AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 15, 2022Emphasize and Re-emphasizeBut the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will beabsolutely 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. 39Thought to PonderPride in my intelligence blinded me to how much I did not know.AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 14, 2022Abandoned ThinkingBesides a seeming inability to accept much on faith, we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice. Many of us have been so touchy that even casual reference to spiritual things made us bristle with antagonism. This sort of thinking had to be abandoned. Though some of us resisted, we found no great difficulty in casting aside such feelings.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) pp. 47 - 48Thought ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) Hello Everyone.  I'm not sure what happened with the sending of today's Daily Thought. I've contacted the developer of the program we use to send it and will get him to see if we have a glitch from our move to the new server host.  This has happened once quite a few years ago. So I'm sending it again.  My apologies for the lateness. November 13, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Amends Simply we tell him that we will never get over drinking until w ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 12, 2022 Entire Confidence 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) p. 18 Thought to Ponder Together we can do what we could never do alone. AA-related 'Alconym' E S H  =   Experience, Stre ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 11, 2022 Willpower All of the Twelve Steps require sustained and personal exertion to conform to their principles and so, we trust, to God's will. It 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. - Twe ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 10, 2022 Became Willing “Sure, I was beaten, absolutely licked. My own willpower just wouldn’t work on alcohol. Change of scene, the best efforts of family, friends, doctors, and clergymen got no place with my alcoholism. I simply couldn’t stop drinking, and no human being could seem to do the job for me. But when I became willing to clean house and then asked a Higher Power, God as I understood Him, to give me release, my obsession to drink vanished. It was lif ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 9, 2022 No Defense Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 43 Thought to Ponder I can't, He can, I'll ask Him to. AA-related 'Alconym' F R O G  =   Fully Rely On God. Thank you for sharing so generously ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 8, 2022 Step Eleven Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 59 Thought to Ponder If you want to stay protected, you have to be connected. AA-related 'Alconym' A S A P  =   Always Say A Prayer. Thank you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 8, 2022 Step Eleven Sought through prayer and meditation to improve ourconscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 59 Thought to Ponder If you want to stay protected, you have to be connected. AA-related 'Alconym' A S A P  =   Always Say A Prayer. Thank you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 7, 2022 Our Fellowship We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain’s table. Unlike the feelings of the ship’s passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we g ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 6, 2022 Truth About Ourselves We'd have to have outside help if we were surely to know and admit the truth about ourselves—the help of God and another human being. Only by discussing ourselves, holding back nothing, only by being willing to take advice and accept direction could we set foot on the road to straight thinking, solid honesty, and genuine humility. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 59 Thought to Ponder We need to share our problem ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 5, 2022 Tradition Eleven Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 4, 2022 Enjoying Life We have been speaking to you of serious, sometimes tragic things. We have been dealing with alcohol in its worst aspect. But we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 132 Thought to Ponder Laughter is the sound of recovery. AA-related 'Alconym' H J F  =   Happy, Joyous, Free. Thank&n ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 3, 2022 A Prospect When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all you can about him. If he does not want to stop drinking, don’t waste time trying to persuade him. You may spoil a later opportunity. This advice is given for his family also. They should be patient, realizing they are dealing with a sick person. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 90 Thought to Ponder AA is not for people who need it, it's for people who want it ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 2, 2022 Sanity Returned And 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. - Alcoholi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) November 1, 2022 Attitudes and Actions Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing A.A.'s remaining eleven Steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 24 Thought to Ponder You know you have hit bottom when y ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 31, 2022 Meditation and Prayer Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The 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 sur ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 30, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Sanity One night after a Step Two meeting, I decided to find out what those courageous early members who put our Twelve Steps together really meant by sanity. I was a little surprised to find that my dictionary defined it as the quality of being sound of mind, sound of judgment, reasonable and rational in one's thoughts ... As I sat there mulling over the definition, an idea occurred to me: "This is what I’m to be restored ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 29, 2022 A Real Chance We have learned that the satisfaction of instincts cannot be the sole end and aim of our lives. If we place instincts first, we have got the cart before the horse; we shall be pulled backward into disillusionment. But when we are willing to place spiritual growth first—then and only then do we have a real chance. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114 Thought to Ponder Get it - Give it - Grow in it. AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 28, 2022 Divine Paradox Even the newest of newcomers finds undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him. And then he discovers that by the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has found his own reward, whether his brother has yet received anything or not. - Twelve Steps an ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 27, 2022 Nightly Review When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better?. . .  After making our review we ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 26, 2022 Meditation There's nothing the matter with constructive imagination; all sound achievement rests upon it. After all, no man can build a house until he first envisions a plan for it. Well, meditation is like that, too; it helps to envision our spiritual objective before we try to move toward it. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 100 Thought to Ponder Meditation is our step out into the sun. AA-related 'Alconym' K I S S  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 25, 2022 Practice These Principles The A.A. answer to these questions about living is “Yes, all of these things are possible.” We know this because we see monotony, pain, and even calamity turned to good use by those who keep on trying to practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps. And if these are facts of life for the many alcoholics who have recovered in A.A., they can become the facts of life for many more. