Daily Recovery Readings - August 16

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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.

August 16

Daily Reflections

"I HAD DROPPED OUT"

We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have
"harmed" other people. What kinds of "harm" do people do one
another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a practical way, we
might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical,
mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , p. 80

I had been to Eighth Step meetings, always thinking, "I really
haven't harmed many people, mostly myself." But the time came when
I wrote my list out and it was not as short as I thought it would
be. I either liked you, disliked you, or needed something from you
- it was that simple. People hadn't done what I wanted them to do
and intimate relationships were out of hand because of my partners
unreasonable demands. Were these "sins of omission"? Because of my
drinking, I had "dropped out" - never sending cards, returning
calls, being there for other people, or taking part in their lives.
What a grace it has been to look at these relationships, to make
my inventories in quiet, alone with the God of my understanding,
and to go forth daily, with a willingness to be honest and
forthright in my relationships.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

"The alcoholic is absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of
self-knowledge. We must admit we can do nothing about it ourselves.
Willpower and self-knowledge will never help in the strange mental
blank spots when we are tempted to drink. An alcoholic mentally is
in a very sick condition. The last flicker of conviction that we can
do the job ourselves must be snuffed out. The spiritual answer and
the program of action are the only hope. Only spiritual principles
will solve our problems. We are completely helpless apart from Divine
help. Our defense against drinking must come from a Higher Power."
Have I accepted the spiritual answer and the program of action?

Meditation For The Day

Rest now until life, eternal life, flowing through your veins and
heart and mind, bids you to bestir yourself. Then glad work will
follow. Tired work is never effective. The strength of God's spirit
is always available to the tired mind and body. He is your physician
and your healer. Look to these quiet times of communion with God for
rest, for peace, for cure. Then rise refreshed in spirit and go out
to work, knowing that your strength is able to meet any problems
because it is reinforced by God's power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that the peace I have found will make me effective. I pray
that I may be relieved of all strain during this day.

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As Bill Sees It

The Beginning of True Kinship, p.228

When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives stood
among people who seemed to understand, the sense of belonging
was tremendously exciting. We thought the isolation problem had
been solved.

But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any more in
a social sense, we still suffered many of the old pangs of
anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of
our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we
still didn't belong.

Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship
with man and God.

12 & 12, p. 57

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Walk In Dry Places

Who is the Key person?
Respecting others
The Twelve Step movement grew out of a society that practiced a Key Person strategy; If you
could win important persons into your group, others of high
standing would follow.
The experience of Alcoholics Anonymous led a different
strategy: Work with anybody who wants help, and let leaders
appear as they will. The leaders, whom we call
trusted servants, were sometimes very ordinary people in the
eyes of the world. Some were like Bill W., people of great ability
whose careers had been wrecked by alcoholism.
In any case, it is obvious that we are poor judge of who might become a
key person. In the sight of God, we're told, all humans
are equal. Our best success comes when we treat every newcomer as a
key person.
I'll remember today to view every person with the respect and
consideration that is usually extended to people whom the world considers
important.

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Keep It Simple

The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.---Benjamin Spock
In recovery, we each rebel against our disease. Each day we fight for the freedom to stay close to our Higher Power, friends and family.
It's mainly a quiet battle. It's fought daily. We fight and win by acting in a spiritual way. We fight and win every time we help a friend, go to meetings, or read about how to improve our lives
We move slowly but always forward. Rushing will only tire us out. Our battle will go on for life.
We are quiet fighters, but we're strong, for we do not fight alone. And we know what waits for us if we lose.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me stay free. When I want to give up, help me realize this is normal. Help me to keep fighting at these times.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll be a rebel. I will go to an extra meeting, or I'll talk with my sponsor. I'll find a way to help someone without the person knowing.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Love is a force. It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces. It is a power, like money, or steam or electricity. It is valueless unless you can give something else by means of it. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Love and feeling loved--how often both elude us! We have taken the first step, though. Let's be grateful for our recovery; this is an act of love. We have chosen to love ourselves, and the program opens the way to our loving others. Love and loving are balms for the soul sickness we experience. We are being healed. We are healing one another.
Loving others means going beyond our own selfish concerns, for the moment, and putting others' concerns first. The result is that others feel our love. They feel a caring that is healing. And our spiritual natures are likewise soothed.
We find God and ourselves through touching the souls of one another. Our most special gift is being loved and giving love. Every moment we spend with another person is gift-giving time.
Every day is a gift-giving holiday, if I will but make it so.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 6 - INTO ACTION

The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept he home in turmoil. We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked, “Don’t see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain’t it grand the wind stopped blowin’?”

p. 82

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY - This young alcoholic stepped out a second-story window and into A.A.

