bluidkiti
04-04-2023, 07:21 AM
God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.
April 5
Daily Reflections
TRUE BROTHERHOOD
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. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide
underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership
relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we
had small comprehension.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53
This message contained in Step Four was the first one I heard loud and clear;
I hadn't seen myself in print before! Prior to my coming into
A.A., I knew of no place that could teach me how to become a person among persons.
From my very first meeting, I saw people doing just that and I wanted what they had.
One of the reasons that I'm a happy, sober alcoholic today is that I'm learning this most important lesson.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
People often ask what makes the A.A. program work. One of the
answers is that A.A. works because it gets people away from
themselves as the center of the universe. And it teaches them to rely
more on the fellowship of others and on strength from God. Forgetting ourselves in fellowship, prayer, and working with others is what makes the A.A. program work. Are these things keeping me sober?
Meditation For The Day
God is the great interpreter of one human personality to another.
Even personalities who are the nearest together have much in their
natures that remains a seated book to each other. And only as God
enters and controls their lives are the mysteries of each revealed to the other. Each personality is so different. God alone understands
perfectly the language of each and can interpret between the two. Here we find the miracles of change and the true interpretation of life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be in the right relationship to God. I pray that God
will interpret to me the personalities of other people, so that I can
understand them and help them.
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As Bill Sees It
Spiritual Kindergarten, p. 95
"We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are
enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to
better effect. Each man's theology has to be his own quest, his own
affair."
<< << << >> >> >>
When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it
ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection
to the use of the word "God", but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues.
Spirituality, yes. Religion, no. Still others wanted a psychological
book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he could take God or leave
Him alone as he wished.
To the rest of us this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our
group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and
effective book possible.
Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and
agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass
through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
1. Letter, 1954
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 162, 163, 167
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Walk in Dry Places
Letting Go of Resentment___ Releasing the Past
How can we really put an end to festering resentments toward other people? "Pray for these people," the Old-timers said. "Go out of your way to do something good for them." This is a big order for most of us, but we are working for a big reward: Sobriety, peace of mind, and personal progress.
When we pray for others in this manner, we're practicing the noble art of forgiveness. How do we know when it's staring to work? Lewis B. Smedes, a master teacher of forgiveness, offers this thought: "You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."
Forgiveness also is supposed to include forgetting the wrong. What we really forget is the hurt connected with it. When anything that once evoked pain comes to mind, we're growing spiritually if it no longer has the power to hurt us.
We then discover that we had been letting go our resentments hurt us again and again. We also learn that one effort to forgive is not nearly enough. Forgiveness takes the same amount of practice and emotional power we put into carrying the resentment!
Today will bring enough problems. I don't have either the time or the energy to play the old tapes that cause me pain. I'll practice praying for those who hurt me, and I'll take it for granted that my HIgher Power is removing my resentments.
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Keep It Simple
Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God.---Anne Frank
Many of us look at the joy and beauty of the program with caution. It was different from our addictive joy. Was it to be trusted? When we started working the Steps, we found inner joy and beauty. As we let go and gave in to the program, we found more happiness. We found joy in ourselves, our friends, our Higher Power, and those around us. Our self-pity changed to self-respect. We were truly out in the sunshine. We were no longer lost in misery. We know how to walk through misery to find joy.
Prayer for the Day: May I become better friends with myself. Higher Power, let me see the world through Your innocent, yet wise and loving eyes
Action for the Day: Today I'll work to make my life and the lives of others more joyful. I'll greet myself and others with much joy.
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Each Day a New Beginning
I came to the conclusion then that "continual mindfulness". . . must mean, not a sergeant-major-like drilling of thoughts, but a continual readiness to look and readiness to accept whatever came. --Joanna Field
Resistance to the events, the situations, the many people who come into our lives blocks the growth we are offered every day. Every moment of every day is offering us a gift: the gift of awareness of other persons, awareness of our natural surroundings, awareness of our own personal impact on creation. And in awareness comes our growth as women.
Living in the now, being present in the moment, guarantees us the protection of God. And in the stretches of time when we anxiously anticipate the events of the future, we cheat ourselves of the security God offers us right now.
We are always being taken care of, right here, right now. Being mindful, this minute, of what's happening and only this, eases all anxieties, erases all fears. We only struggle when we have moved our sights from the present moment. Within the now lies all peace.
The most important lesson I have to learn, the lesson that will eliminate all of my pain and struggle, is to receive fully that which is offered in each moment of my life.
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 11 - A Vision For You
But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals. Cleaning up old scrapes, helping to settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to his irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other, when justified—these are everyday occurrences. 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?
p. 161
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories
EMPTY ON THE INSIDE - She grew up around A.A. and had all the answers--except when it came to her own life.
At one point before moving home, I lost a job that meant a lot to me, as the direct result of my drinking. For the first time, I went to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and said, "I am an alcoholic." When I had gone to meetings with my dad I always just said, "I'm with him." I called my father and told him I went to a meeting. Within a week he mailed me a box containing the book Alcoholics Anonymous, a tape of his A.A. talk, a couple of meditation books, a copy of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and a few other odds and ends. I think he had been saving up for the day I was willing.
p. 515
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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
In Step Eight, we continued our housecleaning, for we saw that we were not only in conflict with ourselves, but also with people and situations in the world in which we lived. We had to begin to make our peace, and so we listed the people we had harmed and became willing to set things right. We followed this up in Step Nine by making direct amends to those concerned, except when it would injure them or other people. By this time, at Step Ten, we had begun to get a basis for daily living, and we keenly realized that we would need to continue taking personal inventory, and that when we were in the wrong we ought to admit it promptly. In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible. The persistent use of meditation and prayer, we found, did open the channel so that where there had been a trickle, there now was a river which led to sure power and safe guidance from God as we were increasingly better able to understand Him.
pp. 108-109
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You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice
because thorns have roses.
--Tom Wilson
"Not to transmit an experience is to betray it."