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 112 Though ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 24, 2022 Causes and Conditions Next 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. - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 23, 2022 More Urgent If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed in stark relief those experiences we'd rather not remember, if we have come to know how wrong thinking and action have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 55 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) October 22, 2022 Results of Prayer In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 104 Thought to Po ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 21, 2022 Our First Need We had to see that when we harbored grudges and planned revenge for such defeats, we were really beating ourselves with the club of anger we had intended to use on others. We learned that if we were seriously disturbed, our first need was to quiet that disturbance, regardless of who or what we thought caused it. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder The road to resentment is paved with expectations. AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 20, 2022 Spiritual Experience Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the "educational variety" because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 19, 2022 We Searched If 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 ask God to re ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 18, 2022 Blessings Having so considered our day, not omitting to take due note of things well done, and having searched our hearts with neither fear nor favor, we can truly thank God for the blessings we have received and sleep in good conscience. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 95 Thought to Ponder Gratitude is a most effective painkiller for the alcoholic. AA-related 'Alconym' B E S T  =   Been Enjoying Sobriety Today? Thank&nbs ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) I am delighted to tell you were are now on a new server with a new hosting company. I will put an update on the website also. (See link below) My deepest apologies for the frustration and mess this has been and that I made the wrong decision on the timing of moving to a new hosting company.  I'm sending out the October 17 Daily Thought again as the old server did not complete the sending to you.  I will be sending out the Daily Thought for Oc ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 16, 2022 Human Failings Let's take a universally recognized list of major human failings—the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. It is not by accident that pride heads the procession. For pride, leading to self-justification, and always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the basic breeder of most human difficulties, the chief block to true progress. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 48 Thought ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 15, 2022 Humility Indeed, 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 Ponder Learni ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 14, 2022 Inventory But all who are in the least reasonable will agree upon one point: that there is plenty wrong with us alcoholics about which plenty will have to be done if we are to expect sobriety, progress, and any real ability to cope with life. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 48 Thought to Ponder Without change I am just a non-drinking drunk. AA-related 'Alconym' H O W  =   Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness. Thank  ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 13, 2022 Insanely Trivial Excuse But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 37 Thought to Ponder The first drink has the l ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 12, 2022 Emotional Hangover When a drunk has a terrific hangover because he drank heavily yesterday, he cannot live well today. But there is another kind of hangover which we all experience whether we are drinking or not. That is the emotional hangover, the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's excesses of negative emotion—anger, fear, jealousy, and the like. If we would live serenely today and tomorrow, we certainly need to eliminate these hangovers ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 10, 2022 Due to this massive problem with the host of our server, over half of our 15K Daily Thoughts are not able to be delivered. They had it fairly well restored and repaired last night however this morning it is totally messed up again. So I'm not able to attempt the sending of the Daily Thought out to our lovely Subscribers again or it will make part of the problem worse. This problem is affecting Yahoo! and aol email addresses the most. Also this makes it so ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 9, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Grant Me Strength "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." We have then completed Step Seven. Now we need more action, without which we find that "Faith without works is dead." ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 8, 2022 /Dearest Reader, I am aware that you are not receiving your Daily Thoughts as you should. My deepest apologies. I am working on a fix, along with our servver provider, with completeing a move to a new server to send your Daily Thought from.  Hopefully this will completely resolve the problems of the past week.  Thank you for your patience and understanding./ A.A.'s Simple Prayer With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 8, 2022 A.A.'s Simple Prayer With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more deeply the inner meaning of A.A.'s simple prayer: God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can. And wisdom to know the difference. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 125 Thought to Ponder Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm. AA-related 'Alconym' H O P E   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 7, 2022 Progress "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' S H A M E  =   Should Have Already Mastere ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 6, 2022 Twisted Relations But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 53 Thought to Ponder Ask yourself, "What would an adult do in this situation?" AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 5, 2022 Humility All of us saw, for example, that we lacked honesty and tolerance, that we were beset at times by attacks of self-pity or delusions of personal grandeur. But while this was a humiliating experience, it didn't necessarily mean that we had yet acquired much actual humility. Though now recognized, our defects were still there. Something had to be done about them. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 58 Thought to Ponder Humility is t ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 4, 2022 Turning Point Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. Remember that we deal with alcohol—cunning, baffling, powerful! Without 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. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 58 - 5 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 3, 2022 Firm Bedrock But upon entering AA we soon take quite another view of this absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 21 Thought to Ponder We surrender to win. AA-related 'Alconym' S W A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 2, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Revolutionary Change They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) October 1, 2022 A Regular Habit More 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 making a ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 30, 2022 Useful to Others Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people’s shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) pp. 19 - 20 Thought to Ponder Love and tolerance of others is our code. AA-related 'Alconym' P U T &nbs ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 29, 2022 Affirmative Action Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action, for it is only by action that we can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God—or, if you like, a Higher Power—into our lives. Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing. We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) p. 34 Thought to Ponder Willpower ... our will ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 28, 2022 Old Threadbare Idea The almost certain consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defense that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 24 Thought to Ponde ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 27, 2022 Individual Strength This lack of anchorage to any permanent values, this blindness to the true purpose of our lives, produced another bad result. For just so long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working faith in a Higher Power impossible. This was true even when we believed that God existed. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Seven) p. 72 Thought to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 26, 2022 Abnormally Fearful At 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 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 25, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Within Us We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 55  Thought to Ponder The power ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 24, 2022 The Great Fact Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 164 Thought to Ponder Trust God. Clean h ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 23, 2022 Resentments Few people have been more victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 90 Thought to Ponder Resentme ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 22, 2022 One Good Look We are certain that our intelligence, backed by willpower, can rightly control our inner lives and guarantee us success in the world we live in. This brave philosophy, wherein each man plays God, sounds good in the speaking, but it still has to meet the acid test: how well does it actually work? One good look in the mirror ought to be answer enough for any alcoholic. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) p. 37 Thought to Pon ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 21, 2022 God’s Help Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 62 Thought to Ponder I can't; God can; I'll ask Him to. AA-related 'Alconym' F R O G  =   Fully Rely On God. Thanks to all of you for sharing so ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 20, 2022 Faith Means Courage The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 68 Thought to Ponder Courage is not the absence of fear, but taking action in ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 19, 2022 Forgiveness This vital Step was also the means by which we began to get the feeling that we could be forgiven, no matter what we had thought or done. Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgiveness was desirable, but it was only when we resolutely tackled Step ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 18, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Faith A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven't been given the truth may die. Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. - As Bill Sees It, No. 13  Thought to Ponder Hope leads to faith if you let it.  AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H  =  Forw ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 17, 2022 Misery Transformed Until now, our lives have been largely devoted to running from pain and problems. We fled from them as from a plague. We never wanted to deal with the fact of suffering. Escape via the bottle was always our solution. Character-building through suffering might be all right for saints, but it certainly didn't appeal to us. Then, in A.A., we looked and listened. Everywhere we saw failure and misery transformed by humility into priceless ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 16, 2022 Inspired Being 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. 87 Thought to Ponder Action without prayer is self-relia ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 15, 2022 Resentments Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done." - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 67 Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 14, 2022 Show Him How Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer him friendship and fellowship. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 95 Thought to Ponder Never become so heavenly that you're no earthly good. AA-related 'Alconym' G R A C E  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 13, 2022 One Short Question We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. "Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?" As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (W ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 12, 2022 A Scant Chance As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could quit on our will power. If anyone questions whether he has entered this dangerous area, let him try leaving liquor alone for one year. If he is a real alcoholic and very far advanced, there is scant chance of success. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 34 Thought to Ponder Alcoholism - Cunning, Baffling, Powerful, Patient. AA-rel ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 11, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Thoroughly Followed Rarely 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 express elevator to sobriety doesn't work -- please use the Step ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 10, 2022 Continuous Action More sobriety brought about by the admission of alcoholism and by attendance at a few meetings is very good indeed, but it is bound to be a far cry from permanent sobriety and a contented, useful life. That is just where the remaining Steps of the A.A. program come in. Nothing short of continuous action upon these as a way of life can bring the much-desired result. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) pp. 39 - 40 Though ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 9, 2022 Acceptance And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Acceptance Was The Answer) p. 417 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 8, 2022 A Key Called Willingness Practicing Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked. All we need is a key, and the decision to swing the door open. There is only one key, and it is called willingness. Once unlocked by willingness, the door opens almost of itself, and looking through it, we shall see a pathway beside which is an inscription. It reads: "This is the way to a faith that works." - Twelve ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 7, 2022 Make A Decision Therefore, we who are alcoholics can consider ourselves fortunate indeed. Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter with the juggernaut of self-will, and has suffered enough under its weight to look for something better. So it is by circumstance rather than any virtue that we have been driven to AA, have admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a H ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 6, 2022 Abundantly Supplied God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists, and practitioners of various kinds. Do not hesitate to take your health problems to such persons. Most of them give freely of themselves, that their fellows may enjoy sound minds and bodies. Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) p. 133 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 5, 2022 Questions In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 50 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 4, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Spiritual Awakening 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 strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not som ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 3, 2022 Everything or Nothing When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be? - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 53 Thought to Ponder I came; I came to; I came to believe. AA-related 'Alconym' B I G  B O O K  =   Believing In God Beats Our Old Kno ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 2, 2022 The Key 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. Understanding is the key to right principles and attitudes, and right action is the key to good living; therefore the joy of good living is the theme of A.A.'s Twelfth Step. