*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 25, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Patience I had to find my own personal skid row before I became willing to let the seeds of patience, tolerance, humility, unselfishness, honesty, love, purity and charity grow within myself. And as long as I keep the weeds of resentment, envy, selfishness, pride, anger, impatience and misunderstanding from choking out these healthy seedlings; keep them fed and watered with regular attendance at meetings, open-minded attentiv ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 24, 2015* *Courage* *Before we could recognize the illness in ourselves, we had to unload this tired old myth: It would be a sign of shameful weakness to admit that we couldn't handle the sauce any more (if we ever could). Weakness?  Actually, it takes considerable courage to stare unblinkingly at the hard truth, sparing nothing, without excuses, and without kidding ourselves.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 72 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If I have the courage to be ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 23, 2015* *Righteous Indignation* *The positive value of righteous indignation is theoretical -- especially for alcoholics. It leaves every one of us open to the rationalization that we may be as angry as we like provided we can claim to be righteous about it.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 58 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Those who anger me, conquer me.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A N G E R* = **A** **N**egative **G**rudge **E**ndangers **R**ecovery. Thanks to al ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 22, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Concept My friend suggested what seemed then 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.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 12 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Take a walk with God.  He will meet you at the Steps.* *AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 21, 2015* *No Middle-of-the-Road* *If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help.* /- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 20, 2015* *Fellowship* *I have had my share of problems, heartaches, and disappointments because that is life, but also I have known a great deal of joy and a peace that is the handmaiden of an inner freedom. I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 276 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 19, 2015* *Silent Revolution* *Gradually, in a manner I cannot explain, I began to re-examine the beliefs I had thought beyond criticism. Almost imperceptibly my whole attitude toward life underwent a silent revolution.  I lost many worries and gained confidence. I found myself saying and thinking things that a short time ago I would have condemned as platitudes! A belief in the basic spirituality of life has grown and with it belief in a supreme and guidi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 18, 2015* *The Helmsman* *Having seen for myself that my own navigation served only to slam my boat up against shoals, I have at last become willing to turn the steering over to a more adept helmsman.  The decision is clear. Tomorrow I may be drunk.  But today I have the tired peace that comes from doing the things you have to do when you turn the wheel over to a mariner who knows that way across, but makes you work with him through every inch of the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 17, 2015* *Control* *We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic /ever/ recovers control. . . 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,/ p.30 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control.* *AA-related 'Alcony ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 16, 2015* *The Home Group* *The home group is where recovery begins; it is where AA members grow up in sobriety by the time-honored process of trial and error, to discover they can be loved "warts and all.". . . It is where they begin to adopt the guiding principles of AA as working realities in their own sober lives.* /- The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA,/ Preface *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The Three M's: Meeting makers make it.* *AA-related 'Alconym ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 15, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Anger If we were to live, we had to be free of anger.  The grouch and the sudden rage were not for us. Anger is the dubious luxury of normal men, but for us alcoholics it is poison.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Anger rules nothing except itself.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A A** = **A**void **A**nger. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Greg W., an alcoholic.  Before I stopped drinking and came t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 14, 2015* *Forgiveness* *I must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in my heart. I do this not for the other persons' sake, but for my own sake. Resentment, anger, or a desire to see someone punished, are things that rot my soul. Such things fasten my troubles to me with chains. They tie me to other problems that have nothing to do with my original problem.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 88 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Forgiveness of oth ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 13, 2015* *Selfishness* *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.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 12, 2015* *Cured?* *I was cured.  Three years later I found that there is no cure.  I had forgotten that I am an alcoholic. . . I've learned once more that the decision as to whether I lead a life of repeated wrong steps and steady declination of reputation and character, or a life whereby I gain respect from others and consequently regain my own self-respect, boils down to the one choice: whether or not I take that first drink.* /- Thank You For Shar ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 11, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Letting Go If I let go, I thought, then I wouldn't be anybody.  Well, who was I, anyway?  Just a willful, alcoholic woman. Now I'm beginning to see that letting go doesn't mean giving up.  