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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
 Posted - 06/29/2010 : 3:10:49 PM
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This describes me lately......
AA Thought for Today
June 29, 2K10
There are some days when I say, "What program?" "God who?"
Last week my business website was hacked, my site was taken down, and my account was suspended. For hours, while I lost revenue and customers, I pleaded, begged and threatened my hosting company's technical support. For the most part I was polite and professional, but I was cursing under my breath, anxious and pissed off. After it was all over, I was a wreck. Later that evening I wondered why I hadn't brought God into it and why I hadn't worked my program.
What I realized is that fear is still the chief activator of my character defects, and prime among them is fear of losing something I have or of not getting what I demand. As I furiously instant messaged and emailed their support, I saw eight years of work go down the drain, felt the pain of starting over and grew increasingly resentful. Thankfully everything was resolved in a few hours, but for a while I was alone and spiritually vulnerable.
As I reflect back on the experience, I'm amazed by how quickly I can abandon my program when I'm in fear. I completely understand when I hear of people who pick up a drink after 20 years and can't explain why. I know that alcoholism is cunning, baffling and powerful, and I'm constantly reminded that I must remain vigilant.
Because even after all my time in recovery, there are some days when I say, "What program?" "God who?"
thewisdomoftherooms.com
I celebrate 4 years of sobriety on Thursday, July 1, 2010
Keep coming back!
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2010 : 06:45:56 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
2010
Negativity
On the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in my life.
The instant I start cursing things in my life, however, the flow of good stops.
God did not interrupt the flow; my own negativity did.
~ Daily Reflections, p. 319
Thought to Ponder . . .
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
and we never even know we have the key.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
ltered ttitudes.
As always
Sending angels ~~
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/01/2010 : 09:04:45 AM
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AA Thought for Today
July 1, 2K10
Can We Choose?
We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy
that we are just the hapless victims of our inheritance,
of our life experiences, and of our surroundings – that
these are the sole forces that make our decisions for us.
This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that
we can really choose.
----------------------------------------------------------
As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether
we would drink. We were the victims of a compulsion
which seemed to decree that we must go on with our
own destruction.
Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our
recovery. We came to believe that alone we were
powerless over alcohol. This was surely a choice, and a
most difficult one. We came to believe that a Higher Power
could restore us to sanity when we became willing to
practice AA’s Twelve Steps.
In short, we chose to “become willing,” and no better
choice did we ever make.
Grapevine, November 1960
Letter, 1966
As Bill Sees It, p. 4
The principles we have set down are guides to progress.
We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through
with it.” Do not be discouraged. No one among us has
been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to
these principles. We are not saints.
We are alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
That probably no human power could have relived
our alcoholism.
That God could and would if He were sought.
I came into AA/NA July 1, 2006. Today is my 4th
Anniversary!
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2010 : 08:10:23 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 2, 2010
Change
In order for me to enjoy a happy, peaceful, sober existence, I had to change --
change my attitudes, my way of thinking, my habits.
As a matter of fact, I had to change everything about me. . .
However, to my amazement, after some time,
I was able to notice changes in me
and I liked the changes.
What's even more miraculous is that the changing is still going on.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol 3], p. 231
Thought to Ponder . . .
Courage is the ability to change the familiar.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
cceptance, elief, hange.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/02/2010 : 11:03:24 AM
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NA Thought for Today
July 2, 2K10
May people think that recovery is simply a matter of
not using drugs. They consider a relapse a sign of
complete failure, and long periods of abstinence a sign
of complete success. We in the recovery program of NA
have found that this perception is too simplistic. After a
member has had some involvement in our Fellowship, a
relapse may be the jarring experience that brings about
a more rigorous application of the program. By the same
token we have observed some members who remain
abstinent for long periods of time whose dishonesty and
self-deceit still prevent them from enjoying complete
recovery and acceptance within society. Complete and
continuous abstinence, however, in close association and
identification with others in NA groups, is still the best
ground for growth.
NA Book, p. 77
We sometimes see our past behavior as part of ourselves
and not part of our disease.
Meetings provide a safe place to share with others. We
begin to live the program; we learn to apply spiritual
principles in our lives. We must use what we learn or
we will lose it in a relapse.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/03/2010 : 09:09:13 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 3, 2010
Healing Ourselves
We realize now that we were excessively self-centered,
chiefly concerned about our feelings,
our problems, other people's reactions to us,
and our own past and future.
Therefore, trying to get into communication with and to help other people
is a recovery measure for us, because it helps take us out of ourselves.
Trying to heal ourselves by helping others works,
even when it is an insincere gesture. Try it some time.
~ Living Sober, p. 85
Thought to Ponder . . .
A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
elping very lcoholic ive.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2010 : 09:06:57 AM
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NA Thought for Today
July 4, 2K10
Our primary purpose is to stay clean and to carry the
message to the addict who still suffers.
The program works a miracle in our lives. We become
different people. Working the steps and maintaining
abstinence gives us a daily reprieve from our
self-imposed life sentences. We become free to live.
We don’t have to settle for the limitations of the past.
Thought the principles of the Twelve Steps may seem
strange to us at first, the most important thing about
them is that they work. Our program is a way of life.
We learn the value of spiritual principles such as
surrender, humility and service from reading the
NA literature, going to meetings and working the steps.
We find that our lives steadily improve, if we maintain
abstinence from mind-altering, mood-changing chemicals
and work the Twelve Steps to sustain our recover.
