Daily Recovery Readings - September 15

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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.

September 15

Daily Reflections

A NEW LIFE

Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that.
It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous . . . .
Life will mean something at last.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 152

Life is better without alcohol. A.A. and the presence of
a Higher Power keeps me sober, but the grace of God does
even better; it brings service into my life. Contact with
the A.A. program teaches me a new and greater understanding
of what Alcoholics Anonymous is and what it does, but most
importantly, it helps to show me who I am: an alcoholic who
needs the constant experience of the Alcoholics Anonymous
program so that I may live a life given to me by my
Higher Power.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"We all realize that we know only a little. God will
constantly disclose more to all of us. Ask Him in your
morning meditations what you can do today for the
person who is still sick. The answers will come, if
your own house is in order. See to it that your
relationship with God is right and great events will
come to pass for you and countless others. Give freely
of what you find in A.A. But, obviously, you cannot
transmit something which you haven't got. So make a
life-study of A.A." Am I always looking for ways of
presenting the A.A. Program?

Meditation For The Day

"In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.:
Confidence means to have faith in something. We could
not live without confidence in others. When you have
confidence in God's grace, you can face whatever comes.
When you have confidence in God's love, you can be
serene and at peace. You can rest in the faith that God
will take care of you. Try to rest in God's presence
until His life-power flows through you. Be still and in
that stillness the still, small Voice will come. It
speaks in quietness to the human mind that is attuned
to its influence.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may find strength today in quietness.
I pray that I may be content today that God will take care of me.

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As Bill Sees It

Key to Sobriety, p.257

The unique ability of each A.A. to identify himself with, and bring
recovery to, the newcomer in no way depends upon his learning,
his eloquence, or any special individual skills. The only thing that
matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety.

********************************

In my first conversation with Dr. Bob, I bore down heavily on the
medical hopelessness of his case, freely using Dr. Silkworth's words of
describing the alcoholic's dilemma, the "obsession plus allergy"
theme. Though Bob was a doctor, this was news to him, bad
news. And the fact that I was an alcoholic and knew what I was
talking about from personal experience made the blow a shattering
one.

You see, our talk was a completely mutual thing. I had quit preaching.
I knew that I needed this alcoholic as much as he needed me.

1. 12 & 12, pp. 150-151
2. A.A. Comes Of Age, pp. 69-70

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Walk In Dry Places

Seeking Our Own
Harmony
Our feelings will often serve as good guides in determining what course
of action we ought to follow. If there is a persistent feeling of discomfort
about any situation, we should ask ourselves why we are feeling this way.
Perhaps it’s because we are involved with people or activities that are not
right for us.
In the same way, we will feel drawn to certain people and activities. This is
undoubtedly because we’re in tune with these people or activities. In such
circumstances, we can say that we are “seeking our own.” With our unique
temperaments and abilities, we fit better in certain places and with certain
groups of people than others.
We are indeed fortunate if we find that recovery in a Twelve Step program
is a case of seeking and finding our own. This must certainly strengthen
and enhance our program.
I'll seek out only the people and activities that seem to belong in my life.
If I do not belong in one situation, this merely means that a better one is available somewhere.

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Keep It Simple

Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.---Vittorio Alfiert
What brave people we are! We have chosen life. Okay, maybe we had a
little push, maybe a big push from our family, police, or the pain of our disease.
But still, we’ve chosen recovery. We choose daily to let our Higher Power run
our lives. What trust! What faith! What courage!
We work hard at recovery. We do our meditate. We look for ways to serve others.
Each one of us is building a miracle. We can be proud of this.
Prayer for the Day: I pray that I’ll have the courage to love myself. High Power,
teach me to pat myself on the back when I deserve it.
Action for the Day: I will list three ways I am brave in recovery and share them with my group.