It means opening myself to new vistas. There have been moments of what I would call ecstasy.  I'm thrilled and I'm scared at the same time.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 41 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Get a grip on lett ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 10, 2015* *Willfulness* *And so I "made a decision" to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him. . . I am not saying that for me the Third Step has been completed. My willfulness is still very much a part of me and may always be a stumbling block to progress in my life. So I will have to stay very close to AA, where my strength lies. I am so full of human frailty that I think it is a miracle I am here today at all.  It ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 9, 2015* *Courage* *Having come to believe that I keep what I share, every time I encourage, I receive courage. It is with others that, with the grace of God and the Fellowship of AA, I trudge the road of happy destiny. May I always remember that the power within me is far greater than any fear before me. May I always have patience, for I am on the right road. * /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 70 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *May the road always lead where you need to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 8, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Communication In any meeting, anywhere, AA's share experience, strength, and hope with each other, in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, AA's speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. xxiv *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We need to share our problems to find our solutions.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **H E A R T** = **H**ealing, **E ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 7, 2015* *Listening* *All my sobriety and growth, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually are dependent upon my willingness to listen, understand, and change. . . I watched for and found people who take the program with them as they live, work, and play in the real world. Through their leadership, by precept and example, I am finding the daily excitement essential to my development as a person and to my contact with my Higher Power.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 6, 2015* *No Reservations* *We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 33 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If we want to quit drinking, we are goi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 5, 2015* *Humility* *"Perpetual quietness of heart.  It is to have no trouble.  It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore: to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and in peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 4, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Living Sober Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober turns out not to be the grim, wet-blanket experience we had expected! While we were drinking, a life without alcohol seemed like no life at all. But for most members of AA, living sober is really living -- a joyous experience. We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking.* /- Living Sober,/ Foreword *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The joy is in the journey, so enjoy th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 3, 2015* *Tradition Three* /"The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking."/ *This Tradition is packed with meaning.  For AA is really saying to every serious drinker, "You are an AA member if /you/ say so. You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out, no matter how low you've gone, no matter how grave your emotional complications -- even your crimes -- we still can't deny you AA. We don't /want/ to keep you o ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 2, 2015* *Made a Decision* *My whole way of life followed decisions predicated on convenience and expedience, as well as willfulness. If I continued to bungle my decisions, there would be more suffering, and perhaps one of these days I might even forget and pick up the first drink, because everything was lousy anyway. . . I didn't want to go back to the binges, the blackouts, the hallucinations, the awful hangovers, and the guilt of past days. The only thing le ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *March 1, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Juggernaut The philosophy of self-sufficiency is not paying off. Plainly enough, it is a bone-crushing juggernaut whose final achievement is ruin. 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 be willing to look for something better.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 28, 2015* *'Live And Let Live'* *It is very easy to use other people's actions as an alibi for drinking.  We used to be experts at it. But in sobriety, we have learned a new technique: We never let ourselves get so resentful toward someone else that we allow that person to control our lives -- especially to the extent of causing us to drink. We have found we have no desire to let any other person run, or ruin, our lives.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 12 *Thoug ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 27, 2015* *Convincing Evidence* *My abuse of alcohol was the exterior manifestation of a disease much more complex and consuming than simple drunkenness, and similarly, my abstinence is the exterior manifestation of a wellness much more rewarding than simple sobriety. The most convincing evidence I have today that I'm an alcoholic is not how much or how long I drank, nor how drunk I got; the most convincing evidence I have is that Alcoholics Anonymous is wor ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 26, 2015* *An Open Channel* *I no longer allow others to make decisions for me and then criticize me for it. Today -- and every day -- with a heart full of gratitude, and a desire for God's will to be done through me, my life is worth sharing, especially with my fellow alcoholics! Above all, if I do not make a religion out of anything, even AA, then I can be an open channel for God's expression.