AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 25, 2022 Lessons for Living Almost 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 ut 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 "move in ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 24, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Five The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. 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 housecl ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 23, 2022 Step Three We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him. We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser. But it is better to meet God alone than with one who might misunderstand. The wording was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it without reservation. This ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 22, 2022 More Action Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 85 Thought to Ponder Faith is mighty. Acti ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 21, 2022 Clean House The fact was we really hadn't cleaned house so that the grace of God could enter us and expel the obsession. In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward. We had not even prayed rightly. We had always said, "Grant me my wishes" instead of "Thy will be done." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 20, 2022 Anger If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66 Thought to Ponder Anger rules nothing except itself. AA-related 'Alconym' A A  =   Avoid Anger. Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message. Gr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 19, 2022 Assets Learning daily to spot, admit, and correct these flaws is the essence of character-building and good living. An honest regret for harms done, a genuine gratitude for blessings received, and a willingness to try for better things tomorrow will be the permanent assets we shall seek. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 95 Thought to Ponder The Three A's .. Awareness, Acceptance, Action. AA-related 'Alconym' H J F  =   Happy, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 18, 2022 Amazed If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) pp. 83 - 84 Thought to Ponder Faith makes the impossible possible. AA-related 'Alconym' F R E E  =   Fortunately, Re ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 17, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Acceptance Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Acceptance Was The Answer) p. 417  Thought to Ponder Reliance on Go ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 16, 2022 Lose Our Fear More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 63 Thought to Ponder The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us. AA-related ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 15, 2022 Lost Faith "The here and now was good enough for us. The will to win would carry us through. But then alcohol began to have its way with us. Finally, when all our score cards read 'zero,' and we saw that one more strike would put us out of the game forever, we had to look for our lost faith. It was in A.A, that we rediscovered it. And so can you." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Two) p. 29 Thought to Ponder Hope leads to faith if you ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 14, 2022 Prayer Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Tra ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 13, 2022 Truth I began with blind faith, but the proof of truth is that it works. I believed those who said they had suffered from alcoholism, but, through AA, were now enjoying sobriety. So the truth was there for me to see. But shortly I knew the truth from my own experience. I was not only released from the compulsion to drink; I was guided toward a compulsion to live! - Came To Believe, p. 3 Thought to Ponder Truth is to inner space what sunshine is to a garde ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 12, 2022 A Novel Idea My 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 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 11, 2022 Closest Scrutiny But in other instances only the closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy, rationalization, has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really didn't. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 94 Thought to Ponder Don't believe everything you think. AA-related 'Alconym' D E N ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 10, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ An Approach If he is to find God, the desire must come from within. If he thinks he can do the job in some other way, or prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his own conscience. We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 95  Thought to Ponder Take a walk with God. He will meet you at the Steps.  AA-related 'Alcon ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 9, 2022 Can We Choose? "As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would drink. We were the victims of a compulsion which seemed to decree that we must go on with our own destruction. Yet we finally did make choices that brought about recovery. We came to believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was surely a choice, and a most difficult one. We came to believe that a Higher Power could restore us to sanity when we became will ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 8, 2022 Our First Attempt We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives. Therefore our problem now becomes just how and by what specific means shall we be able to let Him in? Step Three represents our first attempt to do this. In fact, the effectiveness of the whole A.A. program will rest upon how well and earnestly we have tried to come to "a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." - Twelve Steps and Twel ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 7, 2022 Harmed Other People We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have "harmed" other people. What kinds of "harm" do people do one another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) p. 80 Thought to Ponder The 3 A’s -- Aware ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 6, 2022 A Fatal Progression Since Step One requires an admission that our lives have become unmanageable, how could people such as these take this Step? It was obviously necessary to raise the bottom the rest of us had hit to the point where it would hit them. By going back in our own drinking histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was indeed the beginning of a fatal p ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 5, 2022 An Answer for You If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails, if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink. Your Heavenly Father will never let you down! - Alcoholics A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 4, 2022 Begun to Learn If 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 We are ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 3, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Willing and Ready Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 58  Thought to Ponder The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.  AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H  =  For All ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 2, 2022 Spiritual Awakening In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which, in one way or another, he had hitherto denied himself. He finds himself in possession of a degree of honesty, tolerance, unselfishness, peace of mind, and love of which he had thought himself quite incapable. