Daily Recovery Readings - April 7

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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.

April 7

Daily Reflections

A WIDE ARC OF GRATITUDE

And, speaking for Dr. Bob and myself, I gratefully declare
that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois, neither
of us could have lived to see A.A.'s beginning.
THE A.A. WAY OF LIFE, p. 67

Am I capable of such generous tribute and gratitude to
my wife, parents and friends, without whose support I
might never have survived to reach A.A.'s doors? I will
work on this and try to see the plan my Higher Power is
showing me which links our lives together.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

In A.A. alcoholics find a way to solve their personality
problems. They do this by recovering three things. First,
they recover their personal integrity. They pull themselves
together. They get honest with themselves and with other
people. They face themselves and their problems honestly,
instead of running away. They take a personal inventory of
themselves to see where they really stand. Then they face
the facts instead of making excuses for themselves. Have
I recovered my integrity?

Meditation For The Day

When trouble comes, do not say: "Why should this happen to
me?" Leave yourself out of the picture. Think of other people
and their troubles and you will forget about your own.
Gradually get away from yourself and you will know the
consolation of unselfish service to others. After a while,
it will not matter so much what happens to you. It is not
so important any more, except as your experience can be used
to help others who are in the same kind of trouble.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may become more unselfish. I pray that I may
not be thrown off the track by letting the old selfishness
creep back into my life.

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As Bill Sees It

Self-Respect Through Sacrifice, p. 97

At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol. We had to, or it would have
killed us. But we couldn't get rid of alcohol unless we made other
sacrifices. We had to toss the self-justification, self-pity, and anger
right out the window. We had to quit the crazy contest for personal
prestige and big bank balances. We had to take personal
responsibility for our sorry state and quit blaming others for it.

Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were. To gain enough humility and
self-respect to stay alive at all, we had to give up what had really
been our dearest possessions--our ambitions and our illegitimate
pride.

A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 287

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Walk in Dry Places

Deserving Happiness___Emotional Control
Somewhere in the course of living sober, we should realize that we can deserve to be happy. If happiness is eluding us, the fault may lie in a peculiar guilt from our past. In a perverse way, we may be using unhappiness as penance for our past wrongs.
We deserve to be happy if we are doing the things that should bring happiness to ourselves and others. Thinking and living rightly is a path to happiness. Meeting our obligations to society and others contributes to personal happiness. Placing the overall responsibility for our lives in God's hands is yet another route to happiness.
We can also learn from our experience. Did any of us ever meet a truly happy person who was totally self-seeking? Do we remember any happy, serene people among our drinking companions? Did any of our temporary successes and victories bring permanent happiness?
AA experience gives us the answers we need. Happiness is always in the direction of love and service, never in anything selfish. We deserve to be happy, but we must plant seeds of happiness by our thoughts and actions.
I'll be happy today. If I'm worrying about something, I'll suspend the worry and let myself be happy in spite of it. I deserve to be happy and I am usually the person who is responsible for this happiness.

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Keep It Simple

To make the world a friendly place One must show it a friendly face.---James Whitcomb Riley
We are beginning to learn that we get what we expect. Why? If we believe that people are out to get us, we'll not treat them well. We will think it's okay to "get them" before they "get us." Then, they'll be angry and want to get even. And on it goes. It's great when we can meet the world with a balance. We are honest people. We can expect others to be fair with us. We get the faith, strength, and courage to do this because of our trust in our Higher Power.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, I put my life in Your care. Use me to spread Your love to others.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll spread friendliness. I will greet people with a smile.

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Each Day a New Beginning

It is only when people begin to shake loose from their preconceptions, from the ideas that have dominated them, that we begin to receive a sense of opening, a sense of vision. --Barbara Ward
A sense of vision, seeing who we can dare to be and what we can dare to accomplish, is possible if we focus intently on the present and always the present. We are all we need to be, right now. We can trust that. And we will be shown the way to become who we need to become, step by step, from one present moment to the next present moment. We can trust that, too.
The past that we hang onto stands in our way. Many of us needlessly spend much of our lives fighting a poor self-image. But we can overcome that. We can choose to believe we are capable and competent. We can be spontaneous, and our vision of all that life can offer will change--will excite us, will cultivate our confidence.
We can respond to life wholly. We can trust our instincts. And we will become all that we dare to become.
Each day is a new beginning. Each moment is a new opportunity to let go of all that has trapped me in the past. I am free. In the present, I am free.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 10 - To Employers

We hope the doctor will tell the patient the truth about his condition, whatever that happens to be. When the man is presented with this volume it is best that no one tell him he must abide by its suggestions. The man must decide for himself.

p. 144

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

EMPTY ON THE INSIDE - She grew up around A.A. and had all the answers--except when it came to her own life.

