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AA Thought for the Day

August 14

Carry This Message
To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light,
to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, to see whole families reassembled,
to see the alcoholic outcast received back into his community in full citizenship, and above all
to watch these people awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives—these things are the
substance of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message to the next alcoholic.
- 12 Steps & 12 Traditions, p. 110

Thought to Ponder
In AA we carry the message ... not the mess.

AA-related 'Alconym'
A L C O H O L I C S = A Life Centered On Helping Others Live In Complete Sobriety.

AA Thought for the Day

August 14

Good Idea
The first step toward feeling better,
and getting over our sickness is quite simply not drinking.
Try the idea on for size.
Wouldn't you rather have a health condition which can be successfully treated,
than spend a lot of time miserably wondering what's wrong with you?
- Living Sober, p. 10

Thought to Ponder . . .
Make a change, move a muscle.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Achieve Anything.

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

Hangovers
"When a drunk has a terrific hangover because
he drank heavily yesterday, he cannot live well today.
But there is another kind of hangover which we all experience
whether we are drinking or not.
That is the emotional hangover,
the direct result of yesterday's and sometimes today's
excesses of negative emotion -
anger, fear, jealousy, and the like.
If we would live serenely today and tomorrow,
we certainly need to eliminate these hangovers."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 88

Thought to Consider . . .
I'd rather be better than bitter.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A = Altered Attitudes

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

Joker in the Glass
"Chapter XXIII: His prescriptions for sobriety
You know, Dan, he [Dr. Bob] told me, many people coming into A.A. get the wrong conception of "Easy Does It, and I hope you don't. It doesn't mean that you sit on your fanny, stay home from meetings and let other people work the program for you. It doesn't mean you have an easy life without drinking. Easy Does It means you take it a day at a time.
He told me that before I could be honest with him or my sponsor or anyone else, I had to get honest with that joker in the glass.
I didn't know what he meant by that joker in the glass. He told me that was the man in the looking glass. When you shave tomorrow, get honest with the man who looks back at you from the looking glass.
1980, AAWS, Inc., Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, page 282

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

"Let all of us AAs, whether we be trustees, editors, secretaries, janitors, or cooks -- or just members -- ever recall the unimportance of wealth and authority as compared with the vast import of our brotherhood, love, and service."
AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1947
"Will AA Ever Have a Personal Government?"
The Language of the Heart

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

Let no alcoholic say he cannot recover unless he has his family back. His recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God, however he may define him.
Alcoholics Anonymous p. 99,100

"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 intellectual 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."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, pg. 12~

“We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone.”
Alcoholics Anonymous p. 84

“We needn’t wallow in excessive remorse before those we have harmed, but amends at this level should always be forthright and generous.”
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 86

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We of A.A. sometimes brag of the virtues of our Fellowship. Let us remember that few of these are actually earned virtues. We were forced into them, to begin with, by the cruel lash of alcoholism. We finally adopted them, not because we wished to, but because we had to.
Then, as time confirmed the seeming rightness of our basic principles, we began to conform because it was right to do so. Some of us, notably myself, conformed even then with reluctance.
But at last we came to a point where we stood willing to conform gladly to the principles which experience, under the grace of God, had taught us.

Prayer for the Day: God, I thank you from the bottom of my heart that I know you better. Help me become aware of anything I have omitted discussing with another person. Help me to do what is necessary to walk a free man at last. Amen