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 92 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *True ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 25, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ /Came To Believe . . ./ What I have come to believe is profound, and my concept and understanding of the program are quite different from what they were before. My AA way of life now demands constant action -- an active self-honesty and recognition of the necessity for living in day-tight compartments. In gratitude, I must humbly come to believe every moment of every day.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 96 *Thought to Pond ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 24, 2015* *Coming to Believe* *It wasn't AA 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 AA's program as enthusiastically ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 23, 2015* *Open-mindedness* *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 the great persuader.  It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be as prejudiced for as long as some of us were.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 48 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Recovery is not an event; ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 22, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Fantasy Above all, we reject fantasizing and accept reality.  The more I drank, the more I fantasized everything. . . In my mind's eye I played and replayed scenes in which I was plucked magically from the bar where I stood nursing a drink and was instantly exalted to some position of power and prestige.  I lived in a dream world. AA led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms.  And ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 21, 2015* *A Beginning* *My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea.  He said, /"Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"/ That statement 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 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 20, 2015* *Challenges* *Life is meant to be lived by facing the challenges it brings.  Otherwise, I'm not living, just existing. God didn't give me this gift of sobriety to sit in a rocking chair, imagining myself as some wise old woman who has arrived somewhere. There is no easier, softer way. . .  The teaching I receive in AA about courage and love helps me to continue to grapple with the challenges of life as they are given to me, one day at a t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 19, 2015* *Powerless* *I did not know that my body's drinking machinery had worn out, and that the parts could not be replaced. I did not know that just one drink made it impossible for me to control my behavior and conduct and my future drinking. I did not know, in short, that I was powerless over alcohol. My family and friends knew these things about me long before I did.* /- Experience, Strength and Hope,/ p. 153 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Alcohol -- cun ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 18, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Change Let us never fear needed change.  Certainly we have to discriminate between changes for worse and changes for better. But once a need becomes apparent in an individual, in a group, or AA as a whole, it has long since been found out that we cannot stand still and look the other way.* /- As Bill Sees it,/ p. 115 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If nothing changes, nothing changes.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **N O ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 17, 2015* *Obsession* *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,/ p. 30 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When we tr ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 16, 2015* *Making Coffee* *All I thought about as I was making the coffee was making the coffee and how people could enjoy it. At my sponsor's suggestion, I stood near the coffeepot and welcomed everyone who came by. I must have experienced a million smiles in a very short time. And when I pushed the broom all I concentrated on was the dust rising from it as I moved across the floor. My troubles were gone for the time that I was doing these things.  And ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 15, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Seeing Is Believing The Wright brothers' almost childish faith that they could build a machine which would fly was the mainspring of their accomplishment.  Without that, nothing could have happened. . . When others showed us that God-sufficiency worked with them, we began to feel like those who had insisted the Wrights would never fly. We were seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, peop ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 14, 2015* *Love* *The spiritual growth we enjoy in AA is a product of the never-ending school for living which our Fellowship provides. The subject in that school that opened my eyes most quickly and filled my heart most fully was love. I never knew what true love was until I began my recovery in AA.  My schooling in that emotion began early and led me to the conclusion that love is what creates in a sober AA member the outer show of an inner glow.* /- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 13, 2015* *Humility* *Humility is a personal achievement, it cannot be given away. It comes in glimmers and grows like an ice crystal.  It is fragile, too, thus requiring constant care and protection. Maintaining anonymity insures that the focus of our efforts is on the program and not the personalities.* /- The Home Group: Heartbeat of AA,/ p. 126 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Humility is not a station we arrive at; it's a way of traveling.* *AA-related ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 12, 2015* *Infallible Heartbeat* *We need each other's experience, strength, and hope, regardless of age or length of sobriety. The shining grace of God doesn't come like a bolt out of the blue. It comes through, in, and from other suffering, as well as rescued, souls like you and me. I am happy to be part of a living and growing fellowship with an infallible heartbeat. Divine power is the pulse of AA, and it doesn't change, no matter how foolish and errant ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 11, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Clear 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,/ p. 60 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Hold your face up to the Light, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 10, 2015* *Tolerance* *I try to practice tolerance in small ways, putting aside the little resentments, making light of that stealthy foe, self-pity, which will keep creeping in. I know if I succeed, then I'm more likely to beat that great big resentment which nothing has been able to pry from its roots deep in my soul.