Daily Recovery Readings - March 12

[bluidkiti]

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 12

Daily Reflections

A DAY'S PLAN

On awakening let us think of the twenty-four hours
ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we
begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially
asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest
or self-seeking motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86

Every day I ask God to kindle within me the fire of
His love, so that love, burning bright and clear, will
illuminate my thinking and permit me to better do His
will. Throughout the day, as I allow outside
circumstances to dampen my spirits, I ask God to sear
my consciousness with the awareness that I can start
my day over any time I choose; a hundred times, if
necessary.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

The Prodigal Son "took his journey into a far country
and wasted his substance on riotous living." That's what
we alcoholics do. We waste our substance with riotous
living. "When he came to himself, he said: I will arise
and go to my father." That's what an alcoholic does in
A.A. He comes to himself. His alcoholic self is not his
real self. His sane, sober, respectable self is his real
self. That's why we're so happy in A.A. Have I come to
myself?

Meditation For The Day

Simplicity is the keynote of a good life. Choose the
simple things always. Life can become complicated if you
let it be so. You can be swamped by difficulties if you
let them take up too much of your time. Every difficulty
can be either solved or ignored and something better
substituted for it. Love the humble things of life.
Reverence the simple things. Your standard must never
be the world's standard of wealth and power.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may love the simple things of life.
I pray that I may keep my life uncomplicated and free.

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As Bill Sees It

"How Can You Roll With A Punch?", p. 71

On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a
great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis street. Father
Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the
founders of the struggling A.A. group in his city. Because many of his
usually sober friends had already taken to their bottles that they might
blot out the implications of the Pearl Harbor disaster, Father Ed was
anguished by the thought that his cherished A.A. group would probably
do the same.

Then a member, sober less than a year, stepped alongside and engaged
Father Ed in a spirited conversation--mostly about A.A. Father Ed
saw, with relief, that his companion was perfectly sober.

"How is it that you have nothing to say about Pearl Harbor? How can
you roll with a punch like that?"

"Well," replied the yearling, "each of us in A.A. has already had his
own private Pearl Harbor. So why should we drunks crack up over
this one?"

Grapevine, January 1962

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Walk in Dry Places

Popular Gossip____Higher Thinking
The newsstands are full of publications that seem to delight in exposing the sins and foibles of celebrities and prominent officials. Think of the excitement that's been generated just over the sexual misadventures of important people running for public office.
While some of these disclosures may be true, we don't help ourselves by reveling in them or reading them. We may even harm ourselves if we get secret enjoyment over the fall of a celebrity. It's never beneficial to find ourselves thinking, "it serves him right."
Reading such trash, even in the daily newspapers, is a form of gossip. We can use our time in better ways if we wish to enhance our sobriety.
If this sounds a little too stringent, we should remind ourselves that growth in sobriety calls for better management of our thinking and attitudes. Nobody ever got drunk simply because he or she read gossipy trash. But neither did that person make progress over the general problem of gossip.
I'll have no interest in the weaknesses or shortcomings of those who might be in the news. Popular gossip can be just as harmful as personal gossip.

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Keep It Simple

The Twelve Step program is spiritual, based on action coming from love . . . Martha Cleveland
To be spiritual means to be an active person. It means spending time with others. It means sharing love. It means looking for ways to be more loving to others. It means looking for ways to make the world a better place. Step Three helps us to look at the world better. We turn our lives over to the care of our Higher Power. So Lets allow care to direct our lives. Let's always be asking ourselves, "Is what I'm doing something that shows care?"
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, let me be active in a loving, caring way. Let the love in my heart be my guide.
Action for the Day: Today, I'll do something good for someone and keep it a secret.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Love is not getting, but giving. It is sacrifice. And sacrifice is glorious! --Joanna Field
How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies love - especially theirs for us. But love is something far different from either attention or control. Far different.
Love frees others from our grasp--and lets them return on their own. Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self. Giving love softens our edges, completes us, and connects us to the people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.
Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.
Love inspires--ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way, lessens our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.
I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will bless me tenfold.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 7 - WORKING WITH OTHERS

Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn’t think or be reminded about alcohol at all.

pp. 100-101

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Jim's Story

This physician, one of the earliest members of A.A.'s first black group, tells of how freedom came as he worked among his people.

