A PRAYER FOR ALL SEASONS
God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change.
Courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the
difference.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 125
The power of this prayer is overwhelming in that its simple beauty
parallels the A.A. Fellowship. There are times when I get stuck while
reciting it, but if I examine the section which is troubling me, I find
the
answer to my problem. The first time this happened I was scared, but
now I use it as a valuable tool. By accepting life as it is, I gain
serenity.
By taking action, I gain courage and I thank God for the ability to
distinguish between those situations I can work on, and those I must
turn over. All that I have now is a gift from God: my life, my
usefulness, my contentment, and this program. The serenity enables
me to continue walking forward.
Alcoholics Anonymous is the easier, softer way.
***********************************************************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
This leaves only one day - today. Anyone can fight the battles of just
one day. it is only when you and I add the burden of those two awful
eternity's, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the
experience of today that drives us mad. It is the remorse or bitterness
for something that happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow
may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.
Am I living one day at a time?
Meditation For The Day
Give God the gift of a thankful heart. Try to see causes of
thankfulness in your everyday life. When life seems hard and troubles
crowd, then look for some reasons for thankfulness. There is nearly
always something you can be thankful for. The offering of
thanksgiving is indeed a sweet incense going up to God throughout a
busy day. Seek diligently for something to be glad and thankful about.
You will acquire in time the habit of being constantly grateful to God
for all His blessings. Each new day some new cause for joy and
gratitude will spring to your mind and you will thank God sincerely.
Prayer For The Day
I pray for a truly thankful heart. I pray that I may be constantly
reminded of causes for sincere gratitude.
***********************************************************
As Bill Sees It
Faith and
Action, p. 212
Your prospect's religious education and training may be far superior
to yours. In that case, he is going to wonder how you can add
anything to what he already knows.
But he will be curious to learn why his convictions have not
worked and yours seem to work so well. He may be an example of
the truth that faith alone is insufficient. To be vital, faith must be
accompanied by self-sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action.
Admit that he probably knows more about religion than you do,
but remind him that, however deep his faith and knowledge, these
qualities could not have served him very well, or he would not be
asking your help.
*******************************
Dr. Bob did not need me for his spiritual instruction. He had
already had more of that than I. What he did need, when we first
met, was the deflation at depth and the understanding that only one
drunk can give to another. What I needed was the humility of
self-forgetfulness and the kinship with another human being of my
own kind.
1. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 93
2. A.A. Today, p. 10
***********************************************************
Walk In Dry Places
Group Intelligence
Getting Ideas
"All of us know more than any one of us" is the saying that applies to
12 Step groups. No matter how much experience any single individual
has, it's surpassed by the collective knowledge of the group.
That's
a
good reason in itself for drawing upon these groups.
And there are others as well. We need the pool of intelligence
that the groups build up over time. We need the group's strength when
our own is waning.
We also learn help that comes in surprising ways. The person in the
group who seems just knowledgeable may express an idea that is just
what we need at the time.
The group can meet many of our needs if we give it a chance.
Regular attendance at meetings will keep us in touch with the
group's ideas.
I'll stay in touch today with ideas that come from members of my group.
Joined together, we have lots of knowledge.
***********************************************************
Keep It Simple
Less is more.---Mies Vander Rohe
Our program is simple. It has four equal parts: sobriety, fellowship,
service, and faith.
Sobriety means we don't use alcohol or drugs any more.
Fellowship means we let people into our lives. We work at having a life
that's rich with friends.
Service means we help when we see the need. It means knowing we have
much
to offer.
Faith means we believe in a loving, caring Higher Power. It means using
our Higher Power as a guide in life.
Ours is a simple, easy program. Just remember sobriety, fellowship,
service and faith.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I may keep my program simple. I
pray for sobriety,
fellowship, service, and faith.
Action for the Day: Throughout the day, I'll remind myself that
less is more.
***********************************************************
Each Day a New Beginning
The child is an almost universal symbol for the soul’s transformation.
