Daily Recovery Readings - March 25

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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.

March 25

Daily Reflections

A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART

I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and
thankful heart cannot entertain certain conceits. When
brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely
result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we
can ever know.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37

I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate
in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be
grateful and of how important gratitude is in our
sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has
given me through the A.A. program and am glad I can give
back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only
for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety
has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me
sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment,
as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the
opportunity to serve others -- in our Fellowship, my
family and community. For all of this, I have "a full
and thankful heart."

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Strength comes from coming to believe in a Higher Power
that can help you. You can't define this Higher Power, but
you can see how it helps other alcoholics. You hear them
talk about it and you begin to get the idea yourself. You
try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to
feel stronger, as though your prayers were heard. So you
gradually come to believe there must be a Power in the
world outside of yourself, which is stronger than you and
which you can turn to for help. Am I receiving strength from
my faith in a Higher Power?

Meditation For The Day

Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in
living the way you believe God wants you to live. Like the
wearing away of a stone by steady drops of water, so will
your daily persistence wear away all the difficulties and
gain spiritual success for you. Never falter in this daily,
steady persistence. Go forward boldly and unafraid.
God will help and strengthen you, as long as you are trying
to do His will.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may persist day by day in gaining spiritual
experience. I pray that I may make this a lifetime work.

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As Bill Sees It

Benefits of Responsibility, p. 84

"Happily, A.A.'s per capita expenses are very low. For us to fail to
meet them would be to evade a responsibility beneficial for us.

"Most alcoholics have said they had no troubles that money would not
cure. We are a group that, when drinking, always held out a hand for
funds. So when we commence to pay our own service bills, this is a
healthy change."

<< << << >> >> >>

"Because of drinking, my friend Henry had lost a high-salaried job.
There remained a fine house--with a budget three times his reduced
earnings.

"He could have rented the house for enough to carry it. But no!
Henry said he knew that God wanted him to live there, and He would
see that the costs were paid. So Henry went on running up bills and
glowing with faith. Not surprisingly, his creditors finally took over the
place.

"Henry can laugh about it now, having learned that God more often
helps those who are willing to help themselves."

1. Letter, 1960
2. Letter, 1966

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Walk in Dry Places

Expect Miracles____Belief
Some have claimed that there have been no miracles since the fourteenth century. This is a smug way of saying that miracles do not happen.
Emmet Fox conceded that miracles don't happen in the sense of violating the perfect, universal system of law and order. But there is such a thing as appealing to a higher law, and this too is part of the constitution of the universe. Prayer is a means of doing this, and enough prayer will get you out of any difficulty, Fox insisted.
People who have found sobriety in AA are actually modern miracles. They expect more miracles to continue happening" otherwise, there would be no point in continuing to work with newcomers. And while we're expecting miracles, let's remember that countless other human problems will yield to a spiritual approach. Life itself is miraculous when we study it: why shouldn't there be more miracles ahead?
I'll keep an open mind on the subject of miracles. Since we still can glipmse only a fragment of the universe, it should follow that there's also much more to learn about the spiritual processes that rescued us from alcoholism.

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Keep It Simple

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.---Eugene Delacroix
Trying to be prefect puts distance between us and our Higher Power. Trying to be perfect shows we're ashamed of being human. In recovery, we accept that we're human. We try to be the best human we can be. We used to get high to feel powerful and god-like. But God is not just power. God is also gentleness. Gentleness and love are the power we look for on recovery. We work to be human. We work to know the loving, gentle side of ourselves and our Higher Power. Remember, if we try to be god, we'll fail. If we try to be human, we'll win.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me give up trying to be perfect. Help me always keep in mind that I'm human---which means, I'm not perfect.
Action for the Day: Part of being human is making mistakes. Today, I'll see my mistakes as chances to learn.