After this incident in 1940, I sought some other means of livelihood. I had a very good friend who was in the government service, and I went to him about a job. He got me one. I worked for the government about a year and still maintained my evening office practice when the government agencies were decentralized. Then I went south, because they told me that the particular county I was going to in North Carolina was a dry county. I thought that this would be a big help to me. I would meet some new faces and be in a dry county.

pp. 238-239

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Ten - "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

As we work the first nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the adventure of a new life. But when we approach Step Ten we commence to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all conditions?

p. 88

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"Take time for solitude. How else can you contemplate the blessings
of recovery,"
--Abby Warman

"What we must realize is that we cannot see everything. We do not
know everything. More important, we must understand that it is
impossible for us to control anything. The process of life is a spiritual
one, governed by invisible, intangible spiritual laws and principles."
--Iyanla Vanzant

"Everyone who has been mistreated by another has mistreated
others at one time or another."
--Paul Ferrini

"Deep faith eliminates fear."
--Lech Walesa

It's not the burdens of everyday that drive men mad.
It is the regret of yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.
Regret and fear are twin thieves that rob us of today.
--Unknown

I completely, and whole heartedly trust Gods love, it will never fail
me.
--SweetyZee

God's grace can turn pain into joy and blessing.
--Isabelle Zeigler Ross

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

DREAMS

"I have learned this at least by
my experiment: that if one
advances confidently in the
direction of his dreams and
endeavors to live the life which
he has imagined, he will meet
with a success unexpected in
common hours."
-- Henry David Thoreau

Drugs brought me nightmares, never dreams. For years I lived in
fear. In the night I imagined horrible shapes, strange colors and
sounds, experienced unspeakable tortures and awake in tension and
sweat.

Today in sobriety my dreams are serene and tranquil; I remember
friends and loved ones and those I most admire. I imagine God in the
beauty of His creation. He breathes His love through me. My dreams
are part of my wellness.

God, who created men to dream their dreams, help me to live mine.

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Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5, 6

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your
sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."
Psalms 19:14

I sought the Lord , and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who
look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
Psalm 34:4-5

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Daily Inspiration

If you count your blessings and answered prayers, there is less time for grumbling and complaining. Lord, may I always appreciate the wonders of my life and celebrate Your presence in it.

You cannot be discouraged for long if you are close to our Heavenly Father, the giver of all hope and blessings. Lord, I will spend time daily with You and strengthen my faith.

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NA Just For Today

Getting Out Of The Rut

"Many times in our recovery, the old bugaboos will haunt us. Life may again become meaningless, monotonous, and boring."
Basic Text, p. 75

Sometimes it seems as though nothing changes. We get up and go to the same job every day. We eat dinner at the same time every night. We attend the same meetings each week. This morning's rituals were identical to the ones we performed yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. After the hell of our addiction and the roller-coaster craziness of early recovery, the stable life may have some appeal—for a while. But, eventually, we realize we want something more. Sooner or later, we become turned off to the creeping monotony and boredom in our lives.

There are sure to be times when we feel vaguely dissatisfied with our recovery. We feel as though we're missing something for some reason, but we don't know what or why. We draw up our gratitude lists and find literally hundreds of things to be grateful for. All our needs are being met; our lives are fuller than we had ever hoped they'd be. So what's up?

Maybe it's time to stretch our potential to its fullest. Our possibilities are only limited by what we can dream. We can learn something new, set a new goal, help another newcomer, or make a new friend. We're sure to find something challenging if we look hard enough, and life will again become meaningful, varied, and fulfilling.

Just for today: I'll take a break from the routine and stretch my potential to its fullest.

