AA Thoughts For Today - July

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AA Thought for the Day

July 24

Dry Benders

Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep
us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These emotional "dry benders"
often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds of disturbances—jealousy,
envy, self-pity, or hurt pride—did the same thing. A spot-check
inventory taken in the midst of such disturbances can be of very
great help in quieting stormy emotions.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Ten) p. 90

Thought to Ponder . . .
The first step in overcoming mistakes is to admit them.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A A = Attitude Adjustment.

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

Self-will
"The first requirement is that we be convinced
that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success.
On that basis we are almost always
in collision with something or somebody,
even though our motives are good.
Most people try to live by self-propulsion.
Each person is like an actor who wants
to run the whole show;
is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet,
the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way.
If his arrangements would only stay put,
if only people would do as he wished,
the show would be great.
Everybody, including himself, would be pleased.
Life would be wonderful."
1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 60-1

Thought to Consider . . .
It's not making a mistake that will kill me.
It's defending it that does the damage.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
N U T S = Not Using The Steps

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

Orderly Transfer
From: "When AA Came of Age"
The full attendance of thousands of A.A.s at St. Louis, representing an accurate cross-section of A.A. opinion, now sat
in convention before us. On the auditorium stage was the Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous, about a
hundred men and women who were the named and chosen representatives of the whole fellowship. The Conference,
having completed the fifth year of its experimental period with a record of high success, was no longer an experiment.
It was the instrument destined to become the heart of A.A.'s Third Legacy of Service and the whole of A.A.'s
conscience, world-wide.
In the simple ceremony that followed, I offered a resolution to the effect that our society should now take its affairs into
its own hands and that its Conference ought to become the permanent successor to the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Amid a roar of acclamation from the floor, the Convention carried that resolution. There was silence, and then we
heard chairman Smith offer the resolution to the Conference for its confirmation. A simple show of hands expressed
the consent of the Conference and marked the exact moment when A.A. came of age. It was four o'clock. [July 3, 1955]
1985, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, page 47

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"Sobriety is a constant process of uncovering, discovering, and discarding."
Craig, Colorado, January 1997
"Paying the Price for Improvement,"
Emotional Sobriety II

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man,
woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured
by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or
other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and
miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as
old as man himself."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 55

"We have three little mottoes which are apropos.
Here they are:
First Things First
Live and Let Live
Easy Does It."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 135~

"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."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 18~

“If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we
will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 70

“If we ask, God will certainly forgive our derelictions.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 65

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

I used to take comfort from an exaggerated belief in my own honesty. My New England kinfolk had taught me the sanctity of all business commitments and contracts, saying, 'A man's word is his bond.' After this rigorous conditioning, business honesty always came easy; I never flim-flammed anyone.
However, this small fragment of readily won virtue did produce some interesting liabilities. 1 never failed to whip up a fine contempt for those of my fellow Wall Streeters who were prone to shortchange their customers. This was arrogant enough, but the ensuing self-deception proved even worse.
My prized business honesty was presently converted into a comfortable cloak under which I could hide the many serious flaws that beset other departments of my life. Being certain of this one virtue, it was easy to conclude that I had them all. For years on end, this prevented me from taking a good look at myself.

Prayer for the Day: "Mistakes aren't tragedies. But please, Higher Power, help me learn from them!"