Daily Recovery Readings - November 3

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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.

November 3

Daily Reflections

FOCUSING AND LISTENING

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken
separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 98

If I do my self-examination first, then surely, I'll have enough humility to pray and
meditate - because I'll see and feel my need for them. Some wish to begin and end with
prayer, leaving the self-examination and meditation to take place in between, whereas
others start with meditation, listening for advice from God about their still hidden or
unacknowledged defects. Still others engage in written and verbal work on their defects,
ending with a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. These three--self-examination,
meditation and prayer-- form a circle, without a beginning or an end. No matter where, or
how, I start, I eventually arrive at my destination: a better life.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

I have charity, another word for love. That right kind of love which is not selfish passion
but an unselfish, outgoing desire to help other people. To do what is best for the other
person, to put what is best for him or her above my own desires. To put God first, the
other person second, and myself last. Charity is gentle, kind, understanding,
long-suffering, and full of desire to serve. A.A. has given me this. What I do for
myself is lost; what I do for others may be written somewhere in eternity. Have I
charity?

Meditation For The Day

"Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you." God has unlimited power. There is no
limit to what His power can do in human hearts. But we must will to have God's power and
we must ask God for it. God's power is blocked off from us by our indifference to it. We
can go along our own selfish way without calling on God's help and we get no power. But
when we trust in God, we can will to have the power we need. When we sincerely ask God
for it, we get it abundantly.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may will to have God's power. I pray that I may keep praying for the
strength I need.

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As Bill Sees It

From The Taproot, p. 305

The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first
admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole
Society has sprung and flowered.

<< << << >> >> >>

Every newcomer is told, and soon realizes for himself, that his humble
admission of powerlessness over alcohol is his first step toward
liberation from its paralyzing grip.

So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest
beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of
being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true
freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as
something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time.
A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse
all at once.

12 & 12
1. pp. 21-22
2. pp. 72-73

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Walk In Dry Places

Living with impossible dreams
Hope and false hope.
No matter how badly we managed our lives while drinking, many of us survived by holding on to the hope that some great stroke of luck would rescue us. Either we would find a windfall to pay off our debts, or a kind benefactor would appear to set things right.
These are impossible dreams, but they helped sustain us in the miserable half-world of alcoholism. We could not see that drinking was the real problem.
But we did have our great stroke of luck in finding AA. This helped us face our debts. At the same time, we found benefactors i the form of sponsors and other friends. We also found a Higher Power.
Even in sobriety, we have to guard against the impossible dreams we nourished while drinking. Again and again, we must remind ourselves that sober living is based on reality. Even reality, however, can have its miracles.
I'll keep my dreams alive today, but I'll make sure that they have a good foundation in reality.

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Keep It Simple

Words are the voice of the heart.---Confucius
What does my heart have to say today? Am I happy ? Or I’m I troubled? We will find this out if we slow down and listen to our words. We can also hear our spirit in the tone of our words.
We are to meditate. Meditation is about slowing down so we can hear what our spirit is trying to tell us. Meditation is listening. Our spirit is but a quiet whisper inside us. To hear we must quiet ourselves.
Slowing down allows us to find our center. As we find our center we find our spirit and our Higher Power. Do I take the time needed to slow myself down? Do I take the time ot listen---to listen to my heart?
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, teach me to slow down. Teach me to hear Your whisper as well as Your yells.
Action for the Day: Today, I will take a half hour to slow down and listen. I will find a place to relax and listen to my heart and my words.

