Daily Recovery Readings - October 26

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God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.

October 26

Daily Reflections

ONE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY

For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may
express Himself in our group conscience.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 132

When I am chosen to carry some small responsibility for my fellows, I ask that God grant
me the patience, open-mindedness, and willingness to listen to those I would lead. I must
remind myself that I am the trusted servant of others, not their "governor," "teacher,"
or "instructor." God guides my words and my actions, and my responsibility is to heed
His suggestions. Trust is my watchword, I trust others who lead. In the Fellowship of
A.A., I entrust God with the ultimate authority of "running the show."

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Sixth, I have A.A. meetings to go to, thank God. Where would I go without them?
Where would I be without them? Where would I find the sympathy, the understanding, the
fellowship, the companionship? Nowhere else in the world. I have come home. I have
found the place where I belong. I no longer wander alone over the face of the earth. I am
at peace and at rest. What a great gift has been given me by A.A.! I do not deserve it.
But it is nevertheless mine. I have a home at last. I am content. Do I thank God
everyday for the A.A. Fellowship?

Meditation For The Day

Walk all the way with another person and with God. Do not go part of the way and then
stop. Do not push God so far into the background that He has no effect on your life. Walk
all the way with Him. Make a good companion of God, by praying to Him often during the
day. Do not let your contact with Him be broken for too long a period. Work all the way
with God and with other people, along the path of life, wherever it may lead you.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may walk in companionship with God along the way. I pray that I may keep
my feet upon the path that leads upward.

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As Bill Sees It

A VISION OF THE WHOLE, p. 297

"Though many of us have had to struggle for sobriety, never yet
has this Fellowship had to struggle for lost unity. Consequently,
we sometimes take this one great gift for granted. We forget that,
should we lose our unity, the millions of alcoholics who still 'do not
know' might never get their chance.

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"We used to be skeptical about large A.A. gatherings like conventions,
thinking they might prove too exhibitionistic. But, on balance, their
benefit is huge. While each A.A.'s interest should center principally in
those about him and upon his own group, it is both necessary and
desirable that we all get a larger vision of the whole.

"The General Service Conference in New York also produces this
effect upon those who attend. It is a vision-stretching process."

1. Letter, 1949
2. Letter, 1956

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Walk In Dry Places

Who is an Alcoholic?
AA's mission
Though AA's avowed mission is to carry its message to alcoholics, the fellowship does not really have a one-size-fits-all definition of alcoholism. This has created some confusion when nonalcoholics inadvertently show up at meetings that are supposed to be for alcoholics only, or when people with other addictions seek AA's help. A few groups even insist that people must declare themselves alcoholics in order to participate in a "closed" meeting.
But who is an alcoholic? The AA pioneers were not insistent that people should immediately declare themselves alcoholics in order to receive help. Newcomers were invited to attend meetings and then decide for themselves if they were alcoholics and needed the program. In today's environment, we have the added factor that troubled people might be addicted to both drugs and alcohol. Such cross-addiction, in fact, seems to be a strong trend. We also know that any alcoholic can easily become cross-addicted if he or she uses other drugs.
Our best course is to keep the door open for any person who comes to AA sincerely desiring help. If people find their answer in AA, they probably belong in the fellowship.
I'll be grateful today that I was able to admit that I had a problem and needed AA's help. I'll accept others just as I was accepted. To stay sober and grow in the program. I do not need to define alcoholism for anybody other myself.

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Keep It Simple

Nobody give you freedom. Malcolm X
We were not free. We were prisoners of our illness. What our illness wanted, we give itour dignity, our self-respect, even our families. Our prison walls were made of denial,
false pride, and self-will run riot. Now we know that brick walls don’t have to stop us. We don’t have to bang our heads on them.
Slowly, we’re learning about freedom. We’re learning that freedom. We’re learning that freedom comes from within. It comes when we think clearly and make our own choices.
It comes when we follow a better way of life. It comes when we take care of ourselves. It comes when we take responsibility. The key to freedom is in loving our Higher Power.
Do you choose freedom?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, show me how to walk away from a wall or go around it. But teach me to stop and think when I get to a wall. Maybe it’s there for my safety.
Today’s Action: Today I’ll think about all the freedom I have given myself by living a sober way of life.

