KNOW GOD; KNOW PEACE
It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads
only to futility and unhappiness. . . . But with the alcoholic,
whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual
experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p 66
Know God;
Know peace.
No God;
No peace.
***********************************************************
Twenty-Four Hours A Day
A.A. Thought For The Day
In A.A. we find a new strength and peace from the realization
that there must be a Power greater than ourselves that is
running the universe and that is on our side when we live a
good life. So the A.A. program really never ends. You begin by
overcoming drink and you go on from there to many new
opportunities for happiness and usefulness. Am I really
enjoying the full benefits of A.A.?
Meditation For The Day
"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all
these things shall be added unto you." We should not seek
material things first, but seek spiritual things first and
material things will come to us, as we honestly work for them.
Many people seek material things first and think they can then
grow into knowledge of spiritual things. You cannot serve God
and Mammon at the same time. The first requisites of an abundant
life are the spiritual things: honesty, purity, unselfishness, and
love. Until you have these qualities, quantities of material things
are of little real use to you.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may put much effort into acquiring spiritual things.
I pray that I may not expect good things until I am right
spiritually.
***********************************************************
As Bill Sees It
Victory in
Defeat, p. 135
Convinced I never could belong, and vowing I'd never settle for any
second-rate status, I felt I simply had to dominate in everything I
chose to do: work or play. As this attractive formula for the good
life began to succeed, according to my then specifications of success,
I became deliriously happy.
But when an undertaking occasionally did fail, I was filled with
resentment and depression that could be cured only by the next
triumph. Very early, therefore, I came to value everything in terms
of victory or defeat--"all or nothing." The only satisfaction I knew
was to win.
<< << << >> >> >>
Only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward
liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness
finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful
lives may be built.
1. Grapevine, January 1962
2. 12 & 12, p. 21
***********************************************************
Walk in Dry Places
Trusting others
Personal Relationships
Some people trust others too much, while a few seem to have no trust at
all. Either stance is wrong and leads to some kind of trouble.
As we grow in our Twelve Step program, we learn the truth about trust.
We can trust others if our expectations aren't too high. We
have to
remember, however, that as human beings they can fail us. However, it's
also unrealistic to be suspicious of everyone. The truth is that most
people aren't out to get us or to hurt us. They are pursuing their own
interests, just as we must do.
As we grow emotionally, we come to see that we have less difficulty
trusting others. We no longer make outrageous demands on them or
stretch their patience to the limits. We also realize that there are
many times when we can work co-operatively with everybody's interest in
mind.
I'll think realistically about others today, being careful not to
expect either too much or too little from the. I'll certainly not
expect more from them than I could reasonably expect from myself.
***********************************************************
Keep It Simple
That day is lost on which one has not laughed.---French proverb
For a long time, we didn't really laugh. It's surprising when we think
about it: we hadn't really laughed for so long. . .we almost forgot how
good we could feel. It feels so good to laugh again!
Now, our spirits come more alive each day. Now, we feel what alcohol
and
other drugs stuffed deep inside us. Pain, fear, and anger come up. But
so
do happiness and joy, thankfulness and a sense of humor. In early
recovery, we work through the hard feelings. As we grow in the program,
we have more and more room for happiness.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, wake me up to the joy and
laughter that today hold for me.
Don't let me miss it!
Action for the Day: Today, I'll spread some laughter. I will
learn a joke and tell it to
three people.
***********************************************************
Each Day a New Beginning
Difficulties, opposition, criticism--these things are meant to be
overcome, and there is a special joy in facing them and in coming out
on top. It is only when there is nothing but praise that life loses its
charm, and I begin to wonder what I should do about it. --Vijaya
Lakshmi Pandit
To be alive means to experience difficulties, conflicts, challenges
from many directions. What we do with adverse conditions both
determines and is determined by who we are. Resistance, most of us have
learned, heightens the adversity. Acceptance of the condition, trusting
all the while the lesson it offers us is for our benefit, ensures that
we'll "come out on top."
Difficulties are opportunities for advancement, for increased
self-awareness, for self-fulfillment. So often we hear and remind one
another, that we grow through pain. We can face any situation knowing
we have the strength of the program to shore us up. Strangely, we need
challenges in order to grow; without growth we wither. Happiness is the
bounty for facing the momentarily unhappy conditions.
Any difficulty I meet today offers me a chance for even greater
happiness; it guarantees my growth.