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Each Day a New Beginning

It is the calm after the storm. I feel a rainbow where there once were clouds, and while my Spirit dances in gratitude, my mind speculates on the next disaster. Duality. --Mary Casey
Our growth as women is contingent on our ability to flow with the dualities, the contradictions inherent in one's lifetime, not only to flow with them but to capitalize on them.
We are not offered a painless existence, but we are offered opportunities for gathering perspective from the painful moments. And our perspectives are cushioned by the principles of the program. The rough edges of life, the storms that whip our very being, are gifts in disguise. We see life anew, when the storm has subsided.
We can enjoy the calm, if that surrounds us today. We deserve the resting periods. They give us a chance to contemplate and make fully our own that which the recent storm brought so forcefully to our attention. We are powerless over the storm's onslaught. But we can gain from it and be assured that the storm gives all the meaning there is in the calm.
I will be glad today for the clouds or the rainbows. Both are meant for my good. And without both, neither has meaning.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 11 - A Vision For You

Thus we grow. And so can you, though you be but one man with this book in your hand. We believe and hope it contains all you will need to begin.

pp. 162-163

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Crossing The River Of Denial

She finally realized that when she enjoyed her drinking, she couldn't control it, and when she controlled it, she couldn't enjoy it.

Dad was an alcoholic, and my mother drank throughout her pregnancy, but I don't blame my parents for my alcoholism. Kids with a lot worse upbringings than mine did not turn out alcoholic, while some that had it alot better did. In fact, I stopped wondering, "Why me?" a long time ago. It's like a man standing on a bridge in the middle of a river with his pants on fire wondering why his pants are on fire. It doesn't matter. Just jump in! And that is exactly what I did with A.A. once I finally crossed the river of denial!

p. 328

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

Suppose that financial insecurity constantly arouses these same feelings. I can ask myself to what extent have my own mistakes fed my gnawing anxieties. And if the actions of others are part of the cause, what can I do about that? If I am unable to change the present state of affairs, am I willing to take the measures necessary to shape my life to conditions as they are? Questions like these, more of which will come to mind easily in each individual case, will help turn up the root causes.

pp. 52-53

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Lay hold of today's task, and you will not depend so much on tomorrow's.
--Seneca

The secret of life is not to do what you like, but to like what you do.
--American Proverb

A saddened heart is not made happier with a change of place.
--Capt. Michael Hobson

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons."
--Ruth Ann Schabaker

Gods compass will lead me and give me direction.
--Shelley

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

CHOICES

"Another good reducing
exercise consists in placing both
hands against the table edge
and pushing back."
-- Robert Quillen

I am an alcoholic and today I choose not to drink. When alcohol is offered, I say
"no". I do not go into "wet places", spend time with drinkers or put myself in
awkward situations. I assist my abstinence by the choices I make.

The recovering gambler avoids Las Vegas. The drug addict avoids sick relationships.
The compulsive overeater must exercise the spiritual power of choice around food.
"No" must involve both hands! For the recovering addict, talk must be accompanied by
action. Some people, places and things must be avoided.

Spirituality is making my talk a visible reality.

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"Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth,
and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation."
Psalm 25:4-5

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
I Peter 5:7

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Daily Inspiration

Be able to do more today by expanding your vision of what you can accomplish. Lord, help me realize that my limits are beyond what I think and fill me with motivation to reach higher.

When you have faith in yourself and God, you will know that you are loved and safe and never alone. Lord, I am these things because You are always with me.

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NA Just For Today

No Matter What

"We eventually have to stand on our own feet and face life on its own terms, so why not from the start."

Basic Text p.85

Some of us feel that we should protect newcomers by telling them that, while everything used to be horrible, now we're in recovery it's all wonderful. We feel that we might scare someone away if we speak of pain or difficulties, broken marriages, being robbed, and the like. In a sincere and well-intentioned desire to carry the message, we tend to talk glowingly only about what's going well in our lives.

But most newcomers already suspect the truth, even if they've only been clean for a few days. Chances are that the "life on life's terms" the average newcomer is experiencing is quite a bit more stressful than what the average old-timer deals with each day. If we do manage to convince a newcomer that everything becomes rosy in recovery, we had better make sure we are there to support that newcomer when something goes wrong in his or her life.

Perhaps we simply need to share realistically about how we use the resources of Narcotics Anonymous to accept "life on life's terms," whatever those terms may be on any given day. Recovery, and life itself, contain equal parts of pain and joy. It is important to share both so the newcomer can know that we stay clean no matter what.

