AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 2, 2024The Alcoholics MindWe are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this. These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)January 1, 2024Abnormally FearfulAt heart we had all been abnormally fearful. It mattered little whether we had sat on the shore of life drinking ourselves into forgetfulness or had plunged in recklessly and willfully beyond our depth and ability. The result was the same—all of us had nearly perished in a sea of alcohol. But today, in well-matured A.A.'s, these distorted drives have been restored to something like their true purpose and direction.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Tra ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)December 31, 2023~ Scroll Down for Share ~GratitudeOne way to keep the channel open and to improve my conscious contact with God is to maintain a grateful attitude. On the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in my life. The instant I start cursing things in my life, however, the flow of good stops. God did not interrupt the flow; my own negativity did.- Daily Reflections, (November 6)Thought to PonderThere is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet jo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 30, 2023Reaching For HumilityWe saw we needn't always be bludgeoned and beaten into humility. It could come quite as much from our voluntary reaching for it as it could from unremitting suffering. A great turning point in our lives came when we sought for humility as something we really wanted, rather than as something we must have. It marked the time when we could commence to see the full implication of Step Seven: "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 29, 2023SobrietyGod willing, we members of A.A. may never again have to deal with drinking, but we have to deal with sobriety every day. How do we do it? By learning—through practicing the Twelve Steps and through sharing at meetings—how to cope with the problems that we looked to booze to solve, back in our drinking days.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (To Handle Sobriety) pp. 558 - 559Thought to Ponder . . .Sobriety is the adventure of a lifetime. And it begins the moment ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 28, 2023InspirationBeing still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 87Thought to Ponder . . .Today, my brain has cleared with the g ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 27, 2023UnthinkingThe alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil. We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, "Don’t see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain’t it ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 26, 2023Continue For Our LifetimeThis thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 25, 2023UtopiaFaith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 16Thought to Ponder . . .It is when you act on faith that you actually have it.AA-related 'Alconym'F A I T H  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)December 24, 2023~ Scroll Down for Share ~Never Again!"Personally, I take the attitude that I intend never to drink again. This is somewhat different from saying, 'I will never drink again.' The latter attitude sometimes gets people in trouble because it is undertaking on a personal basis to do what we alcoholics never could do. It is too much an act of will and leaves us too little room for the idea that God will release us from the drink obsession provided we foll ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 23, 2023Strangely InsaneYou may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism for jay-walking, the illustration would fit us exactly. However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It’s strong language—but isn’t it true?- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 38Thought to Ponder . . .Insanity: Whe ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 22, 2023Accurate Self-AppraisalMust A.A.'s spend most of their waking hours drearily rehashing their sins of omission or commission? Well, hardly. The 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 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 21, 2023A 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?"- Alc ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 20, 2023Accurate Unsparing SurveyLearning how to live in the greatest peace, partnership, and brotherhood with all men and women, of whatever description, is a moving and fascinating adventure. Every A.A. has found that he can make little headway in this new adventure of living until he first backtracks and really makes an accurate and unsparing survey of the human wreckage he has left in his wake.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) p. 77Thought to Pon ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)December 19, 2023TroublesOur 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. 114Thought to Ponder . . .Faith is like a muscle, the more we use it, the more it grows.AA-related 'Alconym'F A I ...Continue Reading