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Gentleness is not a quality exclusive to women. --Helen Reddy
Each of us has our soft side: maybe it's when we're petting a kitten, caring for a baby robin with an injured wing, or soothing a crying child who is afraid. Behaving in a gentle way toward others gives us warm feelings inside. It also encourages others to treat us gently, too.
We don't always feel like being gentle. If we're sad or worried about school or a friend, we might not even notice the people around us who need our gentleness. But when we remember gentleness, it lifts our spirits. Two people will always be happier when we're gentle--the person we've been gentle to and ourselves.
Who can I share my gentleness with today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
No sooner do we think we have assembled a comfortable life than we find a piece of ourselves that has no place to fit in.
--Gail Sheehy
We usually think of children going through stages. If we talk about a man going through a stage, there is usually a tone of a put down in it. But adults go through stages in their lives too. We have different drives and needs at 22 than we had at 16. Age 40 brings a different experience than 30. It would be sad to reach age 60 or 70 and have no more wisdom than we had twenty years earlier. An adult life crisis can come anytime. We may have grown out of a formerly comfortable job. Perhaps we feel new urgings for a more satisfactory relationship than we have settled for. From our recovery experience we know that crisis can bring growth.
Courage is required of us from the cradle to the grave. Change continues throughout life With courage, we can face our crises and the changes that come, and eventually we find the gift of new growth.
Help me find courage enough to live this day and meet the challenges it brings.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Love is not getting, but giving. It is sacrifice. And sacrifice is glorious! --Joanna Field
How easily we mistake attention for love. Even more easily, we trick ourselves into thinking our ability to control someone signifies love - especially theirs for us. But love is something far different from either attention or control. Far different.
Love frees others from our grasp--and lets them return on their own. Love is placing another's personal needs above our own, without regret. Love is selfless, yet it exhilarates the self. Giving love softens our edges, completes us, and connects us to the people with whom we are fulfilling our destinies.
Wanting love is a normal human desire, not one we should deny. And we shall receive love, the less our emphasis is on getting it, the more on giving it. We invite love when we freely and honestly give it. Another invitation for love comes from loving ourselves; self-hatred, which trapped many of us for years, hampers us no longer.
Love inspires--ourselves and those we give it to. It brightens our way, lessens our burdens, makes possible our rightful unfolding.
I won't look for love today. I will just give it. It will bless me tenfold.


You are reading from the book The Language Of Letting Go.
Timing
If we could untangle the mysteries of life and unravel the energies, which run through the world; if we could evaluate correctly the significance of passing events; if we could measure the struggles, dilemmas, and aspirations of mankind, we could find that nothing is born out of time. Everything comes at its appointed moment. --Joseph R. Sizoo
Timing can be frustrating. We can wait and wait for something to happen, and it seems to be forever until it comes to pass. Or, suddenly, an event or circumstance is thrust upon us, catching us by surprise. Believing that things happen too slowly or too quickly is an illusion. Timing is perfect.
Today, I will trust and work with Divine Order. I will accept the timing in my life today and in my past as being perfect.


I can be centered and at peace inside when the world is going my way, as well as when things are happening that are not my choice. I am learning to focus on this newly found inner peace, especially at times of confusion and stress. --Ruth Fishel

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In God’s Care

God made the world round so we would never be able to see too far down the road.
~~Isaak Dinesen

When our addictive behaviors had control of us, we probably would have laughed if someone told us we would be in a Twelve Step program someday. We spent a lot of our time trying to control and predict the future, and we fought anything that threatened the delusion that we could.

When we were ready, our program was there. We discovered that this is a daily program, that by letting God unfold our life twenty-four hours at a time we are released from our obsession to control everything. One of the best gifts of our program is discovering that our Higher Power is in charge of every situation. And as a result, our obsessive need to control no longer controls us.

So now we are free to fully experience this moment. We can trust we will benefit somehow because each moment is a gift from God.

Whatever God wants me to know today is sufficient.

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Journey to the Heart

You Have the Power to Redefine Your World

One power we gain on our journey to the heart is the ability to redefine what we believe. We learn to see things in a new way.

We usually have a definition for most areas of our lives, particularly important areas such as work, love, money, and ourselves, but we’re not always conscious of it. The experiences we go through can help our definitions surface, help us see more clearly how we define these areas. That’s called growth. This growth, this process of redefining, will happen naturally on our path. But we can also consciously, actively work on our definitions.