The child is whole, not yet divided….
When we would heal the mind… we ask this child to speak to
us. ~
Susan Griffin
Was there ever a time when we did not feel divided from ourselves?
Occasionally we get a glimpse of what such spiritual wholeness would be
like, but most of the time we struggle with feelings of conflict,
unevenness, a divided heart. Perhaps “the child” is a metaphor
for a
spiritual guide, like our own higher power, that can help us in our
journey toward self-acceptance.
“I may not be perfect, but parts of me are excellent,” writes author
Ashleigh Brilliant. If we can be happy with this proud, funny boast
then perhaps we can stop berating ourselves for our imperfections. If
we dwell on our own contradictory impulses, we give them too much
importance, too much power.
Let me trust to my glimpses of harmony and wholeness and be grateful
for the richness of my spirit.
***********************************************************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth
Edition
Chapter
7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS
Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search
out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone
desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a
waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with
you. If you leave such a person alone, he may soon become convinced
that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one
situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be
happy. One of our Fellowship failed entirely with his first half dozen
prospects. He often says that if he had continued to work on them, he
might have deprived many others, who have since recovered, of their
chance.
p. 96
***********************************************************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth
Edition Stories
ACCEPTANCE WAS THE ANSWER
- The physician wasn't hooked, he thought--he just prescribed drugs
medically indicated for his many ailments. Acceptance was his key
to liberation.
One day as I sat there in the
hospital, my psychiatrist walked up behind me and asked, "How'd you
like to talk to the man from A.A.?" My reaction was that I'd
already helped all the patients on the ward, and I still had plenty of
problems of my own without trying to help some drunk from A.A.
But, by the look on the psychiatrist's face, I could tell that it would
really make him happy if I agreed. So, for no better reason than
to make him happy, I agreed. Very shortly, I realized that had
been a mistake--when this big clown came bounding into the room, almost
shouting, "My name is Frank, and I'm an alcoholic, ha-ha-ha!" I
really felt sorry for him; the only thing in his life he had to brag
about was the fact that he was an alcoholic. It wasn't until
later that he told me he was an attorney.
p. 414
***********************************************************
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Tradition Four - "Each
group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or
A.A. as a whole."
AUTONOMY is a ten-dollar word. But in relation to us, it means very
simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it
pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened. Comes now the same
question raised in Tradition One. Isn't such liberty foolishly
dangerous?
Over the years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve Steps and
Traditions has been tried. That was sure to be, since we are so largely
a band of ego-driven individualists. Children of chaos, we have
defiantly played with every brand of fire, only to emerge unharmed and,
we think, wiser. These very deviations created a vast process of trial
and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we
stand today.
p. 146
***********************************************************
In the rush
and noise of
life, as you have intervals, step within
yourselves and be still. Wait upon God and feel His good presence;
this will carry you through your day's business.
--William Penn
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
--Thomas Paine
God is gentle with me. I am gentle with myself. I am in awe of God's
power; however it is God's gentleness that moves me. God's will for
me is that which is best for me; yet God does not force anything upon
me. Patiently, God waits for me to be still, to turn within and listen.
God's gentle spirit is my foundation. When the cares of the world
seem to overwhelm me and when challenges cause me to forget the
truths that support me, God's spirit gently caresses me, uplifting
and sustaining me. Because God is gentle with me, I am gentle with
myself
and others. I do not condemn or speak hurtful words to others. My
actions are ones that encourage the unfoldment of God's divine plan in
myself and others. Through gentleness and love, God's work is done.
--unknown
"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies
inside of us while we live."
-- Norman Cousins
"Worry is like a rocking chair it gives you something to do but it
doesn't get you anywhere."
--Dorothy Galyean
There's as much risk in doing nothing as in doing something.
--Trammell Crow
***********************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
TEMPTATION
"What makes resisting
temptation difficult for many
people is that they don't want to
discourage it completely."
