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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
 Posted - 07/05/2008 : 06:50:17 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 5, 2008
A Meaningful Life
Through AA, I was able to forge my character into something
that was compatible with a functional and meaningful life.
I learned that sobriety isn't a discrete list of tasks that you do and then check off;
it's a state of being that pervades every facet of your life.
I can now take solace knowing that as long as I'm a good person,
my Higher Power will look out for me.
And in order to be a good person, I have to be sober.
And the only way I can stay sober
is through the support of Alcoholics Anonymous.
The AA Grapevine, July 2008, Vol. 65, No. 2, p. 18
Thought to Ponder . . .
AA is not something you join; it's a way of life.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 06:43:21 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 6, 2008
Freedom
I am free to laugh all of my laughter, free to trust and be trusted,
free to both give and receive help.
I am free from shame and regret, free to learn and grow and work.
I have left that lonely, frightening, painful express train through hell.
I have accepted the gift of a safer, happier journey through life.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 543
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Within our wonderful new world,
we have found freedom from our fatal obsession.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Happy, Joyous, Free.
As Always
Sending angels,
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 10:45:36 PM
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July 6..............I'm Sorry
"The main thing (the Eighth Step) does for us is to help build awareness that, little by little, we are gaining new attitudes about ourselves and how we deal with other people."
Basic text, p. 38
To say, "I'm sorry" probably isn't such a foreign idea to most of us. In our active addiction, it may have been a very familiar phrase. We were always telling people how sorry we were, and were probably deeply surprised when someone, tired of our meaningless, apologies, responded with, "You sure are. In fact, you're the sorriest excuse for..." That may have been our first clue that an "I'm sorry" didn't really make any difference to those we harmed, especially when we both knew that we'd just do the same thing again.
Many of us thought that making amends would be another "I'm sorry." However, the action we take in those steps is entirely different. Making amends means to make changes and, above all, to make the situation right. If we stole money, we don't just say, "I'm sorry, I'll never do it again now that I'm clean." We pay the money back. If we neglect or abuse our families, we don't just apologize. We begin to treat them with rspect.
Amending our behavior and the way we treat ourselves and others is the whole purpose of working the steps. We're no longer just "sorry"; we're responsible.
Just For Today: I accept responsibility for myself and my recovery. Today, I will amend some particular thing I'm sorry for.
From the book Just For Today, Daily Meditations for
Recovering Addicts, NA World Services, Inc. page 196
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2008 : 09:56:42 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 7, 2008
The Ladder
No one who drank as I did wakes up on the edge of the abyss one morning
and says: Things look pretty scary;
I think I'd better stop drinking before I fall in.
I was convinced I could go as far as I wanted, and then climb back out
when it wasn't fun anymore. What happened was,
I found myself at the bottom of the canyon thinking I'd never see the sun again.
AA didn't pull me out of that hole.
It gave me the tools to construct a ladder, with Twelve Steps.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 316
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
The elevator is broken -- use the Steps.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Achieve Anything.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2008 : 10:31:15 AM
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The elevator is broken -- use the Steps. I never heard that one before. I really like that! I will be using that one at meetings. My elevator is definatly broken.
Pam
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2008 : 05:30:24 AM
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Thought for the Day
July 8, 2008
Letting Go
When we look back, we realize that the things
which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands
were better than anything we could have planned.
© 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 2
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Get a grip on letting go.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Leave Everything To God, Okay?
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 09:02:03 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 9, 2008
Symptom
Though our decision was a vital and crucial step,
it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed
by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves
which had been blocking us.
Our liquor was but a symptom.
So we had to get down to causes and conditions.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 64
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
Once we understand ourselves, the rest of living falls in line.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Behavior, Attitude, Thinking, Habits.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 10:06:44 PM
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July 9........We Do Recover!
"...the time has come when that tired old lie, 'Once an addict, always an addict,' will no longer be tolerated by either society or the addict himself. We do recover."
Basic Text, p. 86
From time to time, we hear speakers share that they don't really understand spiritual principles yet. They tell us that if we knew what went on in their minds, we'd be amazed at how insane they still are. They tell us that the longer they're clean, the less they know about anything. In the next breath, these same speakers tell us about the profound changes recovery has made in their lives. They have moved from complete despair to unfailing hope, from uncontrollable drug use to total abstinence, from chronic unmanageability to responsibility through working the Twelve Steps of NA. Which story is true? Do we or don't we recover?
We may think we demonstrate humility or gratitude by underplaying the change that recovery has brought to our lives. True, we do injustice to the program when we take credit for this miracle ourselves. But we do an equal injustice--to ourselves and to those we share with--when we don't acknowledge this miracle's magnitude.
We do recover. If we have trouble seeing the miracle of recovery, we'd better look again. Recovery is alive and at work in NA--in our oldtimers, in the newcomers flooding our meetings, and most of all in ourselves. All we have to do is open our eyes.
Just For Today: I will acknowledge the miracle of my recovery and be grateful that I've found it.
From the book Just For Today, Daily Meditations for
Recovering Addicts, NA World Services, Inc. page 199
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2008 : 01:19:37 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 10, 2008
Hope
Most of us have seen death close up.
We have known the kind of suffering that wrenches the bones.
But we have also known the sort of hope that makes the heart sing.
And we hope this booklet has conveyed to you more encouragement than pain.
If you are a problem drinker, you already know about pain and loneliness.
We'd like you to find some of the peace and joy we have found
in meeting the reality of life's ups and downs
with a clear and steady heart.
© 1998 AAWS, Living Sober, p. 86
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Heart Open; Please Enter.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2008 : 10:40:04 PM
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July 10...........................A Positive Attitude
"That old nest of negativism followed me everywhere I went."
