AA Thought For Today - August

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AA Thought for the Day

August 29

Control
We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking.
We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control.
All of us felt at times we were regaining control, but such intervals -- usually brief --
were inevitably followed by still less control,
which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. . . .
Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 30

Thought to Ponder . . .
When we try to control our drinking, we have already lost control.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Absolute Abstinence.

~*~A.A. Thought For The Day~*~

Step One
"No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one.
Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor,
bleeds us all of self-sufficiency and all will
to resist its demands.
Once this stark fact is accepted,
our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete.
But upon entering AA we soon take quite another view
of this absolute humiliation.
We perceive that only through utter defeat
are we able to take our first steps
toward liberation and strength.
Our admissions of personal powerlessness
finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which
happy and purposeful lives may be built."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 21

Thought to Consider . . .
Once we clear a hurdle, it doesn't seem so high.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S T E P S = Solutions To Every Problem in Sobriety

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

Reality I Had Feared
From: "No Man Is An Island"
I was spiritually bankrupt long before AA entered my life and long before alcoholism took over like a parasite under my
skin. I had nothing, no faith at all to cling to. I had no faith in man, because along with my drinking I had lost faith in
myself. I trusted no one, for others were but a mere reflection of my own self, and I could not trust me.
I got sober in AA, and, like a miracle, the warm flood of reality I had feared for so long flowed over me, and I was no
longer afraid. I began to wonder why. Along with sobriety, something new had come into my life.
I began to have concern for others. This word concern, along with its sister consideration, was an alien thing to me. I
had believed myself capable of falling in love; I had thought myself a loving mother; but these emotions, I now perceive,
had been reflections of my own self-interest. Nothing penetrated beyond my self. I began, in early sobriety, to feel
compassion for other drunks, then for my children, then for my ex-husband. This compassion, a feeling accompanied
later by love, opened the door to a huge fortress within me which had been forever locked.
1973, AAWS, Inc., Came to Believe, pages 118-119.

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

"Learning is the very essence of humility. The two walk hand in hand. Humility, as I see it, grows out of an urge to learn
from everyone and everything."
Walnut Creek, California, May 1988
"Distilled Spirits,"
AA Grapevine

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

"We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show,
humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We
are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-
pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do
not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we
did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 87~

"We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from
it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will
find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new
attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or
effort on our part. It just comes!"
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 84

"We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 84

"To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or anxiety -- in other words, to all of us -- this
newfound peace is a priceless gift."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 74

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

'In some sections of A.A., anonymity is carried to the point of real absurdity. Members are on such a poor basis of
communication that they don't even know each other's last names or where each lives. It's like the cell of an underground.
'In other sections, we see exactly the reverse. It is difficult to restrain A.A.'s from shouting too much before the whole
public, by going on spectacular 'lecture tours' to play the big shot.
'However, I know that from these extremes we slowly pull ourselves onto a middle ground. Most lecture-giving
members do not last too long, and the superanonymous people are apt to come out of hiding respecting their A.A.
friends, business associates, and the like. I think the long-time trend is toward the middle of the road - which is
probably where we should be.

Prayer for the Day: Slow me down, Lord. Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind. Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time. Give me, amidst the confusion of my day, the calmness of everlasting hills. Break the tensions of my nerves with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory. Help me know the magical restoring power of sleep. Teach me the art of taking minute vacations of slowing down, to look at a flower, to chat with an old friend or make a new one, to pat a stray dog, to watch a spider build a web, to smile at a child, or to read from a good book. Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift, that there is more to life than increasing its speed. Let me look upward at the towering oak and know that it grew great and strong because it grew slowly and well. Lord, slow me down. Inspire me to send my own roots down deep into the soil of life's endearing values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny. Amen.