My college had a long history of drinkers, including Dr. Bob. At the time of my accident, the deans were assessing how to respond to student alcohol abuse and were waiting to try out their latest idea. Alcoholics Anonymous. I was the test case. They told me in no uncertain terms that I would never get back into this college unless I went to A.A. Under that pressure, I went to my first meeting.
p. 425

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Tradition Eleven - "Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films."

The Foundation* wrote letters to practically every news outlet in North America, setting forth our public relations policy of attraction rather than promotion, and emphasizing personal anonymity as A.A.'s greatest protection. Since that time, editors and rewrite men have repeatedly deleted names and pictures of members from A.A. copy; frequently, they have reminded ambitious individuals of A.A.'s anonymity policy. They have even sacrificed good stories to this end. The force of their cooperation has certainly helped. Only a few A.A. members are left who deliberately break anonymity at the public level.

*In 1954, the name of the Alcoholic Foundation, Inc., was changed to the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous, Inc., and the Foundation office is now the General Service Office.

pp. 182-183

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In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give
out completes the circle and comes back to us.
--Flora Edwards

There are only three possible outcomes for alcoholics: locked up,
covered up, or sobered up.
--unknown

Seven days without a meeting makes one weak.
--Herb B.

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will
ever regret."
--Ambrose Bierce

If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time
with them, and half as much money on them.
--Abigail Van Buren

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred
days of sorrow.
--Cited in The Best of...BITS & PIECES

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

SACRIFICE

"To believe in sensible ideas is
easy, but to implement them
involves sacrifice."
-- Dorothy Fosdick

What am I prepared to sacrifice for what I want? I remember the time
I said I would do "anything". Today I know that anything must be
translated into something. No person, job or thing can be allowed to
come between myself and abstinence. This love of self will enable me
to love others. But I must remember to sacrifice my desire to please
others and place my needs as a priority in my life.

Today I know that if I do not love myself enough to make sacrifices,
then I can be nothing.

In gratitude I give up those things I know will hurt me.

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For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of
love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our
Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for
the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a
holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own
purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing
of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:7-10

"He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you."
Romans 8:11

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Daily Inspiration

Becoming overwhelmed creeps up slowly, one commitment at a time. Lord, help me regain my time and sanity, accomplish my priorities without major setbacks, and have quiet time left to nurture my spirit.

Be patient with others, but mostly be patient with yourself. Lord, help me to keep a smile on my face and to realize my goodness and refuse to dwell on my imperfections.

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NA Just For Today

Up Or Down

"This is our road to spiritual growth. We change every day.... This growth is not the result of wishing but of action and prayer."
Basic Text, p. 35-36

Our spiritual condition is never static; if it's not growing, it's decaying. If we stand still, our spiritual progress will lose its upward momentum. Gradually, our growth will slow, then halt, then reverse itself. Our tolerance will wear thin; our willingness to serve others will wane; our minds will narrow and close. Before long, we'll be right back where we started: in conflict with everyone and everything around us, unable to bear even ourselves.

Our only option is to actively participate in our program of spiritual growth. We pray, seeking knowledge greater than our own from a Power greater than ourselves. We open our minds and keep them open, becoming teachable and taking advantage of what others have to share with us. We demonstrate our willingness to try new ideas and new ways of doing things, experiencing life in a whole new way. Our spiritual progress picks up speed and momentum, driven by the Higher Power we are coming to understand better each day.

Up or down - it's one or the other, with very little in between, where spiritual growth is concerned. Recovery is not fueled by wishing and dreaming, we've discovered, but by prayer and action.

Just for today: The only constant in my spiritual condition is change. I cannot rely on yesterday's program. Today, I seek new spiritual growth through prayer and action.
pg. 238