* /- Thank You For Sharing,/ pp. 42-43 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Flexible people do not get bent out of shape.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 9, 2015* *Selfishness* *So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making.  They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness.  We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 62 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Reliance on God enables me to match calamity with serenity.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 8, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Willingness A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 122 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If I have the courage ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 7, 2015* *Discovery* *AA has accomplished so many things in my life today.  It has given me my sanity and an all-around sense of balance. Now willing to listen and take suggestions, I have found that the process of discovering who I really am begins with knowing who I really don't want to be. And although the disease of alcoholism inside of me is like gravity, just waiting to pull me down, AA and the Twelve Steps are like the power that causes an airpla ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 6, 2015* *Sobriety* *Sobriety is nothing like I thought it would be.  At first it was one big emotional roller coaster, full of sharp highs and deep lows. My emotions were new, untested, and I wasn't entirely certain I wanted to deal with them. I cried when I should have been laughing.  I laughed when I should have cried. Events I thought were the end of the world turned out to be gifts.  It was all very confusing.  Slowly things began to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 5, 2015* *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. . . and every AA meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 33 *Thought to P ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 4, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Spiritual Experience As I work the Steps in everything I do, practicing these principles in all my affairs, now I find that I am awake to God, to others, and to myself. The spiritual awakening I have enjoyed as the result of working the Steps is the awareness that I am no longer alone.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 345 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our greatest gift.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **H ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 3, 2015* *Guidance* *With the guidance of the program and the encouragement and examples within the Fellowship, I could begin to find out about myself and be prepared to accept what I found. I learned in the Fellowship that if others could love me, then I should love myself as I was -- not for what I was, but for what I could become. So I have learned a little about my mind and about my will and about my emotions and passions.* /- Came To Believe. . .,/ p. 3 ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 2, 2015* *Double-edged Sword* *The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the practice. Few indeed were those who, so assailed, had ever won through in singlehanded combat. It was a statistical fact that alcoholics almost never recovered on their own resources. And this had been tr ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *February 1, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A New Self Gradually, I began to see another part of me emerging -- a grateful me, expecting nothing, but sure that another power was beginning to guide me, counsel me, and direct my ways.  And I was not afraid.* /- Came To Believe. . .,/ p. 45 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A new world came into view.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **H J F** = **H**appy, **J**oyous, **F**ree. ** *A Member Shares: Hi AA Family, I'm Peyton ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 31, 2015* *Easier, Softer Way* *When I couldn't find an easier, softer way, I looked for the person with the magic wand, the one person in AA who could make me all better, right now.  This was a frustrating task, and I finally realized that if I wanted this life, I was going to have to do what the others had done. No one made me drunk, and no one was going to make me stay sober. This program is for people who want it, not people who need it.* /- Alcoholi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 30, 2015* *Control* *When I was still drinking, I couldn't respond to any of life's situations the way other, more healthy, people could. The smallest incident triggered a state of mind that believed I had to have a drink to numb my feelings. But the numbing did not improve the situation, so I sought further escape in the bottle. Today I must be aware of my alcoholism.  I cannot afford to believe that I have gained control of my drinking -- or again I wi ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 29, 2015* *Identity* *Every day, I feel a little bit more useful, more happy and more free.  Life, including some ups and downs, is a lot more fun. I am a part of AA which is a way of life.  If I had not become an active alcoholic and joined AA, I might never have found my own identity or become part of anything . . . I like to think about this.* /- Experience, Strength and Hope,/ p. 363 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The peaks and valleys of my life h ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 28, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Maintenance and Growth It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worthwhile. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of harboring resentment is infinitely grave.