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Each Day a New Beginning

When our myths, dreams, and ideals are shattered, our world topples.
--Kathleen Casey Thiesen
The act of "becoming" topples our world, and rightly so. We outgrow yesterday's
ideals, and we have begun realizing, in our unfolding, the dreams of last year.
Now new dreams call us. Recovery has toppled our world. Hallelujah!
In our abstinence, each day offers us fresh opportunities to "create" new
realities to replace the outworn, outgrown myths of the using days. But letting
go of the old takes patience, persistence, and strength. The old comforted us,
when there was little else.
Perhaps we need reminding that were it not for the shattered myths of last year
or last week, we'd not be progressing, unfolding, as the bigger picture calls us.
We have a part to play in this life, as do our sisters, our friends, our children.
New dreams and ideals will lead us on our way. Old dreams served us yesterday,
and the past is gone. They can't direct our present.
I will look with excitement at my toppling world. It signifies growth - intellectual,
emotional and spiritual. Old ideals will bind me--I will dare to dream new dreams
and go where they lead with confidence.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 10 - To Employers

If he speaks of his home situation, you can undoubtedly make helpful suggestions. Can he talk frankly with you so long as he does not bear business tales or criticize his associate? With this kind of employee such an attitude will command undying loyalty.

p. 145

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

My Chance To Live

A.A. gave this teenager the tools to climb out of her dark abyss of despair.

Now, I had been thinking that my problem was insanity, and what happened on my night off clinched it: I missed this motley crew who had plagued my existence for over a month. I missed the laughter and their bright smiles. I went and had coffee with them.

p. 313

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Two - "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

"When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not; defiance. In A.A., we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay."

p. 31

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"When your life is filled with the desire to see the holiness
in everyday life, something magical happens: ordinary life
becomes extraordinary, and the very process of life begins to
nourish your soul!"
--Rabbi Harold Kushner

"He who laughs, lasts."
--Mary Pettibone Poole

If there is any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any
fellow being, let me do it, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass
this way again.
--William Penn

A L C O H O L I C S = A Life Consisting Of Helping Others Live Is Called Sobriety.

I have learned that my actions are far more important than my thoughts.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal
into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of
our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
--Melody Beattie

"The more you recognize and express gratitude for the things you have, the more
things you will have to express gratitude for."
--Zig Ziglar

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

NONSENSE

"We find it hard to believe that
other people's thoughts are as
silly as our own, but they
probably are."
-- James Harvey Robinson

Today I am able to laugh at myself. I even "think" funny things. I sit
at airports and look at the faces, postures and mannerisms of the
people passing by and I smile, giggle and laugh in my handkerchief.
Then I think about what a funny man I am -- so ridiculously proud, so
pompous about the silliest things, so preoccupied about my own
importance -- and it is funny.

Yes, today I am able to laugh at myself. I know that people are funny
because I know I am. At meetings I hear people laughing about the
day's insanities and I can always identify. Even my relationships are
humorous. I try so hard to make a good impression while at the same
time offering the effect of detachment -- trying to be "cool".

God must have a sense of humor because He made you and me!

Thank You for the gift of humor -- it allows true humility to develop.

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"What is impossible with man is possible with God." Luke 18:27

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring
about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my
presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will
and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without
complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure,
children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which
you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order
that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
Philippians 2:12-16

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Daily Inspiration

Every day renew your purpose because without purpose your life will be empty.
Lord, grant that I am able to truly see the worth and value of my existence
and know that my presence does make a difference.

The value of each gift God gives us is doubled when we share it with someone else.
Lord, may I freely give without expectation of something in return even though
I know Your constant generosity.

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NA Just For Today

Filling The Emptiness

"..we think that if we can just get enough food, enough sex, or enough money, we'll be satisfied and everything will be alright."

Basic Text p.77

In our addiction, we could never get enough drugs, or money, or sex, or anything else. Even too much was never enough! There was a spiritual emptiness inside us. Though we tried as hard as we could to fill that emptiness ourselves, we never succeeded. In the end, we realized that we lacked the power to fill it; it would take a Power greater than ourselves to do that.

So we stopped using, and we stopped trying to fill the emptiness in our gut with things. We turned to our Higher Power, asking for its care, strength, and direction. We surrendered and made way for that Power to begin the process of filling our inner void. We stopped grabbing things and started receiving the free gift of love our Higher Power had for us. Slowly, our inner emptiness was being filled.