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Each Day a New Beginning

When I slow down long enough to smell the roses, I usually see the beauty and all else that is ours to share. --Morgan Jennings
We overlook so many joys, so many hidden treasures, when we hurry from place to place, person to person, experience to experience, with little attention anywhere. All that matters passes before us now, at this moment. And assuredly, we will not pass this way again.
It has been said the greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention; additionally, living life fully attentive to the breezes, the colors, the sorrows and the thrills as well, is the most prayerful response any of us can make in this life. Nothing more is asked of us. Nothing less is expected.
We have just this one life to live, and each day is a blessing. Even the trials we shall understand as blessings in the months, the years ahead, as we can see now how the painful moments of the past played their part. Our attitude toward the lessons life has offered makes all the difference in the world.
I will look closely at everything in my path today. The women and children, the trees and squirrels, the silent neighbors. I will never see them again as I see them today. I will be at attention.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 11 - A Vision For You

Hopelessness was written large on the man’s face as he replied, “Oh, but that’s no use. Nothing would fix me. I’m a goner. The last three times, I got drunk on the way home from here. I’m afraid to go out the door. I can’t understand it.”
For an hour, the two friends told him about their drinking experiences. Over and over, he would say: “That’s me. That’s me. I drink like that.”

p. 157

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

GUTTER BRAVADO - Alone and unemployable, he was given two options by the court, get help or go to jail, and his journey toward teachability began.

The meetings gave me what my sponsor likes to call one of the most important words in the Big Book: A.A. put a "we" in my life. "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol. . . ." I no longer had to be alone. Fellowship and activity kept me coming back long enough to work the Twelve Steps. The more I did, the better I felt. I started hanging out with my sponsor and some active people at the meetings. They showed me how gratitude is something that is demonstrated, not talked about--gratitude is action. They suggested I was lucky to still have a car, even though it was a junker; therefore, I might consider taking the less fortunate to meetings. They reminded me you can't teach anything to a know-it-all, so remain teachable. When old behaviors started to creep back in, they called me on it. When life just didn't feel right, they talked about developing faith and relying on my Higher Power. They told me lack of power was my dilemma and that there is a solution. I took to A.A. immediately and believed like a child that if I leveled my pride enough to thoroughly follow their path, I'd get what they had. And it worked. Starting out, I just wanted to keep the authorities off my back. I never bargained for this program's changing the course of my life or showing me the way to freedom and happiness.

p. 510

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

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."

As the day goes on, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request: "Thy will, not mine, be done." If at these points our emotional disturbance happens to be great, we will more surely keep our balance, provided we remember, and repeat to ourselves, a particular prayer or phrase that has appealed to us in our reading or meditation. Just saying it over and over will often enable us to clear a channel choked up with anger, fear, frustration, or misunderstanding, and permit us to return to the surest help of all--our search for God's will, not our own, in the moment of stress. At these critical moments, if we remind ourselves that "it is better to comfort than to be comforted, to understand than to be understood, to love than to be loved," we will be following the intent of Step Eleven.

pp. 102-103

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Nine requisites for contented living:
Health enough to make work a pleasure.
Wealth enough to support your needs.
Strength to battle with difficulties and overcome them.
Grace enough to confess your sins and forsake them.
Patience enough to toil until some good is accomplished.
Charity enough to see some good in your neighbor.
Love enough to move you to be useful and helpful to others.
Faith enough to make real the things of God.
Hope enough to remove all the anxious fears concerning the future.
--Johann von Goethe

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
--Chinese proverb

"All fortune belongs to him who has a contented mind."
--The Panchatantra

"If we lead good lives, the times are also good. As we are, such are the times."
--St. Augustine

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground; but a kind word is never thrown away."
--Sir Arthur Helps

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

PERSEVERANCE

"I know of no more encouraging
fact than the unquestionable
ability of man to elevate his life by
a conscious endeavor."
-- Henry David Thoreau

Life is exciting to me when I am creating, when I am pursuing a dream,
when I am making miracles in my life.

I suppose "perseverance" stems from a belief that things get better
when we roll-up our sleeves and do something. Sobriety is about
comprehending that in our lives we reflect the message.

God has created man with the ability to make the dream come true;
this is not to say it is easy . . . but it is harder not to dream!

Teach us to wonder at the stars with a spade in our hands.

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Oh, give thanks to the LORD!
Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the LORD!
Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face evermore.
Psalm 105:1-4

My peace I give you ... Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not
be afraid.
John 14:27

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Daily Inspiration

Things are not always what they seem, so take time to think before you react. Lord, grant me patience and resolve when I have the urge to assume the worst or jump to false conclusions.