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Each Day a New Beginning

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever-changing view. --Carole King
Every event of our lives is contributing a rich thread to our personal tapestry. Each of us is weaving one unique to ourselves, but all of our tapestries are complementary. We need others' rich designs in order to create our own.
We seldom have the foresight to understand the worth, the ultimate value of a particular circumstance at its beginning. But hindsight offers us clarity. It's good to reflect on the many circumstances that failed to thrill us; in all cases we can now see why we needed them. As our trust in God and the goodness of all experiences grows, we'll more quickly respond with gladness when situations are fresh. No experience is meant for harm. We are coming to understand that, even though on occasion we forget.
Practicing gratitude will help us more fully appreciate what has been offered us. Being grateful influences our attitude; it softens our harsh exterior and takes the threat out of most new situations.
If I greet the day, glad to be alive, I will be gladdened by all the experiences in store for me. Each is making a necessary contribution to my wholeness.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 8 - TO WIVES

The bill collectors, the sheriffs, the angry taxi drivers, the policemen, the bums, the pals, and even the ladies they sometimes brought home—our husbands thought we were so inhospitable. “Joykiller, nag, wet blanket”—that’s what they said. Next day they would be themselves again and we would forgive and try to forget.

p. 106

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

SAFE HAVEN - This A.A. found that the process of discovering who he really was began with knowing who he didn't want to be.

As I pen this story, 3 1/2 years have passed since that meeting in the chapel. I've moved to a larger prison unit and have remained very active in the awesome program of Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. has accomplished so many things in my life today. It has given me my sanity and an all-around sense of balance. Now willing to listen and take suggestions, I have found that the process of discovering who I really am begins with knowing who I really don't want to be, And although the disease of alcoholism inside of me is like gravity, just waiting to pull me down, A.A. and the Twelve Steps are like the power that causes an airplane to become airborne: It only works when the pilot is doing the right things to make it work. So, as I have worked the program, I have grown emotionally and intellectually. I not only have peace with God, I have the peace of God through an active God consciousness. I have not only recovered from alcoholism, I have become whole in person--body, spirit, soul.
pp. 456-457

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Three - "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."

Once we have come into agreement with these ideas, it is really easy to begin the practice of Step Three. In all times of emotional disturbance or indecision, we can pause, ask for quiet, and in the stillness simply say: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done."

pp. 40-41

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"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time."
--Rabbinical Saying

It's amazing how well I feel when I'm not thinking about myself.
--Bob Y

"Appreciate people. Nothing gives more joy than appreciation."
--Ruth Smeltzer

"When someone does something well, applaud! You will make two people happy."
--Samuel Goldwyn

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
--Kahlil Gibran

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

KINDNESS

"Kindness in words creates
confidence. Kindness in thinking
creates profoundness. Kindness
in giving creates love."
-- Lao-tzu

It costs me nothing to say "hello" and yet it might make all the difference to my
neighbor. It costs me nothing to give a hug and yet that hug might make all the
difference to a friend. It costs me nothing to listen to anothers pain and yet the
listening might make all the difference to another person.

Love is to be found in the small, ordinary acts of kindness as well as in the
extravagant gesture. I need to seek God in the everyday happenings of life alongside
the "religious". Spirituality is in the smile that is real!

Today I know that I give only what I received --- and I received a great deal. People
loved me enough to be patient, they cared enough to telephone, they encouraged me
with the gentle word of hope: I am in the flow.

Lord, You have created this wondrous patterned fabric of life --- may I find You in its
smallest detail.