I remarried in Alcoholics Anonymous, to a man who believes in A.A. the way I do. (I knew we were off to a good start when he didn't get angry that I stood him up to go on a Twelfth Step call.) We agreed to never be higher than third on each other's list, with God always first and Alcoholics Anonymous second. He is my partner and my best friend. We both sponsor several people, and our house is filled with love and laughter. Our telephone never stops ringing. We share the joy of a common solution.

p. 521

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Three - "The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking."

How could we then guess that all those fears were to prove groundless? How could we know that thousands of these sometimes frightening people were to make astonishing recoveries and become our greatest workers and intimate friends? Was it credible that A.A. was to have a divorce rate far lower than average? Could we then foresee that troublesome people were to become our principle teachers of patience and tolerance? Could any then imagine a society which would include every conceivable kind of character, and cut across every barrier of race, creed, politics, and language with ease?

pp. 140-141

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It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up.
--Vince Lombardi

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always
yours. And if they don't, they never were.
--Kahlil Gibran

"Devote uninterrupted chunks of time to the most important people in
your life."
--Brian Tracy

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.
--John Powell

You can sit there choosing to live your life in pain, or you can choose
to take action and free yourself from the bondage.
--Gary Barnes

Nothing is better than experiencing joy except sharing it with someone
else.
--Deanna Smythe

There shall be an eternal summer in the grateful heart.
--Celia Thaxter

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

OLD AGE

"You just wake up one morning
and you got it!"
--Moms Mabley

I am so busy living I don't think about "getting old". I am so grateful in
my recovery from alcoholism that tomorrow, the future and age are
secondary.

In my sickness I was always living in the future; what would tomorrow
bring? Will I die crippled, lonely and afraid? My projections into the
future produced an emotional pain.

Today I do not need to do this. I welcome old age because I bring into
it the joy and experience of my sobriety. Will I be lonely? I doubt it if I
stick to my recovery program; I have so many friends all over the
world meeting together to face the disease on a daily basis. Also I
know that nothing could ever compare with the loneliness of my
drinking days.

My spiritual program reminds me to be grateful for my life and this
includes the inevitability of old age.

Lord, as I grow in age may I also grow in wisdom and tolerance.

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"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall
come forth as gold."
Job 23:10

Do not plot harm against your neighbor who lives trustfully near you.
Proverbs 3:29

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Daily Inspiration

One of the best parts of receiving blessings is enjoying them. Lord, may I take time to recognize my blessings and appreciate their wonder.

As a mother sets aside gifts for her children long before they need them, so, too, has God prepared for our needs long before we call out to Him. Lord, I give thanks and place my trust in Your loving arms.

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NA Just For Today

The Value Of The Past

"This firsthand experience in all phases of illness and recovery is of unparalleled therapeutic value. We are here to share it freely with any addict who wants to recover."
Basic Text p. 10

Most of us came into the program with some serious regrets. We had never finished high school, or we had missed going to college. We had destroyed friendships and marriages. We had lost jobs. And we knew that we couldn't change any of it. We may have thought that we'd always be regretful and simply have to find a way to live with our regrets.

On the contrary, we find that our past represents an untapped gold mine the first time we are called on to share it with a struggling newcomer. As we listen to someone share their Fifth Step with us, we can give a special form of comfort that no one else could provide - our own experience. We've done the same things. We've had the same feelings of shame and remorse. We've suffered in the ways only an addict can suffer. We can relate - and so can they.

Our past is valuable - in fact, priceless - because we can use all of it to help the addict who still suffers. Our Higher Power can work through us when we share our past. That possibility is why we are here, and its fulfillment is the most important goal we have to accomplish.