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 107 Thought to Ponder We're not living just to be sober; we are living to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 1, 2022 True Tolerance We begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 92 Though ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 31, 2022 Being Helpful 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." We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn’t treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 30, 2022 Problem Removed We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 85 Thought to Ponder Spiritual p ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 29, 2022 Greater Challenge Like most people, we have found that we can take our big lumps as they come. But also like others, we often discover a greater challenge in the lesser and more continuous problems of life. Our answer is in still more spiritual development. Only by this means can we improve our chances for really happy and useful living. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 114 Thought to Ponder Life is a steady drizzle of small things - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 28, 2022 Step Five Somehow, being alone with God doesn't seem as embarrassing as facing up to another person. Until we actually sit down and talk aloud about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical. When we are honest with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 60 Thought to Ponder If you want to get free, you have to fir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 27, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Whistling in the Dark Now and then a serious drinker, being dry at the moment says, “I don’t miss it at all. Feel better. Work better. Having a better time.” As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally. We know our friend is like a boy whistling in the dark to keep up his spirits. He fools himself. Inwardly he would give anything to take half a dozen drinks and get away with them. He will presently try the old game again, for ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 26, 2022 Errors to Assets Henry 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 The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit them. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   Face Everyt ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 25, 2022 A Fair Hearing We looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves. We missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (We Agnostics) p. 50 Thought to Ponder When I change the way I ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 24, 2022 Spiritual Awakening Maybe 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 stre ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 23, 2022 Inventory-Taking When evening comes, perhaps before going to sleep, many of us draw up a balance sheet for the day. This is a good place to remember that inventory-taking is not always done in red ink. It's a poor day indeed when we haven't done something right. As a matter of fact, the waking hours are usually well filled with things that are constructive. Even when we have tried hard and failed, we may chalk that up as one of the greatest credits of all. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 22, 2022 Faith and Utopia There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith 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. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 15 Thought to Ponder It is when you act on faith that you ac ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 21, 2022 Accurate Self-Appraisal Must 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-examinat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 20, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ All or Nothing? Acceptance and faith are capable of producing 100 per cent sobriety. In fact, they usually do; and they must, else we could have no life at all. But the moment we carry these attitudes into our emotional problems, we find that only relative results are possible. Nobody can, for example, become completely free from fear, anger, and pride. Hence, in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. So ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 19, 2022 Diagnose Yourself We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) pp. 31 - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 18, 2022 Instincts Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct. When that happens, our great natural assets, the instincts, have turned into physical and mental liabilities. Step Four is our vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder Instincts on rampage balk at investigation. AA-related 'Alco ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 17, 2022 Without Defense The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 24 Thought to Ponder The fir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 16, 2022 Morning Meditation If not members of religious bodies, we sometimes select and memorize a few set prayers which emphasize the principles we have been discussing. There are many helpful books also. Suggestions about these may be obtained from one’s priest, minister, or rabbi. Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 87 Thought to Ponder Trying to pray is praying. AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 15, 2022 A Great Thought Our 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 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 14, 2022 The Main Problem We 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 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 13, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Three Pertinent Ideas Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 60  Thought to Ponder I can't, God can, I' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 12, 2022 The Usual Outcome To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got. The usual outcome was that people continued to wrong us and we stayed sore. Sometimes it was remorse and then we were sore at ourselves. But the more we fought and tried to have our own way, the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of triumph were short-lived. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66 Thought to Ponder It takes st ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 11, 2022 Emotional Insecurity The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression. These stem from causes which sometimes seem to be within us, and at other times to come from without. To take inventory in this respect we ought to consider carefully all personal relationships which bring continuous or recurring trouble. It should be remembered that this kind of insecurity may arise in any area where instincts are threatened. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 10, 2022 Unreasonable Demands Each of us would like to live at peace with himself and with his fellows. We would like to be assured that the grace of God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We have seen that character defects based upon shortsighted or unworthy desires are the obstacles that block our path toward these objectives. We now clearly see that we have been making unreasonable demands upon ourselves, upon others, and upon God.. - Twelve Steps a ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 9, 2022 Tradition Three (The Long Form) Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition) p. 563 Thought to Ponder You're an A.A. mem ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 8, 2022 Alcoholic Illness An illness of this sort—and we have come to believe it an illness—involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 18 Thought to Ponder The gri ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 7, 2022 Essentials of Recovery Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 6, 2022 Design For Living I was not too well at the time, and was plagued by waves of self-pity and resentment.This sometimes nearly drove me back to drink, but I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day. Many times I have gone to my old hospital in despair. On talking to a man there, I would be amazingly lifted up and set on my feet. It is a design for living that works in rough going. