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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
 Posted - 11/17/2009 : 08:35:21 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 17, 2009
In all times of emotional disturbance or indecision, we can
pause, ask for quiet, and in the stillness simply say:
“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.”
Twelve and Twelve, p. 41
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2009 : 06:08:52 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 19, 2009
A continuous look at our assets and liabilities, and a real desire to learn and grow by this means, are necessities for us. We alcoholics have learned this the hard way. More experienced people, of course, in all times and places have practiced unsparing self-survey and criticism. For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching becomes a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong.
Twelve and Twelve, p. 88
It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 11/19/2009 : 08:10:12 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 19, 2009
Surrender
When I came to realize that, by myself,
I could do nothing to overcome the power of alcohol,
I realized I had no recourse except surrender.
In surrender, I found victory.
- Daily Reflections, p. 14
Thought to Ponder . . .
We surrender to win.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Keep It Simple; Surrender.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2009 : 07:23:58 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 20, 2009
Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul.
Twelve and Twelve, p. 97
Almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough.
Meditation is our step out into the sun.
There is a direct linkage among self-examination, mediation, and prayer.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
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966 Posts |
Posted - 11/20/2009 : 07:59:33 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 20, 2009
Power
Here was -- power!
Here was power to live to the end of any given day,
power to have the courage to face the next day,
power to have friends, power to help people, power to be sane,
power to stay sober. . .
I am deeply convinced that so long as I continue to strive, in my bumbling way,
toward the principles I first encountered in the earlier chapters of this book,
this remarkable power will continue to flow through me.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 386
Thought to Ponder . . .
The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Believing In God Beats Our Old Knowledge
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2009 : 07:31:15 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 21, 2009
An Unshakable Foundation
There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer.
Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit.
But when they are interwoven,
the result is an unshakable foundation for life.
- As Bill Sees It, p. 33
Thought to Ponder . . .
Prayer asks the question. Meditation listens for the answer.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Gently Releasing All Conscious Expectations.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/21/2009 : 07:44:09 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 21, 2009
“Honesty with ourselves and others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.
“Experience shows that few alcoholics will long stay away from a group just because they don’t like the way it is run. Most return and adjust themselves to whatever conditions they must. Some go to a different group, or form a new one.
“In other words, once an alcoholic fully realizes that he cannot get well alone, he will somehow find a way to get well and stay well in the company of others. It has been that way from the beginning of AA, and probably always will be so.”
++++++++++++++++++++
When the thought was express that there might be a God personal to me, I didn’t like the idea. So my friend Ebby made what then seemed a novel suggestion. He said, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”
That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.
++++++++++++++++++++
It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experiences such as ours, but I have often tried to explain my own and have succeeded only in giving the story of it. I know the feeling it gave me and the results it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper why and how.
1. Letter, 1943
2. Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 12
3. AA Comes Of Age, p 43
From As Bill Sees It, pages 312-313
Tolerance keeps us sober….
In the Sunlight at last……….
Happy, Joyous and Free!
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 11/22/2009 : 2:16:33 PM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 22, 2009
The Search
I walked all night long, the whole distance. . .
And I came into my apartment and I collapsed on the floor.
I lay there breathing kind of heavily and I said to myself,
"Oh, to hell with serenity. I don't care if it ever comes."
And I meant it. And do you know what happened?
All of a sudden the craving to find serenity utterly evaporated --
and in its place was serenity. The trouble was the search --
looking out there for what was right here.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 3], p. 142
Thought to Ponder . . .
I can find on the outside only what I possess on the inside.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Hang On! Peace Exists.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 07:12:33 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 23, 2009
Even the newest of newcomers finds undreamed rewards as he tries to help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him. And then he discovers that by the divine paradox of this kind of giving he has found his own reward, whether his brother has yet received anything or not. His own character may still be gravely defective, but he somehow knows that God has enabled him to make a mighty beginning, and he senses that he stands at the edge of new mysteries, joys, and experiences of which he had never even dreamed.
Twelve and Twelve, p. 109 & 110
Freely ye have received; freely give.....
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!”
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 07:27:38 AM
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I don't know if anyone else is reading these or not, but it doesn't matter, because the readings Tim and I post daily, help me. I am really getting a lot from them! Writing them and reading Tim's. I read my own AA books daily, but this just gives me that extra little something... It's funny how Tim will post exactly what I need to hear....
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
Edited by - Pamela7030 on 11/24/2009 08:41:32 AM |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 11/23/2009 : 08:34:55 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 23, 2009
Honesty
Deceiving myself about myself
is setting myself up for failure or disappointment in life and in AA.
A close, honest relationship with a Higher Power
is the only foundation I've found for honesty with self and with others.