--Franklin P. Jones
Usually I am tempted because I want to be. I allow myself to get too
close to the object of my desire or I invite the problem into my life
knowing that I will not resist it. Then I use my "imperfection" as an
excuse! In this way I manipulate my spiritual program and become
dishonest.
When I first got sober, I did not allow alcohol in my house; I did not
go
to bars; I did not spend time with heavy drinkers; I avoided airplanes
or places that I would associate with alcohol. This disciplined approach
to sobriety worked. If you don't invite the enemy in, you won't get
beaten up. I need to continue to remember these simple rules and not
get complacent in my sobriety.
Let me keep temptation out of my life by avoiding it.
***********************************************************
"And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:20b
If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in
Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being shall flow rivers
of living water."
John 7:37-38
"Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God
must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek
Him."
Hebrews 11:6
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
***********************************************************
Daily Inspiration
The more of God's love that you share, the more you receive. Lord, help
me to be compassionate when someone needs an ear and encouraging when
someone needs a little support.
When you are troubled, comfort someone more troubled, when lonely,
reach out to one that is lonelier and when unsure, give encouragement
to the weary. To care for another makes us forget our own sorrows.
Lord, You comfort me. Help me now to be a comforter.
***********************************************************
NA Just For Today
Freedom From Active Addiction
"Narcotics Anonymous offers only one
promise and that is freedom from active addiction, the solution that
eluded us for so long."
Basic Text, p.102
NA offers no promises other than
freedom from active addiction. It is true that some of our members meet
with financial success in recovery. They buy nice houses, drive new
cars, wear fine clothes, and form beautiful families. These outward
signs of prosperity are not the lot of all of our members, however. A
great many of us never achieve financial success. This does not
necessarily reflect on the quality of our recovery.
When we are tempted to compare
ourselves to these other, seemingly more affluent members, it is good
to remember why we came to the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. We came
because our lives had fallen down around us. We were emotionally,
physically, and spiritually defeated. Our Basic Text reminds us that
"in desperation we sought help from each other in Narcotics Anonymous"
We came because we were beaten. For addicts, even one day clean is a
miracle. When we remember why we came to Narcotics Anonymous and in
what condition we arrived, we realize that material wealth pales in
comparison to the spiritual riches we have gained in recovery.
Just for today: I have been given a
spiritual gift greater than material wealth: my recovery. I will thank
the God of my understanding for my freedom from active addiction.
***********************************************************
You are reading from the book Today's
Gift.
Sometimes it's worse to win a fight
than to lose. --Billie Holiday
We all see things differently. It is
part of the wonderful variety of the world that we all have different
points of view. We've all seen baseball players arguing with an umpire
over a close call, but, in order to play the game, they must accept the
umpire's judgment.
When we stubbornly refuse to let
friends or family members speak their ideas simply because we disagree
with them, we risk the loss of a friend or the understanding of a
family member. It is when we allow others to disagree that we take a
step forward--a step that opens our ears and our hearts to all sorts of
people and ideas.
How well can I accept other's opinions
today?
You are reading from the book
Touchstones.
Look at the post as a bullet. Once
it's fired it's finished. --Catherine Bauby
Today is before us as an unformed
experience. Yesterday took its own shape, and whatever it was has now
gone. Our only opportunities exist in what we will do this day. Perhaps
we can enhance the day by starting with a review of yesterday and then
letting go. What were the major events in our experiences yesterday?
How do we feel about them? Is something left unfinished in our feelings
or actions that we need to complete or repair today? Can we take
yesterday's experience to build a better today?
We have centered ourselves in this day
by reviewing where we just came from. We have taken a spot check
inventory. Now we can let go of yesterday and move forward in the
present. That does not mean we never think about the past again. It
means we build on the past by learning from our experiences and letting
them shape our activities now. In that way we draw ever closer into
accord with the will of our Higher Power.
I will let go of the past by learning
from it. I give myself to shaping today.