Just for today: I no longer regret my past because, with it, I can share with other addicts, perhaps averting the pain or even death of another.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Take time every day to do something silly. --Philipa Walker
Spring fever may bring out our longings and our sense of unfilled needs for attention, play, or laughter. We may be afraid to express these needs because they are not often taken seriously, but thought of as childish. We may even be afraid our needs are so enormous that they will never be satisfied, and so we keep them bottled up inside ourselves, and all we can express to others is frustration.
Spring is a reminder that we can find a way to satisfy our needs. We can give ourselves a break from work or study, laugh a little, and try to share our laughter with someone else. There are many ways to fulfill a need, and by giving what we have to offer, we may find ourselves getting back exactly what we really need, even though it may not be what we had hoped for.
In the act of giving we learn we are worth giving to also. We learn that we deserve to be loved, most of all by ourselves.
What do I think I need today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
Adversity introduces a man to himself. --Anonymous
After difficult or challenging times we often say, "I never would have chosen to go through that, but I learned a lot from it." It could be a job situation, a failed relationship, or trouble with the law. When we bump up against something hard something that pushes back at us, our strength is tested, forcing us to draw on unknown reserves. A mountain climber standing on a safe ledge finds it difficult to move forward onto a more frightening spot. After he has completed the route, he looks back and feels good about himself because he met a challenge. We meet these challenges in many ways in our lives, and they help us build our self-respect.
Whatever difficulty is facing us today, we may have to deal with it ourselves, but we do not have to be alone while we do it. We can reach out for support while we do what we must. This difficulty is part of being human and can help us see more fully who we are.
I pray for the courage to face my adversity when I must and the ability to learn from it.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
It is only when people begin to shake loose from their preconceptions, from the ideas that have dominated them, that we begin to receive a sense of opening, a sense of vision. --Barbara Ward
A sense of vision, seeing who we can dare to be and what we can dare to accomplish, is possible if we focus intently on the present and always the present. We are all we need to be, right now. We can trust that. And we will be shown the way to become who we need to become, step by step, from one present moment to the next present moment. We can trust that, too.
The past that we hang onto stands in our way. Many of us needlessly spend much of our lives fighting a poor self-image. But we can overcome that. We can choose to believe we are capable and competent. We can be spontaneous, and our vision of all that life can offer will change--will excite us, will cultivate our confidence.
We can respond to life wholly. We can trust our instincts. And we will become all that we dare to become.
Each day is a new beginning. Each moment is a new opportunity to let go of all that has trapped me in the past. I am free. In the present, I am free.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Those Old Time Feelings
I still have bad days. But that's okay. I used to have bad years. --Anonymous
Sometimes, the old feelings creep back in. We may feel fearful, ashamed, and hopeless. We may feel not good enough, unlovable, victimized, helpless, and resentful about it all. This is codependency, a condition some describe as soul sickness.
Many of us felt this way when we began recovery. Sometimes, we slip back into these feelings after we've begun recovery. Sometimes there's a reason. An event may trigger these reactions, such as ending a relationship, stress, problems on the job, at home, or in friendships. Times of change can trigger these reactions. So can physical illness.
Sometimes, these feelings return for no reason.
A return to the old feelings doesn't mean were back to square one in our recovery. They do not mean we've failed at recovery. They do not mean were in for a long, painful session of feeling badly. They just are there.
The solution is the same: practicing the basics. Some of the basics are loving and trusting our self, detachment, dealing with feelings, giving and receiving support in the recovery community, using our affirmations, and having fun.
Another basic is working the Steps. Often, working the Steps is how we become enabled and empowered to practice the other basics, such as detachment and self-love.
If the old feelings come back, know for certain there is a way out that will work.
Today, if I find myself in the dark pit of codependency, I will work a Step to help myself climb out.


I am moving towards my goals today with just the right energy that I need. My progress will be perfect and I have the faith and trust that all the steps I take along the way will become clear when it is necessary. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart

What Are You Resisting Most?

Be open to the whole journey, all parts of it.

Is there a feeling, a person, a thought, a project that you have been avoiding? Is there some part of your life that you’re refusing to deal with or open up to? Is there something you’re resisting, something that makes you stubbornly say no? Ignore the voice that says, This is how I decided it will be, so I will close off to that part, I will not consider it. That is the voice of resistance.

Be open to everything. Your most valuable lessons may well come from the things you’re resisting most.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Examine what others expect

“There’s a difference between saying we’re not going to live up to other people’s expectations and actually not living up to them,” a friend said to me one day.

Other people’s expectations, or even what we imagine others expect from us, can be a powerful and motivating force. We can feel antsy, uncomfortable, wrong, and off-center when we step out of our place. These feelings can occur when we’re not living up to what other people expect from us– even, and sometimes especially, if these expectations aren’t vocalized.

Expectations are silent demands.

Not living up to someone’s expectations can take effort on our part. What we’re really doing when we don’t comply with what others expect from us is standing our ground and saying no. That takes energy and time.

What do people expect from you? What have you trained or encouraged them to expect? Are they actually expecting this from you, or are you just imagining that expectation and imposing it on yourself?

An unexamined life isn’t worth living, or so they say. The problem with living up to other people’s expectations too much is that it doesn’t leave us time to have a life. Take a moment. Ask yourself this question, and don’t be afraid to look deeply: Are you allowing someone else’s expectations to control your life? Examine the expectations you’re living up to; then live by your own inner guide.

