Stools and Bottles - Daily Reminder

[bluidkiti]

Day 01 - Stools & Bottles

First Daily Reminder -
Let's be honest today. Let's face facts. Alcohol is a beverage for most people but a drug for alcoholics. Our uncontrolled use of this narcotic has made us sick in body, mind and spirit. We are powerless over it. It threatens our lives and sanity.
Daily Inventory -
How alcoholic are we? Do we drink sanely? Are we all through fighting booze? Have we really hit bottom? Will we accept AA?

Suggested Meditation -
As sick alcoholics, we should join AA. As members, we should recall daily that we are arresting an incurable illness. That we are sick -- not plain crazy. Our uncontrollable drinking has placed us in a very bad spot. To take it or leave it alone -- that is the question. Drinking alcoholics can do neither -- that is our problem. To live sanely, we must leave it alone -- that is a act. Without AA this is impossible. AA is the best solution to our drinking problem.

Spiritual Contact -
Our Father, give us an understanding of our illness. Strengthen our efforts to overcome it. Lead us in the paths of contented sobriety.

Daily Physical Audit -
AA is made up of the persons who are attempting to compensate for a lifetime of mistakes. That is the premise upon which our recovery program is based. Through study and honest endeavor, we arrest our mental and physical illness. The baffling part of alcoholism is our disregard for health. We depend too much upon curing the disease when we should be building up healthy bodies to prevent it.

[bluidkiti]

Day 02 - Stools & Bottles
Second Daily Reminder –

Sick — Desperate — Hopeless, we call upon AA. Help came. Not later, but that very day. That is how AA works, day by day. With yesterday as “water over the dam: our tomorrow can become a happy, sober one — if we willingly live the AA program today.

Daily Inventory –

Does false pride keep us from admitting our alcoholism? Shall we clean yesterday’s slate? Shall we start a new life in AA today?

Suggested Meditation –

The sad failures which plague our lives today are not the results of chance. They did not occur overnight. We earned them. They are our payoff for a thousand drunken yesterdays. But — they are not the end. We can rebuild new, happy sober lives upon their costly ruins. Twenty-four hour drinking has made us ill. Twenty-four hour AA living will make us well. Our drinking time has about run out. Perhaps we should start living the AA program today.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, direct our thinking. Teach us to make right decisions. Start us rebuilding our unstable lives day by day. Grant us the power to do this.

Daily Physical Audits –

Years of hard drinking have robbed us of body building nutrition, minerals and needed vitamins. It will take time to replace then. AA cannot do this. We must design our physical recovery around a systematic daily intake of nutritious, healthy building foods and regular periods of relaxation. Health is essential to our recovery — we should consider it each day.

[bluidkiti]

Day 03 - Stools & Bottles
Third Daily Reminder --
Before AA, alcoholics we faced with lives of untold suffering and despair. An awesome future compared with ours -- for we may choose between drinking and contented sobriety. Why we deserve the miracle of AA is a question too baffling to answer but most worthy of thought and appreciation.

Daily Inventory --
Is AA an inspired program? Are we deserving of it? Do we appreciate its health and life giving opportunities? Are we willing to work them?

Suggested Meditation --
Could God is His dealing with AA have said, "Show Me your willingness to live in sobriety and I will perform the miracle of contented sobriety in your lives. I will give you the book Alcoholics Anonymous. In it are the answers to all your alcoholic problems. You shall have a little wisdom and a little strength, and I will leave the foor to your recovery ajar. I believe in you. Do not let me down!"

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, we realize that our recovery from alcoholism depends upon our physical and spiritual conditions. Help us to improve them daily.

Physical Audit --
The Big Book tells us to remember that compulsive drinking has damaged us physically--that our health us usually bad upon entering AA. It recommends "hospitalization for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged," to clear his mind so that he may comprehend the recovery program which AA offers him. Sponsors should endeavor to follow this policy whenever possible.

[bluidkiti]

Day 04 - Stools & Bottles
Fourth Daily Reminder --
Hopefully, yet doubtfully, we came to our first AA meeting. There we found understanding and sympathy but gained no peace of mind. Still riding in the driver's seat, we were full of anxiety over the future. We saw AA working for others, but our case seemed hopeless. How could it work for us?

Daily Inventory --
Can loneliness and self-pity prevent AA progress? How can we overcome them? Does anxiety indicate lack of faith? Will AA work for us?