--Elie Wiesel
A friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
"The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter."
--Anon.
"None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what
unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting to change all the tenor of our lives."
--Kathleen Norris
The beauty of God is evident when we work together for God's glory.
--Jacki Work
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Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FAILURE
"No man is a failure who is
enjoying life."
--William Feather
Spirituality is fun. I enjoy my sobriety today and I do not take myself too seriously.
For years I thought I was a failure and this "thought" manifested the behavior of a failure. I hid, sulked, was jealous, carried resentments
and isolated myself from life - and then blamed the world.
Today because I really understand and accept that I am a child of God, I know that I am not a failure and I have a glorious future in recovery.
Today I have hope. Today I have confidence. Today I am able to
accept and forgive. Today I am able to love my neighbor because I love myself.
In my enjoyment of life may I reflect your love for the world.
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"For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
Psalm 91:11
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not
from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:6
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in a advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
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Daily Inspiration
In a day when almost everything goes right, don't ruin it by focusing on the one thing that didn't. Lord, help me to allow the good in my life to prevail.
To live with anger or resentment creates even more anger and resentment. Lord, increase my ability to forgive and free me from all that separates me from You so that I may be filled with Your peace.
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NA Just For Today
Identification
"Someone finally knew the crazy thoughts that I had and the crazy things I'd done."
Basic Text p. 175
Addicts often feel terminally unique. We're sure that no one used drugs like we did or had to do the things that we did to get them. Feeling that no one really understands us can keep us from recovery for many years.
But once we come to the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, we begin to lose that feeling of being "the worst" or "the craziest." We listen as members share their experiences. We discover that others have walked the same twisted path that we've walked and still have been able to find recovery. We begin to believe that recovery is available to us, too.
As we progress in our own recovery, sometimes our thinking is still insane. However, we find that when we share the hard time we may be having, others identify, sharing how they have dealt with such difficulties. No matter how troubled our thinking seems, we find hope when others relate to us, passing along the solutions they've found. We begin to believe that we can survive whatever we're going through to continue on in our recovery.
The gift of Narcotics Anonymous is that we learn we are not alone. We can get dean and stay clean by sharing our experience, our strength, and even our crazy thinking with other members. When we do, we open ourselves to the solutions others have found to the challenges we face.
Just for today: I am grateful that I can identify with others. Today, I will listen as they share their experience, and I'll share mine with them.
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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, Eyes-- I wonder if it weighs like Mine-- Or has an easier size. --Emily Dickinson
How can we measure all the grief we feel, and how can we put up with it? Doesn't the Grief of Death weigh a ton or more? Doesn't it stretch out to a month, a year, or longer still? Is the Grief of Failure lighter than the Grief of Despair, but maybe longer? Isn't the Grief of Emptiness the heaviest of all? Whether we try to ignore or make light of it, our grief, like a ton of feathers or a ton of rocks, is all the same to us. This much is sure: if we lock our grief in, it will weigh more on us and lengthen out; if we open our hearts with weeping and words, others will help carry it away.
What old sadness can I let go of by sharing it today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
When angry, count four; when very angry, swear. --Mark Twain
Feelings of anger are a knotty problem for many men. Some of us as children were injured or so frightened by an angry adult that we have instinctively avoided anger ever since. Or we have been appalled by ourselves when we lost control of our anger. Still, we are taught that it is masculine to be aggressive. Some of us have tried so hard to squelch our anger that we don't even know when we feel it. We treat anger like a rejected child once rejected we no longer have good discipline over it. So it comes out in hurtful jokes and sarcastic comments, or bursts out of us in scary and destructive ways.
For some of us, overly controlled anger turns inward against ourselves. We get physically ill or depressed and self-hating. Every recovering man needs an honest relationship with his anger. We must acknowledge this feeling within us when it is there. It is healthy to express anger directly, honestly, and respectfully.
Thanks to God for the richness of my emotional life. Today, I will notice my feelings of anger and accept them so I can learn to relate to them.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
I came to the conclusion then that "continual mindfulness". . . must mean, not a sergeant-major-like drilling of thoughts, but a continual readiness to look and readiness to accept whatever came. --Joanna Field
Resistance to the events, the situations, the many people who come into our lives blocks the growth we are offered every day. Every moment of every day is offering us a gift: the gift of awareness of other persons, awareness of our natural surroundings, awareness of our own personal impact on creation. And in awareness comes our growth as women.
Living in the now, being present in the moment, guarantees us the protection of God. And in the stretches of time when we anxiously anticipate the events of the future, we cheat ourselves of the security God offers us right now.
We are always being taken care of, right here, right now. Being mindful, this minute, of what's happening and only this, eases all anxieties, erases all fears. We only struggle when we have moved our sights from the present moment. Within the now lies all peace.
The most important lesson I have to learn, the lesson that will eliminate all of my pain and struggle, is to receive fully that which is offered in each moment of my life.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Detaching in Love
Detachment is a key to recovery from codependency. It strengthens our healthy relationships - the ones that we want to grow and flourish. It benefits our difficult relationships - the ones that are teaching us to cope. It helps us!
Detachment is not something we do once. Its a daily behavior in recovery. We learn it when were beginning our recovery from codependency and adult children issues. And we continue to practice it along the way as we grow and change, and as our relationships grow and change.
We learn to let go of people we love, people we like, and those we don't particularly care for. We separate ourselves, and our process, from others and their process.
We relinquish our tight hold and our need to control in our relationships. We take responsibility for ourselves; we allow others to do the same. We detach with the understanding that life is unfolding exactly as it needs to, for others and ourselves. The way life unfolds is good, even when it hurts. And ultimately, we can benefit from even the most difficult situations. We do this with the understanding that a Power greater than ourselves is in charge, and all is well.
Today, I will apply the concept of detachment, to the best of my ability, in my relationships. If I cant let go completely, Ill try to hang on loose.