God, help me become aware of the controlling impact other people’s expectations have on my daily life. Help me know I don’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations but my own.

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In God’s Care

When you pray for anyone you tend to modify your personal attitude toward him.
– Norman Vincent Peale

We experience a wonderful tansformation in attitude each time we, with God’s help, suppress our ego and ask for God’s blessings on someone we envy, fear, or simply don’t like. Any action we take out of genuine concern for someone else’s well-being will heighten our own – many times over.

Praying may be troublesome for some of us. But as we’ve learned the value of Acting As If in other instances, we can do so with praying too. There is no formula for praying. Each attempt to speak to God is a prayer, one that God hears. Each loving thought we have toward someone near or far can be considered a prayer. We can pray in the midst of a crowd, at supper with family, laying in bed, or on our knees. With practice, prayer becomes easier. Through prayer, life becomes easier too.

I will look at my attitude toward someone I’m having trouble with and work on changing it today, through prayer.

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Breathing into Order
Feeling Overwhelmed

Sometimes we may feel like there is just too much we need to do. Feeling overwhelmed may make it seem like the universe is picking on us, but the opposite is true: we are only given what we can handle. Difficult situations are opportunities to be our best selves, hone our skills and rise to the occasion.

The best place to start is to take a deep breath. As you do, remind yourself that the universe works in perfect order and therefore you can get everything done that needs to get done. As you exhale, release all the details that you have no control over. The universe with it‘s infinite organizing power will orchestrate the right outcome. Anytime stress begins to creep up, remember to breathe through it with these thoughts.

Then, make a list of everything you need to do. Note what needs to be done first, and mark the things others may be able to do for you or with you. Though we often think no one else can do it correctly or well, there are times when it is worth it to exhale, let go of our control, and ask for help from professionals or friends. With the remaining things that feel you must do yourself, take another breath and determine their true importance. Sometimes they are things we’d like to do, but aren’t really necessary. After taking these quick steps, you will find you have a plan laid out, freeing you from frenzied thoughts circling in your head. With calming deep breaths, you are now free to focus more fully on our priorities. Herbal teas or flower remedies along with wise choices about caffeine and food can help keep us from becoming frantic too. But with nothing further from us than our breath, we can breathe in our best intentions and let the rest go with an exhale. Keeping ourse! lves centered and breathing into and through life’s challenges helps us learn what we are truly capable of doing, and we will find we have the ability to rise to any occasion. Remember you aren’t being picked on, and you are never alone. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Our spiritual and emotional growth in The Program doesn’t depend so deeply upon success as it does upon our failures and setbacks. If we bear this in mind, a relapse can have the effect of kicking us upstairs, instead of down. We in The Program have had no better teacher than Old Man Adversity, except in those cases where we refuse to let him teach us. Do I try to remain always teachable?

Today I Pray

May I respect the total Program, with its unending possibilities for spiritual and emotional growth, so that I can view a relapse as a learning experience, not “the end of the world.” May relapse for one of our fellowship serve to teach not only the person who slipped, but all of us. May it strengthen our shared resolve.

Today I Will Remember

If you slip, get up.

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One More Day

Sometimes I have believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
– Lewis Carroll

While sitting at the table with an early morning cup of tea or coffee, we can get lost in reverie. Briefly, for a frozen moment in time, we can believe that we are capable of anything once again.

We sill have the joy of our imagination, and even if there are physical restrictions placed upon us by our long-term medical condition, we can still imagine ourselves achieving an impossible dream. It’s wonderful to get lost in pure fantasy about how we would like our lives to be. We can imagine ourselves richer in relationships and in friends. Even when our body betrays us, we need never betray the belief in ourselves.

I have the freedom to imagine whatever I want. My illness doesn’t restrict what I can accomplish in my mind.

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Food For Thought

Appetite

Appetite grows as it is fed. The more we eat, the more we want to eat. If we let any physical appetite take over - whether it is for food, sex, security, or whatever - we become its slave.

If we do not nurture our relationship with our Higher Power so that God is the ultimate authority for everything that we do and the object of our greatest desire, then we will be enslaved by one or more of our physical appetites. When God is perceived to be the greatest good and the source of all joy and satisfaction, then physical appetites fall into their proper place.

First we seek spiritual growth. Our primary desire is to do God's will for us, as He enables us to do it. When He is our Master, His love feeds our spiritual appetite and we begin to know the inner peace and satisfaction, which the world cannot give.

May my desire be always for You.