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 5, 2022 Motives In most cases our motives won't be hard to see and understand. When prideful, angry, jealous, anxious, or fearful, we acted accordingly, and that was that. Here we need only recognize that we did act or think badly, try to visualize how we might have done better, and resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow, making, of course, any amends still neglected. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 94 Thought to Pond ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 4, 2022 Living Creator We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 28 Thought t ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 3, 2022 Demonstrations of Faith Our 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 People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. AA-relat ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 2, 2022 Unshakable Foundation There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 98 Thought to Ponder Today I pray over the things that I used to drink over. AA-related 'Alconym' A G O  =   Another Growth Oppo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) March 1, 2022 Thy Will Always Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: "God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!" - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 63 Thought to Ponder Take a walk wi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 28, 2022 Not Cured It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee—Thy will (not mine) be done." - Alcoholics ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 27, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Easier, Softer Way At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 58  Thought to Ponder Learn to change, change to learn.  AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 26, 2022 Advice and Direction 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 Is the life I'm living the l ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 25, 2022 Resentment Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 64 Thought to Ponder We are prisoners of our own resentments. Forgiveness unlocks the door ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 24, 2022 Dear Friends, There was apparently a problem with the email server during the sending of today's Daily Thought as a number of you have not received your Thought.  I apologise for the problem and am sending it to all again now. Road of Happy Destiny Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the F ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 23, 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) February 22, 2022 I Am Responsible . . . When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible. Declaration of 30th Anniversary A. A. International Convention, 1965 - As Bill Sees It, (I Am Responsible) No. 332 Thought to Ponder I may be the only "Big Book" another alcoholic has seen. AA-related 'Alconym' P R O G R A M  =   People Relying On God Relaying A Message. Thanks to all of y ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 21, 2022 Fellowship Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 152 Thought to Ponder Alcoholics Anonymous is the only place in the ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 20, 2022 Fear The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear—primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of reducing these demands. The difference between a demand and a simple request is plain to anyone. - Twelve Ste ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 19, 2022 Direction and Strength I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 13 Thought to Ponder Spirituality is not based on logic, it is faith-driven. AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H  =   Found Always In Trusting Him. Thanks to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 18, 2022 Insecurity The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression. These stem from causes which sometimes seem to be within us, and at other times to come from without. To take inventory in this respect we ought to consider carefully all personal relationships which bring continuous or recurring trouble. It should be remembered that this kind of insecurity may arise in any area where instincts are threatened. - Twel ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 17, 2022 An Alcoholic Mind They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink. Well, just that did happen and more, for what I had learned of alcoholism did not occur to me at all. I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem h ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 16, 2022 Discipline Unless each A.A. member follows to the best of his ability our suggested Twelve Steps to recovery, he almost certainly signs his own death warrant. His drunkenness and dissolution are not penalties inflicted by people in authority; they result from his personal disobedience to spiritual principles. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Tradition Nine) p. 174 Thought to Ponder Great suffering and great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we nee ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 15, 2022 Wonderful Revelation 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 fo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 14, 2022 Keynotes Courtesy, kindness, justice, and love are the keynotes by which we may come into harmony with practically anybody. When in doubt we can always pause, saying, "Not my will, but Thine, be done." And we can often ask ourselves, "Am I doing to others as I would have them do to me—today?" - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 93 Thought to Ponder The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Consideration. AA- ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 13, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Group of Principles A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Foreward) p. 15  Thought to Ponder If you want to stay protected, you have to be connected  AA-related 'Alconym' P R O G R A M  =  People Relyi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 11, 2022 Step Eight There were cases, too, where we had damaged others who were still happily unaware of being hurt. Why, we cried, shouldn't bygones be bygones? Why do we have to think of these people at all? These were some of the ways in which fear conspired with pride to hinder our making a list of all the people we had harmed. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) p. 78 Thought to Ponder A fear faced is a fear erased. AA-related 'Alconym' F E ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 11, 2022 The Actor Most people try to live by self-propulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 60 - 61 Thou ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 10, 2022 Gratitude I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know. - As Bill Sees It, (Into Action) p. 37 Thought to Ponder When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around. AA-related 'Alconym' H E L P  =   Hope, Encouragement, Love, Patience. Thanks to all of y ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 9, 2022 The Spiritual Life The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Unless one’s family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principles we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will convince them more than our words. We must remember that ten or twenty years of drunken- ness would make a skeptic out of anyone. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 8, 2022 Stark and Ugly Facts "Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink." Or "What’s the use anyhow?" When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of alcoholics throughout history. But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands mo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 7, 2022 The Closed Mind It wasn't A.A, that had the closed mind, it was me. The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel. Right there, Step Two gently and very gradually began to infiltrate my life. I can't say upon what occasion or upon what day I came to believe in a Power greater than myself, but I certainly have that belief now. To acquire it, I had only to stop fighting and practice the rest of A.A.'s program as enthusiastically as I could. - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 6, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ They Believe The unselfishness of these men as we have come to know them, the entire absence of profit motive, and their community spirit, is indeed inspiring to one who has labored long and wearily in this alcoholic field. They believe in themselves, and still more in the Power which pulls chronic alcoholics back from the gates of death. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Doctor's Opinion) p. xxvii  Thought to Ponder The Twelve ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 5, 2022 Twelfth Step Work We sit in A.A. meetings and listen, not only to receive something ourselves, but to give the reassurance and support which our presence can bring. If our turn comes to speak at a meeting, we again try to carry A.A.'s message. Whether our audience is one or many, it is still Twelfth Step work. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 110 Thought to Ponder Only in giving do we receive in full measure. AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 4, 2022 Review Our Day 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. 86 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 3, 2022 Spiritual Approach "As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. Had you offered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it. People like you are too heartbreaking. Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours. For most cases, there is virtually no o ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 2, 2022 Tormenting Ghosts 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) ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) February 1, 2022 Conditions We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn't to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 47 Thought to Ponder If you want to change who you are, change what you do. AA-rela ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 31, 2022 Only You Can Decide Consider your drinking carefully in the light of what you may learn from these pages. Determine, for yourself, whether or not alcohol has truly become a problem for you. And remember that you will always be most welcome to join the thousands of men and women in A.A. who have put their drinking problems behind them and now lead "normal" lives of constructive, day-by-day sobriety. - This Is A.A. An introduction to the A.A. Rec ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 30, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Rigorous Honesty Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? . . . No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn't care for this prospect—unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step One) p. 24  Thought to Ponder Honesty is the absence of the intent to deceive. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 29, 2022 Entirely Ready So Step Six—"Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character"—is A.A.'s way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order to make a beginning on this lifetime job. This does not mean that we expect all our character defects to be lifted out of us as the drive to drink was. A few of them may be, but with most of them we shall have to be content with patient improvement. The key words "entir ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 28, 2022 A Vital Part Outline the program of action, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past and why you are now endeavoring to be helpful to him. It is important for him to realize that your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your own recovery. Actually, he may be helping you more than you are helping him. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 94 Thought to Ponder We must give it away to keep it. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 27, 2022 Decide for Himself If he is sincerely interested and wants to see you again, ask him to read this book in the interval. After doing that, he must decide for himself whether he wants to go on. He should not be pushed or prodded by you, his wife, or his friends. If he is to find God, the desire must come from within. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 95 Thought to Ponder Expectations are premeditated resentments. AA-related 'Alconym' D E T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 26, 2022 New Treasure Joy at our release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. 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. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward) pp. 128 - 129 Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 25, 2022 This Physical Factor It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in full flight from reality, or were outright mental defectives. These things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent with some of us. But we are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete. - A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 24, 2022 Tradition One Our A.A. experience has taught us that: Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition) p. 563 Thought to Ponder There is no strength without unity. AA-related 'Alconym' A A's - R - U S  =   Alcoholics Ano ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 23, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Step Two "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." "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. - Twelve Ste ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 22, 2022 Continue to Watch Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 84 Thought to Ponder The 3 A’s -- Awareness, Acceptance, Action. AA-related 'Al ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 21, 2022 Making Good Sometimes we hear an alcoholic say that the only thing he needs to do is to keep sober. Certainly he must keep sober, for there will be no home if he doesn’t. But he is yet a long way from making good to the wife or parents whom for years he has so shockingly treated. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 82 Thought to Ponder Without change I am just a non-drinking drunk. AA-related 'Alconym' A C T I O N  =   Any Change To Impr ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 20, 2022 Convinced From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Foreword To The Second Edition) p. xvi Thought to Ponder AA is not something we join; it's a ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 19, 2022 A New Life We, 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  =   Alcoholic's ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 18, 2022 Root of Our Troubles Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, are bas ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 17, 2022 Essential Requirements Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) pp. 13 - 14 Thought to Ponder While it isn't always easy, if I keep it si ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) January 16, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ 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 ...Continue Reading