Today I am open to all of who I am. As I bring my attention to all of me, without judgment, I grow in wisdom and freedom. --Ruth Fishel
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Journey To The Heart
Develop a Sense of the Sacred
During my stay in New Mexico, I found myself repeatedly– almost magnetically– drawn to the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs. The grounds weren’t fancy, soaking cost only $8.00. But I felt safe, healed, spiritually connected when I was there. At times, I felt almost an electric energy coursing through my body when I roamed the grounds. On my third visit, I noticed a small marker hidden on the side of the parking lot and I began to understand my feelings. The ancient spring was actually a Native American sacred site. The energy I felt there was real. I was standing on holy ground.
Develop a sense of the sacred. Develop a sense of what is sacred to you. Allow yourself to see and feel the holy grounds in your life as you go through your days and years. Many times what we’re going through, what we’re seeing is sacred, but our minds diminish that idea. So much in life is holy, but often we don’t make the connection. Listen to your soul as you experience life. Let yourself connect with what is holy and sacred to you.
Stop chattering for a moment. Be still. Experience. Ask your soul to show you what’s holy. The electric energy will rise through you. Your soul will come to attention. Learn to feel, see, and know the beauty of the journey you’re on.
Develop a sense of the sacred. Where you’re standing is holy ground.
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More Language Of Letting Go
Just do what you can
Dear God,
I am doing the best that I can.
–Children’s Letters to God
Sometimes all we can do is all we can do.
“Maybe my talent is being a good listener,” said John. “Maybe I’m not supposed to be rich and famous. I’m supposed to be the person who just sits and listens.”
The world needs listeners,too. If everyone were the storyteller, it would be a noisy place, and no one would ever get to hear the stories. Maybe you are a storyteller, maybe you are a listener. Maybe both. Maybe it will be your path to achieve recognition and fame; maybe yours is an anonymous path of service.
If you’ve done all you can– whether it’s to pursue your dreams, work on that relationship, help someone else, or take care of yourself– then you’ve done your part.
Maybe all we can do is all we’re meant to do, that day.
God, help me do what I can and not torture myself about what I can’t.
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In God’s Care
Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
~~Karl Barth
In a moment’s pause, before we respond to a person or situation, may come a clear message indicating how we are to act or what we are to say. In that quiet moment, our conscience calls to us. Our willingness to pause, listen, and then act as our Inner Guide suggests, will ensure that our relations with others will reflect our true values.
Many of us feel God’s presence most through our conscience. Seldom are we truly in doubt about the proper response to a friend. And yet we may still refuse to pause and listen to God’s message – to remember and affirm our values. And then we experience guilt and shame.
We complicate our relationships needlessly when we act before we think. Our agitated ego takes over, and we lose sight of the sure knowledge that God is the director, we are the actors. A quiet mind lets us hear the directions.
I will be quiet, if only for a moment, before sharing my thoughts today.
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Playing Your Part
Life Is an Illusion
by Madisyn Taylor
As we become more enlightened on our journey of life, we become more compassionate and wise and have less attachment.
As children, most of us sang that mesmerizing, wistful lullaby that ends with the words, “Life is but a dream.” This is a classic example of a deep, sophisticated truth hiding, like an underground stream, in an unlikely place. It winds its way through our minds like a riddle or a Zen koan, coming up when we least expect it and asking that we consider its meaning. Many gurus and philosophers agree with this mysterious observation, saying that this world we perceive as real is actually an illusion, not unlike a film being projected on a screen. Most of us are so involved in the projection that we don’t understand it for what it is. We are completely caught up in the illusion, imagining that we are in a life and death struggle and taking it very seriously.
The enlightened few, on the other hand, live their lives in the light of the awareness that what most of us perceive as reality is a passing fancy. As a result, they behave with detachment, compassion, and wisdom, while the rest of us struggle and writhe upon the stage in the play of our life. Having the wisdom to know that life is but a dream does not mean that we ignore it or don’t do our best with the twists and turns of our fate. Rather, like an actress who plays her role fully even as she knows it’s only a role, we engage in the unfolding drama, but with a little more freedom because we know that this is not the totality of who we are.
And life is more of an improvisation than it is like a play whose lines have already been written, whose end is already known. Like an improviser, we have choices to make and the more we embrace the illusionary quality of the performance, the lighter we can be on the planet, on others, and on ourselves. We can truly play with the shadows cast by the light of the projector, fully engaging without getting bogged down. Published with permission from Daily OM
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A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
Still another common thread we invariably see among slippers is that many of them felt dissatisfaction with today. “I forgot we live one day at a time,” or “I began to plan results, not just plan.” They seemed to forget that all we have is Now. Life continues to get better for them and, as many of us do, they forgot how bad it had been. They began to think, instead, of how dissatisfying it was compared to what it could be. Do I compare today with yesterday, realizing, by that contrast, what great benefits and blessings I have today?
Today I Pray
If I am discouraged with today, may I remember the sorrow and hassles of yesterday. If I am impatient for the future, let me appreciate today and how much better it is than the life i left behind. May I never forget the principle of “one day at a time.”
Today I Will Remember
The craziness of yesterday
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One More Day
Be not afraid to pray, to pray is right. Pray, if thou canst with hope, but even pray.
– Harley Coolidge
“Now I lay me down to sleep” may have been one of our fist childhood prayers, perhaps even on of our first memories. As we grew, we may have learned to recite other prayers by rote, with little understanding.
Now, we are beginning to understand and feel the need for prayer. many of us came to a belief in a Power greater than ourselves, one which can nature and sustain us. We can pray for those we love; we can pray for ourselves. Prayer can enhance and bond us with our Higher Power. It nourishes and satisfies our souls — the inner self.
Prayer is a creative expression of my spiritual needs. It offers me a deep sense of personal satisfaction and continually reminds me of all life’s forces.
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Food For Thought
Fears
Do you eat when you are afraid? Many of us do. When we were babies, being fed brought the safety of our mother's arms. As adults, we subconsciously give food a sort of magic ability to ward off real or imagined danger.