***********************************************************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth
Edition
Chapter 5 - HOW IT WORKS
Notice that the word “fear” is bracketed alongside the difficulties
with Mr. Brown, Mrs. Jones, the employer, and the wife. This short word
somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and
corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it.
It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune we
felt we didn’t deserve. But did not we, ourselves, set the ball
rolling? Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing. It
seems to cause more trouble.
pp. 67-68
***********************************************************
Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth
Edition Stories
ME AN ALCOHOLIC? -
Alcohol's wringer
squeezed this author--but he escaped quite whole.
Many times in the intervening years
I have thanked God for that man, a man who had the courage to admit
failure, a man who had the humility to confess that all the hard-won
learning of his profession could not turn up the answer. I looked
up an A.A. meeting and went there --alone.
p. 386
***********************************************************
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual
awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message
to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."
In Step Eight, we continued our housecleaning, for we saw that we were
not only in conflict with ourselves, but also with people and
situations in the world in which we lived. We had to begin to make our
peace, and so we listed the people we had harmed and became willing to
set things right. We followed this up in Step Nine by making direct
amends to those concerned, except when it would injure them or other
people. By this time, at Step Ten, we had begun to get a basis for
daily living, and we keenly realized that we would need to continue
taking personal inventory, and that when we were in the wrong we ought
to admit it promptly. In Step Eleven we saw that if a Higher Power had
restored us to sanity and had enabled us to live with some peace of
mind in a sorely troubled world, then such a Higher Power was worth
knowing better, by as direct contact as possible. The persistent use of
meditation and prayer, we found, did open the channel so that where
there had been a trickle, there now was a river which led to sure power
and safe guidance from God as we were increasingly better able to
understand Him.
pp. 108-109
***********************************************************
Look
past
the
body,
past
the
personality, past the
behavior, into the
window of one another's souls. There we make a connection. The God
in me recognizes and honors the God in you.
--Mary Manin Morrissey
"One of the biggest things I've learned is that I don't always have to
be right."
--Jeffrey B. Swartz
"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all
of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical
rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses that are
blooming outside our windows today."
--Dale Carnegie
"The future is always beginning now."
--Mark Strand
"The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a
time."
--Abraham Lincoln
Enjoy God's handiwork all around you.
--Susan D. Petropulos
***********************************************************
Father Leo's Daily Meditation
TEACHING
"To teach is to learn."
--Japanese Proverb
The more I learn the more I know that I do not understand. Life is full
of new and wonderful information; paradoxes and confusion abound;
every new idea leads to a further truth - and the journey seems
endless.
In a sense we are all disciples; we are all learning from each other and
the role of teacher and student is forever being exchanged. In my
sobriety I am able to see how many wonderful "things" exist in the
world - so many fascinating and interesting places to visit, so many
loving and insightful people. God has given me so much, I am so
grateful to be able to learn in His garden.
Teacher, may I never stop learning and being a student in Your world.
***********************************************************
"Blessed
be
the
God
and
Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our
affliction,
so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction,
with the Comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
II Corinthians 1:3-4
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I
in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them
from all their troubles."
Psalm 34:17
***********************************************************
Daily Inspiration
If you are waiting to be happy, you never will be.
Lord, the only moment that I can count on and be in charge of is right
now. Help me choose to be happy.
One of God's greatest gifts to us is eternal life. Lord, may I daily
care for the needs of my soul, grow strong in my love for You, and be
an extension of You during my time on earth.
***********************************************************
NA Just For Today
Fear Of the Fourth Step
"As we approach this step, most of us
are afraid that there is a monster inside of us that, if released, will
destroy us."
Basic Text, p. 27
Most of us are terrified to look at
ourselves, to probe our insides. We're afraid that if we examine our
actions and motives, we'll find a bottomless black pit of selfishness
and hatred. But as we take the Fourth Step, we'll find that those fears
were unwarranted. We're human, just like everyone else—no more, no less.
We all have personality traits that
we're not especially proud of. On a bad day, we may think that our
faults are worse than anyone else's. We'll have moments of self-doubt.
We'll question our motives. We may even question our very existence.
But if we could read the minds of our fellow members, we'd find the
same struggles. We're no better or worse than anyone else.
We can only change what we acknowledge
and understand. Rather than continuing to fear what's buried inside us,
we can bring it out into the open. We'll no longer be frightened, and
our recovery will flourish in the full light of self-awareness.