Just for today: I will be honest with the newcomers I share with and let them know that, no matter what life brings, we never have to use drugs again.

pg. 321

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Here's Sulky Sue
What shall we do?
Turn her face to the wall . . . .
--Mother Goose
When she put her Sulky Sue up against the wall, was this mother a wise or silly goose? If Sue was confused, could she talk sense with a wall? If she was angry, would the wall ever know why? If she was sad, would the wall wipe her tears away? If she was lonely, would the wall take her by the hand? Some walls are built for support, others to keep people away. To sulk is to look for support, someone strong to hold us up, not a silly goose who will turn us away.
Sulking is not the best way to look for help, and when we sulk, we are likely to end up isolating ourselves in some corner of our own making. And on the other hand, when we see another sulking, how much better it is to offer support instead of isolation!
Do I build walls of isolation, or walls of support?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I, God, am your playmate! I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways for I have chosen you. --Mechtild of Magdeburg
Our relationship with our Higher Power is not all solemnness. Facing the pains and guilts and griefs of our codependent relationships and our addictions might lead us to think recovery is only serious business. Not so!
This program liberates us from the heaviness by facing it. We are not meant to stay stuck there. Recovery teaches us to enjoy life. Our Creator has concocted a world of many pleasures and delights to play in. As we progress in our recovery we learn to let our hair down and play. Some of us have become more able to enjoy good-natured roughhousing with our children. Maybe we have become more free to joke and banter with friends. Our spiritual lives grow with good-natured fun.
I am grateful for the child who still lives in me. He keeps alive my delight in the world.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
It is the calm after the storm. I feel a rainbow where there once were clouds, and while my Spirit dances in gratitude, my mind speculates on the next disaster. Duality. --Mary Casey
Our growth as women is contingent on our ability to flow with the dualities, the contradictions inherent in one's lifetime, not only to flow with them but to capitalize on them.
We are not offered a painless existence, but we are offered opportunities for gathering perspective from the painful moments. And our perspectives are cushioned by the principles of the program. The rough edges of life, the storms that whip our very being, are gifts in disguise. We see life anew, when the storm has subsided.
We can enjoy the calm, if that surrounds us today. We deserve the resting periods. They give us a chance to contemplate and make fully our own that which the recent storm brought so forcefully to our attention. We are powerless over the storm's onslaught. But we can gain from it and be assured that the storm gives all the meaning there is in the calm.
I will be glad today for the clouds or the rainbows. Both are meant for my good. And without both, neither has meaning.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Denial
Denial is fertile breeding ground for the behaviors we call codependent: controlling, focusing on others, and neglecting ourselves. Illness and compulsive or addictive behaviors can emerge during denial.
Denial can be confusing because it resembles sleeping. We're not really aware we're doing it until we're done doing it. Forcing ourselves - or anyone else - to face the truth usually doesn't help. We won't face the facts until we are ready. Neither, it seems, will anyone else. We may admit to the truth for a moment, but we won't let ourselves know what we know until we feel safe, secure, and prepared enough to deal and cope with it.
Talking to friends who know, love, support, encourage, and affirm us helps.
Being gentle, loving, and affirming with ourselves helps. Asking ourselves, and our Higher Power, to guide us into and through change helps.
The first step toward acceptance is denial. The first step toward moving through denial is accepting that we may be in denial, and then gently allowing ourselves to move through.
God, help me feel safe and secure enough today to accept what I need to accept.


In the silence of my meditation, I receive guidance and direction. I am filled with all the power I need to take my next step. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey to the Heart
November 3
You Haven’t Lost Your Place

Sometimes when life shifts and changes, it can feel like we’ve lost our place.

During those times when our lives are changing, we may feel out of tune, out of rhythm, out of balance. Out of step. Maybe an old feeling is surfacing, clearing, so that we can learn something new and move forward to a new place. Maybe our attention is being diverted to a new focus so we can find and experience another lesson. Sometimes the form or shape of our life is changing dramatically. The old picture is being erased so a new one can be drawn. Familiar people are leaving; new people are entering. We may ache, feel irritable, and doubt the course of our entire journey. We may doubt whether the magical way we were living was even real and whether the magic will ever return.