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *H ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 27, 2015* *Responsibility* *To my chagrin, I've learned the hard way that I am responsible for slipping into mental and emotional depressions. . . My depressions are mostly brought on by frustration, fear of the future, rage at my lot in life, but above all /fear./ AA has taught me that I will not be asked to bear more than I can, regardless of what I think but that I am responsible for reporting for duty and making the effort to overcome the adversity, and i ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 26, 2015* *Loneliness* *When we first listen to recovered alcoholics in AA talking freely and honestly about themselves, we are stunned. Their tales of their own drinking escapades, of their own secret fears and loneliness, jar us like a thunderbolt. We discover -- but can hardly dare to believe right at first -- that /we are not alone./ We are /not/ totally unlike /everybody,/ after all. . . We sense, almost before we can articulate it, that we do belong som ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 25, 2015 ~ 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 on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 106-107 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *A spiritual awakening is our g ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 24, 2015* *Open-mindedness* *Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to AA, and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be. We stand ready to do anything which will lift the merciless obsession from us.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 24 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The gritty pain of alcoholism is the traction of recovery.* *A ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 23, 2015* *Acceptance* *I needed to look no further than the Twelve Steps and the powerful wording of our Serenity Prayer, "to accept the things we cannot change." My personal answer is there in the word "accept."  Accept man's place in the universal scheme. Accept my life as one minute particle of the whole. None of us can ever fathom the glories and uncharted regions of the universe.  But we /can/ live on earth and love one ano ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 22, 2015* *Great News!* *The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 17 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Walk softly and carry a Big Book.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *B I G  B O O K = **B**eliev ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 21, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Trust For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves.  We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 68 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Reliance on God enables me to match ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 20, 2015* *The Ladder* *No one who drank as I did wakes up on the edge of the abyss one morning and says: Things look pretty scary; I think I'd better stop drinking before I fall in. I was convinced I could go as far as I wanted, and then climb out when it wasn't fun anymore. What happened was, I found myself at the bottom of the canyon thinking I'd never see the sun again. AA didn't pull me out of that hole.  It did give me the tools to construct a ladd ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 19, 2015* *Truth* *As I began to look more closely, I noticed serious flaws: I was an alcoholic; I was neurotic; I was brimful of serious character defects. But these were things that, in time and with help, could be dealt with. No longer did I have to run with nightmarish terror from an inner monster. I had seen the truth, and the truth had freed me to do less hiding and more seeking.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. 134 *Thought to Ponder . . .* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 19, 2015* *Truth* *As I began to look more closely, I noticed serious flaws: I was an alcoholic; I was neurotic; I was brimful of serious character defects. But these were things that, in time and with help, could be dealt with. No longer did I have to run with nightmarish terror from an inner monster. I had seen the truth, and the truth had freed me to do less hiding and more seeking.* /- The Best of the Grapevine/ [Vol. 1], p. 134 *Thought to Ponder . . .* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 18, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Higher Power We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 46 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Reliance on God enables me to match calamity with serenity.* *AA-related 'Alconym' ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 17, 2015* *Habits* *Our drinking was connected with many habits -- big and little. Some of them were thinking habits, or things we felt inside ourselves.  Others were doing habits -- things we did, actions we took. In getting used to not drinking, we have found that we needed new habits to take place of those old ones. . . After we spent a few months practicing these new, sober habits or ways of acting and thinking, they become almost second nature to mo ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 16, 2015* *Surrender* *The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ pp. 21-22 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *We surrender to win.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *K I S S = **K**eep **I**t **S**imple; **S**urrender.* *Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 15, 2015* *Philosophy* *For me, AA is a synthesis of all the philosophy I've ever read, all of the positive, good philosophy, all of it based on love. I have seen that there is only one law, the law of love, and there are only two sins; the first is to interfere with the growth of another human being, and the second is to interfere with one's own growth.* /- Experience, Strength and Hope,/ p. 431 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When in doubt, be silent.  Gro ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 14, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Perseverance As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 50 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *The Three "P's" -- Perseverance, Patience, Peace.