AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 26, 2024  Your Own ConceptionMy friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?’’ That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 25, 2024  Taking InventoryIf the owner of the business is to be successful, he cannot fool himself about values. We did exactly the same thing with our lives. We took stock honestly. First, we searched out the flaws in our make-up which caused our failure. Being convinced that self, manifested in various ways, was what had defeated us, we considered its common manifestations.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 64  Thought to Ponder . . .Each day, I can as ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 24, 2024  Dry BendersAnger, that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These emotional "dry benders" often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds of disturbances—jealousy, envy, self-pity, or hurt pride—did the same thing. A spot-check inventory taken in the midst of such disturbances can be of very great help in quieting stormy emotions.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 90  Thoug ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 23, 2024  PowerIf a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) pp. 44 - 45  Thou ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 22, 2024  Self-DeceptionDespite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic..- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 31  Thought to Ponder . . .I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic; than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself that ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)July 21, 2024~ Scroll Down for Share ~AngerI know I would never have recovered from violence and alcoholism without A.A.’s 12 Steps, which are uniquely tailored for people like me. Just as importantly I believed I recovered through the grace of a Higher Power, despite the fact I was very angry and wanted nothing to do with God when I arrived in A.A. In fact I did not need to find God. I only needed to open my mind and the spirit found me.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Perpetual ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 20, 2024  Spiritual AwakeningMaybe there are as many definitions of spiritual awakening as there are people who have had them. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others. And these things which they have in common are not too hard to understand. When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided stren ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 19, 2024  HelpfulnessWhile you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little. Now you are getting back into the social life of this world. Don’t start to withdraw again just because your friends drink liquor. Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 102  Thought to Ponder . . .We're not living just ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 18, 2024  A Continuous LookBut when we approach Step Ten we commence to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all conditions? A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real desire to learn and grow by this means, are necessities for us.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 88  Thought to Po ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 17, 2024  Thy Will Be DoneAs we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) pp. 87 - 88  Thought to Ponder . . .Nothing pays off lik ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 16, 2024  The Steps We TookWithout help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find Him now! Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery: . . .- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 59  Thought to Ponder . . .The Steps begin on page 59, the Promises begin on page 83. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 15, 2024  Suffering From An IllnessIf, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 44  Thought to Ponder . . .The ultimate defense against the first drink is a spiritual one.  AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 15, 2024  Suffering From An IllnessIf, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 44  Thought to Ponder . . .The ultimate defense against the first drink is a spiritual one.  AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 14, 2024  Ceased FightingAnd we have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it.- Alcoholics A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 13, 2024  FaithIn 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.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 70 - 71  Thought to Ponder . . .If I have the courage to begin, I have the courage to succeed.   ...Continue Reading