You are reading from the book Each Day
a New Beginning.
Love doesn't just sit there like a
stone, it has to be made, like brick; re-made all the time, made new.
--Ursula K. LeGuin
We love to be loved; we love to be
held; we love to be caressed. A show of appreciation we love too. And
we love to know we've been heard. The friends, the spouses, the
children in our lives want the same from us. Like a garden that needs
water, sun, weeding to nurture the growth, so does love need attending
to. To become whole and healthy women, we need tender nurturing. And we
also need to give away what we get. Those we nurture will bless our
growth.
Love is dynamic, not static. It is
always changing, and it always changes those it enfolds. Since coming
into this program where the sharing of oneself, the open expression of
love, is profoundly evident, we each have changed. And our presence has
changed others. We have learned to accept love and give it. But better
yet, we have learned that we deserve love.
I will look around me today at others,
and I will remember, my growth and theirs depends on loving and being
loved. I will reach out. I can make love new.
You are reading from the book The
Language of Letting Go.
Letting Go of What We want
For those of us who have survived by
controlling and surrendering, letting go may not come easily. --Beyond
Codependency
In recovery, we learn that it is
important to identify what we want and need. Where does this concept
leave us? With a large but clearly identified package of currently
unmet wants and needs. We've taken the risk to stop denying and to
start accepting what we want and need. The problem is, the want or need
hangs there, unmet.
This can be a frustrating, painful,
annoying, and sometimes obsession-producing place to be.
After identifying our needs, there is
a next step in getting our wants and needs met. This step is one of the
spiritual ironies of recovery. The next step is letting go of our wants
and needs after we have taken painstaking steps to identify them.
We let them go, we give them up - on a
mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical level. Sometimes, this means
we need to give up. It is not always easy to get to this place, but
this is usually where we need to go.
How often I have denied a want or
need, then gone through the steps to identify my needs, only to become
annoyed, frustrated, and challenged because I don't have what I want
and don't know how to get it. If I then embark on a plan to control or
influence getting that want or need met, I usually make things worse.
Searching, trying to control the process, does not work. I must, I have
learned to my dismay, let go.
Sometimes, I even have to go to the
point of saying, "I don't want it. I realize it's important to me, but
I cannot control obtaining that in my life. Now, I don't care anymore
if I have it or not. In fact, I'm going to be absolutely happy without
it and without any hope of getting it, because hoping to get it is
making me nuts - the more I hope and try to get it, the more frustrated
I feel because I'm not getting it."
I don't know why the process works
this way.
I know only that this is how the
process works for me. I have found no way around the concept of letting
go.
We often can have what we really want
and need, or something better. Letting go is part of what we do to get
it.
Today, I will strive to let go of
those wants and needs that are causing me frustration. I will enter
them on my goal list, then struggle to let go. I will trust God to
bring me the desires of my heart, in God's time and in God's way.
My heart is full of gratitude today. I
am free today to experience this day fully and to follow my spiritual
path. I have been given a new day to live, to grow, to give love and to
feel love. --Ruth Fishel
God help me to stay sober and clean
today!
**************************************************
Journey To The Heart
You Are Complete
Look around at all that lives, at all
that is. See how connected each creation is to the workings of the
universe. But see also that the essence of all that is, the core, lies
within each. From the tiniest purple wildflower to the tallest redwood
in the forest, each creation contains its own energy system, its own
energy core for living. And so it is with us.
We’re intricately connected to the
world. We receive energy, life-sustaining nourishment and support, from
the world around us. But inside each of us is our own source for love,
joy, and wisdom. Our ability to love, live, feel, and be happy comes
from our own hearts.
Look inside yourself. Feel your
vitality, your energy. Feel your essence. It is pure love. Everything
you need in order to live and love is within you.
Nurture yourself. Let yourself grow.
Learn to grow and walk in the ways of love. Learn from all who cross
your path. Value your connections to others and the world around you.