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One Day At A Time

~ Higher Power ~

If you spend all your time looking for Him,
you might miss Her when She shows up.
Neale Donald Walsch

Our program of recovery teaches us that we each must lean on a Higher Power. This Higher Power is also known as "the God of my understanding." There is nothing in this Twelve Step program of ours that says that my Higher Power must be the same as your Higher Power. For some, the Higher Power in their life is a deity. The program itself, or a weekly meeting, might be the Higher Power for someone else. It doesn't matter what or who each person has for a Higher Power.

Recovery is possible for everyone. Those who believe in one God can come together with those who believe in many Gods, or maybe no God at all. The atheist has just as much chance of recovery as a very religious person. The beauty of this program is that it works for everybody, regardless of their approach to the spiritual aspect. That is why it is imperative that we accept each other's ideas of a Higher Power. What works for one individual might not work for another. But one thing is sure ... the program that works if you work it, regardless of which Higher Power you decide on.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will work my program with my Higher Power, the God of my understanding, and allow others to work their program with the God of their understanding.
~ Jeff ~

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Once an alcoholic, always and alcoholic.' Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. - Pg. 33 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

You may be angry with God at some point in your process of withdrawal and recovery which in turn is going to lead to guilt. You may not be sure it's 'safe' to be angry with your Higher Power. It is, because God loves you just as you are and that includes your explosive emotions as well as the sweeter ones.

My God is a god of unconditional love and accepts me as I am today.

A Birthday Wish

Today I will make a wish. I will make a wish and trust that it will find wings. I will see it flying through the air, blown from a loving hand toward eternity. Birthdays are for wishing; wishing with a child's excitement, with an innocent faith that what I wish for can come forth. I will see my wish as already fulfilled, I will experience it as if it is happening right now, as if it is real. I am making my wish right NOW.

My wishes have wings

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People are always blaming their circumstances for being what they are. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them.' ~George Bernard Shaw

As long as I blame my past, I'm not free to claim my future.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The Winners are stuck with me.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I am moving towards my goals today with just the right energy that I need. My progress will be perfect and I have the faith an trust that all the steps I take along the way will become clear when it is necessary.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I never drank to get drunk. I never got up in the morning and said: 'God, it's gorgeous outside. I think I'll just get drunk and pee all over myself, maybe I'll just shame my family - Y'know what? It's so pretty, I'll just pass some bad cheques too.' - Charlie C.

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AA Thought for the Day

April 7

Joy
I have had my share of problems, heartaches, and disappointments, because that is life,
but also I have known a great deal of joy
and a peace that is the handmaiden of an inner freedom.
I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship.
For, to these people, I am truly related. First, through mutual pain and despair,
and later through mutual objectives and newfound faith and hope.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 276

Thought to Ponder . . .
Joy isn't the absence of pain - it's the presence of God.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H J F = Happy, Joyous, Free.

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

Fear
"At heart we had all been abnormally fearful.
It mattered little whether we had sat on the shore of life
drinking ourselves into forgetfulness
or had plunged in recklessly and willfully
beyond our depth and ability.
The result was the same -
all of us had nearly perished
in a sea of alcohol."
Bill W., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 123-4

Thought to Consider . . .
I didn't make it all the way to the beach
to drown in the sand.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F E A R
Fools Every Alcoholic Repeatedly.

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

Choices
From "The Family Afterward":
"Many alcoholics are enthusiasts. They run to extremes. At the beginning of recovery a man will take, as a rule, one of
two directions. He may either plunge into a frantic attempt to get on his feet in business, or he may be so enthralled by
his new life that he talks or thinks of little else. In either case certain family problems will arise."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 126-26

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

"May those who come to know the truth never forget it."
Mulberry, Florida, June 2011
"This Wasted Life,"
AA Grapevine

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

"We alcoholics are sensitive people. It takes some of us a long time
to outgrow that serious handicap."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 125~

"At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not
an end in itself."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 77~

For we had started to get perspective on ourselves, which is another way of saying that we were gaining in humility.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 48

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Self-Respect Through Sacrifice
At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol. We had to, or it would have killed us. But we couldn't get rid of alcohol unless we
made other sacrifices. We had to toss self-justification, self-pity, and anger right out the window. We had to quit the
crazy contest for personal prestige and big bank balances. We had to take personal responsibility for our sorry state
and quit blaming others for it.
Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were. To gain enough humility and self-respect to stay alive at all, we had to give up
what had really been our dearest possessions--our ambition and our illegitimate pride. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 287

Prayer For The Day: Lord God, you are my strength. Hold my hand in my weakness and teach my heart to fly. With
you, there's nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. Hold me tight in your embrace, so that I can be stronger than the
challenges in my life. Amen.