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

As Bill Sees It

Those Other People, p.268

"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

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

Walk In Dry Places
 
The Limited and Unlimited
Spiritual growth.
In our human experience, we face one imitation after another. We are
always up against limited time energy, limited knowledge.
Yet everything we're learning tells us that all of these are without limit
in the universal.  In terms of energy, for example, we know that we
would be rich beyond belief if we could really tap the sun's energy that
rushes to the earth.
What we call human progress may really refer to the gaining of knowledge
that enables us to shake off limitations. We actually did that by becoming
sober in our 12 Step program. Now we're learning to extend our limits in
many other ways; and though we are human and limited, we surely have
not begun to reach any limits as far as God is concerned. Limited though
we seem to be, we're part of a Universe that is without limits.
I'll focus today on the possibility of extending my limits, knowing that
this is what God has planned for me.

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

Keep It Simple
 
The distance doesn’t matter; only the first step is difficult.---Mme. Marquise du Deffand
During our addiction, we were on a path leading to death---death of our
spirit, mind, and body.
On that path, we tried not to think about where it would lead. We didn’t
want to get there. We just followed the path toward death, with one drink,
pill, snort or toke at a time.
Now we’ve chosen a new path for our lives. Making that choice was hard.
We knew only the old path. We were afraid to change. But we did it. That
was the hardest part.
We are excited to follow our new path. We know it leads to good things.
We can follow the map---the Twelve Steps---and enjoy the trip. It will last
as long as we live, and the map will guide us.
Prayer for the Day:  Higher Power, thanks for helping me choose the path of life.
Action for the Day:  Today, I’ll study the map for my life by reading the Twelve Steps.

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

Each Day a New Beginning

Why is life so tragic, so like a little strip of pavement over an abyss? I look
down; I feel giddy; I wonder how I am ever to walk to the end.  --Virginia Woolf
As we look toward the hours ahead, we can be thankful that we need be
concerned with only a single day's worth of hours. No more. What may
come tomorrow, a decision that might be necessary next week, a big change
in our lives coming next year, all will be handled with ease, when the time is right.
How fortunate we are, those of us who share this program for living! Our
worries about the future are over, if we want them to be. We need to take
only one step at a time. One day at a time. And always in the care of God.
Relief from our lives of worry is immediate when we live the axiom, "Let go and let God."
Life does present us with tragedies, and we learn from them. They need not
detour us, however. In fact, they strengthen us and encourage personal growth.
And no experience will ever be more than we and our higher power can handle.
I will turn to the program and everything it offers today. Just today, and no more,
is my concern.

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

Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Foreword to First Edition

This is the Foreword as it appeared in the first printing of the first edition in 1939

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. For them, we hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authentication will be necessary. We think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person. And besides, we are sure that our way of living had its advantages for all.

p. xiii

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

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.

It never occurred to me that I couldn't stop.  Every day I concocted some new method of staying sober.  If I wear this shirt, I won't drink.  If I'm with this person, or in this place, I won't drink.  It didn't work.  Every morning I woke up with a new resolve to stay sober.  With few exceptions, by noon I was so messed up I couldn't tell you my name.

p. 312

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

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

This, in brief, in the process by which A.A.'s Tradition Eleven was constructed. To us, however, it represents far more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a denial of self-seeking. This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.

p. 183

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

"Love is the ability and willingness to allow those that you care for
to be what they choose for themselves without any insistence that they
satisfy you."
--Wayne Dyer

Every second of every moment is a new beginning.
I can start my day over any time I choose.
I can also begin my life anew at any time.
This very moment can be a new beginning!

"Nothing we learn in this world is ever wasted."
--Eleanor Roosevelt

"Our worth is determined by the good deeds we do, rather than
by the fine emotions we feel."
--Elias L, Magoon

"It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis."
--Margaret Bonano

"Each day provides its own gifts."
--Martial

"The best way to secure future happiness is to be as happy as
is rightfully possible today."
--Charles W. Eliot

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, start all over again.
--Dorothy Fields

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

Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PAIN

"You can't hold a man down
without staying down with him."
-- Booker T. Washington

I know who was holding me down in my life. I was. I know who was
bringing pain and sadness in my life. I was. I know who was making me
the victim of addiction. I was. I would beat myself up and then
complain about the bruises!

