AA Thoughts For Today - October

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AA Thought for the Day

October 16

Thoroughness and Honesty

We went back through our lives. Nothing counted but thoroughness and
honesty. When we were finished we considered it carefully. The first thing
apparent was that this world and its people were often quite wrong. To
conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (How It Works) pp. 65 - 66

Thought to Ponder . . .
It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.

AA-related 'Alconym'
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

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

Great Reality
"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.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God
was a part of our make-up,
just as much as the feeling we have for a friend.
Sometimes we had to search fearlessly,
but He was there.
He was as much a fact as we were.
We found the Great Reality deep down within us.
In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found.
It was so with us."
c.1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 55

Thought to Consider . . .
God seldom becomes a reality until God becomes a necessity.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
P R O G R A M = People Relying On God Relay A Message

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

Services
From: "AA's Legacy of Service"
Our Twelfth Step - carrying the message - is the basic service that the A.A. Fellowship gives; this is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. Therefore, A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven't been given the truth may die.

Hence, an A.A. service is anything whatever that helps us to reach a fellow sufferer - ranging all the way from the Twelfth Step itself to a ten-cent phone call and a cup of coffee, and to A.A.'s General Service Office for national and international action. The sum total of all these services is our Third Legacy of Service.
Services include meeting places, hospital cooperation, and intergroup offices; they mean pamphlets, books, and good publicity of almost every description. They call for committees, delegates, trustees, and conferences. And, not to be forgotten, they need voluntary money contributions from within the Fellowship.

[Bill W., 1951]
2007, AAWS, Inc., AA Service Manual, page S1

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

"As I continue to struggle, I think of the words of an old-timer in my area. No matter what the topic, he always finishes sharing with the words, 'and I haven't had a drink today.' Remembering his words never fails to bring to my mind the words 'experience, strength, and hope.'"
"Out of Work, But Not Hope," Anonymous, December 2000
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety

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

"We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much
more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our
respective homes, occupations and affairs."

Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 19

Stress the spiritual feature freely. If the man be agnostic or atheist, make it emphatic that he does not have to agree with your conception of God.”
~Alcoholics Anonymous p. 93

In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.50

We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.21

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Sometimes I would be forced to look at situations where I was doing badly. Right away, the search for excuses would become frantic.
'These,' I would exclaim, 'are really a good man's faults.' When that pet gadget broke apart, I would think, 'Well, if those people would only treat me right, I wouldn't have to behave the way I do.' Next was this: 'God well knows that I do have awful compulsions. 1 just can't get over this one. So He will have to release me.' At last came the time when I would shout, 'This, I positively will not do! I won't even try.'
Of course, my conflicts went right on mounting, because I was simply loaded with excuses, refusals, and outright rebellion.
In self-appraisal, what comes to us alone may be garbled by our own rationalization and wishful thinking. The benefit of talking to another person is that we can get his direct comment and counsel on our situation.

Prayer for the Day: Sailor's Prayer - Dear God, be good to me. The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.

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AA Thought for the Day

October 17

Off the Beam

Without necessarily taking that first drink, we often get quite far off the beam.
Our troubles sometimes begin with indifference. We are sober and happy in
our A.A. work. Things go well at home and office. We naturally congratulate
ourselves on what later proves to be a far too easy and superficial point of
view. We temporarily cease to grow because we feel satisfied that there is no
need for all of A.A.’s Twelve Steps for us. We are doing fine on a few of them.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) pp. 112 - 113

Thought to Ponder . . .
Don't believe everything you think.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A R T = Always Remain Teachable.

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

Debits
"As we glance down the debit side of the day's ledger,
we should carefully examine our motives
in each thought or act that appears to be wrong.
In most cases our motives won't be hard to see and understand.
When prideful, angry, jealous, anxious, or fearful,
we acted accordingly, and that was that.
Here we need only recognize that we did act or think badly,
try to visualize how we might have done better,
and resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow,
making, of course, any amends still neglected."
c.1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 94

Thought to Consider . . .
Life is too short to be small.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H O W N O W = Honest, Open-minded, Willing. No Other Way!