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Pleasant words are a honeycomb sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24

“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for
the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God..."
Ephesians 2:8

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Daily Inspiration

You have the choice to do or not to do and realizing this allows you to accomplish more than you thought possible. Lord, help me make wise decisions with my time and not allow the pressures of life to drain my effectiveness.

Often times that which we find difficult is that which teaches. Lord, may I always be able to see the good that comes from even my trials.

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NA Just For Today

The Path To Self-Acceptance

"The most effective means of achieving self-acceptance is through applying the Twelve Steps of recovery."

IP No.19, "Self-Acceptance"

Our addiction has been a source of shame to many of us. We have hidden ourselves from others, sure that if anyone got to know who we really were they would reject us. NA helps us learn self-acceptance.

Many of us find a great deal of relief just from attending meetings, hearing fellow addicts share their stories, and discovering that others have felt the same way we feel about ourselves. When others share honestly with us who they are, we feel free to do the same. As we learn to tell others the truth about ourselves, we learn to accept ourselves.

Self-disclosure, however, is only the beginning. Once we've shared the things that make us uncomfortable with our lives, we need to find a different way to live - and that's where the steps come in. We develop a concept of a Higher Power. We inventory our lives, in detail, and discuss our inventory with our sponsor. We ask the God of our understanding to remove our character defects, the shortcomings that are the source of our troubles. We take responsibility for the things we've done and make amends for them. And we incorporate all these disciplines into our daily lives, "practicing these principles in all our affairs."

By working the steps, we can become people we are proud to be. We can freely tell the truth about ourselves, for we have nothing to hide.

Just for today: I will walk the path to self-acceptance. I will show up, tell the truth, and work the steps.

pg. 312

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Whoever is happy will make others happy, too. --Anne Frank
Anne Frank had good reason to be unhappy, full of fear, and deeply discouraged. Years of her life were spent in a small apartment hiding from the Nazis who wanted to destroy her and her family. Yet even in this little hiding place she had happiness. It was something she had inside which did not depend on what happened around her. She had riches of the heart. She had faith that kept her going. She had love and concern for her family and others, which made even a restricted life very rich with feelings. It is tempting to believe that we will be happy when we have something outside ourselves, which will make us happy. But happiness is not something we have to find outside; the seeds are in our hearts already.
What happiness can I find in my latest setback?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit. --D. Elton Trueblood
Our lives are enriched by the contributions of those who lived before us. Many men and women gave more than they ever took from society, and now we enjoy the rewards. Some people were fired with a spirit to beautify the world and planted trees that will live for 200 years. Others wrote music that speaks to us from another generation, and others established a government that guides our principles of justice. They gave so much because they knew they were a part of their community and the world.
Most of us cannot make the great contributions that will make us famous, but we enrich our lives when we contribute freely to improving our community and the world. We do that when we simply say hello to our neighbor, when we serve on a volunteer cleanup committee for a local park, and when we do Twelfth Step work in the program. We too have beautified and contributed to the world, and that gives us a feeling of peace and self-respect.
Today, I will appreciate all that comes freely to me from others, and I will give what I can to make the world a better place.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, an everlasting vision of the ever-changing view. --Carole King
Every event of our lives is contributing a rich thread to our personal tapestry. Each of us is weaving one unique to ourselves, but all of our tapestries are complementary. We need others' rich designs in order to create our own.
We seldom have the foresight to understand the worth, the ultimate value of a particular circumstance at its beginning. But hindsight offers us clarity. It's good to reflect on the many circumstances that failed to thrill us; in all cases we can now see why we needed them. As our trust in God and the goodness of all experiences grows, we'll more quickly respond with gladness when situations are fresh. No experience is meant for harm. We are coming to understand that, even though on occasion we forget.
Practicing gratitude will help us more fully appreciate what has been offered us. Being grateful influences our attitude; it softens our harsh exterior and takes the threat out of most new situations.
If I greet the day, glad to be alive, I will be gladdened by all the experiences in store for me. Each is making a necessary contribution to my wholeness.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Clarity
I know better than to not trust God., But sometimes, I forget that.
When we are in the midst of an experience, it is easy to forget that there is a Plan. Sometimes, all we can see is today.
If we were to watch only two minutes of the middle of a television program, it would make little sense. It would be a disconnected event.
If we were to watch a weaver sewing a tapestry for only a few moments, and focused on only a small piece of the work, it would not look beautiful. It would look like a few peculiar threads randomly placed.
How often we use that same, limited perspective to look at our life - especially when we are going through a difficult time.
We can learn to have perspective when we are going through those confusing, difficult learning times. When we are being pelted by events that make us feel, think, and question, we are in the midst of learning something important.
We can trust that something valuable is being worked out in us - even when things are difficult, even when we cannot get our bearings. Insight and clarity do not come until we have mastered our lesson.
Faith is like a muscle. It must be exercised to grow strong. Repeated experiences of having to trust what we can't see and repeated experiences of learning to trust that things will work out are what makes our faith muscles grow strong.
Today, I will trust that the events in my life are not random. My experiences are not a mistake. The Universe, my Higher Power, and life are not picking on me. I am going through what I need to go through to learn something valuable, something that will prepare me for the joy and love I am seeking.


