*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 24, 2014* *The Journey* *Sobriety is a journey of joyful discovery. Each day brings new experience, awareness, greater hope, deeper faith, broader tolerance.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 126 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The joy is in the journey, so enjoy the ride.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *AA* = **A**dventurers **A**nonymous. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message. Blessings in sobri ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 23, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Four* /"Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves."/ *Step Four is our vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are. . . Without a willing and persistent effort to do this, there can be little sobriety or contentment for us.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 42-43 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I am responsible for the effort -- not the o ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 22, 2014* *A New Beginning* *I knew I had to have a new beginning, and this beginning had to be here. I had to let go of the past and forget the future. As long as I held on to the past with one hand and grabbed at the future with the other hand I had nothing to hold on to today with.  So I had to begin here, now.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 46 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *My life hereafter is from this moment on.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *S I T* = ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 21, 2014* *Help Others* *Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worthwhile to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have -- the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 124 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Only in giving do we receive in full measure.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Growth Growth and understanding came slowly, but they came steadily. And finally, I could feel gratitude for my sobriety -- for the saving grace of God. Now I feel totally free, because I know the truth about myself. . . I know that spiritual growth is a great, wide, beautiful thing and that I have only stepped up to the open door.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 94 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our grea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Growth Growth and understanding came slowly, but they came steadily. And finally, I could feel gratitude for my sobriety -- for the saving grace of God. Now I feel totally free, because I know the truth about myself. . . I know that spiritual growth is a great, wide, beautiful thing and that I have only stepped up to the open door.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 94 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our grea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 20, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Growth Growth and understanding came slowly, but they came steadily. And finally, I could feel gratitude for my sobriety -- for the saving grace of God. Now I feel totally free, because I know the truth about myself. . . I know that spiritual growth is a great, wide, beautiful thing and that I have only stepped up to the open door.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 94 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our grea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 19, 2014* *Inventory* *When AA suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Both his pride and his fear beat him back every time he tries to look inside himself. Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But the testimony of AA's who have really tried a moral inventory is that pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogeymen, nothing ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 18, 2014* *Alcoholism* *Alcoholism is deadly, ugly, and tough.  It is also cunning, baffling, and powerful. It wants me to consider perfection attainable. . . It wants me to try to fix myself with the right therapist or the right religion. . . It wants me to forget that it is a snake in the brain, hoping to catch my eye, watching, waiting. The gritty pain of alcoholism is the traction of recovery. I cannot afford to sell off the principles for an easier, s ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 17, 2014* *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, because the lessons of its conse ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 16, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Fellowship I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related.  First, through mutual pain and despair, and later through mutual objectives and newfound faith and hope. And, as the years go by, working together, sharing our experiences with one another, and also sharing a mutual trust, understanding, and love -- without strings, without obligatio ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 15, 2014* *Pride* *Some see pride as just a minor issue.  I see pride, and resistance to change, as the deadliest character flaw every alcoholic deals with on a daily basis. The only answer I've ever found in dealing with such a high level of denial, is written about in the Big Book, and can be found in action at just about any AA meeting in the world.* The AA Grapevine, April 2014 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Into action, out of self.* *AA-related 'Alcony ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 14, 2014* *Understanding* *Gradually, however, God began to clear my channels so that real understanding began to come. Then was the time when full realization and acknowledgement came to me. It was realization and acknowledgement of the fact that I was full of self-pity and resentment, realization that I had not fully given my problems to God. /I was still trying to do my own fixing./* /- Experience, Strength and Hope,/ p. 22 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Get it ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 13, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Acceptance And acceptance is the answer to /all/ my problems today. . . Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 417 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A B C** = **A**cceptance, **B**elief, **C**hange. ** *A Member Shares: ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *April 12, 2014* *Inventory* *We want to find exactly how, when, and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction. Without a willing and persistent effort to do this, there can be little sobriety or contentment for us.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 43 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Trust God.&n ...Continue Reading