| Author |
 Topic  |
| Information in this forum is not monitored or provided by a medical professional. The information reflects member opinions only. Do not act on advice from these forums without first consulting a qualified medical professional. All content is copyrighted and protected by Aelius Group. |
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2009 : 06:52:41 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
August 29, 2009
Faith
Today faith is as natural to me, a former agnostic,
as breathing, eating and sleeping.
The Twelve Steps have helped to change my life in many ways,
but none is more effective
than the acquisition of a Higher Power.
- Daily Reflections, p. 194
Thought to Ponder . . .
Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Finding Answers In The Heart.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
Report to Moderator  |
|
|
Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2009 : 11:01:32 AM
|
NA Thought for the Day
August 30, 2009
Through the grace of God I have not taken a fix, pill or drink for five years. Desperation drove me to NA, and desperation is what has kept me coming back. I am grateful for the bottom that I finally hit, because it gave me the willingness to work the steps, go to meetings, and just “LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME.”
I use to wonder, “What am I going to do if I don’t get loaded?” Today it seems like there aren’t enough hours in the day. I have real friends today, and they are very special to me.
The program is my life today. All the pain that I felt during my using led me to more pain, but every ounce of pain that I experienced in the program, staying clean, brings me more growth, and more peace. The only way that the empty place inside me can be filled is though the steps of this program.
The things that I have learned since coming here would fill this book. I did not know how to live, and the program is teaching me for the first time. I am finally facing the old enemy, me. I am learning to accept myself, and even to like myself, a day at a time.
NA Book, from the story, “I found a home”, pages 129-131
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2009 : 4:48:31 PM
|
AA Thought for the Day
August 31, 2009
Spiritual Principles
AA's Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature,
which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink
and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 15
Thought to Ponder . . .
I stood in the sunlight at last.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Solutions Through Each Positive Step.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2009 : 07:40:51 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
, 2009
Paradox #2
We GIVE AWAY TO KEEP.
That seems absurd and untrue.
How can you keep anything if you give it away?
But in order to keep whatever it is we get in AA,
we must go about giving it away to others, for no fees or rewards of any kind.
When we cannot afford to give away what we have received so freely in AA,
we had better get ready for our next "drunk." It will happen every time.
We've got to continue to give it away in order to keep it.
- Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 156
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Teaching Recovery Using Steps and Traditions.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2009 : 10:13:45 AM
|
NA Thought for the Day
September 1, 2009
The ability to face problems is necessary to stay clean. If we had problems in the past, it is unlikely that simple abstinence will solve these problems. Guilt and worry can keep us from living in the here and now. Denial of our disease and other reservations keep us sick. Many of us feel that we cannot possibly have a happy life without drugs. We suffer from fear and insanity and feel that there is no escape from using. We may fear rejection from our friends if we get clean. These feelings are common to the addict seeking recovery. We could be suffering from an overly sensitive ego. Some of the most common excuses for using are loneliness self-pity, and fear. Dishonesty, close-mindedness, and unwillingness are three of our greatest enemies. Self-obsession is the core of our disease.
We have learned that old ideas and old ways won’t help us to stay clean or to live a better life. If we allow ourselves to stagnate and cling to terminal hipness and fatal cool, we are giving into the symptom of our disease. One of the problems is that we found it easier to change our reception of reality than to change reality. We must give up this old concept and face the fact that reality and life go on, whether we choose to accept them or not. We can only change the way we react and the way we see ourselves. This is necessary for us to accept that change is gradual and recovery is an ongoing process.
A meeting a day for at least the first ninety days of recovery is a good idea. There is a special feeling for addicts when they discover that there are other people who share their difficulties, past and present. At first we can do little more than attend meetings. Probably we cannot remember a single word, person or thought from our first meeting, in time, we can relax and enjoy the atmosphere of recovery. Meetings strengthen our recovery. We may be scared at first because we don’t know anyone. Some of us think that we don’t need meetings. However, when we hurt, we go to a meeting and find relief. Meetings keep us in touch with where we’ve been, but more importantly with where we could go in our recovery. As we go to meetings regularly, we learn the value of talking with other addicts who share our problems and goals. We have to open up and accept the love and understanding that we need in order to change. When we become acquainted with the Fellowship and its principles and begin to put them into action, we start to grow. We apply effort to our most obvious problems and let go of the rest. We do the job at hand, and as we progress, new opportunities for improvement present themselves.
Our new friends in the Fellowship will help us. Our common effort is recovery. Clean, we face the world together. We no longer have to feel backed into a corner, at the mercy of events and circumstances. It makes a difference to have friends who care if we hurt. We find our place in the Fellowship, and we join a group whose meetings help us in our recovery. We have been untrustworthy for so long that most of our friends and families will doubt our recovery. They think it won’t last. We need people who understand our disease and the recovery process. At meetings we can share with other addicts, ask questions and learn about our disease. We learn new ways to live. We are no longer limited to our old ideas.
Gradually, we replace old habits with new ways of living. We become willing to change. We go to meetings regularly, get and use telephone numbers, read literature, and most importantly, we don’t use. We learn to share with others. If we don’t tell someone we are hurting, they will seldom see it. When we reach out for help, we can receive it.