There are times when food may serve as a temporary tranquilizer, but overeating prevents us from facing what we fear and learning how to deal with it. Eating compulsively, moreover, usually produces a feeling of guilt and a fear of "getting caught." The fear that we will not be able to stop eating is added to the fear that prompted us to reach for food, and the more we eat, the greater our fears.
Many of our fears are groundless and irrational. Through contact with our Higher Power, we are given the sanity, which causes them to disappear. Those fears that remain are often the result of the self-centeredness, which prevents us from turning our lives completely over to God. When we give Him absolute control, we have nothing to fear.
May I love You enough to let go of my fears.
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One Day At A Time
~ Acceptance ~
Until you make peace with who you are,
you will never be content with what you have.
Doris Mortman
Through abstinence and recovery, I can begin to accept myself. I can pay attention to my likes and my dislikes as I continue to grow and learn about me. Learning about myself is a new adventure. There are so many layers that have been hidden under years of food abuse and weight obsession. Exploring and discovering the new me requires a lot of acceptance. There are parts of me that I do not like, and there are also wonderful surprises. By accepting all parts of myself, I am honoring my Higher Power and demonstrating spiritual recovery.
One Day at a Time . . .
I will accept myself. By learning to accept myself, I will find myself growing in my acceptance of others.
~ Christine S. ~
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AA 'Big Book' - Quote
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.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. - Pg. 85 - Into Action
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it. What does this new life, seemingly full of discipline and deprivation, offer us anyway? There are many promises that only time can bring. Until then we must cherish our new freedom--freedom from the expense, cravings, and cost to our personal lives in that old chemical world.
Let me see the bondage of my addiction and remember not the questionable good times but the very real chains that bound me.
Shifting My Feeling States
When I shift my own thinking and feeling states, I shift my body states as well, because emotions travel through me as body chemicals. In a way, I am what I think about all day. I can shift what I am feeling by consciously changing my thoughts and I can shift what I'm thinking, by consciously evening out my emotional states. I will place my attention on my heart and imagine myself in a calm and serene state. As my heart calms, so does my body. When I can consciously breathe in and out of my heart zone, and imagine that part of me entering a state of ease and serenity, I actually contribute to my emotional, psychological and physical health.
I calm my heart
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
In our fellowship, there are always those who feel they have the ultimate wisdom to impart to you. These highly verbose people may set your nerves on edge with incredibly self-serving 'words of wisdom.' They may be full of themselves, but they are probably not trying to hurt you.
If I judge people, I have no time to love them.
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book
We came to AA to save our ass, and found out our soul was attached.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
Today I am open to all of who I am. As I bring my attention to all of me, without judgment, I grow in wisdom and freedom.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
If you can't turn over everything, turn over 'right now.' - Tom W.
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AA Thought for the Day
April 5
This Precious Gift
None of us can ever fathom the glories and the uncharted regions of the universe.
But we can live on earth and love one another.
We can let in the beginnings of concern, compassion, consideration, and watch ourselves grow.
With the tools and guideposts of Alcoholics Anonymous,
we can learn a little of this precious gift -- our gateway to human spirituality.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 120
Thought to Ponder . . .
The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Consideration.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G I F T S = Getting It From The Steps.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Virtues
"We of AA are apt sometimes to brag
of the virtues of our fellowship.
Let us remember that none of these are earned virtues.
We have been forced into them, to begin with,
by the cruel lash of John Barleycorn.
We have adopted these attitudes, these practices,
this structure, not at first because we wished to
but because we had to.
But today I think we stand
willing to conform permanently and gladly
to the principles which experience,
under the grace of God,
has taught us."
Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 224
Thought to Consider . . .
Unless I accept my virtues,
I will be overwhelmed with my faults.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
LET GO
Leave Everything To God, Okay?
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Traditions
From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"You will remember that episode back in our living room on Clinton Street. That was the time when my group told me I
[Bill W.] could never become an A.A. professional. With nearly every Tradition much the same thing has happened. At
first, I obeyed because I had to; I would have lost my standing in A.A. if I had not. After a while I began to obey because I
saw that the Traditions were wise and right. While I conformed because it was right to do, I still resisted inwardly.
"This was particularly true of anonymity. Today I hope I have come to a time in my A.A. life when I can obey because I
really want to obey, because I really want the Traditions for myself as well as for A.A. as a whole."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 136
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"My basic flaw had always been dependence -- almost absolute dependence -- on people or circumstances to supply
me with prestige, security, and the like. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionist dreams and
specifications, I had fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1958
"The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety"
The Language of the Heart
~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get
well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in
God and clean house."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 98~
"Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant
thought of others and how we may help meet their needs."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 20
We become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 24
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
Spiritual Kindergarten
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. Each man's theology has to be his own quest, his own affair.
When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection to the use of the word 'God,' but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues. Spirituality, yes. Religion, no. Still others wanted a psychological book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he could take God or leave Him alone as he wished.
To the rest of us this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and effective book possible.
Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
1. LETTER, 1954
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, PP. 162, 163, 167
Prayer For The Day: Dear heavenly Father, I praise you for all of Your goodness to us as Your children. I am blessed to know You and to follow You. Lord, help me to make wise decisions in all the things that I daily face. Give me Your love for all that I meet. Lord, in all of my affairs, help me not to procrastinate in dealing with the responsibilities that are before me. I do need Your guidance to know the things that should be priorities in my life, as sometime I do not know what needs to be taken care of first. Help me, in all my daily activities at home and at the office, to demonstrate Your nature. I ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.
April 5
Daily Reflections
TRUE BROTHERHOOD
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. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to hide
underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a partnership
relation with any one of those about us. Of true brotherhood we
had small comprehension.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53
This message contained in Step Four was the first one I heard loud and clear;
I hadn't seen myself in print before! Prior to my coming into
A.A., I knew of no place that could teach me how to become a person among persons.