Knowing about God and knowing God are very different things. Lord, may I recognize Your workings in my life so that I may really know You.

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NA Just For Today

I Can't, But We Can

"From the isolation of our addiction, we find a fellowship of people with a common bond... Our faith, strength, and hope come from people sharing their recovery..."
Basic Text, pg.94-95

Admit no weakness, conceal all shortcomings, deny every failure, go it alone-that was the creed many of us followed. We denied that we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable, despite all evidence to the contrary. Many of us took our First Step only when we had evidence that addicts could recover in Narcotics Anonymous.

In NA, we find others who've been in the same predicament, with the same needs, who've found tools that work for them. These addicts are willing to share those tools with us and gibe us the emotional support we need as we learn to use them. Recovering addicts know how important the help of others can be because they've been given that help themselves. When we become a part of Narcotics Anonymous, we join a society of addicts like ourselves, a group of people who know that we help one another recover.

Just for today: I will join in the bond of recovery. I will find the experience, strength, and hope I need in the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
My most irrational fear is that I've forgotten how to cook. --Pam Sherman
Once there was a teacher who was having nightmares about doing a good job. In one dream, he couldn't find his classroom and he had to run from building to building. In another dream, he started teaching the lesson in the middle of the woods and didn't notice he was in the wrong place!
Then one Sunday morning, he read an article about a wonderful baker. She baked every day, started bakeries, and fixed food for her friends, yet when the reporter asked her about her fears, she said, "My most irrational fear is that I've forgotten how to cook."
Suddenly the man felt better. He realized someone else had the same kinds of fears. In a miraculous way, our fears become less powerful when we discover that we share them with other people.
What fear can I share with someone right now?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I don't want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did. --Henry James
Many of us have learned to control the responses of others by always being pleasing and charming. Maybe we feel it's better to have others like us than to take a stand. Maybe we only feel okay about ourselves if others approve. Some of us have certainly learned we have a sense of power and control over people when they like us. Many of us have carried our people pleasing behavior so far that we have really sold our souls for the applause of others.
Are there problems or tensions in our lives from trying to please someone? Is fear of criticism preventing us from taking an action that would be good for us? Have we neglected our inner voice by listening so hard to others? As we get stronger, healthier, more fully into our manhood, not everyone will like us. Some people will be angry; others, not interested. Once we have faced our own life crises, we are not so dependent on having everyone's approval.
I pray for God's blessing upon the man I'm becoming. I will let go of this need to please everyone.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
When I slow down long enough to smell the roses, I usually see the beauty and all else that is ours to share. --Morgan Jennings
We overlook so many joys, so many hidden treasures, when we hurry from place to place, person to person, experience to experience, with little attention anywhere. All that matters passes before us now, at this moment. And assuredly, we will not pass this way again.
It has been said the greatest gift we can give one another is rapt attention; additionally, living life fully attentive to the breezes, the colors, the sorrows and the thrills as well, is the most prayerful response any of us can make in this life. Nothing more is asked of us. Nothing less is expected.
We have just this one life to live, and each day is a blessing. Even the trials we shall understand as blessings in the months, the years ahead, as we can see now how the painful moments of the past played their part. Our attitude toward the lessons life has offered makes all the difference in the world.
I will look closely at everything in my path today. The women and children, the trees and squirrels, the silent neighbors. I will never see them again as I see them today. I will be at attention.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Letting Go of Worry
What if we knew for certain that everything were worried about today will work out fine?
What if . . . we had a guarantee that the problem bothering us would be worked out in the most perfect way, and at the best possible time? Furthermore, what if we knew that three years from now wed be grateful for that problem, and it solution?
What if . . . we knew that even our worst fear would work out for the best?
What if . . . we had a guarantee that everything that's happening, and has happened, in our life was meant to be, planned just for us, and in our best interest?
What if . . . we had a guarantee that the people we love are experiencing exactly what they need in order to become who they're intended to become? Further, what if we had a guarantee that others can be responsible for themselves, and we don't have to control or take responsibility for them?
What if . . . we knew the future was going to be good, and we would have an abundance of resources and guidance to handle whatever comes our way?
What if . . . we knew everything was okay, and we didn't have to worry about a thing? What would we do then?
We'd be free to let go and enjoy life.
Today, I will know that I don't have to worry about anything. If I do worry, I will do it with the understanding that I am choosing to worry, and it is not necessary.