Let the changes happen. Take extra loving care of yourself. Be attentive to what you need. The magic isn’t gone; it hasn’t disappeared. You’re just going through a shift. That means things are moving, and movement is good.

For now it may feel like you can’t find your place, but that’s because your place is changing.

*****

more language of letting go
You're learning something new

"What are we supposed to be looking for?" Stanley asked him.
"You're not looking for anything. You're digging to build character."...
[Stanley] glanced helplessly at his shovel. It wasn't dedective. He was defective.
--Louis Sachar, Holes

Sometimes when faced with a difficult obstacle in life-- a new job, new school, new anything-- it's easy to feel overwhelmed and to start believing the worst about ourselves. Maybe we really don't have what it takes after all, we think. Myabe we should just stay where we are-- whether we like that place or not.

One of the wonderful things about being human is our ability to adapt to new situations. Another is our ability to change and grow.

What new situation is facing you? Whether it's beginning a recovery process, starting a new job, going for your master's degree, learning to be divorced, or learning to be a happy spouse, you're up to whatever life is asking you to do.

It is important to start at the beginning of things, and often that means feeling ill prepared for the task ahead. That's good. If you were completely comfortable with everything going on around you, then chances are you wouldn't be growing and learning anything new.

Be aware of how you talk to yourslf, whether you're telling yourself I can or I can't. Then let the words be filled with cheerful confidence. Recognize any feelings that prevent you from believing in yourself. Then let those feelings go. Let go of fear and feeling overwhelmed.

You can learn the new task. You can harmonize with your new boss. You can learn to take care of yourself. You can. You can. And you will. You can and will grow into this role.

You're not defective. Neither is your shovel. Grab it, and dig in.

God, give me the strength and the confidence to grow, learn, and see the wonder of this world.

*****

Making Time for Reflection
Going on Retreat

Putting our trust in the retreat process will make space and dedication for the necessary work we have to do.

Giving ourselves time to reflect and heal can be a powerful way to process the things that are happening in our lives, and one of the best approaches to do this is by going on a retreat. Going on a retreat means that we have set the intention to heal and learn more about our spirit, and doing this is a decision that we make for ourselves.

Since everyone sees and experiences the world differently, it is important to choose a type of retreat that works best for us. Even though a friend or loved one may recommend something, we have to trust our intuition and select a path that really connects with what our soul needs most at the time. The most essential thing is to be willing to respect our unique stage of development and to be patient with ourselves since any thoughts or issues that arise are simply part of the process of healing. Just remembering that a retreat is an intense period of time where serious soul searching takes place can help us allow whatever may happen to us to fully unfold. Going on retreat may sound like a vacation, but most retreat experiences ask you to look deep inside of yourself, and sometimes this can be uncomfortable or stir the pot of our soul.

Putting our trust in the retreat process will make space for the necessary work we have to do, making it easier for our hearts and minds to explore wholly the innermost reaches of our soul. By paying attention to these messages, we pave the way for greater healing and transformation, since spending time in contemplation at a retreat will give us the gift of insight and understanding that we can use in all aspects of our daily lives. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

The Program’s Twelve Steps comprise a body of living spiritual wisdom. To the degree that we continue to study The Steps and apply them to our daily lives, our knowledge and understanding expands without limitation. As we say in The Program, “It gets better…and better…and better.” The Eleventh Step speaks of prayer and meditation, urging us to apply our minds quietly to the contemplation of spiritual truth. By its nature, the Eleventh Step illuminates for us the purpose and value of the other Steps. As we seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, the remaining Steps become ever more useful in our new way of life. Do I take the time each day to pray and meditation?

Today I Pray

May I seek — as the Eleventh Step says — to know God better through prayer and meditation, talking to and listening for God. As my life becomes more full of the realities of earth — may I always keep aside a time for communion with God. May this communion define my life and give it purpose.

Today I Will Remember

Take time out for God.