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **T R U S T** = **T**ry **R**elying **U**pon **S**teps and **T**raditions. ** *A Member Shares: I'm Bobbie Jo, and I am an ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 13, 2015* *Difficulties* *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,,/ pgs. 48, 49 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Swallowing my pride will not get me drunk.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *P R I D E* = **P**ersonal **R**ecovery **I**nvolves **D**eflating **E**go. Thanks to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 12, 2015* *Fear* *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,/ p. 63 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When I approach a wall of fear, it usually turns out to be merely a waterfall.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *F E A R* = **F**orgetting ** ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 11, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Powerless I am as powerless over alcohol as I am to turn back the waves of the sea; no human force had the power to overcome my alcoholism. Now I am able to breathe the air of joy, happiness and wisdom.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 329 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *I am powerless, but not helpless.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **G I F T S** = **G**etting **I**t **F**rom **T**he **S**teps ** *A Member Shares: I'm Eddie, an alc ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 9, 2015* *Hope and Dignity* *I stumbled through the doors of AA in disgrace, expecting nothing from life, and I have been given hope and dignity. Miraculously, the only way to keep the gifts of the program is to pass them on.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 62 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *In AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without receiving, or receive without giving.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *G I F T S = **G**etting **I**t **F**rom **T**he **S* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 8, 2015* *A New Beginning* *I knew I had to have a new beginning, and this beginning had to be here.  I had to let go of the past and forget the future. As long as I held on to the past and grabbed at the future with the other hand, I had nothing to hold on to today with. So I had to begin here, now.* /- - Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 46 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *There are no endings ... only new beginnings.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A B C = **A**c ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 7, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Surrender Because I find it hard to let go of the kind of worrisome thoughts and attitudes that cause me immense anguish, all I need to do during those times is allow God, as I understand Him, to release them for me, and then and there, I let go of the thoughts, memories and attitudes that are troubling me. * /- Daily Reflections / p. 320 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *When I struggle, I sink. When I let go, I float.* *AA-rela ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 6, 2015* *Powerlessness* *Who cares to admit complete defeat?  Practically no one, of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness.  It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it from us.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 21 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Within our wonderful new world, ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 5, 2015* *Isolation* *Isolation sneaks up on us.  We can mask it with familiar props that are not in themselves bad. We can isolate ourselves in an attempt to clean up our apartments (and then not do the cleaning); we can isolate ourselves in churches or in sleep; we can use family, sweethearts, compulsive working, television. The list is long.  The only way to end it is the way you and I do: together. Reach out -- people can't read your mind.  ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 4, 2015 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Gossip In a perverse way we can actually take satisfaction from the fact that many people annoy us, for it brings a comfortable feeling of superiority. Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too. Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are trying to proclaim our own righteousness.* /- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,/ p. 67 *Thought to ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 3, 2015* *Let Go* *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.  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 tried to hold on to our old ideas but the result was nil until we let go absolutely.* ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 2, 2015* *Footprints of Hope* *So I looked ahead, along the path marked by the footprints of hope, commitment, and action. All around me were many happy, sober people who had walked that path. Listening intently to their stories, I heard some more horrifying than mine, others, less so. But it was plain that all these alcoholics had /felt/ the same hopelessness, fear, pain, and anger I had experienced. It was also obvious that people with drinking problems lik ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *January 1, 2015* *Promises* *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. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. . ..* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ pp. 83-84 *Th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 31, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Faith When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned.* /- As Bill Sees It,/ p. 2 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Breathe in faith, breathe out fear.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **F A I T H** = **F**inding **A**nswers **I**n **T**he **H**eart. ** *A Member Shares: Hello everyone Jenny, an alcoholic, here.  Whew!  Th ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 30, 2014* *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,/ p. 417 *Thought ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 29, 2014* *Pickles* *We are convinced, after the countless attempts we made to prove otherwise, that alcoholism in incurable -- just like some other illnesses.   