Now that we've been given our Higher Power's gift of love, what do we do with it? If we clasp that gift tightly to ourselves, we will smother it. We must remember that love grows only when it is shared. We can only keep this gift by freely giving it away. The world of addiction is a world of taking and being taken; the world of recovery is a world of giving and being given. In which world do we choose to live?

Just for today: I choose to live in the fullness of recovery. I will celebrate my conscious contact with the God of my understanding by freely sharing with others that which has been freely shared with me.

pg. 269

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
He felt frightened at being different from his brothers and sisters. It scared him to be different. --E. B. White
How ugly and wrong it makes us feel to be different: to be tall when others are short, slow when others are fast, black when others are white.
The miracle, and paradox, is that everyone is different--and that is what makes us all the same.
When we think honestly about the people we admire--friends, sports heros, actors, musicians, parents, teachers, employers--we know that all of them, as human beings, not heroes, have felt out of place in their lives, probably many times.
Believing we are alone or different cuts us off from others. Climbing over that protective wall of "differentness" is scary, but it is guaranteed to set us free.
How can I let go of my "differentness" today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
When people are loving, brave, truthful, charitable, God is present. --Harold Kushner
For many of us, our spiritual awakening began when we first heard our Higher Power might be our group. We learned that God may exist in the connections between people in our group just as well as within each individual. As we members exchange care and help with each other, as each struggles to achieve complete honesty and wrestles bravely with old temptations, God is truly in our midst. Closeness flourishes because we felt so alone but then found friends who suffered in similar ways. It is an expression of a spirit beyond our rational control,
When we ask another member to listen to us, we contribute to the strength of this spirit. When we give someone a ride to a meeting or spread the word about this program to other suffering men and women, we make a contribution and receive its benefits. Even now, if we need a renewal of confidence in God's presence in our lives, we can telephone another member and just talk. We will quickly sense the spirit.
Today, I am grateful to feel God's presence in my life and within the people around me.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When our myths, dreams, and ideals are shattered, our world topples. --Kathleen Casey Thiesen
The act of "becoming" topples our world, and rightly so. We outgrow yesterday's ideals, and we have begun realizing, in our unfolding, the dreams of last year. Now new dreams call us. Recovery has toppled our world. Hallelujah!
In our abstinence, each day offers us fresh opportunities to "create" new realities to replace the outworn, outgrown myths of the using days. But letting go of the old takes patience, persistence, and strength. The old comforted us, when there was little else.
Perhaps we need reminding that were it not for the shattered myths of last year or last week, we'd not be progressing, unfolding, as the bigger picture calls us. We have a part to play in this life, as do our sisters, our friends, our children. New dreams and ideals will lead us on our way. Old dreams served us yesterday, and the past is gone. They can't direct our present.
I will look with excitement at my toppling world. It signifies growth - intellectual, emotional and spiritual. Old ideals will bind me--I will dare to dream new dreams and go where they lead with confidence.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Getting Through Hard Times
We are sturdy beings. But in many ways, we are fragile. We can accept change and loss, but this comes at our own pace and in our own way. And only God and we can determine the timing. --Codependent No More
Hard times, stressful times, are not all there is to life, but they are part of life, growth, and moving forward.
What we do with hard times, or hard energy, is our choice.
We can use the energy of hard times to work out, and work through, our issues. We can use it to fine-tune our skills and our spirituality. Or we can go through these situations suffering, storing up bitterness, and refusing to grow or change.
Hard times can motivate and mold us to bring out our best. We can use these times to move forward and upward to higher levels of living, loving, and growth.
The choice is ours. Will we let ourselves feel? Will we take a spiritual approach, including gratitude, toward the event? Will we question life and our Higher Power by asking what we're supposed to be learning and doing? Or will we use the incident to prove old, negative beliefs? Will we say, "Nothing good ever happens to me... I'm just a victim... People can't be trusted... Life isn't worth living"?
We do not always require hard energy, or stress, to motivate us to grow and change. We do not have to create stress, seek it, or attract it. But if it's there, we can learn to channel it into growth and use it for achieving what's good in life.
God, let my hard times be healing times.