Just for today: I fear what I don't
know. I will expose my fears and allow them to vanish.
***********************************************************
You are reading from the book Today's
Gift.
What is moral is what you feel good
after. --Ernest Hemingway
Each of us has a little voice inside
us that tells us what is good and what is bad. For instance, if our
friends are making fun of someone who is different than we are, how do
we feel if we join in the laughter? Do we feel more comfortable if we
refuse to join in, or if we tell them their jokes are not funny?
As we grow, we learn more and more to
trust the inner voice. Sometimes, in times of dark confusion, we have
to listen very hard, but it is there to guide us. It is a beacon
showing us the way out of the darkness of uncertainty. It is our guide
to goodness.
Will I have the courage to listen to
my inner voice today?
You are reading from the book
Touchstones.
If you can't fight and you can't flee,
flow. --Robert Eliot
Too often, we men have lived with a
single answer to every situation: win. We saw our friendships in
competitive terms, so we couldn't let our guard down. We looked at life
as a challenge to be conquered rather than something to be enjoyed.
Therefore, our first impulse was to fight and come out a winner. Many
of us have played life like a game with only winners and losers, and we
have neglected the deeper meaning in our experiences. Living that way,
many of us have felt
like losers.
We all experience moments when a
situation is much more powerful than we are. Those moments feel like
defeat unless we allow them to open a whole new viewpoint on our lives.
When we can flow with a situation, which will have its own way anyhow,
we have become more mature men. We can breathe a sigh of relief because
much of the tension in our lives is reduced when we stop trying to
conquer every moment and instead simply flow with it.
Today, I will practice playing a new
game of flowing and thereby deepen my awareness of life.
You are reading from the book Each Day
a New Beginning.
Difficulties, opposition,
criticism--these things are meant to be overcome, and there is a
special joy in facing them and in coming out on top. It is only when
there is nothing but praise that life loses its charm, and I begin to
wonder what I should do about it. --Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
To be alive means to experience
difficulties, conflicts, challenges from many directions. What we do
with adverse conditions both determines and is determined by who we
are. Resistance, most of us have learned, heightens the adversity.
Acceptance of the condition, trusting all the while the lesson it
offers us is for our benefit, ensures that we'll "come out on top."
Difficulties are opportunities for
advancement, for increased self-awareness, for self-fulfillment. So
often we hear and remind one another, that we grow through pain. We can
face any situation knowing we have the strength of the program to shore
us up. Strangely, we need challenges in order to grow; without growth
we wither. Happiness is the bounty for facing the momentarily unhappy
conditions.
Any difficulty I meet today offers me
a chance for even greater happiness; it guarantees my growth.
You are reading from the book The
Language of Letting Go.
Taking Risks
Take a risk. Take a chance.
We do not have to indulge in obviously
foolhardy or self-defeating risks, but we can allow ourselves to take
positive risks in recovery. We cannot afford to keep ourselves
paralyzed.
We do not have to keep ourselves
stymied and trapped out of fear of making a mistake or failing.
Naturally, we will make mistakes and fail from time to time. That's
part of being fully alive. There are no guarantees. If we are waiting
for guaranteed courses of action, we may spend much of our life waiting.
We do not have to shame ourselves or
accept shame from anyone else, even those in recovery, for making
mistakes. The goal of recovery is not to live life perfectly. The goal
of recovery is to live, learn our lessons, and make overall progress.
Take a risk. Do not always wait for a
guarantee. We don't have to listen to I told you so. Dust yourself off
after a mistake, and then move on to the success.
God, help me begin to take healthy
risks. Help me let go of my fear of failure, and help me let go of my
fear of success. Help me let go of my fear of fully living my life, and
help me start experiencing all parts of this journey.
It is exciting to know that the more I
listen to the chattering that goes on in my mind,
the quicker I can identify the blocks
to my positive and creative energy. Today I release all negativity so
that I can be fully alive in the moment. --Ruth Fishel
**************************************************
Journey to the Heart
Lighten Up
The time for heaviness is past–
heaviness of body, mind, spirit, and heart. That heaviness many of us
felt was part of a time now gone. It’s time to lighten up.
“He was a different person,” she said.
“Cheerful. Happy. Fun to be around. Things that used to bother him no
longer did.” The woman was talking about her husband of only three
years. She had dated him for a long time. Then after nearly dying of a
heart attack, he was changed, transformed. They married and had the
best three years of their lives before he died.