I am learning to trust the positive and loving people in my life today. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart
October 26
Let the World Help You Open Up

The universe is gentle, loving, benevolent, full of gifts, full of life, full of love. Don’t worry if you feel scared, or if you feel yourself closing down to life’s magic. That feeling won’t last long. It won’t last forever.

Take a walk. Touch a tree, hug it until your fear subsides. Feel the earth under your feet. Watch a sunrise. Ask the universe and God to help you open up. Say it aloud. Then watch what happens. Go where your heart leads, where your inner voice directs you to go. You will find yourself in circumstances that bring you back to your heart.

The universe will help you open up. It will do all it can, lovingly, gently, and with care. It will teach you all you need to know, help you learn all you came here to learn. It will guide you and lead you, open doors and shut windows, until you reach your destination– an open heart and a soul aligned with love.

*****

more language of letting go
Be aware of how you feel

What happened today? How did you feel about it?

Just like all those stuffed feelings from childhood that we could nor deal with then, any feelings that we repress or deny today don't go away. They linger in our energy field until we give them their due. Sometimes these repressed feelings block our view of the truth.

For many of us, resisting our feelings is an ancient pattern and a habitual way of life. Take your time to debrief from your day, but don't just say what you did and what you liked. Say how you felt about each thing that occurred.

You might make a discovery that surprises even you. You don't necessarily have to tell the other person how you feel, but you might. For certain, you at least need to tell yourself.

Today is just a simple reminder of something you already know. Be aware each day of what happens. And be aware of how you feel.

God, help me remember that it's okay to be who I am and feel what I feel, No matter what those feelings are. Remind me when I believe my feelings are a nuisance that they're the key to my power.

*****

Hard Learned Lessons
Bad Days by Madisyn Taylor

We all have bad days and within these days is usually a gem of a gift waiting to be opened.

We all have days from time to time when it feels like the world is against us or that the chaos we are experiencing will never end. One negative circumstance seems to lead to another. You may wonder, on a bad day, whether anything in your life will ever go right again. But a bad day, like any other day, can be a gift. Having a bad day can show you that it is time to slow down, change course, or lighten up. A bad day can help you glean wisdom you might otherwise have overlooked or discounted. Bad days can certainly cause you to experience uncomfortable feelings you would prefer to avoid, yet a bad day may also give you a potent means to learn about yourself.

You may consider a bad day to be one where you’ve missing an important meeting because your car stalled, the dryer broke, and you received a piece of very bad news earlier in the morning. Multiple misfortunes that take place one after the other can leave us feeling vulnerable and intensely cognizant of our fragility. But bad days can only have a long-term negative effect on us if we let them. It is better to ask yourself what you can learn from these kinds of days. The state of your bad day may be an indicator that you need to stay in and hibernate or let go of your growing negativity.