Today I'm willing to take responsibility for my own life. I am willing to grow up and let go of my parents. I am filled with the sense of my own power and I choose not to give it away. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

Heal Your Broken Heart

I lay on the cot in the bathhouse at the mineral springs. I was wrapped from head to toe in a woolen blanket. As I lay there, the blanket covering my face. I could almost feel each break line in my heart. I could feel the fractures in a way I hadn’t before. I knew then that healing my heart was one of the purposes of this journey.

Your heart may have been broken many times. Some breaks hurt more than others, but each break caused a fracture, a weakness in your ability and willingness to love, trust, and heal.

Don’t shut down. Don’t go away. Don’t tell yourself, My pain is not important. I’m stronger than that. That’s just the way life is. Those are all lies we tell ourselves, lies to hide the pain of the break. The smallest betrayal unexpressed, at least to ourselves, can cause damage to our hearts. Willingness is the key– willingness to feel all we need to feel, willingness to heal, to love again.

As you go deeper into your journey, deeper into your joy, go deeper into your heart. Mend and heal all those tiny breaks lines, all the fractures, all the cracks. As you go deeper into joy, you will go deeper into your pain, your grief, your losses. Don’t be afraid. That doesn’t mean you’ll return to despair or that you will live forever in grief and anguish.

Take the time now to mend the break lines. Go deep within your heart to help it heal. Bury the broken dreams. Release the hurts. Acknowledge the betrayals. And then lightly, gently, with love, rub a golden layer of forgiveness and love around your heart.

There comes a time in the journey to the heart when it is time to let it heal. The deeper we go into the healing, the freer we will be, the more we will know what we feel, and the more we will feel joy.

*****

more language of letting go
You are a work of art

All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The big art is our life.
--M.C. Richards

What you do is not who you are.

You are more, much more, than that.

It's easy to get so caught up in what we do that we're only identifying ourselves through our daily tasks. I am a mechanic. I am a parking lot attendant. I am a doctor. I am a dishwasher. When we link ourselves too closely to our jobs, we deny ourselves the chance to ever be anything else. We limit ourselves by believing that's all we are and all we'll ever be.

Our concept of who we are is one of the hardest, but most rewarding ideas we can change. If you have been brought up believing that you are clumsy, you will probably demonstrate this belief in your actions-- until you identify that idea, let go of it, and let yourself be something else.

Don't limit yourself by saying you are just what you do. Stop seeing yourself as a static being. If I am "just" a parking lot attendant, then how can I hope to ever influence someone through my words, my art, my music, my life? But if I am a vital, living, growing, soul who happens to be parking people's cars, then everything I do can become a symphony. I can have an influence for good in the lives of everyone I touch. I can learn from them, and they from me. I can learn the lessons that I am supposed to learn at this place in my life, and I can move on to other lessons.

God gave us the power to change. You're more than what you do. You're a vital vibrant soul that came here to experience, grow, and change. Make a masterpiece out of your life.

God, help me realize the glory of my soul. Thank you for my mortality and for the ability to learn and grow.

*****

Healthful Slumber
The Importance of Sleep

When life gets busy, sleep is often the first activity that we sacrifice. Considered a luxury by many busy people, sleep is actually as vital to sustaining a balanced life as are breathing, eating, and drinking. Getting sufficient sleep can be a potent energizer, just as not getting enough sleep can leave you feeling drained and sluggish. While eight hours is the average amount of sleep most adults should generally aim for, the right amount of sleep varies for each person. Some people may thrive on just four hours, while others don’t feel well rested unless they’ve slept for ten hours. How much we sleep also varies, depending upon where we are in life. Young people often need more sleep, while older people may need less. But the benefits of sleep always stay the same. Regular and consistent periods of wakefulness and sleep are key ingredients to fostering a healthy body and a clear mind. It is during sleep that your body renews itself.