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
I'll be the sun upon your head, The wind about your face, My love upon the path you tread, And upon your wanderings, peace. --Gordon Bok
Today I will feel. I will feel wind and water, earth and sun. I will feel rain, the taste of it, and the soft sting of its coolness. I will feel the familiar touch of my shirt against my skin, my hair across my face in the wind.
Today I will feel love like a candle on a birthday cake that never goes out. No matter how much you blow on it. I will feel compassion like a toothache, a dull pain that lets me go about my business but never goes away. I will feel joy and sorrow, pain, and pleasure. Today I will feel. I will feel like a human being, unique as a snowflake, common as grass.
How many different ways do I feel today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
We did not all come over on the same ship, but we were all in the same boat. --Bernard M. Baruch
As we listen to others' stories and tell our own, we see roads into this program are different. Some of us hit bottom. Others were spared the worst catastrophes, getting the message of recovery early. In the final analysis, we are all in the same boat with our powerlessness. The differences are superficial. There is no higher or lower status for anyone in our program. When it comes to the power of our addictions and co dependencies, we are equally in need of help from our Higher Power.
Perhaps there was a time when we felt totally alone with our problems. But we were alone just like thousands of others needing recovery. Because we all have suffered and know our need for help, we can now have a caring and supportive group. We can turn to our brothers and sisters in the program knowing that they are in the same boat, and they will understand. No one else provides that kind of healing relationship.
I am grateful for the closeness I have with others who are in the same boat with me.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Love is a force. It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces. It is a power, like money, or steam or electricity. It is valueless unless you can give something else by means of it. --Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Love and feeling loved--how often both elude us! We have taken the first step, though. Let's be grateful for our recovery; this is an act of love. We have chosen to love ourselves, and the program opens the way to our loving others. Love and loving are balms for the soul sickness we experience. We are being healed. We are healing one another.
Loving others means going beyond our own selfish concerns, for the moment, and putting others' concerns first. The result is that others feel our love. They feel a caring that is healing. And our spiritual natures are likewise soothed.
We find God and ourselves through touching the souls of one another. Our most special gift is being loved and giving love. Every moment we spend with another person is gift-giving time.
Every day is a gift-giving holiday, if I will but make it so.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Rescuing Ourselves
No one likes a martyr.
How do we feel around martyrs? Guilty, angry, trapped, negative, and anxious to get away.
Somehow, many of us have developed the belief that depriving ourselves, not taking care of ourselves, being a victim, and suffering needlessly will get us what we want.
It is our job to notice our abilities, our strengths, and take care of ourselves by developing and acting on them.
It is our job to notice our pain and weariness and appropriately take care of ourselves.
It is our job to notice our deprivation, too, and begin to take steps to give ourselves abundance. It begins inside of us, by changing what we believe we deserve, by giving up our deprivation and treating ourselves the way we deserve to be treated.
Life is hard, but we don't have to make it more difficult by neglecting ourselves. There is no glory in suffering, only suffering. Our pain will not stop when a rescuer comes, but when we take responsibility for ourselves and stop our own pain.
Today, I will be my own rescuer. I will stop waiting for someone else to work through my issues and solve my problems for me.


It feels so good to know I'm making my own decisions and following my own path. My Higher Power is my guide and my inner voice is my teacher and my soul. --Ruth Fishel

*****

Journey to the Heart
Tap into the Creative Flow

Life is creative, and so are you. Let the creative energy of the universe come alive for you. Let it help you bring your creativity alive. Let it bring you the answers, the direction, the guidance you need to create. Let it bring you your ingredients.

What are you trying to create? A more loving, open relationship? More spiritual growth? A new job? A book? A new home? A friendship? A play? A song? A quilt? A meal? A budget? Ask the universe for the help you need. Ask it to help you find your ingredients; ask it to help you form your vision, get clear on your ideas, and produce the best creation you can.

Your answer may come quickly. As we grow and embrace our connection to the universe, as we embrace our connection to ourselves, we find many of our answers appearing almost immediately. If the answer doesn't come right away, don't try to force it. The help will come. The idea will come. The next ingredient for your creation will appear. Sometimes the answer will come softly, almost as a whisper. Other times the guidance will be loud and clear. You will see and hear the guidance clearly and easily when you continue to love yourself.


Tap into the creative energy of the universe. It will help you tap into your own. To tap into God and the creative force, just tap into your heart.

*****

more language of letting go
Thanks for my heart

"Last Thursday, I was able to find the courage to end a relationship I had been struggling with. I knew there was nowhere for it to go, and I was seeing some scary character traits in this person. Now, I am dealing with a lot of sadness. That tells me that the urge we humans have for bonding with each other, and the desire for companionship, must be incredibly strong. I am grateful even more than I am sad."

It was just a short message on the on-line bulletin board I maintained at the hazeldon.org Web site. That's all the woman needed to say. For me, the lesson was clear and complete: be grateful for our hearts.


God, thank you for the ability and desire to love. Love is a cherished gift from you.

*****

Burning Brightly
Allowing Your Soul to Shine by Madisyn Taylor

When we hide and try to be invisible and unseen by all we are only really hiding from ourselves.

