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

"One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings and then for a right acceptance
of the many gifts that are mine-- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude.
When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally displace the natural tendency to
congratulate myself on whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in certain areas of living.
I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits.
When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love,
the finest emotion that we can ever know."

Bill W., Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, March 1962
As Bill Sees It, p. 37


Thought to Consider . . .

It's a pity we can't forget our troubles
the same way we forget our blessings.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
GIFTS
Getting It From The Steps

 

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

Progress

From "Gutter Bravado":

"Still very impatient, I wanted the whole deal right away. That's why I related so well to the story about a wide-eyed new person and an oldtimer. When the newcomer approached the oldtimer, envying his accomplishments and many years of sobriety, the oldtimer slapped down his hand like a gavel and said, 'I'll trade you even! My thirty years to your thirty days--right now!' He knew what the newcomer had yet to find out: that true happiness is found in the journey, not the destination."

(c) 2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 510-11

*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
A.A.
  IS NOT A CURE-ALL

It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a cure-all, even for alcoholism.

AS BILL SEES IT, p.  285

In my early years of sobriety I was full of pride, thinking that A.A. was the only source of treatment for a good and happy life.  It certainly was the basic ingredient for my sobriety and even today, with over twelve years in the program, I am very involved in meetings, sponsorship and service.  During the first four years of my recovery, I found it necessary to seek professional help, since my emotional health was extremely poor.  There are those folks too, who have found sobriety and happiness in other organizations.  A.A. taught me that I had a choice: to go to any lengths to enhance my sobriety.  A.A. may not be a cure-all for everything, but it is the center of my sober living.

 

(c)Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.(c)
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
To Be Fair-Minded

Too often, I think, we have deprecated and even derided projects of our friends in the field of alcoholism just because we do not always see eye to eye with them. We should very seriously ask ourselves how many alcoholics have gone on drinking simply because we have failed to cooperate in good spirit with these many agencies--whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. No alcoholic should go mad or die merely because he did not come straight to A.A. at the beginning.
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Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint. This carries a top-priority rating. When we speak or act hastily or rashly, the ability to be fair-minded and tolerant evaporates on the spot.

1. GRAPEVINE, JULY 1965
2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 91

 

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control.  All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals usually brief were inevitably followed by still less
control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our
type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 30~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day

Men and women keep coming into A.A., licked by alcohol, often given up by doctors as hopeless cases, they themselves admitting they're helpless to stop drinking. When I see these men and women get sober and stay sober over a period of months and years, I know that A.A. works. The change I see in people who come into A.A. not only convinces me that A.A. works, but it also convinces me that there must be a Power greater than ourselves which helps us to make that change. Am I convinced that a Higher Power can help me to change?

Meditation for the Day

Cooperation with God is the great necessity for our lives. All else follows naturally. Cooperation with God is the result of our consciousness of His presence. Guidance is bound to come to us as we live more and more with God, as our consciousness becomes more and more attuned to the great Consciousness of the universe. We must have many quiet times when we not so much ask to be shown and led by God, as to feel and realize His presence. New spiritual growth comes naturally from cooperation with God.

Prayer for the Day

I pray that God may supply me with strength and show me the direction in which He wants me to grow.

 I pray that these things may come naturally from my cooperation with Him