Bad days contribute to the people we become. Though we may feel discouraged and distressed on our bad days, a bad day can teach us patience and perseverance. It is important to remember that your attitude drives your destiny and that one negative experience does not have to be the beginning of an ongoing stroke of bad luck. A bad day is memorable because it is one day among many good days – otherwise, we wouldn’t even bother to acknowledge it as a bad day. Know too, that everybody has bad days, you are not alone, the world is not against you. Tomorrow is guaranteed to be a brighter day. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

From time to time when I see the slogan, But for The Grace of God, I remember how I used to mouth those words when I saw others whose addictions had brought them to what I considered a “hopeless and helpless” state. The slogan had long been a cop-out for me, reinforcing my denial of my own addiction by enabling me to point to others seemingly worse off than I. “9if I ever get like that, I’ll quit,” was my on-repeated refrain. Today, instead, But for the Grace of God has become my prayer of thankfulness, reminding me to be grateful to my Higher Power for my recovery, my life, and the way of life I’ve found in The Program. Was anyone ever more “hopeless and helpless: than I?

Today I Pray

May I know that “but for The grace of God.” I could be dead or insane by now, because there have been others who wanted on addictive paths when I did who are no longer here. May that same grace of God help those who are still caught in the downward spin, who are heading for disaster as sure as gravity.

Today I Will Remember

I have seen God’s amazing Grace.

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One More Day

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.
– Mark Twain

Even as we approached young adulthood, we clung to our dreams about the future. In those days it may have seemed to us that anything was possible.

It’s not immature to hold on to a dream, even when we know the dream is unlikely to come true. Bald men wish for a full head of hair. Some of us wish we still had young skin. Even through a long-term medical condition has become part of our lives, many of us still hold on to the illusions of our own health being restored.

Now we have a few more years — or decades — behind us. We accept that some things are possible and some are not. Most of us are comfortable with the knowledge. And still we hope.

I hold dearly to many of my illusions. The possibilities of what might occur keep my days full of excitement.

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Food For Thought

Food Is Not Fun

We have used eating as a form of recreation and have looked for excitement in food. For years, we have associated food with fun. What we need to remember constantly is that uncontrolled eating is no longer fun for us, but a trip into anguish.

All of us have unpleasant memories of painful binges, which began as attempts to experience pleasure through a small indulgence. We need to put these memories to work for us by associating them with the first compulsive bite. The idea that more and better food will bring us fun and pleasure is an illusion. We know this in our heads, but we need to feel it in our guts.

Food is nourishment for our bodies - nothing more. To experience pleasure with our minds and hearts and bodies, we open ourselves to richer interpersonal relationships, to aesthetic experiences, to sports and hobbies and work well done. Abstinence from compulsive overeating liberates us to enjoy the activities, which are fun.

Thank You for the fun and joy that abstinence brings.

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One Day At A Time

Paths
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
Robert Frost

As a compulsive overeater, I longed to find a solution to my problems. Like so many of us, I tried all the heavily traveled roads ~ the endless means to lose weight and to alleviate my indulgent eating behaviors. But at the end -- and there was always an end -- of every new "method of weight loss" I returned to walking my old path of destructive compulsive overeating. I always went back to the old eating behaviors as well as the consequences of those behaviors. I had heard of OA but did not know anyone who belonged to its groups. It seemed like the whole world was on the latest fad diet -- diets that I could never continue for more than a few days or weeks.

Since joining The Recovery Group, I now walk a new path and have abandoned the old roads and the diet of the week. I have been on this road nearly a year now, and it is a wonderfully pleasant trek. I indeed believe "I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence." I have found an incredible amount of recovery spiritually, emotionally and physically. I am traveling on “the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference!”