Receive and give freely as you walk down the road.
Take your place in the world. Know you
are part of a complete universe. But remember, you are a complete
universe,too.
**************************************************
More Language Of Letting Go
Stay in the game
And it came to pass….
–The Bible
We can’t always be sure that things
will always work out, but we will always have the strength to make it
through. We can trust that eventually both the bad and the good will
come to pass.
I’ve had the good ripped away from me
and felt sorrow until I could drown. But it passed.
All I’m saying is that sometimes the
bad guys win and the good guys lose. Sometimes it’s the other way
around. Sometimes nothing that we do seems to swing the decision one
way or the other, but we can always come back tomorrow. There’s a;ways
another chance to play the game, dance, sweat, and cry. And maybe it’s
the experience, not the outcome that is the true prize.
If you’re feeling a loss of strength
or confidence, let go of the desperate need for a positive outcome in
your life. Realize that this, too, will pass. Gain your strength from
knowing that whether an event is good or bad, we’re enriched by our
experiences. Only we can choose to learn from them or allow resentment
and foolish expectations to destroy their value.
Dust yourself off. Pick yourself up.
Step up to the plate and get back in the game.
God, give me hope, faith, and courage
to live my life today.
**************************************************
Food for Thought
Inner Guides
In a crisis situation, we cannot rely
on another person, or a book, or any external source to tell us what to
do. We may have to act immediately, and there may be no outside help
available.
By getting in touch with our Higher
Power, we cultivate a never failing source of inner strength and
direction. In order to have it available when we need it, this inner
voice must be consulted habitually. It is not something, which we may
call on in times of emergency and forget about when things are going
well.
Each of us has this inner source of
strength and nourishment. By taking time each day to withdraw from the
distractions of the external world, we grow in spiritual knowledge.
When the chips are down, this spiritual strength, which we develop by
daily prayer and meditation, is what will see us through.
May I know You more dearly each day.
**************************************************
***************
Making Over Our Partners
Changing the Way We Relate by Madisyn Taylor
It is dishonest to enter into a
relationship with the idea that you are going to change or fix them.
A relationship, in the truest sense of
the word, means relating to another. Usually when we say that we relate
to someone, it is because we’ve found common ground. But part of
relating is finding ways to make ideas that seem different come
together. So often when we choose relationships, we try to fit another
person into our predetermined ideal. When they don’t fit perfectly, we
may try to make them over, creating our own vision from the raw
material they’ve brought. But unless someone asks for guidance and
direction, entering into a relationship with someone we want to change
is dishonest. Then our relationship becomes with someone we’ve
imagined, and anytime our partner steps outside of that imaginary
projection, we will be disappointed. An honest relationship is one in
which we accept each other as whole individuals, and find a way to
share our life experiences together. Then, whenever we want, we can
choose as a couple to give the relationship a makeover by renewing the
! way we interact.
By wanting to give another person a
makeover, we are basically saying we don’t accept them for who they
are. If we take a moment to imagine the roles reversed, we can get a
sense of how it would feel if our beloved only committed to us because
they thought we were, or would become, someone else entirely. In such
an environment, we are not relating to each other from a real place,
and we are keeping ourselves from being able to learn and grow from the
different viewpoints that our partners offer.
If we feel that a change is needed in
our relationship, the only makeover that we truly have the power to
make is on ourselves. By accepting our partners for exactly who they
are—the ideal and the not-so-ideal—we will create an energetic shift in
our relationships, and we may find ourselves really appreciating our
partners for the first time. Working from within, we determine how we
relate to the people and the world around us, and when we can accept it
and embrace it all, without conditions, we make every act of relating a
positive one. Published with permission from Daily OM
**************************************************
A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
One of the most serious consequences
of the me-me-me syndrome is that we lose touch with practically
everyone around us — not to mention reality itself. The essence of
self-0pity is total self-absorption, and it feeds on itself. Rather
than ignore such an emotional state — or deny that we’re in it — we
need to pull out of our self-absorption, stand back, and take a good
honest look at ourselves. Once we recognize self-pity for what it is,
we can begin to do something about it. Am I living in the problem
rather than the answer?
