AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)July 1, 2024  Sane and Sound IdealWe reviewed our own conduct over the years past. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, or inconsiderate? Whom had we hurt? Did we unjustifiably arouse jealousy, suspicion or bitterness? Where were we at fault, what should we have done instead? We got this all down on paper and looked at it. In this way we tried to shape a sane and sound ideal for our future sex life. We subjected each relation to this test—was it selfish or not?- Alcohol ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 30, 2024  A Regular HabitMore experienced people, of course, in all times and places have practiced unsparing self-survey and criticism. For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching becomes a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 88  Thought to Ponder . . .It's not ma ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 29, 2024  Hundreds of ExperiencesWhy does he behave like this? If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it he takes that one drink? Why can’t he stay on the water wagon? What has become of the common sense and will power that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters?- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 22  Thought to Ponder . . .The first ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 28, 2024  Source of PowerThus we grow. And so can you, though you be but one man with this book in your hand. We believe and hope it contains all you will need to begin. We know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself: “I’m jittery and alone. I couldn’t do that.” But you can. You forget that you have just now tapped a source of power much greater than yourself.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 163  Thought to Ponder . . .The task ahead of ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 27, 2024  Thorough InventoryIf we have been thorough about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 70  Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 26, 2024  Cheerfulness and LaughterSo we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 132  Thought to Ponder . . .Laughter is the sound of recovery.  AA-related 'Alconym'H J F  =   Happy, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 25, 2024  Accurate Self-AppraisalThe emphasis on inventory is heavy only because a great many of us have never really acquired the habit of accurate self-appraisal. Once this healthy practice has become grooved, it will be so interesting and profitable that the time it takes won't be missed. For these minutes and sometimes hours spent in self-examination are bound to make all the other hours of our day better and happier.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 24, 2024  Profound Personality ChangeWe also clutch at another wonderful excuse for avoiding an inventory. Our present anxieties and troubles, we cry, are caused by the behavior of other people—people who really need a moral inventory. We firmly believe that if only they’d treat us better, we’d be all right. Therefore we think our indignation is justified and reasonable—that our resentments are the “right kind.” We aren’t the guilty ones. They are!- Twelve Steps and ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 23, 2024  Profound Personality Change"It has often been said of A.A. that we are interested only in alcoholism. That is not true. We have to get over drinking in order to stay alive. But anyone who knows the alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking permanently without undergoing a profound personality change."- As Bill Sees It, (Letter, 1940) No. 1  Thought to Ponder . . .If I don't change, my sobriety dat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 22, 2024  New and Wonderful WorldBoth you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!- Alcoholics Anonymous ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 21, 2024  Repair the DamageNow we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past. We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves. If we haven’t the will to do this, we ask until it comes. Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76  Thought to Ponder . . .Making amends always invol ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 20, 2024  No Exception?"I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang. He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?" "Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are ca ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 19, 2024  A New LifeWe, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, "a design for living" that really works.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 28  Thought to Ponder . . .The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.  AA-related 'Alconym'A A A  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 18, 2024  ControlWe alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 30  Thought to Ponder . . .When we try to contro ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)June 17, 2024  Absolutely Unable to StopBut the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 39  Thought to Ponder . . .Nobody ever found recovery as a result of an intellectual awa ...Continue Reading