AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 16, 2024  Thoroughness and HonestyWe went back through our lives. Nothing counted but thoroughness and honesty. When we were finished we considered it carefully. The first thing apparent was that this world and its people were often quite wrong. To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 65 - 66  Thought to Ponder . . .It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.  AA-related 'Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 15, 2024  Practice These Principles"Sobriety is my sole responsibility. After all, I'm a pretty fine chap, expect for my drinking. Give me sobriety, and I've got it made!" As long as our friend clings to this comfortable alibi, he will make so little progress with his real life problems and responsibilities that he stands in a fair way to get drunk again. This is why A.A.'s Twelfth Step urges that we 'practice these principles in all our affairs.' - As ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 14, 2024  An IllnessContinue to speak of alcoholism as an illness, a fatal malady. Talk about the conditions of body and mind which accompany it. Keep his attention focussed mainly on your personal experience. Explain that many are doomed who never realize their predicament.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 92  Thought to Ponder . . .For his sake, we do recount and almost relive the horrors of our past.  AA-related 'Alconym'E S H  = ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)October 13, 2024~ Scroll Down for Share ~  A Better WayPerhaps there is a better way—we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 68  Thought t ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 12, 2024  Practice These PrinciplesOur basic troubles are the same as everyone else's, but when an honest effort is made "to practice these principles in all our affairs," well-grounded A.A.'s seem to have the ability, by God's grace, to take these troubles in stride and turn them into demonstrations of faith.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114  Thought to Ponder . . .Faith is like a muscle, the more we use it, the more it gr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 11, 2024  Precious QualityIndeed, the attainment of greater humility is the foundation principle of each of A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all. Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they still haven't much chance of becoming truly happy.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 70  Thought to P ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 10, 2024  Soundness of Mind"Sanity" is defined as "soundness of mind." Yet no alcoholic, soberly analyzing his destructive behavior, whether the destruction fell on the dining-room furniture or his own moral fiber, can claim "soundness of mind" for himself. Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us. Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on this Step.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (S ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 9, 2024  Remarkable and UnexpectedAlmost 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. He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does " ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 8, 2024  ExperienceHenry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 124  Thought to Ponder . . .If you want to change who you are, change what you do.  AA-related 'Alconym'A C T  =   Action ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 7, 2024  A Waste of TimeDo not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some ot ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 6, 2024  Misuse of WillpowerIt is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation.Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God's intention for us.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) p. 40  Thought to Ponder . . .I can't do His will my way.  AA-rela ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 5, 2024  Realm of SpiritWe found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 46  Thought to Ponder . . .Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see.  AA-related 'Alconym'F A I T H  =   For All I Trust Hi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 4, 2024  Like a ThunderboltOur friend’s gorge rose as he bitterly cried out: "If there is a God, He certainly hasn’t done anything for me!’’ But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question: "Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?" While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else: "Who are you to say there is no God?& ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 3, 2024  A Strenuous EffortNext we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.- Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)October 2, 2024  First AwakeningI had my first awakening in A.A. The speaker said, "If you’re an apple, you can be the best apple you can be, but you can never be an orange." I was an apple all right, and for the first time I understood that I had spent my life trying to be an orange. I looked around at a room filled with apples and, if I was understanding the speaker, most of them were no longer trying to be oranges.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Window Of Opportuni ...Continue Reading