Ask yourself if you’re defining something or someone right now in a way that you’d like to change. Perhaps a work relationship, a love relationship, a project, or an issue is causing you distress. You may find you have the power to redefine this area in a way that minimizes or reduces your pain.

A healing professional and friend once taught me a technique that can be used on any subject you’re trying to define. On a sheet of paper write down everything you currently believe, including and especially everything negative, about the subject or issue. Include all the “I Can’t's” and the “Wny Nots.” That’s your current definition.

On a clean sheet of paper write down how you want to redefine this area, and your involvment in it. Write down everything you want it to be, what you wish for it, what you think the highest truth possible about this subject could be.

Burn the paper with the old definitions. Let the smoke clear away from your eyes. Save your new definition. Then watch how the new definition comes to life and take shape.

You don’t have to let past definitions of life, love, God, and yourself limit you anymore. You are free to redefine and help create the life you choose; you’re free to see life in a new way.

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More Language Of Letting Go

Don’t cut yourself on your gifts

Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or by the handle.
–James Russel Lowell

Success rains down for no apparent reason. Tragedy strikes like a freight train. We’re left to deal with the results. We can allow our egos to swell over our sudden good fortune, or we can humbly accept the fruit of our labor and continue to better ourselves. We can lie down and give up after a tragedy, or we can grieve, get up, and begin taking steps to move on with our lives.

Look at the situations in your life. Have you been given success? Are you learning the lessons of loss? Perhaps yours is the gift of the ordinary. Don’t walk too boastfully through your successes, nor remain too long in your grief. And don’t sleep through an ordinary life. You’ll lose your sense of wonder and awe, and when it ends, you won’t know where you’ve been.

We cannot always control what will happen to us. We need to let go of any false thoughts that we can. We can choose how we’ll handle the situation just like we choose how we’ll pick up a knife– by grabbing the handle or the blade.

Watch out for the cutting edge.

What you do with what you have been given is important.

God, thank you for what I’ve been given.

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Cause, Effect, and Transformation
Feeling Depleted

by Madisyn Taylor

If you are feeling depleted, your body is asking you to take time to make some real changes in your life.


There are times in our lives when it seems our bodies are running on empty. We are not sick, nor are we necessarily pushing ourselves to the limit—rather, the energy we typical enjoy has mysteriously dissipated, leaving only fatigue. Many people grow accustomed to feeling this way because they do not know that it is possible to exist in any other state. The body’s natural state, however, is one of energy, clarity, and balance. Cultivating these virtues in our own bodies so that we can combat feelings of depletion is a matter of developing a refined awareness of the self and then making changes based on our observations.

A few scant moments of focused self-examination in which you assess your recent schedule, diet, and general health may help you zero in on the factors causing your depletion. If you are struggling to cope with an overfull agenda, prioritization can provide you with more time to sleep and otherwise refresh yourself. Switching to a diet containing plenty of nutritious foods may serve to restore your vigor, especially when augmented by supplements like B vitamins or ginseng. Consider, too, that a visit to a healer or homeopath will likely provide you with wonderful insights into your tiredness. But identifying the source of your exhaustion will occasionally be more complicated than spotting a void in your lifestyle and filling it with some form of literal nourishment. Since your earthly and ethereal forms are so intimately entwined, matters of the mind and heart can take their toll on your physical self. Intense emotions such as anger, sadness, jealousy, and regret need fuel to! manifest in your consciousness, and this fuel is more often than not corporeal energy. Conversely, a lack of mental and emotional stimulation may leave you feeling listless and lethargic.

Coping with and healing physical depletion will be easier when you accept that the underlying cause might be more complex than you at first imagined. A harried lifestyle or a diet low in vital nutrients can represent only one part of a larger issue affecting your mood, stamina, and energy levels. When you believe that you are ultimately in control of how you feel, you will be empowered to transform yourself and your day-to-day life so that lasting fatigue can no longer gain a foothold in your existence. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

If we examine every disturbance we haved, great or small, we’ll find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its cnsequent unhealthy demand. So let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these crippling liabilities. Then we cna be set free to live and love. W may then be able to Stwlfth-Step ourselves, as well as others, into emotional sobriety. Do I try to carry the message of The Program?