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One More Day

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give when unasked through understanding. -Kahlil Gibran

Some of us wonder how we will live the rest of our lives with the problems we are currently carrying. The days loom long, with no specific goals in sight; so it is up to us to formulate new plans and goals for ourselves.

These plans — social, spiritual, academic, or volunteer — are good for us if they revolve around other people, many of whom have even greater problems than ours. Sharing our hope, faith, and varied experiences with others who also suffer is a caring gesture and an opportunity to see ourselves and our problems more clearly within the total human picture.

Today, I will choose some way to help myself and others. Sharing my experiences and skills keeps me in touch with my humanness.

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Food For Thought

Learning Moderation

If we had known how to practice moderation, we would not have become compulsive overeaters. Following the abstinence guidelines enables us to eat moderately. Working the Twelve Steps teaches us moderation in other activities.

Knowing when to quit involves knowing ourselves. We tend to get carried away with our determination to finish a job today, to explain our life history to a new friend in one afternoon, to complete a major project in record time. The tendency to devour life rapidly in huge chunks can be as damaging as compulsive overeating.

It is the serenity we acquire from contact with our Higher Power that saves us from wearing ourselves out compulsively. An awareness of the quiet Power and order, which sustains all life calms our over, stimulated personalities. Dependence on God as we understand Him gives us the support and confidence we need to be content with moderate efforts and accomplishments.

Teach me to practice moderation.

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One Day At A Time

~ INNER STRENGTH ~
Troubles are often the tools
by which God fashions us for better things.

H. W. Beecher

I often wondered why so much seemed to happen to me. Why was it that no sooner had I picked myself up from some trauma or tragedy than another one came along. Most people had never had car accidents, but I'd had two, one almost life-threatening. I'd been through an unpleasant divorce; I lost a brother and a stepson, both dying unnatural deaths at an early age, and could not understand why these kinds of things were always happening to me. I used to be so angry with God. "Why me?" I'd ask. It just seemed so unfair. Everybody else appeared to have lives that were so much better and free of all this trauma. For a long time I retreated into depression and food to cope with what seemed to be a miserable life.

But God must have had other plans for me. I truly believe I must have been guided to my first meeting so that I would not only find a way to live free of my compulsive eating, but would also be able to learn some lessons from my seemingly tough life. I have been very blessed in that, because of all my experiences, and the fact that I was literally brought to my knees and had to seek God out, I have learned the meaning of true spirituality. I have also learned some valuable lessons from all these experiences that have made me a much stronger person. I have so much more to offer than I would have had my life been the nice easy one I always wanted. Because of what I have learned as a result of my many struggles and difficult times, I am now able to pass on that wisdom to others on this journey of recovery.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will try to remember that when God sends me difficulties, I must view them as lessons He wants me to learn so I can become a better and more useful person.
~ Sharon S. ~

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy, or the like. But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened. We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what the consequences might be. - Pg. 37 - More About Alcoholism

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

There are no maps to recovery, only steps to freedom from active addiction. Take out your book right now and read the first three steps. These are the tools you need for recovery.

I can't. God can. I think I'll let God do it!

Anger and Blame

Today, I accept my feelings of anger and blame without beating myself up for them. Feelings aren't facts; they are meant to inform me of what is going on inside me. When I constantly judge myself for what I feel, I make my difficult emotions much more complicated, and they last ten times as long. There is nothing inherently wrong with any feelings - so what if I am angry and feel like getting mad? Accepting this allows the feeling to pass through me. Fighting it keeps me tangled up inside with no way out. Judging myself doesn't help anyone, least of all me. Frightening feelings are just frightening feelings. I do not have to overreact to them.

My own feelings need not toss me in every direction.
- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

People may off handedly say 'Have a nice day,' and you don't see anything 'nice' about today. Maybe they should say, 'Have a nice day, unless you have other plans.'

I don't 'have' a nice day, I 'make' a nice day!