From my very first meeting, I saw people doing just that and I wanted what they had.
One of the reasons that I'm a happy, sober alcoholic today is that I'm learning this most important lesson.
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Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
People often ask what makes the A.A. program work. One of the
answers is that A.A. works because it gets people away from
themselves as the center of the universe. And it teaches them to rely
more on the fellowship of others and on strength from God. Forgetting ourselves in fellowship, prayer, and working with others is what makes the A.A. program work. Are these things keeping me sober?
Meditation For The Day
God is the great interpreter of one human personality to another.
Even personalities who are the nearest together have much in their
natures that remains a seated book to each other. And only as God
enters and controls their lives are the mysteries of each revealed to the other. Each personality is so different. God alone understands
perfectly the language of each and can interpret between the two. Here we find the miracles of change and the true interpretation of life.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may be in the right relationship to God. I pray that God
will interpret to me the personalities of other people, so that I can
understand them and help them.
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As Bill Sees It
Spiritual Kindergarten, p. 95
"We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are
enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to
better effect. Each man's theology has to be his own quest, his own
affair."
<< << << >> >> >>
When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it
ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection
to the use of the word "God", but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues.
Spirituality, yes. Religion, no. Still others wanted a psychological
book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he could take God or leave
Him alone as he wished.
To the rest of us this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our
group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and
effective book possible.
Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and
agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass
through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
1. Letter, 1954
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 162, 163, 167
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Walk in Dry Places
Letting Go of Resentment___ Releasing the Past
How can we really put an end to festering resentments toward other people? "Pray for these people," the Old-timers said. "Go out of your way to do something good for them." This is a big order for most of us, but we are working for a big reward: Sobriety, peace of mind, and personal progress.
When we pray for others in this manner, we're practicing the noble art of forgiveness. How do we know when it's staring to work? Lewis B. Smedes, a master teacher of forgiveness, offers this thought: "You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well."
Forgiveness also is supposed to include forgetting the wrong. What we really forget is the hurt connected with it. When anything that once evoked pain comes to mind, we're growing spiritually if it no longer has the power to hurt us.
We then discover that we had been letting go our resentments hurt us again and again. We also learn that one effort to forgive is not nearly enough. Forgiveness takes the same amount of practice and emotional power we put into carrying the resentment!
Today will bring enough problems. I don't have either the time or the energy to play the old tapes that cause me pain. I'll practice praying for those who hurt me, and I'll take it for granted that my HIgher Power is removing my resentments.
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Keep It Simple
Go outside, to the fields, enjoy nature and the sunshine, go out and try to recapture happiness in yourself and in God.---Anne Frank
Many of us look at the joy and beauty of the program with caution. It was different from our addictive joy. Was it to be trusted? When we started working the Steps, we found inner joy and beauty. As we let go and gave in to the program, we found more happiness. We found joy in ourselves, our friends, our Higher Power, and those around us. Our self-pity changed to self-respect. We were truly out in the sunshine. We were no longer lost in misery. We know how to walk through misery to find joy.
Prayer for the Day: May I become better friends with myself. Higher Power, let me see the world through Your innocent, yet wise and loving eyes
Action for the Day: Today I'll work to make my life and the lives of others more joyful. I'll greet myself and others with much joy.
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Each Day a New Beginning
I came to the conclusion then that "continual mindfulness". . . must mean, not a sergeant-major-like drilling of thoughts, but a continual readiness to look and readiness to accept whatever came. --Joanna Field
Resistance to the events, the situations, the many people who come into our lives blocks the growth we are offered every day. Every moment of every day is offering us a gift: the gift of awareness of other persons, awareness of our natural surroundings, awareness of our own personal impact on creation. And in awareness comes our growth as women.
Living in the now, being present in the moment, guarantees us the protection of God. And in the stretches of time when we anxiously anticipate the events of the future, we cheat ourselves of the security God offers us right now.
We are always being taken care of, right here, right now. Being mindful, this minute, of what's happening and only this, eases all anxieties, erases all fears. We only struggle when we have moved our sights from the present moment. Within the now lies all peace.
The most important lesson I have to learn, the lesson that will eliminate all of my pain and struggle, is to receive fully that which is offered in each moment of my life.
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
Chapter 11 - A Vision For You
But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals. Cleaning up old scrapes, helping to settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to his irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other, when justified—these are everyday occurrences. 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?
p. 161
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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories
EMPTY ON THE INSIDE - She grew up around A.A. and had all the answers--except when it came to her own life.
At one point before moving home, I lost a job that meant a lot to me, as the direct result of my drinking. For the first time, I went to a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and said, "I am an alcoholic." When I had gone to meetings with my dad I always just said, "I'm with him." I called my father and told him I went to a meeting. Within a week he mailed me a box containing the book Alcoholics Anonymous, a tape of his A.A. talk, a couple of meditation books, a copy of Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and a few other odds and ends. I think he had been saving up for the day I was willing.
p. 515
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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
In Step Eight, we continued our housecleaning, for we saw that we were not only in conflict with ourselves, but also with people and situations in the world in which we lived. We had to begin to make our peace, and so we listed the people we had harmed and became willing to set things right. We followed this up in Step Nine by making direct amends to those concerned, except when it would injure them or other people. By this time, at Step Ten, we had begun to get a basis for daily living, and we keenly realized that we would need to continue taking personal inventory, and that when we were in the wrong we ought to admit it promptly. In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had restored us to sanity and had enabled us to live with some peace of mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth knowing better, by as direct contact as possible. The persistent use of meditation and prayer, we found, did open the channel so that where there had been a trickle, there now was a river which led to sure power and safe guidance from God as we were increasingly better able to understand Him.
pp. 108-109
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You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice
because thorns have roses.
--Tom Wilson
"Not to transmit an experience is to betray it."
--Elie Wiesel
A friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.
"The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter."
--Anon.
