AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 19, 2024  Countless Vain AttemptsTherefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 30  T ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 18, 2024  A Sick ManWhen 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 and every one.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)November 17, 2024~ Scroll Down for Share ~  True IndependenceAnd the facts seem to be these: The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore dependence, as A.A. practices it, is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Three) p. 36  Thought to PonderAvoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.  AA-related 'Alconym'F A I T H  =  ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 16, 2024  Ghosts of YesterdayIf 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)November 15, 2024  Make a DecisionTherefore, 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)November 14, 2024  A RequestPrayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: “. . . knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” A request for this fits in any part of our day.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step E ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 13, 2024  Program of ActionThough I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow. But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy. But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be.- Alc ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 12, 2024  Are We Ready?If we would gain any real advantage in the use of this Step on problems other than alcohol, we shall need to make a brand new venture into open- mindedness. We shall need to raise our eyes toward perfection, and be ready to walk in that direction. It will seldom matter how haltingly we walk. The only question will be "Are we ready?"- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Six) p. 68  Thought to Ponder . . .What have I bee ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 11, 2024  True KinshipWe thought the isolation problem had been solved. But we soon discovered that while we weren't alone any more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn't belong. Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship with man and God.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy AA-Alive.net)November 10, 2024~ Scroll Down for Share ~  Our Own ConceptionMuch to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another’s conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. 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 to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 9, 2024  ForgivenessOften 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 Five that we inwardly knew we'd be able to receive forgiveness and give it, too.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Five) p. 58 &nbs ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 8, 2024  Withholding NothingWe pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience.- Alcoholics Anonymous, (In ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 7, 2024  Meditation and PrayerWe liked A.A. all right, and were quick to say that it had done miracles. But we recoiled from meditation and prayer as obstinately as the scientist who refused to perform a certain experiment lest it prove his pet theory wrong. Of course we finally did experiment, and when unexpected results followed, we felt different; in fact we knew different; and so we were sold on meditation and prayer.- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (St ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 6, 2024  To Outgrow FearThe 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 . . .Fear is not an admission of weakness; fear is an oppo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day(courtesy aa-alive.net)November 5, 2024  Tradition Three“The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.” The answer, now seen in Tradition Three, was simplicity itself. At last experience taught us that to take away any alcoholic’s full chance was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his own sick brother? - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Tradition Three) p. 141   ...Continue Reading