- Daily Reflections, p. 117
Thought to Ponder . . .
Honesty isn't an event -- it's a process.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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| 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. |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2009 : 08:36:26 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 24, 2009
We scarcely need be reminded that excessive guilt or rebellion leads to spiritual poverty. But it was a very long time before we knew we could go even more broke on spiritual pride. When we early AAs got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we coined this expression: “Don’t try to get too damned good by Thursday!” That old-time admonition my look like another of those handy alibis that can excuse us from trying for our best. Yet a closer view reveals just the contrary. This is our AA way of warning against pride-blindness, and the imaginary perfections that we do not possess.
Now that we no longer patronize bars and bordellos; now that we bring home the paychecks; now that we are so very active in AA; and now that people congratulate us on these signs of progress – well, we naturally proceed to congratulate ourselves. Yet we may not be within hailing distance of humility. Meaning well, yet doing badly, how often have I said or thought, “I am right and you are wrong,” “my plan is correct and yours is faulty,” “Thank God your sins are not my sins,” “You are hurting AA and I’m going to stop you cold” “I have God’s guidance, so he is on my side,” And so on, indefinitely.
The alarming thing about such pride-blindness is the ease with which it is justified. But we need not look far to see that this deceptive brand of self-justification is a universal destroyer of harmony and of love. It sets person against person, nation against nation. By it, every form of folly and violence can be made to look right, and even respectable. Of course it is not for us to condemn. We need only investigate ourselves.
The Best of Bill, Pages 39 and 40
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2009 : 08:45:29 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Pamela7030
I don't know if anyone else is reading these or not, but it doesn't matter, because the readings Tim and I post daily, help me. I am really getting a lot from them! Writing them and reading Tim's. I read my own AA books daily, but this just gives me that extra little something... It's funny how Tim will post exactly what I need to hear....
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!”
I re-read this today and it does sound a little selfish. I do hope these readings are helping others. But I guess what I was trying to say was, again, when I'm helping others; I always find it helps me too.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 11/24/2009 : 9:46:13 PM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 24, 2009
Humility
You get just a little sobriety, and you get just a little humility.
Not much, just a little. Not the humility of sackcloth and ashes,
but the humility of a man who's glad he's alive and can serve.
You get just a little tolerance, not too much,
but just enough to sit and listen to the other guy. . . .
And you realize that if you put all this together, you get a little humility,
a little tolerance, a little honesty, a little sincerity, a little prayer --
and a lot of AA.
- Experience, Strength and Hope, pp. 201-202
Thought to Ponder . . .
Live and let live.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Choosing Humility Allows New Gifts and Energy
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/25/2009 : 11:44:50 PM
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AA Thought for the Day
November 25, 2009
"Don't forget that the world record is 24 hours."
I remember when I was new watching people take cakes for 5 years, 7 years and more, and thinking that they had something I didn't - the ability to stay sober. When I shared about this, I was told that we all have the same amount of time - today. As I kept going to meetings, I started to see people with long term recovery go out and learned how important it was to value and concentrate on today.
As I got a few years under my belt and began trying to figure out what to do with my life, I once again got impatient when I saw that others had accomplished so much and seemed to have many of the things that I wanted, too. When I shared this, I was once again reminded that the world record was just 24 hours and that if I set a goal and took the next daily action, then I could also accomplish anything I set my mind to.
Over the years I've come to see the immense wisdom and simplicity in today's quote. When tasks or goals seem impossible to accomplish or overcome, I remind myself that while I may not be able to keep it up or do it over a lifetime, I can do it just for today.
And what I've found is that when I take the right action, one 24 hour day at a time, obstacles are overcome and dreams do come true.
wisdomoftherooms.com
(I have a friend, who was very much a part of my recovery. in my first few years in the fellowship, who is now in prison. She had 19 years when she went back out. Right now she is in lock down, in the women's prison in Jessup Maryland. She was holding and trading her pills for commissary. She was up for parole when she got caught. She still has time to serve in Virginia and is going to be picked up from Jessup by Virginia as soon as she does her time in Maryland. When she went out, she got busted in Maryland, DC and Virginia and I think in Maryland again. Two weeks ago, if she would have stayed clean, she would have celebrated 21 years of sobriety. I have sent her money for commissary, only to find out that she owed it to the prison. She has asked me for more money and I just can't keep enabling her. On the eve of Thanksgiving, I am grateful that I am with my family, not in prison, not doing drugs, and not in withdrawal... That I have a program of recovery; that I have tools to help keep me sober. My life is good, not perfect, but good. I have a sponsor and a network. I go to meetings and I am working the steps. Yes, life is good.... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.... Thanks for listening. Pam
P.S. Remember all any of us has is just 24 hours!)
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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