*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 4, 2014* *Open-mindedness* *Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 48 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Keep an open mind.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *W H O* = **W**illingness, **H**onesty, **O**pen-mindedness. Thanks to all of you for sharing so ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 3, 2014* *Paradox* *4. WE DIE TO LIVE. That is a beautiful paradox straight out of the Biblical idea of being "born again" or "in losing one's life to find it."  When we work at our Twelve Steps, the old life of guzzling and fuzzy thinking, and all that goes with it, gradually dies, and we acquire a different and a better way of life. As our shortcomings are removed, one life of us dies, and another life of us lives. We in AA die to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 2, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Service While practicing service to others, if my successes rise to grandiosity, I must reflect on what brought me to this point. What has been given joyfully, with love, must be passed on without reservation and without expectation. For as I grow, I find that no matter how much I give with love, I receive much more in spirit.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 279 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Service is gratitude in action.* *AA- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 1, 2014* *Paradox* *3. WE SUFFER TO GET WELL. There is no way to escape the terrible suffering of remorse and regret and shame and embarrassment which starts us on the road to getting well from our affliction. There is no new way to shake out a hangover.  It's painful.  And for us, necessarily so. . . We suffer to get well.* /- Experience, Strength & Hope,/ p. 156 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We surrender to win; we give away to keep; we suffer ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 31, 2014* *Paradox* *2. We GIVE AWAY TO KEEP. That seems absurd and untrue. How can you keep something if you give it away? But in order to keep whatever it is we get in AA, we must go about giving it away to others, for no fees or rewards of any kind.* /- Experience, Strength & Hope,/ p. 154 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We surrender to win; we give away to keep; we suffer to get well; we die to live.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *N O W* = **N**o **O**th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 30, 2014* *Paradox* *1. We SURRENDER TO WIN. On the face of it, /surrendering/ certainly does not seem like /winning./ But it is in AA.  Only after we have come to the end of our rope, hit a stone wall in some aspect of our lives beyond which we can go no further; only when we hit "bottom" in despair and surrender, can we accomplish sobriety, which we could never accomplish before. We must, and we do, surrender in order to win.* /- Experience, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 29, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Peace of Mind More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow, or the hereafter.  We were reborn.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 63 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Happiness and peace of mind are always h ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 28, 2014* *Isolation* *Isolation sneaks 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. The nicest way to end it is the way you and I do: together. Reach out -- people can't read your mind. Say /ouc ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 27, 2014* *Housecleaning* *Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk.  Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 72-73 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I cannot mend ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 26, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Acceptance When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer, the problem went away. From that moment on, I have not had a single compulsion to drink. And acceptance is the answer to /all/ my problems today.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 417 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A A** = **A**cknowledge **A**cceptance. * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 25, 2014* *Bankruptcy* *Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it from us. No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 21 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.* *AA-related ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 25, 2014* *Divine Mystery* *My memories no longer fill me with shame and remorse. On the contrary, they fill me with gratitude and joy. My whole story is a sort of divine mystery to me. I don't know how an intelligent human being ever could have got into such a mess, and the more firmly established in sanity I become, the more amazed I am that I ever got out of the mess.* /- Came to Believe . . .,/ pp. 98-99 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I saw, I felt, I believ ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 23, 2014* *Persuasion* *The Twelve Steps of our AA program are not crammed down anybody's throat. They are not sustained by any human authority.  Yet we powerfully unite around them because the truth they contain has saved our lives, has opened the door to a new world. Our experience tells us these universal truths work. The anarchy of the individual yields to their persuasion.* /- The Language of the Heart,/ p. 8 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A new world ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 22, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Big Book In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him. If you have already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser handicaps, you have made a good beginning. That being so you have swallowed and digested some big chunks of truth about yourself.* /- Alcoholics Anon ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 21, 2014* *Not Afraid* *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.  I was not afraid.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 45 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Take the ...Continue Reading