*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 21, 2013* *Listening* *Sometimes, the body can speak an eloquent language all its own. I see that and feel that in meetings. So coming to regular meetings of AA is a priceless experience for me in a great many levels -- mental, spiritual, social, emotional, and now possibly physical. Listening quietly is already a joy to me, and if it calms me down and lowers my blood pressure in the process, that's just another great reason to keep coming back.* /- Thank You For ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 20, 2013* *Complacency* *Alcoholism is deadly, ugly, and tough. It is also cunning, baffling, and powerful. . . It wants me to believe that self-indulgence is fine, as long as I call it self-forgiveness. . . 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, softer way.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [ ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 19, 2013 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Three* /"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him."/ *To every worldly and practical-minded beginner, this Step looks hard, even impossible. No matter how much one wishes to try, how /can/ he turn his own will and his own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is? Fortunately, we who have tried it, and with equal misgivings, can tes ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 18, 2013* *Persuasion* *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 . . .* *The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *H O W* = **H**onesty, **O**pen-mindedness, **W**illingness. Thanks to all ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 17, 2013* *Fact* */The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory and 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 has the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 17, 2013* *Fact* */The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory and 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 has the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 16, 2013* *Surprise!* *Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober turns out not to be the grim, wet-blanket experience we had expected! While we were drinking, a life without alcohol seemed like no life at all. but for most members of AA, living sober is /really/ living -- a joyous experience. We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking. One more note: anyone can /get/ sober. We have done it lots of times. The trick is to stay and /live/ sober. That is wh ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 15, 2013 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Anger If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the sudden rage were not for us. Anger is dubious luxury of normal men, but for us it is poison.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Anger is the wind that blows out the light of reason. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . **A A** = **A***void **A**nger. * A Member Shares: I'm Erin, and I'm an alcoholic. This topic seems like a loa ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 14, 2013* *Character Defects* *If I drew a line between active alcoholism on one side and life as God wants me to live it 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) *May 13, 2013* *Forgiveness* *I must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in my heart. I do this not for the other persons' sake, but for my own sake. Resentment, anger, or a desire to see someone punished, are things that rot my soul.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 88 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *To be forgiven we must forgive.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *T U F* = **T**olerance, **U**nderstanding, **F**orgiveness. Thanks to all of you for ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 12, 2013 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A New Freedom 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 . . .* *Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 11, 2013* *Responsibility* *As a recovering alcoholic I need only have two concerns. The first is to maintain my sobriety on a daily basis and to practice the program of AA one day at a time. The second is to ensure that what was here yesterday will be here tomorrow for the next alcoholic who walks through the doors of this Fellowship. And for that I am responsible.* /- Thank You For Sharing,/ p. 181 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Life didn't end when I got sober -- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 10, 2013* *Honesty* *Having trouble with the First Step? Relax. All the program asks is enough honesty to get started -- just what you are capable of at the moment. At the beginning, that's very little honesty. Each day, there will be a little more. It will come. Because, you see, the AA program works for anyone who wants it.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 2], p. 34 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Easy Does It.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *O D A A T* = **O** ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 9, 2013* *Laughter* *Then I began to see the miracles that happen only in AA. People who would nearly crawl in the doors, sick and broken, and who in a few weeks of meetings and not drinking one day at a time would get their health back, find a little job and friends who cared, and then discover a God in their lives. But the most compelling part of AA, the part that made me want to try this sober thing, was the laughter, the pure joy of the laughter that I heard ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *May 8, 2013 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Belief "Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see."* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 3 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I came; I came to; I came to believe. AA-related 'Alconym' . . . **A B C** = **A***cceptance, **B**elief, **C**hange. * A Member Shares: Joannie here and I am an alcoholic. When I first came to Alcoholics Anonymous I had no idea there would be a ...Continue Reading