Today I Pray
I pray that my preoccupation with
self, which is wound up tight as a Maypole, may unwind itself and let
its streamers fly again for others to catch and hold. May the think,
familiar wail of me-me-me become a chorus of us-us-us, as we in the
fellowship pick apart our self-fullness and look at it together.
Today I Will Remember
Change me-me-me to us-us-us.
**************************************************
One More Day
From happiness to suffering is a
step; from suffering to happiness is an eternity.
– Jewish Proverb
The loss of normal good health can
rock even the strongest person. In one fragile moment our life seems in
shambles. All that we anticipated, all that we had planned, seems over
forever. We wonder if we’ll ever get through this suffering.
For a while it may seem as though we
are living underwater — nothing is clear or straightforward. The things
that once gave us pleasure seem to disappear as grief takes their
place. Friends offer to help — and they do help for a time — but
ultimately we face our loss alone.
Finally we begin to understand that
grief is a process, just as life is a process. We will be able to move
toward acceptance and serenity, and eventually we can be happy again.
We can continue to live.
I am consoled in knowing grief takes
time, but it will end. I can continue to grow.
*****************************************
One Day At A Time
NEGATIVE THINKING
“Condemn the fault and not the actor
of it.”
William Shakespeare
How many times do we beat ourselves
because we have failed to attain the goals we have set? We are human
and we suffer from a disease that renders us helpless and out of
control. Is it any wonder that we fail in trying to conquer such an
unforgiving beast?
It is not ourselves we should be angry
with, but the disease and how it affects our actions and reactions. Our
inability – or unwillingness -- to realize that we cannot achieve
recovery alone is our only true failure. We need help. Without it we
are weak and defenseless. This disease would have us believe we are
failures ~ but in reality, all we have done is open the doors to our
enemy. These doors can be closed again. Our disease not only manifests
itself in the form of uncontrollable eating, but also in our negative
thoughts and actions towards ourselves and towards the people around us.
It takes no more time to think
positively than it does to think negatively. Our only job is to
remember that we have a disease. We can choose to forget it, we can
choose to beat ourselves up when we leave the door ajar, or we can
choose to forgive ourselves and begin again.
One day at a time...
I will work on forgiving myself.
I am worth forgiving.
You are too.
~Sue
*****************************************
AA 'Big Book' - Quote
As wives of Alcoholics Anonymous. we
would like you to feel that we understand as perhaps few can. We want
to analyze mistakes we have made. We want to leave you with the feeling
that no situation is too difficult and no unhappiness too great to be
overcome.
We have traveled a rocky road, there
is no mistake about that. We have had long rendezvous with hurt pride,
frustration, self pity, misunderstanding and fear. These are not
pleasant companions. We have been driven to maudlin sympathy, to bitter
resentment. Some of us veered from extreme to extreme, ever hoping that
one day our loved ones would be themselves once more. - Pg. 104-105 -
To Wives
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
Whatever you are feeling now that
disturbs you, whatever thoughts or situations plague you, remember that
it will pass. Sometimes when emotions are strong, we feel they will
never end. But they do and whatever you are feeling now, you won't be
feeling tomorrow. We promise.
I to understand that my troubles are
not forever that 'this too shall pass.'
Seeing Me from the Inside Out
Today, I will become aware of that
part of me that is separate and observes all that I say, do, think and
feel. I have a witness within me that can become a very useful part of
my life. Watching my thoughts, feelings and behavior with a little bit
of objectivity will help me to see myself as I really am. Fear, for
example, is only fear. When I experience small fears throughout my day
I will simply see myself feeling them, I will watch them, experience
them and allow them to dissipate. I will breathe in and out as they
move through me. By allowing my mind to watch itself with no thought of
controlling or participating, I can learn a great deal about the way I
work. I can allow myself to change on the inside.