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

Forgive Myself
From: "Those Other People"

Just like you, I have often thought myself the victim of what other people say and do. Yet every time I confessed the sins of such people, especially those whose sins did not correspond exactly with my own, I found that I only increased the total damage. My own resentment, my self-pity would often render me well-nigh useless to anybody.
So, nowadays, if anyone talks of me so as to hurt, I first ask myself if there is any truth at all in what they say. If there is none, I try to remember that I too have had my periods of speaking bitterly of others; that hurtful gossip is but a symptom of our remaining emotional illness; and consequently that I must never be angry at the unreasonableness of sick people.
Under very trying conditions I have had, again and again, to forgive others - also myself. Have you recently tried this?
Letter, 1946
1967, AAWS, Inc., As Bill Sees It, page 268

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

"A new spiritual awakening can come at every meeting."
Hartsdale-Ardsley, N.Y., January 1957
"Twelve Steps to a Meeting,"
Into Action

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

"Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."
Alcoholics Anonymous 3rd Edition More About Alcoholism Page 30

If we have been thorough about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.70

Step Four is our vigorous and painstaking effort to discover what these liabilities in each of us have been, and are.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.42

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Our attitude toward the giving of time when compared with our attitude toward giving money presents an interesting contrast. We give a lot of our time to A.A. activities for our own protection and growth, but also for the sake of our groups, our areas, A.A. as a whole, and, above all, the newcomer. Translated into terms of money, these collective sacrifices would add up to a huge sum.
But when it comes to the actual spending of cash, particularly for A.A. service overhead, many of us are apt to turn a bit reluctant. We think of the loss of all that earning power in our drinking years, of those sums we might have laid by for emergencies or for education of the kids.
In recent years, this attitude is everywhere on the decline; it quickly disappears when the real need for a given A.A. service becomes clear. Donors can seldom see what the exact result has been. They well know, however, that countless thousands of other alcoholics and their families are being helped.

Prayer for the Day: An Irish Blessing -
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

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AA Thought for the Day

October 18

Facts of Life

The A.A. answer to these questions about living is “Yes, all of these things
are possible.” We know this because we see monotony, pain, and even
calamity turned to good use by those who keep on trying to practice A.A.'s
Twelve Steps. And if these are facts of life for the many alcoholics who
have recovered in A.A., they can become the facts of life for many more.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, (Step Twelve) p. 112

Thought to Ponder . . .
The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.

AA-related 'Alconym'
S T O P = Solution To Our Problems.

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

Touchy
"Many of us have been so touchy
that even casual reference to spiritual things
make us bristle with antagonism.
This sort of thinking had to be abandoned.
Though some of us resisted,
we found no great difficulty in casting aside such feelings.
Faced with alcoholic destruction,
we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters
as we had tried to be on other questions.
In this respect alcohol was a great persuader.
It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.
Sometimes this was a tedious process;
we hope no one else will prejudiced for as long as
some of us were."
c.1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 48

Thought to Consider . . .
The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A = Altered Attitudes

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

Inspiration
From "When A.A. Came of Age":
"There came next to the lectern [at the 1955 Convention] a figure that not many A.A.'s had seen before, the Episcopal clergyman Sam Shoemaker. It was from him that Dr. Bob and I [Bill W.] in the beginning had absorbed most of the principles that were afterward embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, steps that express the heart of A.A.'s way of life. Dr. Silkworth gave us the needed knowledge of our illness, but Sam Shoemaker had given us the concrete knowledge of what we could do about it. One showed us the mysteries of the lock that held us in prison; the other passed on the spiritual keys by which we were liberated."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 38-39

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

"One day leads to the next, no matter how unhappy I choose to be."
Sioux Rapids, IA, January 2004
"Adult Love,"
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety

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

"Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of
expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless
condition of mind and body. If you are an alcoholic who wants to get
over it, you may already be asking What do I have to do?"
It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically.
We shall tell you what we have done.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, Page 20~