Those years were possible because he
had learned to enjoy life, learned the value of love.
We don’t have to wait to open our
hearts and enjoy life. We don’t have to wait to lighten up. We can do
that now. We know that we can trust, that we can journey through each
stage of our lives with open hearts, loving and living freely.
Let go of heaviness. Seek that which
is light. Gravitate toward joy. Your soul and body will lead you, if
only you will listen. Walk lightly. Speak and laugh lightly, as much as
possible. Go lightly along your way.
**************************************************
More language of letting go
Say when it’s time for plan B
I exited the plane, enjoyed my free
fall, then checked my altimeter.
Pull time.
I deployed my parachute, waiting for
that sweet whooshing sound, the one that meant I had a working canopy
open. I didn’t hear the sound. I was leaning backwards and turning,
instead of floating softly toward the ground. I didn’t have to do my
eight-point canopy check. I knew immediately that something was wrong.
Ever since I had begun skydiving, I
had been aware that although things mostly go well, sometimes they
don’t. For a while, I dreaded the possibility that something wouldn’t
be right with my canopy on opening, that I might have to cut it away.
To deal with the fear and dread, I planned on having to use plan B–
cutting away my main and pulling my reserve– each time I jumped out of
the plane.
It was time to execute plan B.
Whoosh. What a sweet sound that was,
as the reserve canopy opened over my head.
Most of us have plans and ideas about
how we think an activity, or a relationship, or a job,will go. We
marry, and we expect the relationship to flourish. We date someone, and
we expect that person to be at least a decent sort of being. We begin a
friendship with someone because something about that person has
attracted us, drawn us in. We accept a job or work offer– or hire
someone to work for us– and we have some idea how things will proceed.
We hope things will work out well.
Life is like skydiving. There are no
guarantees. And while we may do everything right and properly,
sometimes things just don’t work out. While it isn’t healthy or
advisable to run from every problem, sometimes we need to cut away
major malfunctions.
It’s okay to have a plan. But take the
time to develop a plan B,too. Know what you’re going to do if plan A
doesn’t work out. Sometimes it’s easier to come up with an option or an
emergency procedure if we think it through before the crisis occurs.
Then we don’t have to panic. We can just institute the plan we
rehearsed.
Have you reviewed your emergency
procedures today?
God, give me the alertness to
recognize when it’s time to cut away a malfunction. Give me the
presence of mind to save my own life.
**************************************************
It’s Never Too Late
Getting Back to What You Love by Madisyn Taylor
Forgetting about what you love to do
can be a form of self-sabotage - get back to what you love.
There are times in life when we are
committed to pursuing our passions. Every molecule in our body is
focused on doing what we love. At other times, necessity and
responsibility dictate that we put our dreams aside and do what needs
to be done. It is during these moments that we may choose to forget
what it is that we love to do. There are many other reasons for why we
may leave our passions behind. A hobby may lose its appeal once we’ve
realize it will never turn into our dream job. Someone important to us
may keep telling us that our passions are childish and unsuitable –
until we finally believe them.
Forgetting about what you love to do
can be a form of self-sabotage. If you can forget about your dreams,
then you never have to risk failure. But just because we’ve decided to
ignore our passions doesn’t mean they no longer exist. Nothing can fill
the emptiness that remains in a space vacated by a passion that we have
tossed aside. Besides, life is too short to stop doing what you love,
and it is never too late to rediscover your favorite things. If you
gave up playing an instrument, painting, drawing, spending time in
nature, or any other activity or interest that you once loved to do,
now may be the time to take up that passion again. If you don’t
remember what it is that you used to be passionate about, you may want
to think about the activities or interests that you used to love or the
dreams that you always wished you could pursue.
You don’t have to neglect your
responsibilities to pursue your passions, and you don’t have to neglect
your commitments to do what you love. When you make an effort to
incorporate your interests into your life, the fire within you ignites.
You feel excited, inspired, and fed by the flames that are sparked by
living your life with passion for what you love. Published with
permission from Daily OM
**************************************************
A Day At A Time
Reflection For The Day
Looking back at those last desperate
days before I cam to The Program, I remember more than anything the
feelings of loneliness an isolation. Even when I was surrounded by
people, including my own family, the sense of “aloneness” was
overwhelming. Even when I tried to act sociable and wore the mask of
cheerfulness, I usually felt a terrible anger of not belonging. Will I
ever forget the mystery of “being alone in a crowd?”