Suggested Meditation --
Loneliness gives us a strong incentive to drink. AA kills it with friendship. It's up to us to cultivate AA friends. Anxiety blocks 12 Step living. It indicates a lack of faith in God and is a form of fear. We need moral courage to live AA -- to vacate the driver's seat and to kill self-pity and fear. It also takes courage to face another drunk. AA works if we choose the right kind of courage.

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, we pray for faith and spiritual courage to face our problems. Grant us wisdom to know our weakness and strength to rebuild our lives.

Physical Audit --
Alcoholics suffer from dietary disturbances because they have received about one-third of their calories from alcohol which contains no proteins, vitamins or minerals. Rehabilitative life in AA affords us an opportunity to progressively replenish the deficiency with a daily, balanced diet adequate for our physical needs and well-being.

[bluidkiti]

Day 05 - Stools & Bottles
Fifth Daily Reminder --
Our book states that we either kill self-centeredness or that it will kill us; that we are "extreme examples of self-will run riot" -- would-be big shots, unable to run our own lives. This seems unbelievable and hard to admit yet we cannot recover until we do admit and fully believe it.

Daily Inventory --
How about self-centeredness? Will it ruin us? Do we live unstable lives? Is today the time to stop this "I" complex and start living in terms of "We"?

Suggested Meditation --
Self-centeredness opposed every spiritual principle. Alcoholics have always met defeat by defying these principles. By playing God, by drinking and bragging, "I did this - I did that - if it hadn't been for me," we rationalized in alcoholic bunk. We mistook insanity and slavery for power and freedom. AA will help us overcome this slavery. Our first step toward freedom, however, lies in freedom from self.

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, forgive us our self-centeredness and the harm it has caused others. We pray for knowledge of Thy will for us. Thy will be done.

Daily Physical Audit --
Members often arrive in AA on the verge of delirium and physical exhaustion. They need hospitalization, rest, medical care and physical rebuilding by intravenous and normal feeding.

We should not forget that a narcotic as powerful as alcohol has damaged our bodies. Nature needs our help and cooperation to overcome this damage. We slow up our recovery when we ignore this fact.

[bluidkiti]

Day 06 - Stools & Bottles
Sixth Daily Reminder --
Confused and weakened by compulsive drinking, we vaguely expected AA to cure us overnight. We learned that alcoholism cannot ve cured but can be arrested. We found that contented sobriety comes from the new daily habits which we form in seconds, minutes and hours of simple AA living.

Daily Inventory --
Why is a personality change necessary to our recovery? Can we recover from alcoholism overnight? We study of our AA books improve our thinking?

Suggested Meditation --
Success in AA is in proportion to the 12 Step habits which we form and practice. Alcoholic thinking keeps us in rebellion and slavery. Dishonesty and reservations precede failure. Fear of a life without alcohol is an unconscious desire to control drinking. Our freedom lies in admitting these facts and in surrendering our defects to "God as we understand Him." Our understanding starts with surrender.

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, open our minds to AA truths. Release from our old habits and fill us with a desire to recreate new AA spiritual habits.

Daily Physical Audit --
Good physical health should not be overlooked as a requisite of alcoholic rehabilitation. Because an AA member is well enough to be out of bed does not imply that he is strong and vigorous or free from signs of disease. Too many of our fellowship become the victims of untimely death because they refuse to repair their damaged bodies and continue to draw upon their limited energy which alcoholic excesses have so nearly depleted.

[bluidkiti]

Day 07 - Stools & Bottles

Seventh Daily Reminder --
We cannot overemphasize the importance of admitting "our powerlessness over alcohol" or that "our lives had become unmanageable" because of our addiction to it. Lasting sobriety demands this admission. We should attribute our illness to alcoholism (a disease), rather than to lack of will power.

Daily Inventory --
Why must we admit our alcoholism? Is this an alibi for drinking? If we must stay sober in AA, why can't we do so through willpower?

Suggested Meditation --
AA starts working the moment we admit our alcoholism and ask for help to treat it. Admitting out need for help energizes the powerful forces of honesty and humility within us. They are the rudiments of recovery. Alcoholism is a disease which sickens our bodies and minds. We should ask God to heal our spiritual illness. We treat our bodies with medical care -- not with will power.

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, we admit our alcoholism. Help us to recover from it. We wish to co-operate. Teach us how to rebuild our lives -- physically and spiritually.

Daily Physical Audit --
Probably all AA members should examined by a competent doctor to determine their liver conditions. Many have fatty livers and some have mild cirrhosis of the liver. The majority are free from this disease. We should know about our condition, however, and receive medical care when it is needed. Caught early enough, these diseases can be successfully treated.

