~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Guidance
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"I am a firm believer in
both guidance and prayer. But I am fully aware, and humble enough, I hope,
to see there may be
nothing infallible about my guidance. The minute I figure I have got a
perfectly clear
pipeline to God, I have
become egotistical enough to get into real trouble.
Nobody can cause more
needless grief than a power-driver who thinks he's got it straight from
God."
Bill W., Letter, 1950
1967AAWS, As Bill
Sees It, p. 38
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Thought to Consider . . .
It's not making a mistake that will kill me.
It's defending it that
does the damage.
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A
S A P =
Always Say A Prayer
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Only
One Tool
From:
"Availing yourself of a sponsor"
An AA sponsor is
not a professional caseworker or counselor of any sort. A sponsor is not someone
to borrow money from, nor get clothes, jobs, or food from. A sponsor is not a
medical expert, nor qualified to give religious, legal, domestic or psychiatric
advice, although a good sponsor is usually willing to discuss such matters
confidentially, and often can suggest where the appropriate professional
assistance can be obtained.
A sponsor is simply a
sober alcoholic who can help solve only one problem: how to stay sober. And the
sponsor has only one tool to use - personal experience, not scientific wisdom.
Sponsors have been
there, and often have more concern, hope, compassion, and confidence for us
than we have for ourselves. They certainly have had more experience.
Remembering their own condition, they reach out to help, not down.
1998, AAWS, Inc., Living Sober, page 27
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
SEEKING EMOTIONAL STABILITY
When
we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source
of emotional stability
to be God Himself. We found that dependence
upon His perfect
justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that
it would work where
nothing else would. If we really depended upon
God, we couldn't very
well play God to our fellows nor would we feel
the urge wholly to rely
on human protection and care.
TWELVE
STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 116
All
my life I depended on people for my emotional needs and security,
but today I cannot live
that way anymore. By the grace of God, I
have admitted my
powerlessness over people, places and things. I had
been a real "people
addict"; wherever I went there had to be someone
who would pay some kind
of attention to me. It was the kind of
attitude that could only
get worse, because the more I depended on
others and demanded
attention, the less I received.
I have given up
believing that any human power can relieve me of
that empty feeling.
Although I remain a fragile human being who
needs to work A. A.
Steps to keep this particular principle before
my personality, it is
only a loving God who can give me inner peace
and emotional stability.
Copyright
1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Freed Prisoners
Letter to a prison group:
"Every
A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has walled himself out of
society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you folks has been even more
difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall around you. But there
isn't any really essential difference, a fact that practically all A.A.'s now
know. "Therefore, when you members come into the world of A.A. on the
outside, you can be sure that no one will care a fig that you have done time.
What you are trying to be -- not what you were -- is all that counts with
us."
<<<>>>
"Mental and
emotional difficulties are sometimes very hard to take while we
are trying to maintain
sobriety. Yet we do see, in the long run, that
transcendence over such
problems is the real test of the A.A. way of living.
Adversity gives us more
opportunity to grow than does comfort or success."
1. LETTER, 1949 - 2. LETTER, 1964
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his
family
back. This just isn't
so. In some cases the wife will never come
back for one reason or
another. Remind the prospect that his
recovery is not
dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his
relationship with God.
We have seen men get well whose families have
not returned at all. We
have seen others slip when the family came back too soon."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
Edition, Working With Others, pg. 99~
*~*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
"Those
who do not recover are people who are constitutionally incapable
of being honest with
themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are
not at fault. They seem
to be born that way. They are naturally
incapable of grasping
and developing a manner of living that demands
rigorous honesty. Their
changes are less than average. There are those,
too, who suffer from
grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of
them do recover, if they
have the capacity to be honest." Am I
completely honest with
myself and with other people?
Meditation for the Day
You can make use of your
mistakes, failures, losses, and sufferings.
It is not what happens
to you so much as what use you make of it. Take
your sufferings,
difficulties, and hardships and make use of them to
help some unfortunate
soul who is faced with the same troubles. Then
something good will come out of your suffering and the world will be
a better place because
of it. The good you do each day will live on,
after the trouble and
distress have gone, after the difficulty and the pain have passed away.
Prayer
for the Day
I pray that I may make
good use of my mistakes and failures.
I pray that some good may result from my painful experiences.