NA Book, “What Can I Do”, pages 53 & 54
We learn that the program won’t work when we try to adapt it to our life. We must learn to adapt our life to the program.
Today we seek solutions not problems.
The program doesn’t work if you don’t pick up the phone and call someone, even when you are feeling good.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
| Report to Moderator |
|
| Information in this forum is not monitored or provided by a medical professional. The information reflects member opinions only. Do not act on advice from these forums without first consulting a qualified medical professional. All content is copyrighted and protected by Aelius Group. |
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2009 : 08:11:16 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 2, 2009
Paradox #3
We SUFFER TO GET WELL.
There is no way to escape the terrible suffering of remorse and shame
and embarrassment which starts us on the road to getting well from our affliction.
There is no new way to shake out a hangover. It's painful.
And for us, necessarily so. . . We suffer to get well.
- Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 156
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Tears, Laughter, Caring.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 09/02/2009 : 10:52:33 AM
|
NA Thought for the Day
September 2, 2009
When we admit that our lives have become unmanageable, we don’t have to argue our point of view. We no longer have to be right all the time. When we give ourselves this freedom, we can allow others to be wrong. Freedom to change seems to come after acceptance of ourselves.
Our experience shows that many personal problems are resolved when we get out of ourselves and offer to help those in need. We recognize that one addict can best understand and help another addict. No matter how much we give, there is always another addict seeking help.
NA Book, “What Can I Do”, page 56
We may tire mentally in repeating our new ideas and tire physically in our new activities, yet we know that if we fail to repeat them we will surely take up our old practices. We suspect that if we do not use what we have, we will lose what we have. These times are often the periods or our greatest growth.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/03/2009 : 08:17:45 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 03, 2009
Security
After we come into AA, if we go on growing,
our attitudes and actions toward security
-- emotional security and financial security -- commence to change profoundly.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 115
Thought to Ponder . . .
The peaks and valleys of my life have become gentle rolling hills.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Fortunately, Recovery Enhances Everything.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/04/2009 : 08:38:56 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 4, 2009
Paradox #4
We DIE TO LIVE.
That is a beautiful paradox straight out of the Biblical idea
of being "born again"
or "in losing one's life to find it." . . .
As our shortcomings are removed, one life of us dies,
and another life of us lives. We in AA die to live.
- Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 156
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win; we give away to keep;
we suffer to get well; we die to live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Always Alive
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 09:18:49 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 5, 2009
Belonging
There is no more aloneness, with that awful ache,
so deep in the heart of every alcoholic, that nothing, before, could ever reach it.
That ache is gone and never need return again. . .
Now there is a sense of belonging. . . In return for a bottle and a hangover,
we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 276
Thought to Ponder . . .
I'm not alone anymore.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
You Are Not Alone.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 5:20:22 PM
|
NA Thought for the Day
September 5, 2009
We talked and listened to others. We saw other people recovering, and they told us what was working for them. We began to see evidence of some Power that could not be fully explained. Confronted with this evidence, we began to accept this existence of a Power greater than ourselves. We can use this Power long before we understand it.
As we see coincidences and miracles happening in our lives, acceptance becomes trust. We grow to feel comfortable with our Higher Power as a source of strength. As we learn to trust this Power, we begin to overcome our fear of life.
The process of coming to believe restores us to sanity. The strength to move into action comes from this belief. We need to accept this step to start on the road to recovery.
NA Book, Pages 24 and 25
As addicts, we turned our will and our lives over many times to a destructive power. Our will and our lives were controlled by drugs.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
| Report to Moderator |
|
| Information in this forum is not monitored or provided by a medical professional. The information reflects member opinions only. Do not act on advice from these forums without first consulting a qualified medical professional. All content is copyrighted and protected by Aelius Group. |
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/06/2009 : 09:52:24 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 6, 2009
Fear
We shall have to try for all the freedom from fear
that is possible for us to attain.
Then we shall need to find both the courage and the grace
to deal constructively with whatever fears remain.
Trying to understand our fears, and the fears of others, is but a first step.
The larger question is how, and where, we go from there.
- The Language of the Heart, p. 265
Thought to Ponder . . .
Turn fear into faith.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Frustration, Ego, Anxiety, Resentment.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2009 : 08:29:30 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
Faith
The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage.
All men of faith have courage. They trust their God.
.- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 68
Thought to Ponder . . .
Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Finding Answers In The Heart.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/07/2009 : 08:30:37 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
Faith
The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage.
All men of faith have courage. They trust their God.
.- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 68
Thought to Ponder . . .
Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Finding Answers In The Heart.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 09/08/2009 : 07:39:28 AM
|
AA Thought for the Day
September 8, 2009
Living Sober
Somewhat to our surprise, staying sober turns out not to be
the grim, wet-blanket experience we had expected!
While we were drinking, a life without alcohol seemed like no life at all.
But for most members of AA, living sober is really living -- a joyous experience.
We much prefer it to the troubles we had with drinking.
One more note: anyone can get sober. We have done it lots of times.
The trick is to stay and to live sober.
- Living Sober, Foreword
Thought to Ponder . . .
The peaks and valleys of my life have become gentle rolling hills.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Always Alive.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
| Report to Moderator |
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
All Forums
Thought for the Day
New Topic
Printer Friendly