[bluidkiti]

Day 8 - Stools & Bottles

Eighth Daily Reminder --
Surely, there is insanity in alcoholism -- not only in the first drink but in the endless drunks which followed. Having failed to stop drinking under our own power, we have reached the end of human resources. AA suggests that we surrender our insane behavior to the care of a Higher Power.

Daily Inventory --
Is there mental illness in our alcoholism? Are we helpless against it? How can we overcome it? Must our help come from a Higher Power?

Suggested Meditation --
As we weigh the insanity of alcoholism, we must face the fact that no matter how honest our resolve or how sane our plan -- we always managed to get plastered. Few persons equaled us in stupidity or self-deception. We alibied our mistakes but refused to profit from them. Filled with liquor and distorted ideas, we lacked the sanity of self-preservation which only God can give to a drinking alcoholic.

Spiritual Contact --
Our Father, make us realize the insanity of our drinking behavior. Give us faith in Your Power to restore in us the instinct of self-preservation.

Daily Physical Audit --
AA tells us that we are sick in body and mind, saying, "in our belief ... any picture which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete." Health aids sobriety. Let's not neglect it. Sensible precaution may save us the unhappy experience of a relapse. It may uncover the presence of disease in time for preventive care.

[MajestyJo]

Another one of the books I had, but passed it on and/or loaned it and didn't get it back.

I wish I had a scanner because I have a lot of material to share but not able to type it out like I use to.

The title reminds me of how many I would say that I had one or two, but didn't distinguish between drinks or bottles.

http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-rabbits/0180.gif

[bluidkiti]

Day 9 Stools & Bottles

Ninth Daily Reminder -

Reservation, doubt and fear assail the minds of newcomers and impede their recovery in AA. Salesmen doubt their ability to sell without the aid of alcohol. Some fear that their identity will be disclosed. Others wonder how to avoid bars and drinking friends or what alibi to offer for their sobriety.

Daily Inventory -

Can we hold reservations and live the 12 Steps? Is fear a sign of future failure? Do we avoid drinking friends? How does AA answer these questions?

Suggested Meditation -

The book Alcoholics Anonymous holds the answers to all of our recovery problems. From it we learn that distrust and fear are dangerous mental attitudes for alcoholics to hold. It suggests that our security and sobriety will come from faith in God and practice of the 12 Steps. It explains our future conduct with drinking friends and the reason we give them for our abstinence. See your Big Book.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, replace our reservations and fear with faith, courage and AA understanding. Inspire us with an honest desire to succeed in AA.

Daily Physical Audit -

After varying periods of sobriety we often complain of physical fatigue, vague pain, arthritis, gastric disturbances and insomnia. We contribute them to the sober lives we are leading and reach for a box of pills or some patented elixir. There are better antidotes for health. Perhaps we should lower our daily cigarette and coffee consumptions, stop living on coffee and dessert and try sleeping eight hours every night.

[bluidkiti]

Day 10 - Stools & Bottles

Tenth Daily Reminder -

A "water over the dam" policy of dealing with our past drinking behavior is the only basis upon which we can rehabilitate ourselves. By living AA we learn how our drinking has affected the lives of others. We feel remorseful, but that does not repay the injury done. AA suggests that we amend it.

Daily Inventory -

Are we trying to rehabilitate our lives? Have we a list of the people whom we have harmed? Are we willing to make proper amends to them?

Suggested Meditation -

Yes, we are trying to rebuild our lives to conform with 12 Step principles and to live in contented sobriety, but not at the expense of others. Live and let live -- that is our motto. The water over the dam is forgotten, but not the injury done. We need forgiveness to recover from our illness. To accept it without return defies all spiritual law and threatens our sobriety. Amends are good for our conscience.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, forgive us the harm we have done to others. May we become forgiving. Fortify our minds with willingness to make proper amends.

Daily Physical Audit -

From medical science we learn that the main causes of death are related to our blood and its circulation. Heart trouble ranks high under this category. Alcoholics are not exceptions to the rule. Many members die needlessly because they ignore the warning symptoms of heart trouble and treat it too late. Pain and numbness in the arms, fatigue, labored breathing after mild exercise, heartburn and water in the tissues are symptoms our doctors should diagnose.

[bluidkiti]

Day 11 – Stools and Bottles

Eleventh Daily Reminder –

We have often wished for help and peace of mind during the throes of our hangovers. We have prayed for help but seldom prayed for permanent sobriety. We wanted alcohol’s narcotic effects without its penalties. But our prayers always failed. Some barrier seemed to separate us from contented sobriety.

