AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 24, 2026  Carry The Message “Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers.” The unique ability of each A.A. to identify himself with, and bring recovery to, the newcomer in no way depends upon his learning, eloquence, or on any special individual skills. The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Tradition Five) pp. 150-151 ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 23, 2026  Self-Deception By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people! - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 31  Thought to P ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 22, 2026  First Awakening I had my first awakening in A.A. The speaker said, "If you’re an apple, you can be the best apple you can be, but you can never be an orange." I was an apple all right, and for the first time I understood that I had spent my life trying to be an orange. I looked around at a room filled with apples and, if I was understanding the speaker, most of them were no longer trying to be oranges. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Window O ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 21, 2026  Resentment But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings 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. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 66  Thought to Ponder . . . Anger will never d ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 20, 2026  Meditation But its object is always the same: to improve our conscious contact with God, with His grace, wisdom, and love. And let's always remember that meditation is in reality intensely practical. One of its first fruits is emotional balance. With it we can broaden and deepen the channel between ourselves and God as we understand Him. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 101 - 102  Thought to Ponder . . . Prayer as ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 19, 2026  Real Tolerance and Respect Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people’s shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) pp. 19 - 20  Thought to Ponder . . . What if I were caring rather than judgment ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 18, 2026  Accept Reality Above all, we reject fantasizing and accept reality. . . I lived in a dream world. A.A. led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms. And I found it beautiful! For, at last, I was at peace with myself. And with others. And with God. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (To Handle Sobriety) p. 559  Thought to Ponder . . . Acceptance is the first step towards change.   AA-related 'Alconym' A A A  = & ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 17, 2026  Was I Crazy? Shortly afterward I came home drunk. There had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I simply didn’t know. It hadn't even come to mind. Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy? I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective seemed near being just that. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill's Story) p. 5  Thought to Ponder . . . Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 16, 2026  Unity Thus has it been with A.A. By faith and by works we have been able to build upon the lessons of an incredible experience. They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which—God willing— shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Tradition One) p. 131  Thought to Ponder . . . There is no strength without unity.   AA-related 'Alconym' A A's - R - U S &n ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 15, 2026  Joyful Gratitude One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine -- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some areas of livin ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 14, 2026  Vitally Needed Support 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. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) p. 97  Thought to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 13, 2026  Today or Any Other Day I need to remind myself that I was always equivocating and procrastinating when I drank, about what I was going to do tomorrow, next week, or next year. I was a world-beater at a bar or over a bottle, but I know now I actually did very little about today, or any other day for that matter. - - The Best Of The Grapevine, ((Volumes 1-3) p. 214  Thought to Ponder . . . The 24-hour plan is a discipline whose yield is f ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 12, 2026  Practice These Principles One of the most fundamental things I have learned is to pass on our message to other alcoholics. That means I must think more about others than about myself. The most important thing is to practice these principles in all my affairs. In my opinion, that is what Alcoholics Anonymous is all about. - - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Gratitude In Action) p. 199  Thought to Ponder . . . If I stay in the basics I don’t need ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 11, 2026My apologies for the late arrival of your Daily Thought this week. I'll be back on the regular schedule from tomorrow. Spiritual Experience We 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 Crea ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy aa-alive.net) July 10, 2026  Growing Pains Here again we are presented with the temptation to overmanage things, and sometimes this results in rebuffs and other consequences which are hard to take. But in the longer run we clearly realize that these are only the pains of growing up, and nothing but good can come from them if we turn more and more to the entire Twelve Steps for the answers. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 111  Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading