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Thought for the Day

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May 19, 2008

Solution

Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride,
the confession of shortcomings which the process requires
for its successful consummation.
But we saw that it really worked in others,
and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life
as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those
in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left but to pick up
the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.

© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 25
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Saving Our Lives Using The Inspiration Of Necessary Steps.




A MEMBER SHARES:
Hi all . I'm Robbie W. and I am a very grateful alcoholic today. I arrived here, broke, destitute, and suicidal, October 31, 1983. Then I found solutions by sitting in AA rooms. I was a problem. My whole life was a problem. I hated myself. I loved alcohol but it stopped working ... no more girls, no more jobs, and no more family. Alcohol was the great eraser. I hated everything, and just wanted to die. Then you oldtimers in AA gave me hope. You let me know that I could change, that I was a "sick" person who had a spiritual illness. You told me I could correct it if I worked on the spiritual solution. What? The Twelve Steps! I started going to Step Meetings, Joe and Charlie Weekends (Big Book), and Workshops on the Traditions. I discovered the Solution and I wanted it. I craved it, just like I used to crave alcohol. I craved the Fellowship, and I started liking the new me. It was cool getting into the Sunlight of the Spirit and out of the Darkness. Nothing grows in the darkness except defects! I needed to be happy, joyous and free from the bondage of self. Today, I am learning to be part of the Solution. Today, my friends don't need to walk on eggshells around me. Today, I can think of others before I make a stupid joke about them. Today, I have a God. AA is a way of life; it is not a theory. Today, I love that way of life. It is here for you, too. Are you irritable, restless and discontented? Then find a sponsor who lives the Twelve Steps . you, too, can recover! Love ya' all. Stay sober and get into the Big Book!

Day by Day is the only way....

__________________
Day by Day is the only way

arlenewla

Tim, one of my favorite acronyms is F.E.A.R.

Either F*ck Everything And Run

or

Face Everything And Recover[8D]

Arlene
Exodus From MMT;12-25-02
<center>THIS TOO SHALL PASS</center>

hayley7

ok....it must be dark in order to see the stars....even though it f***** sucks...when you reach the other side,your power is overwhelming and hopefully contagious

hayley

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 22, 2008

Traditions

If AA were really guided by the Twelve Traditions,
we could not possibly be split apart by politics, religion, money,
or by any old-timers who might take a notion to be big shots.
With none of us throwing our weight around in public,
nobody could possibly exploit AA for personal advantage, that is sure.
For the first time I saw AA's anonymity for what it really is.
It isn't just something to save us from alcoholic shame and stigma;
its deeper purpose is actually to keep those fool egos of ours
from running hog wild after money and public fame at AA's expense.
It really means personal and group sacrifice for the benefit of all AA.

- Bill W., 1955
© 1985 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age, p. 43
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .


The Steps are there to protect me from myself;
the Traditions are there to protect AA from me.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Try Relying Upon Steps and Traditions.



Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 23, 2008

Adversity

It took several years, but I learned to be grateful for my alcoholism
and the program of recovery it forced me into,
for all the things that had happened to me and for me,
for a life today that transcends and far exceeds anything I had previously known.
I could not have that today if I had not experienced all the yesterdays. . .
Adversity truly introduces us to ourselves.
but we need never deal with our adversities alone
as long as we can find another alcoholic in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous.

© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 529-30
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

Through adversity, we find strength.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



One Day At A Time.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 24, 2008

Loneliness

Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.
Even before our drinking got bad and people began to cut us off,
nearly all of us suffered the feeling that we didn't quite belong.
Either we were shy, and dared not draw near others,
or we were noisy good fellows constantly craving attention and companionship,
but rarely getting it.
There was always that mysterious barrier we could neither surmount
nor understand.
That's one reason we loved alcohol too well.
But even Bacchus betrayed us;
we were finally struck down and left in terrified isolation.

© 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 90
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

I'm not alone anymore.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



You Are Not Alone.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 25, 2008

Trapped

For the first time in my life, I was backed into a corner that I could not fight,
cheat, lie, steal, or buy my way out of. I was trapped.
For the first time in my life, I uttered a sincere prayer: "God, please help me."
I didn't bargain with Him, nor did I suggest how or when He should help.
Immediately, I became calm and relaxed. There was no flash of lightning,
or clap of thunder, not even a still small voice. I was scared.
I didn't know what had happened. But I went to sleep and slept all night.
When I awakened the next morning, I was refreshed, strong, and hungry.
But the most wonderful thing was that, for the first time in my life,
that dark, mysterious cloud of fear was gone.

© 1973 AAWS, Came To Believe . . ., p. 17
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

Turn fear into faith.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Heart Open; Please Enter.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

Remembering Our Heroes

AA Thought for the Day


May 26, 2008

Let Go

Having seen for myself that my own navigation served only to
slam my boat against the shoals,
I have at last become willing to turn the steering
over to a more adept helmsman.
The decision is clear. Tomorrow I may be drunk.
But today I have the tired peace that comes from doing the things you have to do
when you turn the wheel over to a mariner who knows the way across,
but makes you work with him through every inch of the crossing.
© 1986 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Best Of The Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 147



Thought to Ponder . . .

When I struggle, I sink. When I let go, I float.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 27, 2008

Valor

When World War II broke out,
this spiritual principle had its first major test.
AA's entered the services and were scattered all over the world.
Would they be able to take discipline, stand up under fire,
and endure the monotony and misery of war?
Would the kind of dependence they had learned in AA carry them through?
Well, it did. They had even fewer alcoholic lapses or emotional binges
than AA's safe at home did.
They were just as capable of endurance and valor as any other soldiers.
Whether in Alaska or on the Salerno beachhead,
their dependence upon a Higher Power worked.
And far from being a weakness, this dependence
was their chief source of strength.

© 1953 AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 38-9
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

It works - it really does.




AA-related 'Alconym' . .


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 28, 2008

Change

In the process of this change
I can recognize two immensely significant steps for me.
The first step I took when I admitted to myself for the first time
that all my previous thinking might be wrong.
The second step came when I first consciously wished to believe.
As a result of this experience I am convinced that to seek is to find,
to ask is to be given.
The day never passes that I do not silently cry out in thankfulness,
not merely for my release from alcohol, but even more
for a change that has given life new meaning, dignity, and beauty.

© 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 107
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

I came; I came to; I came to believe.



Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 29, 2008

Reaching Out

Practical experience shows
that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking
as intensive work with other alcoholics.
It works when other activities fail. . . You can help when no one else can. . .
Life will take on new meaning.

© 2003 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 89
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .


Faith is our greatest gift;
its sharing with others our greatest responsibility.



AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Hope, Encouragement, Love, Patience.



Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day

May 30, 2008

Fellowship

I spent most of my life worrying about myself,
thinking that I was unwanted,
that I was unloved.
I've learned since being in AA that the more I worry about me loving you,
and the less I worry about you loving me, the happier I'll be.
I discovered a fellowship of human beings that I'd never seen before.
I learned how to be a friend. . .
I have learned that the more I give, the more I will have;
the more I learn to give, the more I learn to live.

© 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 218
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

Love that is unseen is eternal.

Faith, Empathy, Learning, Love, Openness, Wisdom,
Self-worth, Hope, Identification, People.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


May 31, 2008

Improved Perception

An improved perception of humility starts a revolutionary change
in our outlook.
Our eyes begin to open to the immense values
which have come straight out of painful ego-puncturing.
Until now, our lives have been largely devoted
to running from pain and problems.
Escape via the bottle was always our solution.

© 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 156
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Choosing Humility Allows New Gifts and Energy.


Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


1, 2008

Emotional Turmoil

When on the roller coaster of emotional turmoil,
I remember that growth is often painful.
My evolution in the AA program has taught me
that I must experience the inner change, however painful,
that eventually guides me from selfishness to selflessness.
If I am to have serenity, I must STEP my way past emotional turmoil
and its subsequent hangover,
and be grateful for continuing spiritual progress.

© 1990 AAWS, Daily Reflections, p. 285
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



Altered Attitudes.



Day by Day is the only way....

Freefly

AA Thought for the Day


June 2, 2008

Easy Does It

We must learn to walk before we can run.
That's why we have these slogans.
I use that "Easy Does It" every day, to slow me down a little.
I have to watch myself all the time.
So I don't just take the inventory at night -- I take it continually throughout the day.
Before I step out and do anything, I stop and check it over first,
and then let my conscience be my guide.
For me, AA has become a way of life.

© 2003 AAWS, Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 410
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.



Thought to Ponder . . .

While it isn't always easy, if I keep it simple, it works.




AA-related 'Alconym' . . .



A A Way Of Life.


Day by Day is the only way....