My Higher Power is with me in the sun as well as the rain, in pain as well as joy. As long as I know I am protected by the power of faith and love, I will remain centered and balanced throughout all of this day. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart

Break Through Your Blocks

I was walking at a good clip down sandy Colony Beach when it happened. Without warning, I began running. I ran the longest distance I had ever before run. Instead of collapsing in a panting heap, I kept running. Another stretch. Then another. By the time I tired, I had run a mile. The furthest I had ever before run in my life was about a quarter block.

I didn’t intend to make this breakthrough. I was so blocked in this area I didn’t think I could. Running wasn’t even a goal. I had simply incorporated regular walks into my lifestyle as a way of exercising my body. This event surprised me because I’m not a physical fitness buff. I hadn’t been allowed to participate in any physical education or sports activities as a child or teenager because of chronic health ailments. I spent many years neglecting my body. Lately, I had put some effort into connecting with my body and working out in an amateurish fashion. But running? Not me. Or so I used to think.

The next time I went walking, I felt timid, almost afraid to even try running. I wondered if what I had experienced was a fluke. It wasn’t. I ran again and again. Now, running is a regular part of my physical activity, one I truly enjoy.

Sometimes, we’re so blocked in a particular area we don’t even consider a breakthrough a possibility. We’re so blocked we don’t even see our blocks. Stay open. Don’t limit yourself. Something that yesterday seemed entirely unfeasable and forever beyond your grasp may tomorrow, next month, next year– or today– become something you can do naturally, something that’s available to you. It can come as a total surprise, in an area you hadn’t considered. Your breakthrough may happen in an area you’ve been struggling with and working on.

Life is more than setbacks, and it’s not static. Appreciate and respect where you are now. But let yourself move to the next level when it’s time. Celebrate your breakthroughs when they come. Listen to that quiet voice, that fleeting thought that says, Why don’t you…? even if it’s something you’ve never done before.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Let go of resentments

Resentments are sneaky, tricky little things. They can convince us they’re justified. They can dry up our hearts. They can sabotage our happiness. They can sabotage love.

Most of us have been at the receiving end of an injustice at some time in our lives. Most of us know someone who’s complained of an injustice we’ve done to him or her. Life can be a breeding ground for resentments, if we let it.

“Yes, but this time I really was wronged,” we complain.

Maybe you were. But harboring a resentment isn’t the solution. If it was, our resentment list would resemble the Los Angeles telephone directory. Deal with your feelings. Learn whatever lesson is at hand. Then let the feelings go.

Resentments are a coping behavior, a tool of someone settling for survival in life. They’re a form of revenge. The problem is, no matter who we’re resenting, the anger is ultimately directed against ourselves.

Take a moment. Search your heart. Have you tricked yourself into harboring a resentment? If you have, take another moment and let that resentment go.

God, grant me the serenity that acceptance brings.

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The Road to New Beginnings
Completion

by Madisyn Taylor

Just as new beginnings are important, so is honoring the experience of closure.


Life is a collage of beginnings and endings that run together like still-wet paint. Yet before we can begin any new phase in life, we must sometimes first achieve closure to the current stage we are in. That’s because many of life’s experiences call for closure. Often, we cannot see the significance of an event or importance of a lesson until we have reached closure. Or, we may have completed a certain phase in life or path of learning and want to honor that ending. It is this sense of completion that frees us to open the door to new beginnings. Closure serves to tie up or sever loose ends, quiets the mind even when questions have been left unanswered, signifies the end of an experience, and acknowledges that a change has taken place.