I did this because I could not "see". I had not accepted or understood
the implications of my alcoholism. Today I am beginning to take care
of myself because I have accepted my disease. I do not choose today
to be the enemy in my life -- I have surrendered to live. I do not want
to hurt anymore. I do not want to hide in guilt and fear anymore. I do
not choose to be my victim today.

God, I thank You for the freedom to determine my life and my
victories.

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

“The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
will reap eternal life.”  Galatians 6:8

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:13-14

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

Daily Inspiration

An ordinary day can become profound by realizing your importance to others
and acting on it. Lord, may I be dependable to those who depend on me
without complaints or resentments.

Rejoice. This is the day the Lord has made. Lord, my days pass so quickly.
May I have a generous heart and the time to see the needs of those around me.

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

NA Just For Today

Seeing Ourselves In Others

"It will not make us better people to judge the faults of another."
Basic Text, p.37

How easy it is to point out the faults of others! There's a reason for this: The defects we identify most easily in others are often the defects we are most familiar with in our own characters. We may notice our best friend's tendency to spend too much money, but if we examine our own spending habits we'll probably find the same compulsiveness. We may decide our sponsor is much too involved in service, but find that we haven't spent a single weekend with our families in the past three months because of one service commitment or another.

What we dislike in our fellows are often those things we dislike most in ourselves. We can turn this observation to our spiritual advantage. When we are stricken with the impulse to judge someone else, we can redirect the impulse in such a way as to recognize our own defects more clearly. What we see will guide our actions toward recovery and help us become emotionally healthy and happy individuals.

Just for today: I will look beyond the character defects of others and recognize my own.
pg. 280

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

You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
There is no hope of joy except in human relations. --Antoine de Saint Exupery
It is hard to imagine being really joyful and excited without our family and friends. We can imagine a birthday party with no one but us attending. Even if we got many gifts, we would feel empty if there were no one around to share our excitement with.
Our joy comes from each other. Even the hard times furnish us with wonderful memories for later in life. We share the good and the bad, and the rewards of both. When our lives together seem too difficult, when it's too hard to share, too crowded to think, when there are too many disagreements, we can find comfort by looking at one another once again and seeing all the ways we are truly alike, and what we share every moment that we sometimes take for granted--our food, our thoughts, the very air we breathe.
What are the things we share right now?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
To try to extinguish the drive for riches with money is like trying to quench afire by pouring butterfat over it. --Hindu proverb
In recovery, we learn what we truly want and what is only a symbol of our desires. Do we truly want to use our energies pursuing success, or are we seeking approval from others? Do we truly want money so much, or are we attempting to escape the basically insecure nature of life? Do we truly enjoy the pleasure of food so much, or are we in search of comfort for our emotions?
Our desires, our wants, and our anxieties are spiritual issues. What at first we think we want may only hide deeper, more vulnerable, and painful feelings. When we admit the deeper fears and desires, we move closer to the spiritual truths of our lives. We can search for acceptance within ourselves and from God. We can learn to have spiritual peace in an insecure world. We can learn to accept the love of others even though we know we're not perfect.
Today, I will ask myself what I want and listen with courage to my answer. It will lead me in my spiritual progress.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Why is life so tragic, so like a little strip of pavement over an abyss? I look down; I feel giddy; I wonder how I am ever to walk to the end. --Virginia Woolf
As we look toward the hours ahead, we can be thankful that we need be concerned with only a single day's worth of hours. No more. What may come tomorrow, a decision that might be necessary next week, a big change in our lives coming next year, all will be handled with ease, when the time is right.
How fortunate we are, those of us who share this program for living! Our worries about the future are over, if we want them to be. We need to take only one step at a time. One day at a time. And always in the care of God. Relief from our lives of worry is immediate when we live the axiom, "Let go and let God."
Life does present us with tragedies, and we learn from them. They need not detour us, however. In fact, they strengthen us and encourage personal growth. And no experience will ever be more than we and our higher power can handle.
I will turn to the program and everything it offers today. Just today, and no more, is my concern.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Feeling Protected
Our task is not a naive one of feeling safe, of living and loving in a utopian world. One woman commented that our task is making ourselves feel safe while learning to live and love in a world that is unsafe.
We do not want to dwell on the dangers, for that gives power to the negative. Neither do we want to ignore them or pretend they don't exist.
If we were going to sunbathe, we would not be naive about the dangers from the sun. We know that harmful rays can burn. We would take steps to protect ourselves, so that we could enjoy the benefits of the sun.
That is our task in recovery.
This is what a woman, a helping professional, told me:
Picture a sunscreen surrounding you. Place it around yourself - not too heavy and thick so no light can penetrate, and not so thin that you are exposed to danger.
See yourself protected by a sunscreen that is effective. Make certain that the screen is open to the good. For a while, your screen was too heavy. It held back what you wanted. Now change it to let the good come through.
This is your screen for life and the world. See it. Imagine it surrounding you always. It wraps you in love, in comfort, in protection. No harm can enter. No negative energy can penetrate the screen.
Go in peace; go in safety;, now, know you are protected. Go anywhere you need to go. The evil has been blocked; the goodwill comes pouring forth. You do not have to work so hard at protecting yourself. You can relax and enjoy life trusting that you are safe. Go without fear, for you are wrapped in love and protection. And you shall always be.
Today, I will envision myself wrapped in a shield that blocks the negative and harmful rays of the world, but it is constructed so that the good can enter.


