AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 8, 2025  GuidanceWe discover that we do receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms. Almost any experienced A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 104 - 105  Thought to Ponder . . .The Three "P's" -- ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 7, 2025  Controlled DrinkingWe do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) pp. 31 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 6, 2025  Spiritual ConditionIt is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done."- Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)January 5, 2025~ Scroll Down for Share ~  To Run the ShowMost people try to live by self-propulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Ho ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 4, 2025  Again and AgainWe have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.’’ Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 33  Thought to Ponder . . .When we try to control our drinki ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 3, 2025  Depth and WeightFrothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves, if they are to re-create their lives.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Doctor's Opinion) p. xxviii  Thought to Ponder . . .Hope leads to faith if you let it.  AA-related 'Alconym'A B C  =   Acceptance, Belief ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 2, 2025  A.A.'s MessageThis brought a rush of 800 frantic inquiries into the little New York office which meanwhile had been established. Each inquiry was painstakingly answered; pamphlets and books were sent out. Businessmen, traveling out of existing groups, were referred to these prospective newcomers. New groups started up and it was found, to the astonishment of everyone, that A.A.’s message could be transmitted in the mail as well as by word of mouth.- Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 1, 2025  A Higher PowerIn Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) pp. 108 - 109  Thought to Ponder . . .Relationships are built with communication; so we pray.  AA-related 'Alconym'A S A P  =   Always Say ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 31, 2024  Tradition One - UnityThe unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, “What a great thing A.A. might h ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 30, 2024  Problems Pile UpThese allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Doctor's Opinion) p. xxviii  Thought to Ponder . . .The gritty pain of alcoholism is the traction of recovery.  AA-re ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)December 29, 2024~ Scroll Down for Share ~  Old, Insidious InsanityUnless he took some drinks, he might not have the courage to scrape an acquaintance and would have a lonely week-end. Of course he couldn't drink, but why not sit hopefully at a table, a bottle of ginger ale before him? After all, had he not been sober six months now? Perhaps he could handle, say, three drinks—no more! Fear gripped him. He was on thin ice. Again it was the old, insidious insanity—that fir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 28, 2024  ResentmentsFew people have been more victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 90  Thought to Ponder . . . ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 27, 2024  No FightShortly afterward I came home drunk. There had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I simply didn’t know. It hadn't even come to mind. Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy? I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective seemed near being just that.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 5  Thought to Ponder . . .We are without defense against the first drink.  AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 26, 2024  InvestigationWhile the purpose of making restitution to others is paramount, it is equally necessary that we extricate from an examination of our personal relations every bit of information about ourselves and our fundamental difficulties that we can. Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation could yield more satisfying and valuable rewa ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 25, 2024  Radiance of This PrayerWe treasure our "Serenity Prayer" because it brings a new light to us that can dissipate our oldtime and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves. In the radiance of this prayer we see that defeat, rightly accepted, need be no disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than the ...Continue Reading