The period of completion, rather than being just an act of finality, is also one of transition. When we seek closure, what we really want is an understanding of what has happened and an opportunity to derive what lessons we can from an experience. Without closure, there is no resolution and we are left to grieve, relive old memories to the point of frustration, or remain forever connected to people from our past. A sense of completion regarding a situation may also result when we accept that we have done our best. If you can’t officially achieve closure with someone, you can create completion by participating in a closure ritual. Write a farewell letter to that person and then burn your note during a ceremony. This ritual allows you to consciously honor and appreciate what has taken place between you and release the experience so you can move forward.

Closure can help you let go of feelings of anger or uncertainty regarding your past even as you honor your experience – whether good or bad - as a necessary step on your life’s path. Closure allows you to emotionally lay to rest issues and feelings that may be weighing down your spirit. When you create closure, you affirm that you have done what was needed, are wiser because of your experience, and are ready for whatever life wants to bring you next. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

If a chemically-dependent person wants to live successfully in society, he or she must replace the power of chemicals over his/her life with the power of something else — preferably positive, at least neutral, but not negative. That is why we say to the agnostic newcomer: If you can’t believe in God, find a positive power that is as great as the power of your addiction, and give it the power and dependence you gave to your addiction. In The Program, the agnostic is left free to find his or her Higher Power, and can use the principles of The Program and the therapy of the meetings to aid in rebuilding his/her life. Do I go out of my way to work with newcomers?

Today I Pray

May the Power of The Program work its miracles equally for those who believe in a personal God or in a Universal Spirit or in the strength of the group itself, or for those who define their Higher Power in their own terms, religious or not. If newcomers are disturbed by the religiosity of The Program, may I welcome them on their own spiritual terms May I recognize that we are all spiritual beings.

Today I Will Remember

To each his own spirituality.

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One More Day

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
– Arthur Schopenhauer

It’s not easy to get used to the idea of a “forever” kind of illness. When we first learned about it, we may have allowed it to overtake our lies. Perhaps we lost the pleasure of taking a walk, playing a card game with friends, or spending time helping others. We were obsessed with the memory of how life used to be.

We can learn to put illness into its correct position. We have the chronic condition; it doesn’t own us. We will know we have reached true acceptance when the medical issue doesn’t dominate our days.

Of course a chronic illness affects us, but now we an see it properly as only one facet of our lives. We can choose to once again have full and meaningful days.

I — not my illness — can choose how well and how fully I will live my life.

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Food For Thought

Living Day by Day

"Life by the mile is a trial; by the inch it's a cinch." In the past, we got into trouble when we thought we had to have our lives mapped out forever. That just did not work.

We need only deal with the problems and joys of today. If we try to see too far ahead, we lose touch with the reality of the here and now. The Lord lets us know what we need to know when we need to know it.

What seems impossible when looked at in total --writing a book, putting the children through college, abstaining for the rest of our lives -- becomes manageable when worked at step-by-step, day-by-day.

So many of the things we worry about never happen. How much better it is to concentrate our energies on the real demands and challenges of today, insignificant as they may seem. When we turn our lives over to our Higher Power, we trust Him to manage the master plan and to direct us in the small details of living each day.

Show me, Lord, how to best live each day. I leave the years to You.

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One Day At A Time

Present Moment

"Do not dwell in the past, do not
dream of the future, concentrate on
the present moment."
Buddha

Staying focused, serene and receptive requires that we keep our attention placed in the present moment. If we allow our minds to be overly focused in the future (ie on outcomes such as "what if's" or "if only's") or in the past (ie past resentments, past embarrassments, or "would've beens, "could've beens") we allow ourselves to be subject to the psychological and emotional roller coaster ride that can go with these states. These meanderings into the past or present, colour our judgement and play a major role in contributing to our eating disorder. Therefore, it is imperative that we practise staying in the moment in order to maintain a healthy recovery.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will choose to live in the serenity of the present moment.
~ Rob R.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

We realize that we have been giving you much direction and advice. We may have seemed to lecture. If that is so we are sorry, for we ourselves don't always care for people who lecture us. But what we have related is based upon experience, some of it painful. We had to learn these things the hard way. That is why we are anxious that you understand, and that you avoid these unnecessary difficulties. - Pg. 121 - To Wives

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

The restless changing tides of the sea seem to parallel our recovery. The tide comes in, the tide goes out. A fact of life. Whatever is high tide in your emotion now, will eventually ebb to low tide. Remember: This too shall pass.

