't work. He develops close friendships and when the se ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 26, 2014* *Different* *I cannot consider myself "different" in AA; if I do I isolate myself from others and from contact with my Higher Power. If I feel isolated in AA, it is not something for which others are responsible. It is something I've created by feeling I'm "different" in some way. Today I practice being just another alcoholic in the worldwide Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 58 *Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 25, 2014* *Let Go* *Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it -- then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked.  We thought we could find an easier, softer way.  But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very s ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 24, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ "Dry Drunk" A dry drunk is a period of temporary insanity for the sober alcoholic. Step Two says: "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." A dry drunk is a self-imposed separation from others and from God. We try to run on our own current, like a battery without a generator, which soon runs down and becomes quite dead.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 23, 2014* *Surrender* *When alcohol influenced every facet of my life, when bottles became the symbol of all my self-indulgence and permissiveness, when I came to realize that, by myself, I could do nothing to overcome the power of alcohol, I realized I had no recourse except surrender. In surrender I found victory -- victory over my selfish self-indulgence, victory over my resistance to life as it was given to me.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 14 *Thought t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 22, 2014* *Right Living* *Service, gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we need ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 21, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ No Regrets The spiritual life is not a theory.  /We have to live it. . ./ If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 83 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.* *AA-relat ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 20, 2014* *Confusion* *I began to question my new beliefs too much -- I began to panic.  I began to read beyond AA's literature for answers. . . before I had read too much about the subject of spiritual beliefs, I realized I was asking too much too soon. Wisely, I left the philosophy books to minds more capable than mine. I could not risk further mental confusion.  I returned to the teachings of AA, which had already saved me from a life of tormen ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 20, 2014* *Confusion* *I began to question my new beliefs too much -- I began to panic.  I began to read beyond AA's literature for answers. . . before I had read too much about the subject of spiritual beliefs, I realized I was asking too much too soon. Wisely, I left the philosophy books to minds more capable than mine. I could not risk further mental confusion.  I returned to the teachings of AA, which had already saved me from a life of tormen ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 19, 2014* *Emotional Sobriety* *Tying our sobriety to someone we are emotionally involved with proves flatly disastrous. "I'll stay sober if so-and-so does this or that" puts an unhealthy condition on our recovery. We have to stay sober for ourselves, no matter what other people do or fail to do. . . We need to cool /any/ overboard feeling, lest it flip us back into the drink. * /- Living Sober,/ p. 62 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Formula for fail ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 18, 2014* *Truth* *As I began to look more closely, I noticed serious flaws: I was an alcoholic; I was neurotic; I was brimful of character defects. But these were things that, in time and with help, could be dealt with. No longer did I have to run with nightmarish terror from an inner monster. I had seen the truth, and the truth had freed me to do less hiding and more seeking.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. 134 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I c ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 17, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Turning Point Half measures availed us nothing.  We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 59 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Life will take on new meaning.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **H O P E** = **H**eart **O**pen; **P**lease **E**nter. ** *A Member Shares: Hi, I'm Peter, and I'm an alcoholic.  That's a great passage.  Really is t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 16, 2014* *Fellowship* *I began to develop a sense of trust in the AA group and in the ideals of the Fellowship as a manifestation of a Power greater than myself. Although for many years I did not come to an acceptance of a God who intervened personally and directly in the lives of individuals, I was able to accept the idea of a force that moved in the rooms and animated AA members with a sense of unconditional love. That satisfied my spiritual needs for a ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *September 15, 2014* *Fact* *Somehow our bodies had reached the point where we could no longer absorb alcohol in our systems. The /why/ is not important, the /fact/ is that one drink will set up a reaction in our system that requires more, that one drink is too many and a hundred drinks are not enough.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 355 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Alcohol -- cunning, baffling, powerful!* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**bsolute **A**bstinenc ...Continue Reading