Today I have the courage I need to take the step forward in my life that I have been putting off. I can manage one step at a time, one change at a time, with ease and confidence. --Ruth Fishel

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

Journey To The Heart

Trust Even the Dark Moments

While on our journey, life can sometimes get bleak. Dark passages may envelop us.

Expect these moments. Often they come at the deepest period of working things out. It can be a time of despair, frustration, dead ends, anguish, and angst. Sometimes these moments are brief; sometimes they last a long time. But usually they are necessary.

Plan on these moments. They are not the end of the journey. They are the passageway through the tunnel and into the light. In just a little while, you will feel, see, and know the purpose of what you’re going through. Soon it will become clear. You will move out of the darkness and into the light.

*****

more language of letting go
Connect yourself

What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot-dog vendor? Can you make me one with everything?

I was buckling my seat belt in the little Cessna one day, getting ready for flight training, when my instructor Rob turned to me.

"I just take a second when I strap myself in and tell myself I'm becoming one with the plane as I do," Rob said. "It really helped me in the beginning when I was nervous and felt so separate from the airplane."

What a great idea, I thought. That day turned into one of my most comfortable flying lessons. It reminded me of a lesson I had learned a while back.

For most of my life, I felt disconnected from things: from myself, from other people, from life. That feeling of separateness haunted me. It explains why I tried so desperately to attach myself codependently to people, places, and things.

Over the years, I began to see that my separateness was an illusion. The same energy, the same life force, that runs through all the universe runs through you and me, too.

We're connected, whether we know it or not.

Nobody has to make you one with everything. You already are.

Let go of your illusion of separateness.

Connect yourself.

God, help me know my oneness with the world. Help me know how connected I really am so I don't have to connect in ways that don't work.

Trust even the bleak times. When you reach the end of the tunnel, then you will know why this all had to be.

*****

Other People’s Agendas
Appreciating Suggestions by Madisyn Taylor

When other people are always offering suggestions on how we should live our life, there is often a void in their own life.

As children, our parents had dreams for us. They wanted us to do well in school, and to do whatever was necessary to reach our highest potential. Later in life, friends may try to set us up with their idea of the perfect partner or the perfect job. Spouses may have agendas for us, too. People close to us may have ideas about how we should live our lives, ideas that usually come from love and the desire for us to be happy. Other times, they come from a place of need within them—whether it is the parent who wants us to live out his or her dreams or the friend or spouse who wants us to play an already-defined role. Whatever the case, we can appreciate and consider those people’s input, but ultimately we must follow our own inner guidance.

There may come a time when all the suggestions can become overbearing. We may feel that the people we love don’t approve of our judgment, which can hurt our feelings. It can interfere with the choices we make for our lives by making us doubt ourselves, or filling a void with their wishes before we’ve had a chance to decide what we want. It can affect us energetically as well. We may have to deal with feelings of resistance or the need to shut ourselves off from them. But we can take some time to rid ourselves of any unnecessary doubts and go within to become clear on what we desire for ourselves.