Living this program gives us a relationship with a Power
greater than ourselves, corrects defects and leads us to
help others. Where there has been wrong, the program
teaches us the spirit of forgiveness.
NA Book, What is the Narcotics Anonymous Program, pp. 10-11
The heart of NA beats when two addicts share their recovery.
Alcohol is a drug!
The most important person at any meeting is the newcomer,
because we can only keep what we have by giving it away.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2010 : 07:48:18 AM
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NA Thought for Today
July 5, 2K10
Although all addicts are basically the same in kind, we do, as individuals, differ in degree of sickness and rate of recovery. There may be times when a relapse lays the groundwork for complete freedom. At other times that freedom can only be achieved by a grim and obstinate willfulness to hang on to abstinence come hell or high water until a crisis passes. An addict, who by any means can lose, even for a time the need or desire to use, and has free choice over impulsive thinking and compulsive action, has reach a turning point that may be the decisive factor in his recovery. The feeling of true independence and freedom hangs her at times in the balance. To step out alone and run our own lives again draws us, yet we seem to know that what we have has come from dependence on a Power greater than ourselves and from the giving and receiving of help from others in acts of empathy. Many times in our recovery the old bugaboos will haunt us. Life may again become meaningless, monotonous and boring. 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 of our greatest growth. Our minds and bodies seem tired of it all, yet the dynamic forces of change or true conversion, deep within, may be working to give us the answers that alter our inner motivations and change our lives.
NA Book, pp. 77-78
When we forget the effort and the work that it took us to get a period of freedom in our lives, a lack of gratitude sinks in, and self-destruction begins again.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2010 : 08:22:01 AM
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AA Thought for Today
July 6, 2K10
Group and World-Wide Community
The moment Twelfth Step work forms a group, a
discovery is made – that most individuals cannot
recovery unless there is a group. Realization dawns
on each member that he is but a small part of a great
whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for
preservation of the Fellowship. He learns that the
clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be
silenced whenever these could damage the group.
It becomes plain that the group must survive or the
individual will not.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The Lone member at sea, the AA at war in a far
land – all these members know that they belong to
AA’s world-wide community, that theirs is only a
physical separation, that their fellows may be as near
as the next port of call. Ever so importantly, they are
certain that God’s grace is just as much with them on
the high seas or the lonely outpost as it is with them
at home.
Twelve and Twelve, p. 130
Letter, 1966
Our common welfare should come first; personal
recovery depends on AA unity.
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate
authority – a loving God as He may express Himself
in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted
servants; they do not govern.
The only requirement for membership is a desire.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2010 : 08:15:36 AM
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AA Thought for Today
July 7, 2K10
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going
to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception
and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to
the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability
to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a
gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard
enough and long enough to drink like other people!
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 31
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2010 : 08:36:58 AM
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NA Thought for Today
July 9, 2K10
Recovery as experienced through our Twelve Steps is our
goal, not mere physical abstinence. To improve ourselves takes
effort, and since there is no way in the world to graft a new idea
on a closed mind, an opening must be made somehow. Since we
can do this only for ourselves, we need to recognize two of our
seemingly inherent enemies, apathy and procrastination. Our
resistance to change seems built in, and only a nuclear blast of
some kind will bring about any alteration or initiate another
course of action. A relapse, if we survive it, may provide the
charge for the demolition process. A relapse and sometimes
subsequent death of someone close to us can do the job of
awakening us to the necessity for vigorous personal action.
NA Book, p. 78
In our daily lives, we are subject to emotional and spiritual
lapses, causing us to become defenseless against the physical
replace of drug use. Because addiction is an incurable disease,
addicts are subject to relapse.
We are never forced into relapse. We are given a choice.
Relapse is never an accident.
When we forget the effort and the work that it took us to get
a period of freedom in our lives, a lack of gratitude sinks in, and
self-destruction begins again.
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
| Report to Moderator |
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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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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 07:36:16 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 10, 2010
Meditation
Peace, love, and joy can be sought through quiet thinking and honest prayer.
The wholeness, the new awareness, that is produced
affects one's relationship with God and man to a degree greater
than would seem possible in ordinary life.
~ Came To Believe . . ., p. 65
Thought to Ponder . . .
Meditation means trusting the silence around me for a while,
as if it were an answer I had long sought.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
eel, ntuition, rust.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Pamela7030
Moderator
800 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 07:52:59 AM
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AA Thought For Today
July 10, 2010
"......we have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even alcohol."
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 84
“Share your experience, strength, and hope with another and see the miracles transform your life!” |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2010 : 07:46:01 AM
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Thought for the Day
July 11, 2010
Philosophy
For me, AA is a synthesis of all the philosophy I have ever read,
all of the positive, good philosophy, all of it based on love.
I have seen that there is only one law, the law of love,
and there are only two sins;
the first is to interfere with the growth of another human being,
and the second is to interfere with one's own growth.
~ Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 431
Thought to Ponder . . .
Love that is unseen is eternal.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
ay f ife.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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Freefly
Administrator
966 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2010 : 05:48:36 AM
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AA Thought for the Day
July 12, 2010
Never Again
I take the attitude that I intend never to drink again.
This is somewhat different from saying, "I will never drink again."
The latter attitude sometimes gets people in trouble
because it is undertaking on a personal basis
to do what we alcoholics never could do.
~ As Bill Sees It, p. 16
Thought to Ponder . . .
We are in charge of our attitudes.
Day by Day is the only way.... |
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