AA Thoughts For Today - February

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AA Thought for the Day

February 16

Sensitive People
A man may criticize or laugh at himself and it will affect others favorably,
but criticism or ridicule coming from another often produces the contrary effect.
Members of a family should watch such matters carefully, for one careless, inconsiderate
remark has been known to raise the very devil. We alcoholics are sensitive people.
It takes some of us a long time to outgrow that serious handicap.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 125

Thought to Ponder
To be sensitive is to feel the thoughts and hearts of others as only you would want yours felt.

AA-related 'Alconym'
P U T = Practice Using Tolerance.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Cheerfulness
But we aren't a glum lot. . .
We absolutely insist on enjoying life. . .
So we think cheerfulness and laughter
make for usefulness.
Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we
burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic
experience out of the past.
But why shouldn't we laugh?
We have recovered,
and have been given the power to help others.
c. 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 132

Thought to Consider . . .
Laughter is the sound of recovery.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B E S T = Been Enjoying Sobriety Today?

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Change
>From "A Glacier Melts":
"I had thought I was happy in that first eighteen months of sobriety, but now everything began to look brighter; people
seemed nicer; and I had moments of tremendous insight. It was as if words and sentences I had heard all my life had a
deeper meaning and were reaching my feelings, rather than my intellect. It was as if my head and my heart finally had
gotten glued together. I no longer seemed like two people in one, engaging in a tug of war. I experienced within this six-
week period a feeling of being totally forgiven, and never since have I felt the guilt that I had throughout my life prior to
that time. More than once, I had as sense of Presence which I can describe only as being marvelously warm, uplifting,
and comfortable."
1973 AAWS, Inc., printed 2004; Came to Believe, pg. 58

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quotes ^*~*~*~*~*

"Some day we hope that Alcoholics Anonymous will help the public to
a better realization of the gravity of the alcoholic problem, but we
shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or
hostility. Drinkers will not stand for it.
After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a
symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We have to!"
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 103~

"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, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 127~

Could we then foresee that troublesome people were to become our principal teachers of patience and tolerance?
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 141

Misc. AA Literature - Quote
The Wright brothers' almost childish faith that they could build a machine which would fly was the mainspring of their
accomplishment. Without that, nothing could have happened.
We agnostics and atheists were sticking to the idea that self-sufficiency would solve our problems. When others
showed us that God-sufficiency worked with them, we began to feel like those who had insisted the Wrights would never
fly. We were seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their problems.

Prayer for the Day: Lord Jesus, as you touched the eyes of the blind man, touch us so that our eyes may be opened so
that we can “really see” the many wonderful things around us and in our own lives. Amen.