' I realize that all I'm guaranteed in life is today. The poorest person has no less and the wealthiest has no more--each of us has but one day. What we do with it is our own business; how we use it is up to us individually.
I feel that I have been restored to health and sanity these past years not through my own efforts nor as a result of anything I may have done, but because I've come to believe--to really believe--that alone I can do nothing. That my own innate selfishness and stubbornness are the evils which which, if left unguarded, can drive me to alcohol.'
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.473

Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.58

Already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one's own will and one's own ideas about the alcohol problem in favor of those suggested by A.A.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.35

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

I believe that when we were active alcoholics we drank mostly to kill pain of one kind or another - physical or emotional or psychic. Of course, everybody has a cracking point, and I suppose you reached yours - hence, the resort once more to the bottle.
'If I were you, I wouldn't heap devastating blame on myself for this; on the other hand, the experience should redouble your conviction that alcohol has no permanent value as a pain-killer?'
In every A.A. story, pain has been the price of admission into a new life. But this admission price purchased more than we expected. It led us to a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain. We began to fear pain less, and desire humility more than ever.

Prayer for the Day: First Things First - Dear Higher Power, remind me: To tidy up my own mind, To keep my sense of values straight, To sort out the possible and the impossible, To turn the impossible over to you, And get busy on the possible.

[bluidkiti]

AA Thought for the Day

October 19

The Chilling Vapor

The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society,
from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering
denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness
settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, (A Vision for You) p. 151

Thought to Ponder . . .
Alcoholic drinking's three stages: Impulsive, Compulsive, Repulsive.

AA-related 'Alconym'
C H A O S = Can't Handle Another Overwhelming Situation.

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

Solution
"The tremendous fact for every one of us
is that we have discovered a common solution.
We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree,
and upon which we can join in brotherly
and harmonious action.
This is the great news this book carries
to those who suffer from alcoholism."
c.1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 17

Thought to Consider . . .
The joy is in the journey, so enjoy the ride.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S T E P S = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety

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

Healing
From "A Lifetime Process":
"I have more problems than alcohol . . . alcohol is only a symptom of a more pervasive disease. When I stopped drinking I began a lifetime process of recovery from unruly emotions, painful relationships, and unmanageable situations. This process is too much for most of us without help from a Higher Power and our friends in the Fellowship. . . . One day at a time, almost imperceptibly, I healed."
1990 AAWS, Inc.; Daily Reflections, pg. 105

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

"My greatest challenges are before me. But my experience with the Third Step, even in the smallest matters, gives me the courage to meet whatever lies ahead, twenty-four hours at a time."
Manhattan, N.Y., March 2001
"Wait for the Pitch,"
Emotional Sobriety

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

"Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration,
and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have
carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of
His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We
have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further
and that means more action."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 85~

“If our testimony helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to search diligently within yourself, then, if you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway. With this attitude you cannot fail. the consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you.” ~Alcoholics Anonymous page 55

We commenced to make many fast friends and a fellowship has grown up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.15

I explained what a wonderful Fellowship we had, how well we understood each other.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.152

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

When the distortion of family life through alcohol has been great, a long period of patient striving may be necessary. After the husband joins A.A., the wife may become discontented, even highly resentful that A.A. has done the very thing that all her years of devotion had failed to do. Her husband may become so wrapped up in A.A. and his new friends that he is inconsiderately away from home more than when he drank. Each then blames the other.
But eventually the alcoholic, now fully understanding how much he did to hurt his wife and children, nearly always takes up his marriage responsibilities with a willingness to repair what he can and accept what he can't. He persistently tries all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps in his home, often with fine results. He firmly but lovingly commences to behave like a partner instead of like a bad boy.

Prayer for the Day: Open Mind - Higher Power, may I understand: To be alert to my own needs, not to the faults of others; To remain teachable; To listen; To keep an open mind; and To learn not who's right but what's right.