It cannot be "cured" in this sense:  We cannot change our body chemistry and go back to being the normal, moderate social drinkers lots of us seemed to be in our youth. As some of us put it, we can no more make that change than a pickle can change itself back into a cucumber.* /- ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 28, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ The Circle and Triangle Above us, at the International Convention in St. Louis in 1955, floated a banner on which was inscribed the then new symbol for AA, a circle enclosing a triangle. The circle stands for the whole world of AA, and the triangle stands for AA's Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity, and Service. It is perhaps no accident that priests and seers of antiquity regarded this symbol as a means of warding off spirit ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 27, 2014* *Red Flags* *Many years later, although alcohol is not a part of my life and I no longer have the compulsion to drink, it can still occur to me what a good drink tastes like and what it can do for me, from my stand-at-attention alcoholic taste buds right down to my stretched-out tingling toes. As my sponsor used to point out, such thoughts are like red flags, telling me that something is not right, that I am stretched beyond my sober limit.  I ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 26, 2014* *Listening* *As I've grown in the Fellowship, I've learned to love everyone just from listening to what they had to say. That person over there, or the one right here, may be the one God has chosen to give me the message I need for today. I must always remember to place principles above personalities.* /- Daily Reflections,/ p. 365 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Learn to listen; listen to learn.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *G I F T = **G**od **I**s ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 25, 2014* *Neighbors* *Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people on a sinking ship.  If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them, you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it mea ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 24, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ A Leap of Faith 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.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 47 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.* *AA-relate ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 23, 2014* *The Blunt Truth* *The blunt, psychological truth for us, as of today, is that a drink surely means a drunk sooner or later, and that spells trouble. Drinking /for us/ no longer means music and gay laughter and flirtations.  It means sickness and sorrow.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 52 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *If I don't drink today, I have the hope of a tomorrow.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *A A* = **A**lways **A**live. Thanks to all of you f ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 22, 2014* *The First Step* *The First Step and I have always been great friends. I repeated it and thanked God each day for my sobriety -- the only grace, maybe, for that day. Gradually, I began to see another part of me emerging -- a grateful me, expecting nothing, but sure that another power was beginning to guide me, counsel me, and direct my ways.  And I was not afraid.* /- Came To Believe . . .,/ p. 45 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Many of our fears ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 21, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ False Pride We will humbly reflect that each of AA's principles, /every one of them,/ has been borrowed from ancient sources. We shall remember that we are laymen, holding ourselves in readiness to co-operate with all men of good will, whatever their creed or nationality. Then, too, it would be a product of false pride to believe that Alcoholics Anonymous is a cure-all, even for alcoholism.* /- - Alcoholics Anonymous Comes ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 20, 2014* *Any Length* *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. 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 absolu ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 19, 2014* *No Cop-outs* *We have to stay sober no matter how life treats us, no matter whether non-alcoholics appreciate our sobriety or not. We have to keep our sobriety independent of everything else, not entangled with any people, and not hedged in by any possible cop-outs or conditions.* /- Living Sober,/ p. 64 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Keep your sobriety first to make it last.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* *O D A A T* = **O**ne **D**ay **A**t **A** * ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 18, 2014* *Grace* *Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from asking yourself what they may mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious contact with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting things which then seemed entirely out of reach.* /- Alcoholics Anonymous,/ p. 47 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Hold your face up to the Light, even t ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 17, 2014 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Resentments This business of harboring resentments is infinitely grave.  For then we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.  And with us, to drink is to die.* /- - As Bill Sees It,/ p. 5 *Thought to Ponder . . .* *Resentment is like acid, eating away at the vessel it is stored in.* *AA-related 'Alconym' . . .* **A A** = **A**void **A**nger. ** *A ...Continue Reading

*AA Thought for the Day* (courtesy AA-Alive.net) *December 16, 2014* *Grace* *I think we all find an unavoidable association between what AA does and the grace of God. AA reflects, in a limited, human sense, the way God works with us. AA people love us when we're newcomers, not because of what we've done, but in spite of it, not because we've earned love, but because we need it. And so, I think, comes the final great acceptance of the AA member: the realization that I have been accepted by God -- that, when I stagge ...Continue Reading