Help me recognize that my emotions are like the tides of the sea. Nothing is forever. This too shall pass.

Loving Myself through Action

I want to do something special for myself today. Giving to others and withholding from myself doesn't work. I tend to treat other people the way that I treat myself. If I am stingy with me, I will, somewhere along the line, act that out with other people. If I am hard on myself, I will tend to be hard on others. I am the only person who is with me all hours of the day and I know what feels good and warm to me. I know what makes me feel sustained from within. Today, I will encourage, support and congratulate myself. Each time I do something that pleases me I'll say 'thank you' to myself. Each time I do something well, I'll tell myself 'good job.' I will be my own best cheerleader.

I will encourage and support myself.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

When one door closes, another door opens. It's waiting in the hallway that's hell.
I am not a slow learner. I am just, sometimes, a slow accepter.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

No matter how fast or how far you go, you can't outrun God.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

My Higher Power is with me in the sun as well as the rain, in pain as well as joy. As long as I know I am protected by the power of faith and love, I will remain centered and balanced throughout all of this day.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

This old codger saying he'd spilt more than I'd drunk. I thought; 'If you hadn't spilt so much you might have got here earlier.' - Anon.

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AA Thought for the Day

March 25

Resentments
It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness.
To the precise extent we permit these,
do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic,
whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience,
this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 66

Thought to Ponder . . .
Resentment is like acid, eating away at the vessel it is stored in.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, Trust.

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

"There are those in AA whom we call 'destructive' critics.
They power-drive, they are 'politickers,'
they make accusations to gain their ends--
all for the good of AA, of course!
We ought to listen carefully to what they say.
Sometimes they are telling the whole truth;
at other times, a little truth.
If they are talking nonsense, we can ignore it,
or else try to persuade them.
There are few better means of self-survey
and of developing patience than the workouts
these usually well-meaning but erratic members
so often afford us."
Bill W., Twelve Concepts for World Service, p. 40
As Bill Sees It, p. 215

Thought to Consider . . .
Every problem arrives bearing a gift in its hands.

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

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

Decision
Step Three: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
"Therefore, we who are alcoholics can consider ourselves fortunate indeed. Each of us has had his own near-fatal
encounter with the juggernaut of self-will, and has suffered enough under its weight to be willing to look for something
better. So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue that we have been driven to A.A., have admitted defeat, have
acquired the rudiments of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power."
1952, AAWS, Inc.; Printed 2005; Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pgs. 37-38

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

"I'm better able to love people when the storm of my judgmental mind settles, when I understand and empathize rather
than criticize and condemn."
September 2008
"The Fine Art of Listening"
AA Grapevine

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

"Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a
fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from
care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will
mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your
existence lie ahead."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 152

"...the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, Page 23~

"On the other hand -- and strange as this may seem to those who do not
understand -- once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person
who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever
solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire
for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a
few simple rules."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Doctors Opinion, pg. xxix~

Many people, nonalcoholics, report that as a result of the practice of A.A.’s Twelve Steps, they have been able to meet other difficulties of life.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 15

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Benefits of Responsibility
'Happily, A.A.'s per capita expenses are very low. For us to fail to meet them would be to evade a responsibility beneficial for us.
'Most alcoholics have said they had no troubles that money would not cure. We are a group that, when drinking, always held out a hand for funds. So when we commence to pay our own service bills, this is a healthy change.'
'Because of drinking, my friend Henry had lost a high-salaried job. There remained a fine house--with a budget three times his reduced earnings.
'He could have rented the house for enough to carry it. But no! Henry said he knew that God wanted him to live there, and He would see that the costs were paid. So Henry went on running up bills and glowing with faith. Not surprisingly, his creditors finally took over the place.
'Henry can laugh about it now, having learned that God more often helps those who are willing to help themselves.'
1. LETTER,1960
2. LETTER, 1966

Prayer For The Day: Almighty God, grant that I may never succumb to the controlling influences of the body, and lose the power of my mind. May I guard the dictates of my heart and keep my mind in command to obey thy will. Amen.

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