Basic Text, p. 135
A negative attitude is the trademark of active addiction. Everything that occurred in our lives was someone or something else's fault. We had blaming others for our shortcomings down to a fine science. In recovery, one of the first things we strive to develop is a new attitude. We find that life goes a lot easier when we replace our negative thinking with positive principles.
While a negative attitude dogged us in our active addiction, all too often it can follow us into the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous. How can we begin to adjust our attitudes? By altering our actions. It isn't easy, but it can be done.
We can start by listening to the way we talk. Before we open our mouths, we ask ourselves some simple questions: Does what I'm going to say speak to the problem, or the solution? Is what I'm going to say framed in a kind manner? Is what I have to say important, or would everyone be just as well off if I kept my mouth shut? Am I talking just to hear myself talk, or is there some purpose to my "words" of wisdom"?
Our attitudes are expressed in our actions. Often, it's not what we say, but the way we say it, that rally matters. As we learn to speak in a more positive manner, we will notice our attitudes improving as well.
Just For Today: I want to be free of negativity. Today, I will speak and act positively.
From the book Just For Today, Daily Meditations for
Recovering Addicts, NA World Services, Inc. page 199
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2008 : 09:11:01 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 11, 2008
Emotional Sobriety
If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small,
we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent
unhealthy demand.
Let us, with God's help, continually surrender these hobbling demands.
Then we can be set free to live and love;
we may then be able to Twelfth Step ourselves and others
into emotional sobriety.
© 1988 The AA Grapevine, Inc., The Language of the Heart, p. 238
Thought to Ponder . . .
Sobriety is a journey, not a destination.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Surrender, Willingness, Action, Trust.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2008 : 12:37:56 PM
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July 11............................Encouragement
"We share comfort and encouragement with others."
Basic Text, p.95
Many of us have watched as babies take their first steps. The mother holds the child on its feet. The father kneels nearby with outstretched arms, encouraging the little one, his face flooded with devotion. The baby takes a few small steps toward its father. An older brother and sister cheer the tyke on. Baby falls down. Its mother, murmuring words of comfort, picks the child up and starts over again. This time, baby stays up until it is close enough to fall into the safety of its father's arms.
As newcomers, we arrive in the rooms of NA much like this small child. Accustomed to living life crippled by addiction, full of fear and uncertainty, we need help to stand. Just like a child beginning its march toward adulthood, we take our hulting first steps toward recovery. We learn to live this new way of life because others who have gone before us encourage and comfort us by telling us what worked--and what didn't work--for them. Our sponsor is there for us when we need a push in the right direction.
Many times we feel like we can't take another step in recovery. Just like a child learning to walk, we sometimes stumble or fall. But our Higher Poswer always awaits us with outstretched arms. And like the child's brothers and sisters shouting their encouragement, we, too, are supported by other NA members as we walk toward a full life in recovery.
Just For Today: I will seek encouragement from others. I will encourage others who may need my strength.
From the book Just For Today, Daily Meditations for
Recovering Addicts, NA World Services, Inc. page 201
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Freefly
Administrator
964 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2008 : 08:26:08 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
~* Scroll down for share ~
July 12, 2008
There Is A Solution
Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride,
the confession of shortcomings which the process requires
for its successful consummation.
But we saw that it really worked in others,
and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life
as we had been living it.
When, therefore, we were approached by those
in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us
but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.
© 2001 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 25
With permission, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
Thought to Ponder . . .
The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Saving Our Lives Using The Inspiration Of Necessary Steps.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
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800 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2008 : 12:13:03 PM
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But my friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known.
Had this power originated in Him? Obviously it had not. There had been no more power in him than there was in me at that minute; and this was none at all.
That floored me. It began to look as though religous people were right after all. Here was something at work in a human heart which had done the impossible. My ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. Never mind the musty past; here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table. He shouted great tidings.
I saw that my friend was much more than inwardly reorganized. He was on a different footing. His roots grasped a new soil.
Despite the living example of my friend there remained in me the vestiges of my old prejudice. The word God still aroused a certain antipathy. When the thought was expressed that there might be a God personal to me this feeling was intensified. I didn't like the idea. I could go for such conceptions as Creative Intelligence, Universal Mind or Spirit of Nature but I resisted the thought of a Czar of the Heavens, however loving His sway might be. I have since talked with scores of men who felt the same way.
My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?"
That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intelectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.
It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start from that point. Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what I saw in my friend. Would I have it? Of course I would!
Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. At long last I saw, I felt, I believed. Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view.
The real significance of my experience in the Cathedral burst upon me. For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted God. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me--and He came. But soon the sense of His presence had been blotted out by worldly clamors, mostly those within myself. And so it had been ever since. How blind I had been.
At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time. Treatment seemed wise, for I showed signs of delirium tremens.
There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessy faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch. I have not had a drink since.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From the book Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, pages 11-13
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York City, NY
Chapter 1, Bill's Story (Bill and Ebby in the kitchen!)
(I believe these are the steps 1 through 7?)
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2008 : 12:27:50 PM
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From "As Bill Sees It", Page 1
Personality Change
"It has often been said of AA that we are interested only in alcoholism. That is not true. We have to get over drinking in order to stay alive. But anyone who knows the alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking permanently without undergoing a profound change."
<< << << >> >> >>
We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn't do so to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.
1. Letter, 1940
2. Twelve and Twelve, p. 47
From As Bill Sees It, The AA Way of Life, selected writings of AA's co-founder, Alcoholics Anonymous Worlds Services, Inc., New York.
"Reach for the stars...You will at least end up among the clouds"
Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!
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