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 125 Thought to Ponder Life will take on new meaning. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) September 1, 2022 We Don't Delay Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. This just isn’t so. In some cases the wife will never come back for one reason or another. Remind the prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) pp. 90 - 100 Thought to Ponder Dependence on God is our chief source of strength. AA-related 'Alconym' F R O G   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 31, 2022 We Don't Delay There may be some wrongs we can never fully right. We don’t worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could. Some people cannot be seen—we send them an honest letter. And there may be a valid reason for postponement in some cases. But we don’t delay if it can be avoided. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 83 Thought to Ponder It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to mak ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 30, 2022 Humbly Offered At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time. Treatment seemed wise, for I showed signs of delirium tremens. There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 13 Thought to Ponder Avoidance is n ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 29, 2022 Contribute to Life We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 63 Thought to Ponder We serve God by serving other people. AA-related 'Alconym' A G ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 28, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Yes, I Am One Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-two personal experiences. . . Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing." - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 27, 2022 A Good Beginning In 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 Faith is like a muscle, the more we use it, the more it grows. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 26, 2022 Character-building But whenever we had to choose between character and comfort, the character-building was lost in the dust of our chase after what we thought was happiness. Seldom did we look at character-building as something desirable in itself, something we would like to strive for whether our instinctual needs were met or not. We never thought of making honesty, tolerance, and true love of man and God the daily basis of living. - Twelve Steps and Twe ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 25, 2022 Control We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed. We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 30 Thought to Ponder When we try to control our drink ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 24, 2022 Open Minded Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 48 Thought to Ponder Minds are like parachutes -- they won't work unle ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 23, 2022 Freedom From Fear When, with God’s help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 122 Thought to Ponder Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 22, 2022 Dependence on God When World War II broke out, this spiritual principle had its first major test. A.A.'s entered the services and were scattered all over the world. Would they be able to take discipline, stand up under fire, and endure the monotony and misery of war? Would the kind of dependence they had learned in A.A. carry them through? Well, it did. They had even fewer alcoholic lapses or emotional binges than A.A.'s safe at home did. - Twelve Steps a ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 21, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ To Stay Sober Alcoholics can stop drinking in many places and many ways—but Alcoholics Anonymous offers us a way to stay sober. God 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 da ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 20, 2022 Asking Each Morning We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but the chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 83 Thought to Ponder The Thre ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 19, 2022 Honestly Sought Him Circumstances made him willing to believe. He humbly offered himself to his Maker—then he knew. Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. To this man, the revelation was sudden. Some of us grow into it more slowly. But He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us! - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 57 Thought to Ponder I came; I came to; I came to believe. AA-re ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 18, 2022 All Inclusive As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We 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 belie ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 17, 2022 Promises Fulfilled We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84 Thought to Ponder What is now proved was once only imagined. AA-re ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 16, 2022 Emotionally Secure It became clear that if we ever were to feel emotionally secure among grown-up people, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us. We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demands for repayment. When we persistently did this we gradually found that people were attracted to us as never before. And even ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 15, 2022 Resolution and Willingness How can we possibly summon the resolution and the willingness to get rid of such overwhelming compulsions and desires? But again we are driven on by the inescapable conclusion which we draw from A.A. experience, that we surely must try with a will, or else fall by the wayside. At this stage of our progress we are under heavy pressure to do the right thing. We are obliged to choose between the pains of trying and the certain pena ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 14, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Families For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product. If the family cooperates, dad will soon see that he is suffering from a distortion of values. He will perceive that his spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like h ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 13, 2022 Real Purpose At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 77 Thought to Ponder Trust God. Clean House. Help Others. AA-related 'Alconym' A L C O H O L I C S  =   A Life Consisting Of Helping Others Lived In Continuous Sobriety. Thanks to all of you for sharing so gen ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 12, 2022 Easier Methods Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only tho ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 11, 2022 Lack of Perspective Shortly afterward I came home drunk. There had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I simply didn’t know. It hadn't even come to mind. Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy? I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective seemed near being just that. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 5 Thought to Ponder We are without defense against the first drink. AA-related 'Alconym' A A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 10, 2022 Worse, Never Better 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. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 30 Thought to Ponder When we tr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) August 9, 2022 The Truth I Know This great experience that released me from the bondage of hatred and replaced it with love is really just another affirmation of the truth I know: I get everything I need in Alcoholics Anonymous—and everything I need I get. And when I get what I need, I invariably find that it was just what I wanted all the time. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Freedom From Bondage) p. 552 Thought to Ponder The number one way to relieve pain is to forgive. AA- ...Continue Reading