~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
(
\ (AA/
)
( /AA\ )
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Discipline
^*^*^*^*^
"Unless each AA member
follows to the best of his ability
our suggested Twelve Steps to recovery,
he almost certainly signs his own death
warrant.
His drunkenness and dissolution
are not penalties inflicted by people
in authority;
they result from his personal
disobedience
to spiritual principles. . .
Great suffering and great love are AA's
disciplinarians;
we need no others."
c.1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions, p. 174
^*^*^*^*^
Thought to Consider . . .
"We alcoholics are
undisciplined.
So we let God discipline us . . ."
*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
C A R D S =
Call your sponsor,
. Ask for help from your
Higher Power,
. Read the Big Book,
. Do the Twelve Steps,
. Stay active in your
group.
*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*
Anger
Step
Ten: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
"It is a
spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause,
there is something wrong with us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore,
we are in the wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What about
'justifiable' anger? If somebody cheats us, aren’t we entitled to be
mad? Can’t we be properly angry
with self-righteous folk? For us of A.A. these are dangerous exceptions. We
have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to
handle it."
� 1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve
Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 91
*~*~*~*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*~*~*~*
WHAT WE KNOW BEST
"Shoemaker, stick to thy last!" . . . better do one thing supremely
well than many badly. That is the central theme of this Tradition [Five].
Around it our Society gathers in unity. The very life of our Fellowship
requires the preservation of this principle.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 150
The survival of A.A. depends upon
unity. What would happen if a group decided to become an employment
agency, a treatment center or a social service agency? Too much
specialization leads to no specialization, to frittering of efforts and,
finally, to decline. I have the qualifications to share my sufferings and
my way of recovery with the newcomer. Conformity to A.A.'s
primary purpose insures the safety of the wonderful gift of sobriety, so my
responsibility is enormous. The life of millions of alcoholics is closely
tied to my competence in "carrying the message to the still-suffering
alcoholic."
�Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.�
*~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*~*~*
Daily Inventory
Often, as we review each day, only the closest scrutiny will reveal what
our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy rationalization
has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation
here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really hadn't.
We "constructively
criticized" someone who needed it, when our real motive was to win a
useless argument. Or, the person concerned not being present,
we thought we were helping others to understand him, when in actuality our true
motive was to feel superior by pulling him down.
We hurt those we loved because they
needed to be "taught a lesson," but we really wanted to punish. We were
depressed and complained we felt bad, when in fact we were mainly asking for
sympathy and attention.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 94
*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"...the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception,
will be absolutely unable to stop
drinking on the basis of self
knowledge. This is a point we wish to
emphasize and re-emphasize, to
smash home upon our alcoholic readers
as it has been revealed to us
out of bitter experience."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism,
pg. 39~
*~*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
Third, I have learned how to be honest. What a relies
No more ducking or dodging. No more tall tales. No more pretending to be what I
am not. My cards are on the table for all the world to
see. "I am what I am," as Popeye used to say in the
comics. I have had an unsavory past. I am sorry, yet. But it cannot be changed
now. All that is yesterday and is done. But now my
life is an open book. Come and look at it, if you want to. I'm trying to do the
best I can. I will fail often, but I won't make excuses. I will face things as
they are and not run away. Am I really honest?
Meditation
for the Day
Though it may seem a paradox, we
must believe in spiritual forces which we cannot see more than in material
things which we can see, if we are going to truly live. In the last analysis,
the universe consists more of thought or mathematical formulas than it does of
matter as we understand it. Between one human being and another
only spiritual forces will suffice to keep them in harmony. These
spiritual forces we know, because we can see their results although we cannot
see them. A changed life-a new personality-results
from the power of unseen spiritual forces working in us and through us.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may believe in the Unseen. I pray that I may be convinced by the results of the Unseen which I do see