AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) June 1, 2022 Truth 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, (More About Alcoholism) p. 33 Thought to Ponder Times change, alcoholism doesn't. AA-related ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 31, 2022 Forgiveness Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us. Our moral inventory had persuaded us that all-round forgive- ness 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 Thou ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 30, 2022 Consequences In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy or the like. But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (More About Alcoholism) p. 37 Thought to Ponder When I choose the behavior, I choose the consequences. AA-r ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 29, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Lack of Power Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your pro ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 28, 2022 Unselfishness and Love Since the home has suffered more than anything else, it is well that a man exert himself there. He is not likely to get far in any direction if he fails to show unselfishness and love under his own roof. We know there are difficult wives and families, but the man who is getting over alcoholism must remember he did much to make them so. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Family Afterward,) p. 127 Thought to Ponder Right actions for the future ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 27, 2022 Dependence Upon God When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would.. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 116 Thought to Ponder The will of God will never take me where the grace of God will not protect me. AA-related 'Alconym' F A I T H   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 26, 2022 Step Six We have emphasized willingness as being indispensable. Are we now ready to let God remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all—every one? If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Into Action) p. 76 Thought to Ponder The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us. AA-related 'Alconym' H O W  =   Honest, ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 25, 2022 Our Newfound Knowledge Steps Eight and Nine are concerned with personal relationships. First, we take a look backward and try to discover where we have been at fault; next we make a vigorous attempt to repair the damage we have done; and third, having thus cleaned away the debris of the past, we consider how, with our newfound knowledge of ourselves, we may develop the best possible relations with every human being we know.. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditi ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 24, 2022 Power of Choice He has lost control. At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected. The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) pp. 23 - 24 Thought to Ponder ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 23, 2022 New Attitudes If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care. These were the new attitudes that finally brought many of us an inner strength and peace that could not be deeply shaken by the shortcomings of others or by any calamity not of our own making. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 116 Thought to Ponder I never imagined that the g ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 22, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Blessings Having so considered our day, not omitting to take due note of things well done, and having searched our hearts with neither fear nor favor, we can truly thank God for the blessings we have received and sleep in good conscience. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 95  Thought to Ponder Gratitude is a most effective painkiller for the alcoholic.  AA-related 'Alconym' B E S T  =  Been En ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 21, 2022 Emotional Sobriety Thus I think it can work out with emotional sobriety. If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these hobbling demands. Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able to Twelfth Step ourselves and others into emotional sobriety. - A.A. Grapevine, January 1958 Thought to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 20, 2022 Carefully Reviewing Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better. Taking this book down from our shelf we turn to the page which contains the twelve steps. Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 19, 2022 Motives and Actions What real harm, therefore, had we done? No more, surely, than we could easily mend with a few casual apologies. This attitude, of course, is the end result of purposeful forgetting. It is an attitude which can only be changed by a deep and honest search of our motives and actions. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) p. 79 Thought to Ponder Life begins at the end of our comfort zone. AA-related 'Alconym' W I S D O M   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 18, 2022 Needs and Wants This great experience that released me from the bondage of hatred and replaced it with love is really just another affirmation of the truth I know: I get everything I need in Alcoholics Anonymous—and everything I need I get. And when I get what I need, I invariably find that it was just what I wanted all the time. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Freedom From Bondage) p. 552 Thought to Ponder Forgiveness entered my life through my heart, not my head ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 17, 2022 Inner Resource What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Spiritual Experience, Appendix II) p. 567 Thought to Ponder The greatest gift that can come to anyone is a spiritual awakening. AA-rela ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 16, 2022 Deal With Sobriety God willing, we members of A.A. may never again have to deal with drinking, but we have to deal with sobriety every day. How do we do it? By learning—through practicing the Twelve Steps and through sharing at meetings—how to cope with the problems that we looked to booze to solve, back in our drinking days. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (To Handle Sobriety) pp. 558 - 559 Thought to Ponder The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living. A ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 15, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Service You will be most successful with alcoholics if you do not exhibit any passion for crusade or reform. Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer him friendship and fellowship. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (Working With Others) p. 95  ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 14, 2022 Thoroughness Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation could yield more satisfying and valuable rewards than this one. Calm, thoughtful reflection upon personal relations can deepen our insight. We can go far beyond those things which were superficially wrong with us, to see those flaws which were basic, flaws which sometimes were responsible ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 13, 2022 Making the Approach That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured—these are the conditions we have f ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 12, 2022 Defect of Pride 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. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given instincts. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) pp.48 - 49 Thought to Ponder Swallowing my pride will not get me drunk. AA ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 11, 2022 Problems Pile Up These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (The Doctor's Opinion) p. xxviii Thought to Ponder The Twelve Steps; a manuscript for rational living. AA-related 'Alconym' A A   ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 10, 2022 Soul-Sickness Alcoholics especially should be able to see that instinct run wild in themselves is the underlying cause of their destructive drinking. We have drunk to drown feelings of fear, frustration, and depression. We have drunk to escape the guilt of passions, and then have drunk again to make more passions possible. We have drunk for vainglory—that we might the more enjoy foolish dreams of pomp and power. This perverse soul-sickness is not pleasant to ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 9, 2022 Two Alternatives 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. - Alcoholics Anonymo ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 8, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ In His Mind 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 in his mind, rather than in his body. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 23  Thought to Ponder I want the gift of an untroubled mind.  AA-related 'Alconym' C H A O S  =  Creating Havoc Around OurSe ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 7, 2022 Heartbreaking Obsession The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt—and one more failure. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision For You) p. 151 Thought to Ponder Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom f ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 6, 2022 Lose All Control But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (There Is A Solution) p. 21 Thought to Ponder When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control. AA-related 'Alconym' T H I N K  =   Thank Heave ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 5, 2022 Control and Manipulation When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own willful desires, they revolt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a sense of persecution, and a desire to retaliate. As we redouble our efforts at control, and continue to fail, our suffering becomes acute and constant. We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful member of society. - Tw ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 4, 2022 Avoiding Amends The temptation to skip the more humiliating and dreaded meetings that still remain may be great. We will often manufacture plausible excuses for dodging these issues entirely. Or we may just procrastinate, telling ourselves the time is not yet, when in reality we have already passed up many a fine chance to right a serious wrong. Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Nine) p. 85 Thought ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 3, 2022 Continue Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. 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. - ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 2, 2022 Miracles It may seem incredible that these men are to become happy, respected, and useful once more. How can they rise out of such misery, bad repute and hopelessness? The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that! - Alcoholics Anony ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) May 1, 2022 ~ Scroll Down for Share ~ Selfishness—self-centeredness! 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. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. - Alcoholics Anonymous, ( ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 30, 2022 Simple Request We ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out. As the day goes on, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request: "Thy will, not mine, be done." - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eleven) pp. 102 - 103 Thought to Ponder I can't do His will my way ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 29, 2022 The Right Track Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when making an inventory, will need to determine what his individual character defects are. Having found the shoes that fit, he ought to step into them and walk with new confidence that he is at last on the right track. - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Four) p. 48 Thought to Ponder Clear vision for tomorrow comes only after a real look at yesterday. AA-related 'Alconym' A G O & ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 28, 2022 Forgiveness We've repeatedly strained the patience of our best friends to a snapping point, and have brought out the very worst in those who didn't think much of us to begin with. In many instances we are really dealing with fellow sufferers, people whose woes we have increased. If we are now about to ask forgiveness for ourselves, why shouldn't we start out by forgiving them, one and all? - Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Eight) p. 78 Thought t ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 27, 2022 Fears We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn’t go far enough. - Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) p. 68 Thought to Ponder A fear faced is a fear erased. AA-related 'Alconym' F E A R  =   Face Everything And Recover. Thanks to all of you ...Continue Reading

AA Thought for the Day (courtesy AA-Alive.net) April 26, 2022 If He Means Business No one is too discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially—if he means business. Social distinctions, petty rivalries and jealousies—these are laughed out of countenance. Being wrecked in the same vessel, being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned to the welfare of others, the things which matter so much to some people no longer signify much to them. How could they? - Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vis ...Continue Reading

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