"None of us knows what the next change is going to be, what
unexpected opportunity is just around the corner, waiting to change all the tenor of our lives."
--Kathleen Norris
The beauty of God is evident when we work together for God's glory.
--Jacki Work
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Father Leo's Daily Meditation
FAILURE
"No man is a failure who is
enjoying life."
--William Feather
Spirituality is fun. I enjoy my sobriety today and I do not take myself too seriously.
For years I thought I was a failure and this "thought" manifested the behavior of a failure. I hid, sulked, was jealous, carried resentments
and isolated myself from life - and then blamed the world.
Today because I really understand and accept that I am a child of God, I know that I am not a failure and I have a glorious future in recovery.
Today I have hope. Today I have confidence. Today I am able to
accept and forgive. Today I am able to love my neighbor because I love myself.
In my enjoyment of life may I reflect your love for the world.
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"For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
Psalm 91:11
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not
from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:6
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in a advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
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Daily Inspiration
In a day when almost everything goes right, don't ruin it by focusing on the one thing that didn't. Lord, help me to allow the good in my life to prevail.
To live with anger or resentment creates even more anger and resentment. Lord, increase my ability to forgive and free me from all that separates me from You so that I may be filled with Your peace.
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NA Just For Today
Identification
"Someone finally knew the crazy thoughts that I had and the crazy things I'd done."
Basic Text p. 175
Addicts often feel terminally unique. We're sure that no one used drugs like we did or had to do the things that we did to get them. Feeling that no one really understands us can keep us from recovery for many years.
But once we come to the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous, we begin to lose that feeling of being "the worst" or "the craziest." We listen as members share their experiences. We discover that others have walked the same twisted path that we've walked and still have been able to find recovery. We begin to believe that recovery is available to us, too.
As we progress in our own recovery, sometimes our thinking is still insane. However, we find that when we share the hard time we may be having, others identify, sharing how they have dealt with such difficulties. No matter how troubled our thinking seems, we find hope when others relate to us, passing along the solutions they've found. We begin to believe that we can survive whatever we're going through to continue on in our recovery.
The gift of Narcotics Anonymous is that we learn we are not alone. We can get dean and stay clean by sharing our experience, our strength, and even our crazy thinking with other members. When we do, we open ourselves to the solutions others have found to the challenges we face.
Just for today: I am grateful that I can identify with others. Today, I will listen as they share their experience, and I'll share mine with them.
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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, Eyes-- I wonder if it weighs like Mine-- Or has an easier size. --Emily Dickinson
How can we measure all the grief we feel, and how can we put up with it? Doesn't the Grief of Death weigh a ton or more? Doesn't it stretch out to a month, a year, or longer still? Is the Grief of Failure lighter than the Grief of Despair, but maybe longer? Isn't the Grief of Emptiness the heaviest of all? Whether we try to ignore or make light of it, our grief, like a ton of feathers or a ton of rocks, is all the same to us. This much is sure: if we lock our grief in, it will weigh more on us and lengthen out; if we open our hearts with weeping and words, others will help carry it away.
What old sadness can I let go of by sharing it today?
You are reading from the book Touchstones.
When angry, count four; when very angry, swear. --Mark Twain
Feelings of anger are a knotty problem for many men. Some of us as children were injured or so frightened by an angry adult that we have instinctively avoided anger ever since. Or we have been appalled by ourselves when we lost control of our anger. Still, we are taught that it is masculine to be aggressive. Some of us have tried so hard to squelch our anger that we don't even know when we feel it. We treat anger like a rejected child once rejected we no longer have good discipline over it. So it comes out in hurtful jokes and sarcastic comments, or bursts out of us in scary and destructive ways.
For some of us, overly controlled anger turns inward against ourselves. We get physically ill or depressed and self-hating. Every recovering man needs an honest relationship with his anger. We must acknowledge this feeling within us when it is there. It is healthy to express anger directly, honestly, and respectfully.
Thanks to God for the richness of my emotional life. Today, I will notice my feelings of anger and accept them so I can learn to relate to them.
You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
I came to the conclusion then that "continual mindfulness". . . must mean, not a sergeant-major-like drilling of thoughts, but a continual readiness to look and readiness to accept whatever came. --Joanna Field
Resistance to the events, the situations, the many people who come into our lives blocks the growth we are offered every day. Every moment of every day is offering us a gift: the gift of awareness of other persons, awareness of our natural surroundings, awareness of our own personal impact on creation. And in awareness comes our growth as women.
Living in the now, being present in the moment, guarantees us the protection of God. And in the stretches of time when we anxiously anticipate the events of the future, we cheat ourselves of the security God offers us right now.
We are always being taken care of, right here, right now. Being mindful, this minute, of what's happening and only this, eases all anxieties, erases all fears. We only struggle when we have moved our sights from the present moment. Within the now lies all peace.
The most important lesson I have to learn, the lesson that will eliminate all of my pain and struggle, is to receive fully that which is offered in each moment of my life.
You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Detaching in Love
Detachment is a key to recovery from codependency. It strengthens our healthy relationships - the ones that we want to grow and flourish. It benefits our difficult relationships - the ones that are teaching us to cope. It helps us!
Detachment is not something we do once. Its a daily behavior in recovery. We learn it when were beginning our recovery from codependency and adult children issues. And we continue to practice it along the way as we grow and change, and as our relationships grow and change.
We learn to let go of people we love, people we like, and those we don't particularly care for. We separate ourselves, and our process, from others and their process.
We relinquish our tight hold and our need to control in our relationships. We take responsibility for ourselves; we allow others to do the same. We detach with the understanding that life is unfolding exactly as it needs to, for others and ourselves. The way life unfolds is good, even when it hurts. And ultimately, we can benefit from even the most difficult situations. We do this with the understanding that a Power greater than ourselves is in charge, and all is well.
Today, I will apply the concept of detachment, to the best of my ability, in my relationships. If I cant let go completely, Ill try to hang on loose.