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

Appreciate simplicity.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

In the silence of my meditation, I receive guidance and direction. I am filled with all the power I need to take my next step.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

I was furious. I looked up at the ceiling and screamed; 'I don't believe in you and I think you're a jerk!' then I realized, if I didn't believe in God, who in the hell was I yelling at? Then, being a good ex-Catholic, I waited for three weeks to see if I was going to be punished for calling Him a jerk. - Ken D.

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AA Thought for the Day

November 3

Minding Our Own Business
We saw that the more AA minded its own business the greater the general influence would become.
Medicine and religion and psychiatry began to borrow some of our ideas and experience.
So did research, rehabilitation, and education. All sorts of therapeutic groups began to spring up.
They dealt with gambling, divorce, delinquency, dope addiction, mental illness and the like.
They, too, borrowed from AA but they made their own adaptations.
They worked their own fields, and we did not have to endorse them or tell them how to live.
- Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age, p. 109

Thought to Ponder . . .
"Shoemaker, stick to thy last!" . . . better do one thing supremely well than many badly.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Always Alive.

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

Recovery
"Most emphatically we wish to say
that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems
in the light of our experience can recover,
provided he does not close his mind to spiritual concepts.
He can only be defeated by an attitude
of intolerance or belligerent denial.
We find that no one need have difficulty
with the spirituality of the program.
Willingness, honesty and open mindedness
are the essentials of recovery.
But these are indispensable"
c. 1976AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 570

Thought to Consider . . .
The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
W H O = Willingness, Honesty, Openmindedness

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

Undertaker or the Asylum
From: "Bill's Story"
It relieved me somewhat to learn that in alcoholics the will is amazingly weakened when it comes to combating liquor, though it often remains strong in other respects. My incredible behavior in the face of a desperate desire to stop was explained. Understanding myself now, I fared forth in high hope. For three or four months the goose hung high. I went to town regularly and even made a little money. Surely this was the answer - self-knowledge.
But it was not, for the frightful day came when I drank once more. The curve of my declining moral and bodily health fell off like a ski-jump. After a time I returned to the hospital. This was the finish, the curtain, it seemed to me. My weary and despairing wife was informed that it would all end with heart failure during delirium tremens, or I would develop a wet brain, perhaps within a year. She would soon have to give me over to the undertaker or the asylum.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 7

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

"I've got a brand new feeling, gratitude -- a feeling that has visited me more and more frequently -- sometimes with the rush of cleansing tears -- sometimes with just a serene flow of mental thank-yous for some small, God-given bonus in a routine day."
Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1
Minneapolis, Minn., April 1983
"A Rush of Gratitude,"

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

"Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man,
woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured
by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form
or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and
miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as
old as man himself."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 55~

The basic principles of the A.A. program, it appears, hold good for
individuals with many different lifestyles, just as the program has
brought recovery to those of many different nationalities. The
Twelve Steps that summarize the program may be called los Doce Pasos
in one country, les Douze Etapes in another, but they trace exactly
the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Foreward To Third Edition, Page xxii~

I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.14

We all need the light of God's reality, the nourishment of His strength, and the atmosphere of His grace.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.97

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Above us, at the International Convention at St. Louis in 1955, floated a banner on which was inscribed the then new symbol for A.A., a circle enclosing a triangle. The circle stands for the whole world of A.A., and the triangle stands for A.A.'s Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity, and Service.
It is perhaps no accident that priests and seers of antiquity regarded this symbol as a means of warding off spirits of evil.
When, in 1955, we oldtimers turned over our Three Legacies to the whole movement, nostalgia for the old days blended with gratitude for the great day in which I was now living. No more would it be necessary for me to act for, decide for, or protect A.A.
For a moment, I dreaded the coming change. But this mood quickly passed. The conscience of A.A. as moved by the guidance of God could be depended upon to insure A.A.'s future. Clearly my job henceforth was to let go and let God.

Prayer for the Day: Self-respect Prayer - O God, teach me that self-respect cannot be hunted. It cannot be purchased. It is never for sale. It comes to me when I am alone, in quiet moments, in quiet places, when I suddenly realize that, knowing the good, I have done it; knowing the beautiful, I have served it; knowing the truth, I have spoken it.

Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7