Often, the ability to forgo sleep is considered by some to be an asset. But while it may seem that the nighttime hours can be better used for more productive activities, sleep in itself is extremely productive. During sleep, your body and psyche are both regaining their strength for the coming day. You may have the unique opportunity to explore the hidden recesses of your personality while you are dreaming. Meanwhile, your long-term memories are reinforced. Many cultures engage in an afternoon siesta. Taking a nap is refreshing and can increase both productivity and creativity.

Many famous writers and artists have looked toward their dreams as a source of inspiration. Lewis Carroll is said to have conceived his idea for Alice in Wonderland while dreaming. The expression “sleeping on it” is more than just a saying. Answers to problems can come in your sleep and present themselves to your wide-awake self in the morning. The ancient Greeks valued sleep so significantly, they believed it was a gift from the gods. When you sleep well, you will awaken feeling alert, refreshed, and ready for life’s challenges. Getting enough sleep will ensure that you are centered, thoughtful, and aware throughout the day so you can live your full potential. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

No one welcomes pain with open arms, but it does have its uses. Just as physical pain serves as a warning that we may be suffering a bodily illness, so can emotional pain be a useful sign that something is wrong — as well as a warning that we need to make a change. When we can meet pain with the cause of the hurt, rather than running away as we did when we were actively addicted. Can I bear some emotional discomfort? Am I less fragile than I once had believed?

Today I Pray

I pray I may be better able to face hurt or pain, now that I am getting to know reality — good and bad. I sincerely pray that the super-sensitivity of my addictive days will disappear, that people will not feel they must treat me like blown glass, which could shatter at a puff of criticism.

Today I Will Remember

Throw away my stamp: “Fragile Handle With Care.”

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One More Day

A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
– Winston Churchill

Nearly everyone who has ever under gone a time of high stress has an intense need to talk about it. A person who has lost someone close may talk almost constantly about it. People who are admitting that they must deal with chronic pain often feel the same need.

We can and should expect our friends to allow us the comfort of talking about our feelings and experiences. As people who are suffering from pain and who are often driven to recount an illness’ history, we need to realize there is a point at which people no longer want to listen — they may want to leave instead. We must work — harder than we ever have before — to build a well-balanced life that has some happy or humorous stories to share.

I will leave room in my conversations for stories that make me and my friends feel good.

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Food For Thought

Peace

Our mental obsession with food gave us little peace. The refined sugars and carbohydrates, which we craved, left us jangled and over stimulated. Our guilt and self-hate kept us in a state of fear and turmoil. We raced about frantically in our minds trying to think of a way out of our misery.

Abstaining from refined sugar and carbohydrates gives us physical peace. Our body is no longer in an uproar; it is functioning calmly and efficiently. The Twelve Steps of recovery free us from the mental obsession with food and bring about emotional and spiritual peace. The more control we relinquish to our Higher Power, the more peace He gives us.

The peace, which comes through working our program, is not stagnant – it is rich and creative. It is the peace, which results from an ordered life and confidence in God. Instead of going in circles, both physically and mentally, we move in measured progress along the path, which our Higher Power shows us step by step each day.

Thank You for peace.

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One Day At A Time

~ STEP SIX ~
The Spiritual lift, the nearness to our Creator
that is experienced from humble invocation of His help,
and our willingness to be freed from old willfull thoughts and habits
are essential to successful attainment of these steps.
The Little Red Book

I am a compulsive overeater. I eat three moderate meals each day without exception. In between, I have nothing except sugar-free gum, water, diet soda, and black coffee. Today I am working hard to allow my Higher Power to remove my imperfections. The focus is on the removal of blame, resentment, fear, and self-pity. I want to blame. I do resent. I have a lot of fear, but with surrender it is not paralyzing. I easily feel sorry for myself and cry about it. All of this threatens my abstinence, which is about sanity. The weight loss is an extra reward. The ability to approach responsibilities and feelings is the life force which I cannot take for granted.

When food was my higher power it was hell. I take my disease and recovery seriously. It's choosing life over slow, torturous death. All my problems are the same, yet somehow they are livable. Continually asking for removal of my defects results in a decrease of anxiety. I believe fully that my Higher Power will remove my problems in a time and way which I have no control over, as long as I remain willing. Today I am completely willing. I am grateful to have been chosen for recovery.