Today I am open to all of who I am. As I bring my attention to all of me, without judgment, I grow in wisdom and freedom. --Ruth Fishel
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Journey To The Heart
Develop a Sense of the Sacred
During my stay in New Mexico, I found myself repeatedly– almost magnetically– drawn to the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs. The grounds weren’t fancy, soaking cost only $8.00. But I felt safe, healed, spiritually connected when I was there. At times, I felt almost an electric energy coursing through my body when I roamed the grounds. On my third visit, I noticed a small marker hidden on the side of the parking lot and I began to understand my feelings. The ancient spring was actually a Native American sacred site. The energy I felt there was real. I was standing on holy ground.
Develop a sense of the sacred. Develop a sense of what is sacred to you. Allow yourself to see and feel the holy grounds in your life as you go through your days and years. Many times what we’re going through, what we’re seeing is sacred, but our minds diminish that idea. So much in life is holy, but often we don’t make the connection. Listen to your soul as you experience life. Let yourself connect with what is holy and sacred to you.
Stop chattering for a moment. Be still. Experience. Ask your soul to show you what’s holy. The electric energy will rise through you. Your soul will come to attention. Learn to feel, see, and know the beauty of the journey you’re on.
Develop a sense of the sacred. Where you’re standing is holy ground.
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More Language Of Letting Go
Just do what you can
Dear God,
I am doing the best that I can.
–Children’s Letters to God
Sometimes all we can do is all we can do.
“Maybe my talent is being a good listener,” said John. “Maybe I’m not supposed to be rich and famous. I’m supposed to be the person who just sits and listens.”
The world needs listeners,too. If everyone were the storyteller, it would be a noisy place, and no one would ever get to hear the stories. Maybe you are a storyteller, maybe you are a listener. Maybe both. Maybe it will be your path to achieve recognition and fame; maybe yours is an anonymous path of service.
If you’ve done all you can– whether it’s to pursue your dreams, work on that relationship, help someone else, or take care of yourself– then you’ve done your part.
Maybe all we can do is all we’re meant to do, that day.
God, help me do what I can and not torture myself about what I can’t.
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In God’s Care
Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life.
~~Karl Barth
In a moment’s pause, before we respond to a person or situation, may come a clear message indicating how we are to act or what we are to say. In that quiet moment, our conscience calls to us. Our willingness to pause, listen, and then act as our Inner Guide suggests, will ensure that our relations with others will reflect our true values.
Many of us feel God’s presence most through our conscience. Seldom are we truly in doubt about the proper response to a friend. And yet we may still refuse to pause and listen to God’s message – to remember and affirm our values. And then we experience guilt and shame.
We complicate our relationships needlessly when we act before we think. Our agitated ego takes over, and we lose sight of the sure knowledge that God is the director, we are the actors. A quiet mind lets us hear the directions.
I will be quiet, if only for a moment, before sharing my thoughts today.
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Playing Your Part
Life Is an Illusion
by Madisyn Taylor
As we become more enlightened on our journey of life, we become more compassionate and wise and have less attachment.
As children, most of us sang that mesmerizing, wistful lullaby that ends with the words, “Life is but a dream.” This is a classic example of a deep, sophisticated truth hiding, like an underground stream, in an unlikely place. It winds its way through our minds like a riddle or a Zen koan, coming up when we least expect it and asking that we consider its meaning. Many gurus and philosophers agree with this mysterious observation, saying that this world we perceive as real is actually an illusion, not unlike a film being projected on a screen. Most of us are so involved in the projection that we don’t understand it for what it is. We are completely caught up in the illusion, imagining that we are in a life and death struggle and taking it very seriously.
The enlightened few, on the other hand, live their lives in the light of the awareness that what most of us perceive as reality is a passing fancy. As a result, they behave with detachment, compassion, and wisdom, while the rest of us struggle and writhe upon the stage in the play of our life. Having the wisdom to know that life is but a dream does not mean that we ignore it or don’t do our best with the twists and turns of our fate. Rather, like an actress who plays her role fully even as she knows it’s only a role, we engage in the unfolding drama, but with a little more freedom because we know that this is not the totality of who we are.
And life is more of an improvisation than it is like a play whose lines have already been written, whose end is already known. Like an improviser, we have choices to make and the more we embrace the illusionary quality of the performance, the lighter we can be on the planet, on others, and on ourselves. We can truly play with the shadows cast by the light of the projector, fully engaging without getting bogged down. Published with permission from Daily OM
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A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
Still another common thread we invariably see among slippers is that many of them felt dissatisfaction with today. “I forgot we live one day at a time,” or “I began to plan results, not just plan.” They seemed to forget that all we have is Now. Life continues to get better for them and, as many of us do, they forgot how bad it had been. They began to think, instead, of how dissatisfying it was compared to what it could be. Do I compare today with yesterday, realizing, by that contrast, what great benefits and blessings I have today?
Today I Pray
If I am discouraged with today, may I remember the sorrow and hassles of yesterday. If I am impatient for the future, let me appreciate today and how much better it is than the life i left behind. May I never forget the principle of “one day at a time.”
Today I Will Remember
The craziness of yesterday
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One More Day
Be not afraid to pray, to pray is right. Pray, if thou canst with hope, but even pray.
– Harley Coolidge
“Now I lay me down to sleep” may have been one of our fist childhood prayers, perhaps even on of our first memories. As we grew, we may have learned to recite other prayers by rote, with little understanding.
Now, we are beginning to understand and feel the need for prayer. many of us came to a belief in a Power greater than ourselves, one which can nature and sustain us. We can pray for those we love; we can pray for ourselves. Prayer can enhance and bond us with our Higher Power. It nourishes and satisfies our souls — the inner self.
Prayer is a creative expression of my spiritual needs. It offers me a deep sense of personal satisfaction and continually reminds me of all life’s forces.