Today I Pray

Ma I first get my emotional and spiritual house in order before I seek to carry out serious commitments in human relationships. May I look long and thoroughly at “dependency” — upon alcohol or other drugs or upon other human beings — and recognize it as the source of my unrest. May I transfer my dependency to God, as I understand Him.

Today I Will Remember

I am God-dependent.

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One More Day

Never bend your head. . . Look at the world straight in the face.
– Helen Keller

Pride is elusive when we’re hurting emotionally. We may act and feel overwhelmed. It is very difficult to be mindful of all we can accomplish and we may focus on what is out of our reach. Or we may tend to hide from our problems by withdrawing from social gatherings or by isolating ourselves emotionally. feeling ashamed that we are hurting makes asking for help very hard.

Now, as we hide less often from our feelings we find it easier to face the world straight on. We may not have made this transition easily or even by ourselves, but we are making it with the help of loving friends. Increasingly we accept our limitations, make the effort to do what we can, and ask for help when we must. And with this, we raise our heads with pride.

I need not be ashamed when I must ask others for help.

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Food For Thought

Nourishment or Drug?

During our overeating days, many of us used food as an all purpose drug. It was a pep pill when we were depressed and a tranquilizer when we were uptight. We turned especially to refined carbohydrates as uppers and downers. As a result, we spent most of our time either artificially stimulated or lethargic.

When we stop using food as a drug and eat only what our bodies need for proper nourishment, we experience emotions which had been buried by overeating. We feel anxiety, fear, and anger. We also feel joy, enthusiasm, and love. We are alive instead of doped up.

We need to express and share our emotions, and in OA we find people who will help us do that. We no longer have to bury our true feelings with food. As we learn to rely on our Higher Power for support in the little things that come up as well as the big things, then we are able to face the day without a drug.

By abstaining, we learn who we really are and what we really feel.

May I not be afraid to live without a drug.

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One Day At A Time

SEASONS OF OUR SOUL

"You will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does
not wither and whatever you do prospers."
..... Psalms 1:3

For much of my life I have felt rootless, insecure, lost, ineffectual, and scattered by the seemingly-unforgiving winds of chaos, confusion, change, and pain in my life. I certainly do not feel the sense of strength, stability, and solidity that I imagine I’d feel as a “firmly planted tree.” Many of my choices and behaviors add to the storms and fruitlessness of my life…yet I consider again the Tree. The Tree bears its fruit “in its season”. The Tree participates in the work of its Creator by patiently standing strong through the winds, snow, and barrenness of winter…and the Tree knows that winter is only for a Season. The Tree does not rail against God, nor demand that it produce fruit in its season of barrenness; rather, the Tree patiently rests and knows that Spring will return, as it always does and always will.

Working our program calls us to trust God – to believe that which we might not yet see, feel, or experience. We can choose to accept with Serenity the seasons of our lives.

One day at a time ... I will choose to believe that my Higher Power is at work in me through every season of my life. I will remember that He brings the Life of Spring after the “death” of winter. In trusting Him, I will be stable and fruitful, even when I feel overwhelmed by the winds of life.
~ Lisa

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Unmindful of his welfare, I thought only of recapturing the spirit of other days. There was that time we had chartered an airplane to complete a jag! His coming was an oasis in this dreary desert of futility. The very thing -- an oasis! Drinkers are like that. - Pg. 9 - Bill's Story

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Nothing comes easy for us right now. A lot of energy goes into just staying put and accepting this new way of life. We say that when the going gets tough, we hang tough! We know that it will pass, we make that promise to you. But it will be in God's time, not yours.

Guide my faith, in this program and in You, my Spiritual Source.

Staying with Myself

Today, I see that taking care of myself begins inside of me. It is not just a function of what I do, but the attitude with which I move through my day. Having my own life is about checking in with myself to see how I'm doing. It's wearing a sweater if I'm cold and taking a break if I'm tired. It's making sure that I'm having enough fun in my life, paying attention to what I enjoy doing, doing more of that and finding ways of reducing what doesn't feel good. Having a life that is well suited to me is letting myself have my own unique likes and dislikes, and acting on them in constructive ways. It is not organizing my life so that it is good enough for everyone else, forgetting that it needs to be good enough for me as well. I occupy the center of my own life.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Whatever spiritual values you adopt are unique to you. You may adopt a strong religious stance or a more intimate spiritual philosophy from within. In any case, the spiritual path you seek is up to you and not those around you. Be comfortable with your spiritual choices and don't try to please others.