One day at a time...
I can eat three weighed, measured and committed meals without exception. I enjoy my meals and feel satisfied by them.
~ Ellen ~

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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

Our disease is NOT the drug, it is a system malfunction in the person. This malfunction is in the brain (neurochemistry), in the mind (irrationality), and in the spirit (immorality). Only by healing all three do we have any hopes of recovering.

May I understand that I am not fighting the chemicals that made me sick, I am fighting the malfunctions that make me want to use them.

Giving Back

Today I give something to the community of people in which I find myself. I look around me and wonder what I might add to the world, to someone else's day and I do it. I recognize that giving and receiving are one channel, that when I open my heart to give, I simultaneously open it to receive as well.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Egotism is that certain something that enables a man in a rut to think he's in a groove.

I am never in a rut when I can answer this question, 'What Step am I working now?'

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

United We Stand- Divided We Stagger.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm willing to take responsibility for my own life.

I am willing to grow up and let go of my parents. I am filled with the sense of my own power and I choose not to give it away.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

There are not too many people too stupid to get this program but there have been a lot too clever. - Unknown origin.

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AA Thought for the Day

September 15

Fact
Somehow our bodies had reached the point where we could no longer absorb alcohol in our systems.
The why is not important, the fact is that one drink will set up a reaction in our system that requires more,
that one drink is too many and a hundred drinks are not enough.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 355

Thought to Ponder . . .
Alcohol -- cunning, baffling, powerful!

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Absolute Abstinence.

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

Fear
"We of AA now find ourselves in a world characterized
by destructive fears as never before in history.
But in it we nevertheless see great areas of faith
and tremendous aspirations toward justice and brotherhood.
Yet no prophet can presume to say whether the world outcome
will be blazing destruction or the beginning,
under God's intention,
of the brightest era yet known to mankind. . .
We AA's can say that we do not fear the world outcome,
whichever course it may take.
This is because we have been enabled to deeply
feel and say,
'We shall fear no evil - Thy will, not ours, be done.' "
Bill W., January 1962
c. 1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 268

Thought to Consider . . .
Let us always love the best in others -
and never fear their worst

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F A I T H = Fear Ain't In This House

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

Bright Spot
From: "Working With Others"
Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill.
Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 89

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

"The next time you feel hurt, outraged, bitter or resentful - the beginning of many a slip as attested to by AA speakers - try to remember quickly that you haven't been mortally harmed. In nearly all cases, it's just a pain in your feelings!"
Elmhurst, N.Y., March 1950
"Got a Pain in Your Feelings?"
Emotional Sobriety II

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

"A body badly burned by alcohol does not often recover overnight nor do twisted thinking and depression vanish in a twinkling. We are convinced that a spiritual mode of living is a most powerful health restorative."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, Page 133~

Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery. A kindly
act once in a while isnt enough. You have to act the Good
Samaritan
every day, if need be.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Working With Others, pg. 97~

Nothing counted but thoroughness and honesty.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 65

With a proper display of honesty and morality, we'd stand a better chance of getting what we really wanted.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 72

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with.
Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of self-justification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery.

Prayer for the Day: God, Help Me Live Today - God, more than anything else in the world, I just don't want to be sick anymore. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (people, places, and things), The courage to change the things I can (my attitudes), And the common sense to know the difference. God, help me please, stay clean and sober this day, even if it's in spite of myself. Help me Lord, stay sensitive to my own needs, and the things that are good for me, the needs of others and the things that are good for them. And if You please, Lord, free me enough of the bondage of self that I may be of some useful value as a human being, whether I understand or not, That I may carry my own keys, maintain my own integrity, and live this day at peace with You, at peace with myself, and at peace with the world I live in, just for today. God help me in this day, demonstrate that: It is good for me to love and be loved. It is good for me to understand and to be understood. It is good for me to give and to receive. It is good for me to comfort and to allow myself to be comforted. And it obviously far better for me to be useful as a human being, than it is for me to be selfish. God, help me please put one foot in front of the other, keep moving forward and do the best I can with what I have to work with today, Accepting the results of whatever that may or may not be.

Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7