We can tell our loved ones how much we appreciate their thoughts and ideas, but that we need to live our own lives and make our own decisions. We can explain that they need to let us learn from our own experiences rather than rob us of wonderful life lessons and the opportunity to fine-tune our own judgment. When they see that we are happy with our lives and the path we are taking to reach our goals, they can rest assured that all we need them to do is to share in our joy. Published with permission from Daily OM

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

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Is freedom from addiction all that we’re to expect from a spiritual awakening? Not at all. Freedom from addiction is only the bare beginning; it’s only the first gift of our first awakening. Obviously, if more gifts are to come our way, our awakening has to continue. As it does continue we find that slowly but surely we can scrap the old life — the one that didn’t work — for a new life that can and does work under any and all conditions. Am I willing to continue my awakening thorough the practice of the Twelve Steps?

Today I Pray

May I remember how it was when my only goal in life was to be free of my addiction. All the words and phrases I used were stoppers – “giving it up,” “quitting,” cutting myself off.” Once I was free, I began to realize that my freedom had more to do with “beginning” than “stopping.” May I now continue to think in terms of starters — “expanding,” “awakening,” “growing,” “learning,” “becoming.”

Today I Will Remember

My stopping was a starting point.

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

One More Day

The modern sympathy with invalids is morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others.
– Oscar Wilde

When chronic illness strikes, there are no rules of social behavior we can fall back on. Nothing prepares us for the harsh reality of illness. There is a very delicate balance here. We want those who love us to understand, and we want them to help, but not to pity us.

We need to face squarely the changes that chronic illness brings, both for our loved ones and for us. By openly talking to each other abo0ut our problems of adjusted and loss, we can become less preoccupied with our losses and think more about the future. We will be less concerned with being “in-valid>’ We can move forth to a meaningful and valid life.

Facing the changes caused by chronic illness can, in the long fun, serve to make me stronger.

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

Food For Thought

Character Defects

Beginning the OA program, we are inclined to feel that our problems and difficulties are largely due to circumstances and other people. The enemy seems to be outside. The more we work the Steps, the more we realize that our troubles are within, rather than without. Furthermore, we learn that the only person we can change is our self.

We see that the root of our difficulty lies in being centered on self instead of centered in our Higher Power. Our egos can take us only so far before we reach a point where continued growth demands that we begin to abandon them. What a relief to get rid of the anxiety, frustration, and fear that goes with an ego-centered life!

Our Higher Power removes our character defects as we become willing to let go of them. Honest awareness is our first task, and this is facilitated by maintaining abstinence from compulsive overeating. Abstinence gives us the honesty and the energy to change. As we change, circumstances and relationships improve.

I ask that You remove my character defects according to Your will.

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

One Day At A Time

LETTING GO
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Joseph Campbell

It’s hard to give up old habits. Although my former solutions to dealing with stress, anger, and emotional and physical pain had never worked and only made the problems worse, they were familiar. I had high hopes the results would be different each time. I wasn’t too surprised when it didn’t happen because this was familiar ground.

Then I heard about this program, half-heartedly joined and began working the Twelve Steps. It was scary! Things began happening to me that I’d never dreamed possible. I was given abstinence! I had not planned for that to happen. How could I, when I had no idea what abstinence would really be like?

At first I felt very anxious, sure the abstinence would be snatched from me just as I was beginning to feel comfortable with it. While I enjoyed abstinence and not having to focus on my eating disorder's requirements, I often felt like I was in foreign territory without a map. I couldn't plan my life like I had before because my life was busy evolving in ways I couldn't imagine.

But the longer I worked the program, the happier my life became. To my utter shock I’ve recently discovered that I, a control freak and ultimate planner of everything, have begun to enjoy the unpredictability that my Higher Power has so graciously put in my life.

Before the program I never appreciated spontaneity; I couldn’t. Now, a day without plans is an opportunity.

One day at a time...
I will pray to let go of my will
and instead to be open to my Higher Power's will for me.
~ Rhonda

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

AA 'Big Book' - Quote

So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem. - Pg. 35 - More About Alcoholism

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Honesty without kindness is cruel and kindness without honesty is codependence.