One day at a time...
I will enjoy this road less taken...a path of acceptance and surrender. It is a path of spiritual, emotional and physical recovery!
~ Karen A.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

There may be some wrongs we can never fully right. We don't worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could. - Pg. 83 - Into Action

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

To insist stubbornly on clinging to old relationships, when they are basically drug oriented relationships is sabotaging our recovery process. Is it not our disease finding a 'good' excuse to keep us close to drugs?

May I be able to hear the suggestions of those who work with me. May I listen in this next hour and follow the suggestions.

Our Own Good

Today, I accept that I do not always know what is best for me. There are times when I am completely confused about what to do for myself and for those around me, because I can't see how my own issues are surfacing and coloring my present. These are the days when I need to pray and to understand that my prayers are heard. I never whisper to God that I am not heard. Prayer is my medium for change and growth. It is with me all the time, and there is no moment when I can't elevate my consciousness and conscious contact through it. It is my way of talking to my higher self and turning over my lower self to the loving, compassionate care of a Higher Power.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

'Always remember that each day as you look at your world and see millions upon millions of flowers opening up, God does it all without using any force.' ~Dr. Wayne Dyer (P 91, Everyday Wisdom)

If I have to force the solution, then it's not the solution.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Do not allow others to upset you; their only power comes from your reaction.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am learning to trust the positive and loving people in my life today.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

A question to see if you're alcoholic: Have you ever been sunburned on the roof of your mouth? - Wino Joe.

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AA Thought for the Day

October 26

Into Action
Reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any lengths to find a spiritual experience,
we ask that we be given strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 79

Thought to Ponder . . .
Happiness is the result doing our next right thing in spite of hurt, in spite, even, of good fortune.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Accountable Actions.

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

Concepts
"The word God still aroused a certain antipathy.
When the thought was expressed that there might be a God
personal to me this feeling was intensified.
I didn't like the idea. . .
My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea.
He said, 'Why don't you choose your own conception of God?'
That statement hit me hard.
It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow
I had lived and shivered many years.
I stood in the sunlight at last."
Bill W.,
c.1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 12

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

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
G I F T = God Is Forever There

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

Force
>From "Faith in People":
"In the whole measure of my life, the benefits of the A.A. experience have far outweighed the damages of active alcoholism. What was it that overcame my pride (for the moment) and made me reachable? The best answer I can find is what my father used to call 'the life force.' It is in all of us, I believe; it animates all living things; it keeps the galaxies wheeling. New York, New York USA"
1973 AAWS, Inc.; Came to Believe, 30th printing 2004, pgs. 84-85

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

"The Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. No sanctions or punishments can be invoked for their infractions. Perhaps in no other area of society would these principles succeed. Yet in this Fellowship of alcoholics, the unenforceable Traditions carry a power greater than that of law."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1960
The Language of the Heart

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

"...we have ceased fighting anything or anyone even alcohol."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 84~

We, who have recovered from serious drinking, are miracles of mental health.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 133~

Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worthwhile to us now.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.124

It brought a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.75

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

As the A.A. groups multiplied, so did anonymity problems. Enthusiastic over the spectacular recovery of a brother alcoholic, we'd sometimes discuss those intimate and harrowing aspects of his case meant for his sponsor's ear alone. The aggrieved victim would then rightly declare that his trust had been broken.
When such stories got into circulation outside of A.A., the loss of confidence in our anonymity promise was severe. It frequently turned people from us. Clearly, every A.A. member's name - and story, too - had to be confidential, if he wished.
We now fully realize that 100 per cent personal anonymity before the public is just as vital to the life of A.A. as 100 per cent sobriety is to the life of each and every member. This is not the counsel of fear; it is the prudent voice of long experience.

Prayer for the Day: All That We Ought - All that we ought to have thought and have not thought,
All that we ought to have said, and have not said,
All that we ought to have done, and have not done,
All that we ought not to have thought and yet have thought,
All that we ought not to have said, and yet have said,
All that we ought not to have done, and yet have done,
For thoughts, words, and works, pray we, O God, for your forgiveness,
And repent with penance.

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