I am an uncritical observer of my own
inner workings.
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
You don't have to pretend to be
someone you are not. You don't have to pretend to be strong (if you're
a man) or fem (if you're a woman). You don't have to pretend that you
don't want to use, if you do. Share what is real. The real you is
enough.
I am enough; there is enough.
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book
20/20: Come 20 minutes before the
meeting, stay 20 minutes after.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
My heart is full of gratitude today. I
am free today to experience this day fully and to follow my spiritual
path. I have been given a new day to live, to grow, to give love and to
feel love.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
If I quit causing my own trouble, I've
got no trouble. All I have to do is trace this back - No matter what
she had done - to where I had placed myself in a position to be hurt. -
Milt L.
*****************************************
AA Thought for the Day
July 31
Fear
When I face a fear, I am given
courage; when I support a brother or sister,
my capacity to love myself is
increased;
when I accept pain as part of the
growing experience of life, I realize a greater happiness;
when I look at my dark side, I am
brought into new light;
when I accept my vulnerability and
surrender to a Higher Power,
I am graced with unforeseen strength.
- Daily Reflections, p. 62
Thought to Ponder . . .
A fear faced is a fear erased.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
F E A R = Face Everything And Recover.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Half Measures
"Remember that we deal with alcohol -
cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without help, it is too much for us.
But there is One who has all power -
that One is God.
May you find him now.
Half measures availed us nothing.
We stood at the turning point.
We asked His protection and care
with complete abandon."
1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp.
58-9
Thought to Consider . . .
Take a walk with God.
He will meet you at the Steps.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B O G G L E = Bad Or Good, God Loves
Everyone
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Out of Self
From: "Trying the Twelve Steps"
It may be that problem drinking is,
indeed, as some psychological experts say, an ailment characterized
especially by egocentricity. Not all alcoholics are egotistical,
although many of us have learned to see that tendency in ourselves.
Others of us felt inferior most of the time; we felt equal or superior
to other people only when drinking.
No matter which type we were, we
realize now that we were excessively self-centered, chiefly concerned
about our feelings, our problems, other people's reactions to us, and
our own past and future. Therefore, trying to get into communication
with and to help other people is a recovery measure for us, because it
helps take us out of ourselves. Trying to heal ourselves by helping
others works, even when it is an insincere gesture. Try it some time.
1975, AAWS, Inc., Living Sober, page 84
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"Sometimes, the only place on earth
that makes any sense to me is a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous."
December 1979
"The Root of Our Troubles,"
Emotional Sobriety
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N'
Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"When you discover a prospect for
Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all
you can about him. If he does not want
to stop drinking, don't
waste time trying to persuade him. You
may spoil a later opportunity."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition,
Working With Others, pg. 90
"We have a way out on which we can
absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and
harmonious action."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 17 (There is
a Solution)
"Like all the remaining Steps, Step
Three calls for affirmative action, for it is only by action that we
can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God --
or, if you like, a Higher Power -- into our lives."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.
34 (Step Three)
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
Your prospect's religious education
and training may be far superior to yours. In that case, he is going to
wonder how you can add anything to what he already knows.
But he will be curious to learn why
his convictions have not worked and why yours seem to work so well. He
may be an example of the truth that faith alone is insufficient. To be
vital, faith must be accompanied by self-sacrifice and unselfish,
constructive action.
Admit that he probably knows more
about religion than you do, but remind him that, however deep his faith
and knowledge, these qualities could not have served him very well, or
he would not be asking your help.
Dr. Bob did not need me for his
spiritual instruction. He had already had more of that than I. What he
did need, when we first met, was the deflation at depth and the
understanding that only one drunk can give to another. What I needed
was the humility of self-forgetfulness and the kinship with another
human being of my own kind.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, allow me to take action to
help my fellows today. Remove my selfishness and self-seeking so that I
may become interested in the needs of others.