If I can’t say it kindly, I needn’t say it at all.

One Life

I have one life I can do something about and that life is mine. I have one mind through which to think the next right thought, one heart through which to experience the next feeling and one body through which to take the next right action. I cannot control another person. That is part of my disease, wanting to fix. I have spent too many years feeling overwhelmed by other people's problems, hurt by other people's actions and baffled by disease related behaviors. When I try to control others I will ask myself if I am feeling overwhelmed by their lives being out of order and need to take a step back. If I really want to distance them and I feel guilty about that feeling so I run in to fix instead and I need to take a step back.

- Tian Dayton PhD

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Where do you find recovery? Twelve steps past any lengths.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I'm living according to my truth, knowing that freedom and happiness are the result.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I know my capacity for drink but I keep getting drunk before I reach it. - Oliver R.

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

AA Thought for the Day

September 26

Different
I cannot consider myself "different" in AA; if I do I isolate myself from others and from contact with my Higher Power.
If I feel isolated in AA, it is not something for which others are responsible.
It is something I've created by feeling I'm "different" in some way.
Today I practice being just another alcoholic in the worldwide Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.
- Daily Reflections, p. 58

Thought to Ponder . . .
I am unique, just like everyone else.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
W I S D O M = When Into Self, Discover Our Motives.

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

Help
"If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were,
we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution.
We were in a position where life was becoming impossible,
and if we had passed into the region
from which there is no return through human aid,
we had but two alternatives:
One was to go on to the bitter end,
blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation
as best we could;
and the other, to accept spiritual help.
This we did because we honestly wanted to,
and were willing to make the effort."
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 25-6

Thought to Consider . . .
The spiritual life is not a theory.
We have to live it.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H E L P = Hope, Encouragement, Love, Patience

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

Suspend Our Own Argument
From: "Being Grateful"
For some reason, we spent a lot of time thinking or noting or talking about how wrong or mistaken so many other people persistently were. (Whether they really were or not is irrelevant to the welcome change in our own feelings now.) For some, the change begins with a tentative willingness to wait and see, to accept for a moment the hypothesis that the other person just possibly might be right. Before rushing to judgment, we suspend our own argument, listen carefully, and watch for the outcome.

1998, AAWS, Inc., Living Sober, pages 48-49

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

"The beauty of sobriety is that sometimes I am the one supported, and other times the one supporting. One act helps destroy my ego, the other my self-centeredness. I need to practice both actions if I want to survive"
Los Angeles, Calif., July 2007
"Self-Support"
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety

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

"Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a
different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We
trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the
world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as
we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us
to match calamity with serenity."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 68~

Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion , say , for jay-walking . He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles . He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warnings . Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideals of fun . Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succession . You would expect him , if he were normal , to cut it out . Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull . Within a week after leaving the hospital a fast-moving trolley car breaks his arm . He tells you he has decided to stop jay-walking for good , but in a few weeks he breaks both legs .
Alcoholics Anonymous Pages 37-38

...this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we could not do...
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 70

It is hoped that this volume will afford all who read it a close-up view of the principles and forces which have made Alcoholics Anonymous what it is.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 18

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'You must remember that every A.A. group starts, as it should, through the efforts of a single man and his friends - a founder and his hierarchy. There is no other way.
'But when infancy is over, the original leaders always have to make way for that democracy which springs up through the grass roots and will eventually sweep aside the self-chosen leadership of the past.'
Letter to Dr. Bob: 'Everywhere the A.A. groups have taken their service affairs into their own hands. Local founders and their friends are now on the side lines. Why so many people forget that, when thinking of the future of our world services, I shall never understand.
'The groups will eventually take over, and maybe they will squander their inheritance when they get it. It is probable, however, that they won't. Anyhow, they really have grown up; A.A. is theirs; let's give it to them.

Prayer for the Day: Humility Prayer - Lord, I am far too much influenced by what people think of me; Which means that I am always pretending to be either richer or smarter than I am. Please prevent me from trying to attract attention. Don't let me gloat over praise on the one hand and be discouraged by criticism on the other, nor let me waste time weaving the most imaginary situations in which the heroic, charming, witty person present is myself. Show me how to be humble of heart.