At times, we’ve all wanted to crawl under a rock and hide away from the world. We may have preferred to be invisible rather than let other people see us or notice that we exist. This desire not to be seen often happens when we are feeling very hurt, angry, or simply weary of the world. And while we may console ourselves with the defense that we are shy, an introvert, or a loner, we may actually be hiding.

When we hide and make believe that we are invisible, we can think that we no one sees us even though, truthfully, we are only really hiding from ourselves. And while we may try to live life as inconspicuously as possible, we only succeed in becoming more conspicuous because people can’t help but notice that we are trying to hide our light. None of us are meant to hide; each one of us radiates a unique brilliance that is meant to illuminate the world. When we try to dim our light, we diminish the natural radiance of the Universe, and we deprive the people around us of the unique gifts and talents that we are here to share.

Stepping out of the wings and letting your light shine is actually a way to serve the planet. We each have a responsibility to contribute to our community, and we do this when we let ourselves be seen. It doesn’t do anyone any good when we try to hide. We are all beings of light and we are here to light the way for each other. When we let ourselves shine, we become a bright mirror that others can see their own reflected brilliance through, and they can’t help but want to shine also. Shine your light out into the world, bless those around you by sharing your gifts, and watch the universe glow. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Inventory-taking isn’t always done in red ink. It’s a rare day when we haven’t done something right. As I uncover and face my shortcomings, my many good qualities will be revealed to me also, reminding me that they have the same reality as my faults. Even when we’ve tried hard and failed, for instance, we can chalk that up as one of the greatest credits of all. I’ll try to appreciate my good qualities, because they not only offset the faults, but give me a foundation on which to grow. It’s just as self-deceptive to discount what’s good in us as to justify what is not. Can I take comfort in my positive qualities, accepting myself as a friend?

Today I Pray

If I find only defects when I look in that Fourth Step mirror, may I be sure that I am missing something — namely my good points. Although my ultra-modesty may be just approved socially, may I learn that it is just as dishonest as rationalizing away my faults. Even an out-and-out failure, if examined from all sides, may turn up a plus along with the obvious minuses.

Today I Will Remember

To give myself, if not a A for effort, at least an average B minus.

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One More Day

Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
– William James

The words “life is worth living” may seem inappropriate to someone who has a serious personal conflict. A pat on the shoulder or a hug just isn’t enough to convince us that all we are going through makes life “worth living.”

A sense of worthiness is an ongoing process. And the value of life is affirmed and strengthened by our willingness to listen to our emotional and physical needs – especially when we feel unhappy or unhealthy. That willingness is shown in action. A cup of coffee and a good cry with a close friend, acceptance of our Higher Powers wisdom and care, or seeking help from a trained professional — all of these actions say, “I and my life have worth.”

By helping myself, I will act on my belief that life is worth living.

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Food For Thought

Today Is the Day

Many of us have spent most of our lives dreaming of the day when we would be thin and attractive and able to do the things we want to do. We have put off living to some indefinite time in the future. As long as we were fat, we had a reason to avoid challenges and delay satisfactions. By not attempting to realize our dreams, we averted the risks of failure and the possibilities of success.

The OA program teaches us how to live today. One step at a time, we begin today to do the things we were putting off until tomorrow. We learn that we can live now, day by day, instead of waiting for the future.

Abstaining from compulsive overeating brings self-respect and determination to develop our unique potential. The time to get a job, take dancing lessons, be a friend – that time is now, today.

Thank You for the opportunities of today.

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One Day At A Time

Twelve Steps ~ Twelve Beautiful Gifts

“Each day provides its own gifts.”
Marcus Aurelius

For each step there is a principle. I believe that with each step I received a gift.

STEP ONE: We admitted we were powerless over food ~ that our lives had become unmanageable.
(I received a silver mirror that revealed reality and truth when I looked into it.)

STEP TWO: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
(I received a stone to put in my pocket. It had the word "hope" engraved on its face and was comforting in my hand when I held it.)

STEP THREE: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
(I received a pair of wings for my soul.)

STEP FOUR: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
(I received a candle to search out my hidden shame.)

STEP FIVE: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
(I received a beautiful note that said, "Welcome to the human race. We are so glad to have you back.")

STEP SIX: Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
(I received a dove to put my burdens upon and set it free.)

STEP SEVEN: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
(I received a small box engraved with the words, "I will place my problems here.")

STEP EIGHT: Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
(I received a map that led to the future.)

