AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 12, 2024  Progress is Our Aim"Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be consumed by maudlin guilt for failure to achieve His likeness and image by Thursday next. Progress is our aim, and His perfection is the beacon, light-years away, that draws us on."- As Bill Sees It, No. 15  Thought to Ponder . . .Sobriety is not a destination, but an everlasting journey.  AA-related 'Alconym'A B C  =   Accep ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 11, 2024  First AcceptedWe know that little good can come to any alcoholic who joins A.A. unless he has first accepted his devastating weakness and all its consequences. Until he so humbles himself, his sobriety—if any—will be precarious. Of real happiness he will find none at all. Proved beyond doubt by an immense experience, this is one of the facts of A.A. life.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 21  Thought to Ponder . . .The Three A's . ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 10, 2024  An UnderstandingStrangely enough, wives, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor.But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 9, 2024  It Engulfs AllBut not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents—anyone can increase the list.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 18  Thought to Ponder . . .Right acti ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 8, 2024 My apologies for the late arrival of your Daily Thought today.  ChoiceThe 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 of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.- ~Alcoholics Anonymous ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 7, 2024  ProblemsWe have been talking about problems because we are problem people who have found a way up and out, and who wish to share our knowledge of that way with all who can use it. For it is only by accepting and solving our problems that we can begin to get right with ourselves and with the world about us, and with Him who presides over us all.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 125  Thought to Ponder . . .We need to share our pr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 6, 2024  Thoroughly FollowedRarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 58  Thought to Ponder . . .The Three A's .. Awareness, Acceptance, Action.  AA-related 'Alconym'A C T  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 5, 2024  IndispensableMost emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program.Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are ind ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 4, 2024  Inventory of My BlessingsOne exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine -- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of liv ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 3, 2024  A GlimpseThe moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 105 &nbs ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 2, 2024  DefectsSelf-righteous anger also can be very enjoyable. In a perverse way we can actually take satisfaction from the fact that many people annoy us, for it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (S ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 1, 2024  Building an ArchReturning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better. Taking this book down from our shelf we turn to the page which contains the twelve steps. Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last.- Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 30, 2024  HarmonyCourtesy, kindness, justice, and love are the keynotes by which we may come into harmony with practically anybody. When in doubt we can always pause, saying, "Not my will, but Thine, be done." And we can often ask ourselves, "Am I doing to others as I would have them do to me—today?"- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 93  Thought to Ponder . . .The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Considerati ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 29, 2024  Tradition Eleven“Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.” To us, however, it represents far more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.- ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 28, 2024  A Full and Thankful HeartI try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.- As Bill Sees It, (A Full and Thankful Heart) No. 37  Thought to Ponder . . .When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.  AA-related 'Alconym'H J F  =   Happy, Joyous, ...Continue Reading