Today I Pray
I thank God for the greatest single
joy that has come to me outside of my sobriety — the feeling that I am
no longer alone. May I not assume that loneliness will vanish
overnight. May I know that there will be a lonely time during recovery,
especially since I must pull away from my former junkie friends or
drinking buddies. I pray that I may find new friends who are
recovering. I thank God for the fellowship of The Program.
Today I Will Remember
I am not alone.
**************************************************
One More Day
Nothing has a stronger influence
psychologically on their environment, and specially on their children,
than the unloved lives of the parents.
– Carl Jung
Sometimes chronic illness emphasizes
flaws in our relationships. For whatever reason — greater honesty, less
tolerance, or an increased need for openness — we struggle more often
with conflicting feelings toward our loved ones, especially our parents.
It can be healing for us to review our
childhood years without blaming or embellishment. We can look back and
realize that our parents, too, were influenced by their childhood
years. Did they receive the nurturing they needed? The love they
deserved? Thinking about our parents in this way reminds us to live
with forgiveness for ourselves and for everyone whose lives we touch.
I will allow myself to look back on my
parents which forgiveness.
************************************
Food For Thought
Just For Today
I do not have to plan the rest of my life this morning. All I have is
today. I do not need to worry about what I will have for dinner
tomorrow night. All I need to be concerned about today is today's food
plan.
By accepting the fact that I cannot eat spontaneously - whatever and
whenever I feel like it - I have freed myself to live more
spontaneously. I make plans for the things that need to be done, but I
find time left over to use as the Spirit moves. I will not decide today
what I will do with the free time tomorrow. Tomorrow will bring new
possibilities and promptings.
Just for today, I am living my program. I will not worry about how hard
it will be to work it tomorrow. Tomorrow I will have new strength and
fresh insight. Just for today, I will remember to stop and listen to
the inner voice and follow where it leads. When I follow it, there is
adventure in the day and joy in my heart.
Thank You for today.
*****************************************
One Day At A Time
KIND WORDS
“Kind words can be short and easy to
speak,
but their echoes are truly endless.”
Mother Teresa
How many times are we gifted with
newcomers to our meetings? They are so easy to see as they huddle in
the back of the room -- usually as close to the exit as possible. Their
oversized coat is a good giveaway, especially in July. Their eyes show
the fear and anxiety that we all felt. Sure, we made it, and so can
they.
I remember the elder who first said
those magical words to me -- those two simple words -- "Welcome Home."
The warmth and safety those words held were immense. I felt that my
body was huge, and I was embarrassed in a room full of people who
looked very similar to me…but my eyes could not see that. They were
filled with tears because of those two words. Welcome home. Whoever
that person was, I have two words for you, "Thank you.”
What can you do to make a newcomer
feel welcome to your meeting? Let us not forget that all-important
first hug. I remember mine; do you remember yours? It felt good, I'll
bet. So welcome the newcomer and let them know they are home.
One day at a time...
I will do my part to welcome the
newcomer into our fellowship.
~ Danny
*****************************************
AA 'Big Book' - Quote
We seldom allow an alcoholic to live
in our homes for long at a time. It is not good for him, and it
sometimes creates serious complications in a family. - Pg. 97 - Working
With Others
Hour To Hour - Book - Quote
The best decision you have ever made
is to opt for the health that sobriety and clean time will give you. If
the decision was someone else's then your decision to accept it was the
best one ever made. You will gain a new perspective on life and for
this you need to thank yourself.
As I thank myself, I also thank any
others, including a Higher Power, as I understand Him / Her, for giving
me another hour without mind-affecting chemicals.
Letting My Body Speak
I will let my body have a voice today
and I will listen to what it's trying to say to me. If my body's voice
has tears in it, I will allow those tears to come out. If my body is
holding anger, I will allow myself to experience that anger so that it
can dissolve and my cells no longer have to hold it for me. If my body
wants to shiver and shake I will let it, knowing that it just needs to
release something it doesn't want to hang onto any more.
I allow my body to let go of the
emotions it is holding
- Tian Dayton PhD
Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote
Knowing what to do with this moment,
is as simple as doing the next right thing so that your Spiritual
Source can act in your best interests.
When my Higher Power is for me, what
can be against me?
"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" -
Book
When you talk, you can only say
something you already know. When you listen, you may learn something
somebody else knows.