Daily Inventory –

What was this barrier? Were we unconsciously praying for some form of controlled drinking? Is an inventory in order? Must we list our defects?

Suggested Meditation –

AA forces no ?musts” upon us anymore than drinking would force a drink down our throats. Alcoholics do as they please, either in or outside of AA — that’s why we are here. “Musts” are voluntary. Wise members, recalling the torture of their drinking days, list their character defects. Those awful hangovers were not just nightmares. They can recur. An honest inventory might prevent them.

Spiritual Contact –

Our Father, keep us open-minded and ready to earn the greatest help possible from living the 12 Steps. Help up to write an honest inventory.

Daily Physical Audit –

Thousands of people who have heart trouble live long and productive lives by calmly admitting their illness and cooperating with their doctors in treating it. The great hope for prolonged life among those affected with heart disease is to live within the functional limits of the weakened organ. The chief prescription is rest. Things to avoid are fatigue, overeating, infection, obesity and emotional upsets.

[bluidkiti]

Day 12 - Stools & Bottles

Twelfth Daily Reminder -

"Made a decision." How easy it is to partly fulfill each of the 12 Steps. But how hard to decide that we are sick enough to "turn our will and our lives over to the care of God." How hard to seek our understanding of God's Will. How easy it is to mistake half-hearted lip service for decision and surrender.

Daily Inventory -

Are we in AA for the ride? Have we decided that we need God's help to live soberly? Are we sincere about it or are we just giving lip service?

Suggested Meditation -

There is no middle of the road course for a drinking alcoholic -- he is either wet or dry. AA represents a similar case in the 12 Steps vs. John Barleycorn. Since we cannot drink and live, our choice will be AA. With our lives at stake, we can ill afford to depend upon lip service for protection. Recovery from alcoholism, is a serious matter for us. We need both the 12 Steps and God's help to recover.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, deliver us this day from defiance, doubt and indecision. Teach us the value of obedience. Stabilize our thinking according to our need.

Daily Physical Audit -

Nam is a creature of many habits. Alcoholics have formed bad eating and drinking habits which are not conductive to good health. Some of us become overweight from taking more food than our bodies can assimilate. This throws an extra burden on the heart which increases our blood pressure and shortens our lives. We should watch our diet to guard against coronary disease, apoplexy and other ills associated with overweight.

[bluidkiti]

Day 13 - Stools & Bottles

Thirteenth Daily Reminder -

The virtues of anonymity are many and far reaching for our older members. For the newcomer anonymity has a special meaning. Its strong appeal is secrecy. A hideout in which to recover without publicity or blame. Anonymity is our privilege to use but also our obligation to protect.

Daily Inventory -

Have we realized the true value of anonymity? What are some of its spiritual values? Is it our obligation to protect the identity of other members?

Suggested Meditation -

Anonymity is vital to an AA group. Helping another person anonymously is a spiritual act -- the very lifeblood of AA. There should be no breach of anonymity. Secrecy is a part of alcoholic thinking. We tried to conceal our drinking and told lies about hangovers. Nobody could believe them. Anonymity did not work for drinking, but it does work for our recovery. It lets us work with others, also.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, we thank You for AA. Help us to live its program, to understand its principles and to learn the spiritual values of anonymity.

Daily Physical Audit -

There is nothing anonymous about a member's poor physical health. It can be detected by his fuzzy thinking, his lack of enthusiasm, the sweaty palms of his hands and his inaptitude toward normal daily recovery. Poor physical health causes nervousness and irritability at meetings. It leads to intolerant and resentful thinking. It can get us drunk. Members are not blamed for being ill, but they owe it to ourselves to get well.

[bluidkiti]

Day 14 - Stools & Bottles

Fourteen Daily Reminder -

Many of us have stumbled over the term spiritual awakening. By confusing AA with organized religion, we have encountered trouble with the spiritual angle. By trying to define God and to interpret AA according to religious creeds, we have experienced frustration and ineffectual AA living.

Daily Inventory -

Are the objectives of AA and organized religion the same? Is our objective to save souls? Are there signs which identify a spiritual awakening?

Suggested Meditation -

AA offers a 24-hour program borrowed from medicine, religion and psychology by which we arrest alcoholism, an incurable illness. It utilizes physical, mental and spiritual help to maintain 24-hour periods of contented sobriety. It suggests a daily contact with God as we understand Him. AA is not a religion. We see in honesty, sobriety, forgiveness, amends and love signs of a spiritual awakening.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, we recognize the latent spiritual power within us and ask Your help to develop it. Awaken us to our spiritual possibilities.