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Food For Thought
Fears
Do you eat when you are afraid? Many of us do. When we were babies, being fed brought the safety of our mother's arms. As adults, we subconsciously give food a sort of magic ability to ward off real or imagined danger.
There are times when food may serve as a temporary tranquilizer, but overeating prevents us from facing what we fear and learning how to deal with it. Eating compulsively, moreover, usually produces a feeling of guilt and a fear of "getting caught." The fear that we will not be able to stop eating is added to the fear that prompted us to reach for food, and the more we eat, the greater our fears.
Many of our fears are groundless and irrational. Through contact with our Higher Power, we are given the sanity, which causes them to disappear. Those fears that remain are often the result of the self-centeredness, which prevents us from turning our lives completely over to God. When we give Him absolute control, we have nothing to fear.
May I love You enough to let go of my fears.
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One Day At A Time
~ Acceptance ~
Until you make peace with who you are,
you will never be content with what you have.
Doris Mortman
Through abstinence and recovery, I can begin to accept myself. I can pay attention to my likes and my dislikes as I continue to grow and learn about me. Learning about myself is a new adventure. There are so many layers that have been hidden under years of food abuse and weight obsession. Exploring and discovering the new me requires a lot of acceptance. There are parts of me that I do not like, and there are also wonderful surprises. By accepting all parts of myself, I am honoring my Higher Power and demonstrating spiritual recovery.
One Day at a Time . . .
I will accept myself. By learning to accept myself, I will find myself growing in my acceptance of others.
~ Christine S. ~
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AA 'Big Book' - Quote
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.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. - Pg. 85 - Into Action
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
Sometimes it just doesn't seem worth it. What does this new life, seemingly full of discipline and deprivation, offer us anyway? There are many promises that only time can bring. Until then we must cherish our new freedom--freedom from the expense, cravings, and cost to our personal lives in that old chemical world.
Let me see the bondage of my addiction and remember not the questionable good times but the very real chains that bound me.
Shifting My Feeling States
When I shift my own thinking and feeling states, I shift my body states as well, because emotions travel through me as body chemicals. In a way, I am what I think about all day. I can shift what I am feeling by consciously changing my thoughts and I can shift what I'm thinking, by consciously evening out my emotional states. I will place my attention on my heart and imagine myself in a calm and serene state. As my heart calms, so does my body. When I can consciously breathe in and out of my heart zone, and imagine that part of me entering a state of ease and serenity, I actually contribute to my emotional, psychological and physical health.
I calm my heart
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
In our fellowship, there are always those who feel they have the ultimate wisdom to impart to you. These highly verbose people may set your nerves on edge with incredibly self-serving 'words of wisdom.' They may be full of themselves, but they are probably not trying to hurt you.
If I judge people, I have no time to love them.
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book
We came to AA to save our ass, and found out our soul was attached.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
Today I am open to all of who I am. As I bring my attention to all of me, without judgment, I grow in wisdom and freedom.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
If you can't turn over everything, turn over 'right now.' - Tom W.
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AA Thought for the Day
April 5
This Precious Gift
None of us can ever fathom the glories and the uncharted regions of the universe.
But we can live on earth and love one another.
We can let in the beginnings of concern, compassion, consideration, and watch ourselves grow.
With the tools and guideposts of Alcoholics Anonymous,
we can learn a little of this precious gift -- our gateway to human spirituality.
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 120
Thought to Ponder . . .
The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Consideration.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
G I F T S = Getting It From The Steps.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Virtues
"We of AA are apt sometimes to brag
of the virtues of our fellowship.
Let us remember that none of these are earned virtues.
We have been forced into them, to begin with,
by the cruel lash of John Barleycorn.
We have adopted these attitudes, these practices,
this structure, not at first because we wished to
but because we had to.
But today I think we stand
willing to conform permanently and gladly
to the principles which experience,
under the grace of God,
has taught us."
Bill W., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 224
Thought to Consider . . .
Unless I accept my virtues,
I will be overwhelmed with my faults.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
LET GO
Leave Everything To God, Okay?
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Traditions
From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"You will remember that episode back in our living room on Clinton Street. That was the time when my group told me I
[Bill W.] could never become an A.A. professional. With nearly every Tradition much the same thing has happened. At
first, I obeyed because I had to; I would have lost my standing in A.A. if I had not. After a while I began to obey because I
saw that the Traditions were wise and right. While I conformed because it was right to do, I still resisted inwardly.
"This was particularly true of anonymity. Today I hope I have come to a time in my A.A. life when I can obey because I
really want to obey, because I really want the Traditions for myself as well as for A.A. as a whole."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 136
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"My basic flaw had always been dependence -- almost absolute dependence -- on people or circumstances to supply
me with prestige, security, and the like. Failing to get these things according to my perfectionist dreams and
specifications, I had fought for them. And when defeat came, so did my depression."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1958
"The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety"
The Language of the Heart
~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get
well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in
God and clean house."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 98~
"Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant
thought of others and how we may help meet their needs."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 20
We become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 24
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
Spiritual Kindergarten
We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get over drinking and find the grace to go on living to better effect. Each man's theology has to be his own quest, his own affair.
When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it ought to be Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection to the use of the word 'God,' but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues. Spirituality, yes. Religion, no. Still others wanted a psychological book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he could take God or leave Him alone as he wished.
To the rest of us this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our group conscience was at work to construct the most acceptable and effective book possible.
Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists and agnostics widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.
1. LETTER, 1954
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, PP. 162, 163, 167
Prayer For The Day: Dear heavenly Father, I praise you for all of Your goodness to us as Your children. I am blessed to know You and to follow You. Lord, help me to make wise decisions in all the things that I daily face. Give me Your love for all that I meet. Lord, in all of my affairs, help me not to procrastinate in dealing with the responsibilities that are before me. I do need Your guidance to know the things that should be priorities in my life, as sometime I do not know what needs to be taken care of first. Help me, in all my daily activities at home and at the office, to demonstrate Your nature. I ask this in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7