Time for Joy - Book - Quote
It is exciting to know that the more I
listen to the chattering that goes on in my mind, the quicker I can
identify the blocks to my positive and creative energy. Today I release
all negativity so that I can be fully alive in the moment.
Alkiespeak - Book - Quote
I was living on the streets, drinking.
I'd sit in the meetings and listen to them talking about this
'phenomenon of craving', but I can't see that it applies to me. I mean,
I would drink and get drunk but it didn't seem like a craving to me.
I'd seen 'Lost Weekend' and 'Days Of Wine and Roses'. I don't claw the
walls to get another drink. - But the funny thing about a craving is
that you don't realize you have it until it's interrupted. - Bob D.
*****************************************
AA Thought for the Day
May 15
An Open Mind
Reluctantly, I opened my mind to the
fact that maybe, just maybe,
there was something to this spiritual
lifestyle.
Slowly, but surely, I realized there
was indeed a Power greater than myself,
and I soon found myself with a
full-time God in my life and following a spiritual path
that didn't conflict with my personal
religious convictions.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 287
Thought to Ponder . . .
Life will take on new meaning.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Alive.
~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
Conflict
"My conflicts went right on mounting
because I was simply loaded with
excuses and refusals.
When these troubles had finally
exhausted me enough,
there was yet another escape.
I would commence to wallow in the bog
of guilt.
Here pride and rebellion would give
way to depression.
My main theme always was, 'How
god-awful I am.'
There was never a decent regret for
the harms I had done,
nor was there any serious thought of
making such
restitution as I could.
The idea of asking God's forgiveness,
let alone any forgiveness of myself,
never occurred to me.
My really big liability - spiritual
pride and arrogance-
was not examined at all.
I had shut out the light by which I
might have seen it."
Bill W., The Language of the Heart, p.
257-8
Thought to Consider . . .
Simply asking for help seems to be a
help in itself.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
HOW
Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness:
that's how we do it
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Disease
From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics
Anonymous":
"We know of course that the alcoholic
is a sick person. That is a very simple phrase. It is today a phrase
that is widely
and generally accepted, and yet you
and I know that it was not so long ago that the alcoholic was regarded
as a
nuisance, a pest, a person who could
snap out of it if he really wanted to. He was regarded as a spoiled
brat and a no-
good. Today we know that he is an
individual who is sick, and we know that he is sick in an area of which
our
understanding is perhaps the least of
any area in medicine, namely, illness of the emotions.
“ Dr. W.W. Bauer, 1955"
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous
Comes of Age, pg. 239
*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"During days and nights of darkness as
I face the demons of self, the knowledge that my God is always in
charge keeps
me trudging to the end of each
journey. With God, AA, and willingness I can meet the other me and
begin putting my
fractured self together again."
Cleveland, Ohio, February 1993
"Facing the Truth,"
AA Grapevine
~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve
Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*
"Much to our relief, we discovered we
did not need to consider
another's conception of God. Our own
conception, however inadequate,
was sufficient to make the approach
and to effect a contact with
Him. As soon as we admitted the
possible existence of a Creative
Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe
underlying the totality of
things, we began to be possessed of a
new sense of power and
direction, provided we took other
simple steps."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We
Agnostics, pg. 46~
"Simple, but not easy; a price had to
be paid. It meant destruction
of self-centeredness. I must turn in
all things to the Father of
Light who presides over us all."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition,
Bill's Story, pg. 14~
During this process of learning more
about humility, the most profound result of all was the change in our
attitude toward God.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,
p. 75
Misc. AA Literature - Quote
Victory in Defeat
Convinced I never could belong, and
vowing I'd never settle for any second-rate status, I felt I simply had
to dominate in
everything I chose to do: work or
play. As this attractive formula for the good life began to succeed,
according to my
then specifications of success, I
became deliriously happy.
But when an undertaking occasionally
did fail, I was filled with resentment and depression that could be
cured only by
the next triumph. Very early,
therefore, I came to value everything in terms of victory or
defeat--'all or nothing.' The only
satisfaction I knew was to win.
Only through utter defeat are we able
to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions
of personal
powerlessness finally turn out to be
firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.
1. GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1962
2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 21
Prayer For The Day: Loving Lord, inspire me to bring out the
best in others and “touch hearts” by being welcoming and generous and
always positive in attitude, showing individuals that they matter and
are important. May those who are part of my life this day treat me in
the same way as I treat them. Amen.