STEP NINE: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
(I received an eraser to correct the mistakes I had made.)

STEP TEN: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
(I received a scale to weigh and balance my actions ~ and to measure my growth.)

STEP ELEVEN: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
(I received a communication device able to span all doubt and prejudice.)

STEP TWELVE: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

One day at a time ...
The fountain I received bubbles eternal hope and new ideas. I will daily sooth my soul with gratitude.
~ Judy

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. - Pg. 21 - There Is A Solution

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Complete involvement in this new way of life will keep you from falling through the cracks. If you stay in the middle of us, you won't fall off the edge.

As I follow those before me, newcomers will follow behind me and I will always be in the middle of the path of progress.

First Things First

I will not forget that this disease is more powerful than me. When I try to fix others, I will remember that all of my good intentions can easily be out powered by the intention of the disease to remain in place. When I get frustrated because others don't seem to 'get it' the way I am getting it, I will remember that one day I stood in their shoes and that by the grace of God I am no longer there. When I want them to hear what I am saying, I will remember that I can only really teach by example, that I will allow them to see the changes in me and my life and I will remind myself that I lead and share by who I am not by what I say. Others will heal in God's time not mine. Others will see in God's time not mine. Just for today, the only recovery I am truly responsible for, is my own.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Another day of recovery begins and we start this day with surrender. 'From that point, each of us is reminded that a day clean is a day won.' (P 86, NA Basic Text)

When I surrender; I win.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

The best approach to any angle is the 'try' angle.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

It feels so good to know that I'm capable of making my own decisions and following my own path.

My Higher Power is my guide and my inner voice is my teacher and friend.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

Drinking doesn't wash my troubles away
it irrigates them. Anon.

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AA Thought for the Day

August 16

Damage Repairs
Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past.
We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated
out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.
If we haven't the will to do this, we ask until it comes.
Remember it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 76

Thought to Ponder . . .
Don't mess up an amend with an excuse.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Accountable Actions.

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

Friends
"You are going to meet these new friends
in your own community.
Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly
like people in a sinking ship.
If you live in a large place, there are hundreds.
High and low, rich and poor,
these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Among them you will make lifelong friends.
You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties,
for you will escape disaster together and you will
commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey.
Then you will know what it means to give of yourself
that others may survive and rediscover life.
You will learn a full meaning of
'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' "
1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 152-3

Thought to Consider . . .
When we love,
we see in others what we wish to have in ourselves.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
B O G G L E = Bad Or Good, God Loves Everyone

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

Equals
From "What is sponsorship?"
"Alcoholics Anonymous began with sponsorship. When Bill W., only a few months sober, was stricken with a powerful
urge to drink, this thought came to him: 'You need another alcoholic to talk to. You need another alcoholic just as
much as he needs you!'
"He found Dr. Bob, who had been trying desperately and unsuccessfully to stop drinking, and out of their common
need A.A. was born. The word 'sponsor' was not used then; the Twelve Steps had not been written; but Bill carried the
message to Dr. Bob, who in turn safeguarded his own sobriety by sponsoring countless other alcoholics."
"In A.A., sponsor and sponsored meet as equals, just as Bill and Dr. Bob did."
1983, Questions & Answers on Sponsorship (A.A. Pamphlet P-15), page 7

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

"Often simplicity yields to complexity as the human mind grasps a great revelation, and places its own particular
interpretation upon it. All too often the revelation becomes lost in the maze of human ideas, interpretations, and
suggestions. Thus have great movements risen, flourished for a season, and died. But AA has steadily progressed
through the labyrinth of complexity, carefully avoiding luring temptations of wealth, professionalism, and fame as a
healer of one of mankind's most deadly diseases. Dr. Bob who responded to that original phone call, and heard and
accepted the message from Bill, has left ringing in our ears, the vital admonition: 'Keep it simple.'"
Kimberley, British Columbia, September 1953
"Thus We Grow..."
AA Grapevine

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

"...I humbly offered myself to God, as I then I understood Him, to do
with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and
direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was
nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and
became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 13

"We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones.
Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will
make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every
imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery,
followed always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are
familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a
normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish
this, but it hasn't done so yet."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 30~

“We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 19

“The minute I stopped arguing, I could begin to see and feel.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 27

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense of
belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the isolation problem had been solved.
But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old
pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone
else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.
Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship with man and God.

Prayer for the Day: God help me become willing to let go of all the things to which I still cling. Help me to be ready to let You remove all of these defects, that Your will and purpose may take their place. Amen

Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7