The more I have on the inside, the less I need on the outside.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Detach, don't desert

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

I can be centered and at peace inside when the world is going my way, as well as when things are happening that are not my choice. I am learning to focus on this newly found inner peace, especially at times of confusion and stress.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

It's clean and sober across the board. I don't get to take chips in AA for 60. or 90 days or a year, if I'm smoking pot or doing a little social heroin between meetings. Even if pot wasn't my drug of choice. - - Earl H.

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AA Thought for the Day

March 12

Turning It Over
Step Three became a cheerful acceptance of my place in the world:
"I have no idea Who or What is running the show, but I know I'm not!"
And I could also see Step Three as a good attitude, an effective approach to life:
"If I am swimming in salt water and I panic and start thrashing around and fighting it, it will drown me.
But if I relax and have faith in it, it will hold me afloat."
- Came To Believe . . ., p. 84

Thought to Ponder . . .
I can't do His will my way.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

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

Fear
"Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and
power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others
seem to be realized while ours are not. These fears are the termites that cease lessly devour the foundations of
whatever sort of life we try to build.
"Bill W., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 49

Thought to Consider . . .
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the action in spite of the fear.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
ANONYMOUS
Actions Not Our Names Yield Maintenance Of Unity & Service

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

Awakening
>From Fear of Fear":
"As we walked back through the hall, I, for the first time in my life, said to another human being, 'I'm having trouble with
my drinking too.' She took me by the hand and introduced me to the woman that I'm very proud to call my sponsor. This
woman and her husband are both in A.A., and she said to me, 'Oh, but you're not the alcoholic; it's your husband.' I said,
'Yes.' She said, 'How long have you been married?' I said, 'Twenty-seven years.' She said "Twenty-seven years to an
alcoholic! How did you ever stand it?' I thought, now here's a nice sympathetic soul! This is for me. I said, "Well, I stood
it to keep the home together, and for the children's sake.' She said, 'Yes, I know. You're just a martyr, aren't you?' I
walked away from that woman grinding my teeth and cursing under my breath. But that night I tried to go to sleep. And I
thought, 'You're some martyr, Jane! Let's look at the record.' And when I looked at it, I knew I was just as much a drunk
as George was, if not worse. I nudged George next morning, and I said I'm in,' and he said, 'Oh, I knew you'd make it.'
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 289-90

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

"Some days are harder than others, but I have been told a person is not measured by what she has achieved but by what she has overcome."
Toledo, Ohio, September 2008
"The Measure of Success"
AA Grapevine

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

"The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered
a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree,
and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This
is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 17

"When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 64~

The philosophy of self-sufficiency is not paying off. Plainly enough, it is a bone-crushing juggernaut whose final achievement is ruin.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 37

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'How Can You Roll With A Punch?'
On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis
street. Father Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the founders of the struggling A.A. group in
his city. Because many of his usually sober friends had already taken to their bottles that they might blot out the
implications of the Pearl Harbor disaster, Father Ed was anguished by the thought that his cherished A.A. group would
probably do the same.
Then a member, sober less than a year, stepped alongside and engaged Father Ed in a spirited conversation - mostly
about A.A. Father Ed saw, with relief, that his companion was perfectly sober.
'How is it that you have nothing to say about Pearl Harbor? How can you roll with a punch like that?'
''Well,' replied the yearling, 'each of us in A.A. has already had his own private Pearl Harbor. So why should we drunks
crack up over this one?' GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1962

Prayer For The Day: God our Father, you call each of us by name and you know the innermost thoughts that we keep to
ourselves. Stay with us, day by day, in good times and in bad. Empower us with your Spirit that we may grow in
character and develop a true sense of values and ideals through following Jesus. Amen.

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