AA Thoughts For Today - December

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AA Thought for the Day

December 31

Isolation
Isolation sneaks up on us. We can mask it with familiar props that are not in themselves bad.
We can isolate ourselves in an attempt to clean up our apartments (and then not do the cleaning);
we can isolate ourselves in churches or in sleep; we can use family, sweethearts, compulsive working, television.
The list is long. The nicest way to end it is the way you and I do: together. Reach out -- people can't read your mind.
Say ouch! Someone hears. Always.
- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 1], pp. 84-85

Thought to Ponder . . .
An alcoholic is someone who wants to be held while isolating.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone.

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

Guidance
Walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress.
If you persist, remarkable things will happen.
When we look back, we realize the things which came to us
when we put ourselves in God's hands,
were better than anything we could have planned.
Follow the dictates of a Higher Power
and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world,
no matter what your present circumstances!
1976, 2001AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 100

Thought to Consider . . .
Look for the Good.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A = Adventurers Anonymous

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

Diagnosis
>From "More About Alcoholism":
"We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your condition."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 31-32

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

"It's only when I stop thinking about it, stop trying to run the show, that my life may become as God intends."
Tucson, Ariz., March 1988
"The Work at Hand,"
Emotional Sobriety

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

"Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a
seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we
laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 132~

"We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality
safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem
has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor
are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long
as we keep in fit spiritual condition."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, Page 85~

It mattered little whether our resentments were justified or not.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.90

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense of belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the isolation problem had been solved.
But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.
Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true kinship with man and God.

Prayer for the Day: Kindness Prayer -
Keep us, O God, from closed mindedness, let us Be large in thought, in work, in deed.
Let us be done with faultfinding, and Leave off self-seeking.
May we put away all pretense and meet each other face-to-face, without Self pity and without prejudice.
May we never be hasty in our judgement And be always generous and helpful.
Teach us to put into action our better Impulses, straightforward and unafraid.
Let us take time for the right things. Make us Grow calm, serene, and gentle.
Grant that we may realize it is the Little things that create difference, That in the big things in life we are one.
And may we strive to touch and know The great common heart of us all, and O God, let us not forget to be kind.