~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Rationalization
"We
'constructively criticized' someone who needed it, when our real motive was to win a
useless argument.
We were depressed and
complained we felt bad, when
in fact we were mainly asking for
sympathy and attention.
This odd trait of mind
and emotion, this
perverse wish to hide a bad motive
underneath a good one,
permeates human affairs
from top to bottom.
Learning daily to spot,
admit, and correct these flaws
is the essence of
character-building and
good living."
Bill W., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 94-5
Thought to Consider . . .
A
victim is a spectator in his life.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
FEAR
Face Everything And Recover!
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Anonymity
From
"The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"The intense drive
that most of us alcoholics have for money, prestige, and power then crashed
into the open by way of broken anonymity at the public level. This development
of the 1945-1950 period was made even more dangerous
by the fact that most of the anonymity breakers meant well. ... Sometimes these
folks wanted to use the A.A. name publicly in order to help other good causes.
Sometimes they just wanted their names and pictures in the papers--always, of
course, to help A.A. ... [W]e saw that the risk to
A.A. would be appalling if all our power-drivers finally got loose at the
public level. Scores of them were already doing it.
"So A.A.
Headquarters got to work. We wrote remonstrance’s,
kind ones, of course, to every breaker. We sent letters to nearly all press,
radio, and publishing outlets, explaining why A.A.'s should not break their
anonymity before the general public. Group feeling, combined with the
Headquarters efforts, finally squeezed the anonymity breakers down to a mere
handful within a few years. Had this tendency not been checked, the whole
character of our society could have changed, and its future could have been
fearfully compromised."
(c) 2001
AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 209
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
LOVE AND FEAR AS OPPOSITES
All
these failings generate fear, a soul-sickness in its own right.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE
TRADITIONS, p. 49
"Fear
knocked at the door; faith answered; no one was there." I don't know
to whom this quote should be attributed, but it certainly indicates clearly
that fear is an illusion. I create the illusion myself.
I experienced fear early
in my life and I mistakenly thought that the mere presence of it made me a
coward.
I didn't know that one
of the definitions of "courage" is "the willingness to do the
right thing in spite of fear."
Courage, then, is not
necessarily the absence of fear.
During the times I
didn't have love in my life I most assuredly had fear. To fear God is to
be afraid of joy. In looking back, I realize that, during the times I
feared God most, there was no joy in my life. As I learned not to fear
God, I also learned to experience joy.
Copyright
1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Face the Music
"Don't
be too discouraged about that slip. Practically always, we drunks learn the
hard way. "Your idea of moving on to somewhere else may be good, or it may
not. Perhaps you have got into an emotional or economic jam that can't be well
handled where you are. But maybe you are doing just what all of us have done,
at one time or another: Maybe you are running away. Why don't you try to think
that through again carefully? "Are you really placing recovery
first, or are you making it contingent upon other people, places, or
circumstances? You may find it ever so much better to face the music right where
you are now, and, with the help of the A.A. program, win through. Before you
make a decision, weigh it in these terms."
LETTER, 1949
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action
and rest on
our laurels. We are
headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a
subtle foe. We are not
cured of alcoholism. What we really have is
a daily reprieve
contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 85~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
Every time we go to an A.A. meeting, every time we say the
Lord's Prayer, every time we have a quiet time before breakfast, we're paying a
premium on our insurance against taking that first drink. And every time we
help another alcoholic, we're making a large payment on our drink insurance.
We're making sure that our policy doesn't lapse. Am I building up an endowment
in serenity, peace, and happiness that will put me on easy street for the rest
of my life?
Meditation for the Day
I gain faith by my own experience of God's power in my life. The
constant, persistent recognition of God's spirit in all my personal
relationships, the ever accumulating weight of evidence in support of God's
guidance, the numberless instances in which seeming chance or wonderful
coincidence can be traced to God's purpose in my life. All these things
gradually engender a feeling of wonder, humility, and gratitude to God. These
in turn are followed by a more sure and abiding faith in God and His purposes.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that my faith may be strengthened every day.
I pray that I may find confirmation of my life in the good things that have come into my life