Daily Physical Audit -

There is no written tests to pass in AA. How we recover is a matter of our own choice. We may either sink or swim. But swimming requires good physical health. So does satisfactory recovery from alcoholism. We ought to recognize this fact and live to improve the quality of our health and thus enjoy life to its full capacity. AA members are most effective when in good physical condition.

[bluidkiti]

Day 15 - Stools & Bottles

Fifteenth Daily Reminder -

At times our vitality is low. Being restless and jittery, we have the urge to drink. Irritable, unhappy and self-centered, we work back into our favorite spot -- the driver's seat. Resentment, worry and intolerance cloud our thinking. It is hard to pray. We miss meetings and neglect helping others.

Daily Inventory -

How do we account for our rundown and jittery feelings? Why these urges to drink? Why is it so hard to pray? What can we do about it?

Suggested Meditation -

A run-down physical condition makes an alcoholic jittery and creates an urge to drink. Overwork, lack of rest and wrong diet foster resentful attitudes of self-pity and intolerance. Such attitudes insulate us from God. They kill our peace of mind and end in drunkenness. We must recognize these symptoms and remove their causes. To eat, work, rest, play and pray intelligently helps to attain this end.

Spiritual Condition -

Our Father, teach us the meaning of "first things first." Endow us with sufficient common sense to maintain a healthy physical body.

Daily Physical Audit -

The road to recovery for our members is beset with pitfalls, some of which are physical. Alcoholism often depletes our nervous energy. Members who continue to overtax their nervous systems are courting trouble. Our minds cannot function apart form our bodies -- nor can they function soundly in sick bodies. Obviously, it is to our best interest to rebuild physically.

[bluidkiti]

Day 16 - Stools & Bottles

Sixteenth Daily Reminder -
Remember the old saying, "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link?" Alcoholism is the weak link in our chain of life and most confusing, too, for it embraces three weak links in one. They are the physical, mental and spiritual illness of alcoholism from which AA offers the best chance of recovery.

Daily Inventory -
Good? Better? Best? Plain sobriety or contented sobriety? Which shall it be? Shall we kill or improve our AA opportunities?

Suggested Meditation -
We joined AA to end the insanity of alcoholism and to live happy, sober lives. We admitted our illness and agree to get well--not to get half well, Lack of self-preservation in AA seems like a new sort of insanity. Having made fair progress with our physical and mental health, we should not refuse to grow up emotionally and spiritually. Recognizing this fact we should work for greater AA maturity.

Spiritual Contact -
Our Father, keep us aware of the fatal nature of our illness and the insanity of alcoholism. Help us mend the weak links in our personality chain.

Daily physical Audits -
Budget your energy. Plan you activities for the day. Avoid emotional excitement. Set up daily periods for relaxation. Remember that your recovery should be physical as well as mental and spiritual recovery. Physical fitness aids mental and spiritual recovery. We need to conserve our energy by heeding the feelings of fatigue which signal that our activities have become excessive. The result is a saving in energy which makes for better health.

[bluidkiti]

Day 17 - Stools & Bottles

Seventeenth Daily Reminder -
An old member got drunk but stopped drinking before any serious trouble developed. His group was none the wiser so he never told them of his relapse. He rationalized it as a minor slip and brazenly resumed old relations with his group. Uncertainty and fear dominated his progress, causing future relapses.

Daily Inventory -
How serious is a relapse? Should he have confided with the members of his group? What made him drink? Does AA forgive the slipper?

Suggested Meditation -
All slips are serious--some are fatal. Those called minor are unfinished drunks. They will be completed later. Dishonesty in some form is the basis of a slip. This member should have confessed to his group. As AA patients, our minds are still alcoholic. We think in terms of drinking if we cannot be honest with ourselves. Slippers are ill. AA cannot forgive the illness, but it can help sick members to get well.

Spiritual Contact -
Our Father, we pray for help to become strictly honest with You and with ourselves. Free us from fear, dishonesty and relapses.

Daily Physical Audit -
Is there an aspect of dishonesty in abusing the body which God has entrusted to our care? Are we honest with Him, ourselves, our group, and the alcoholic "who still suffers" if from tension, overwork and physical neglect we are too ill or exhausted to contribute to the welfare of our group, or "carry the message" to the alcoholic who needs our help? Think it over. Perhaps this obligation has not occurred to you.

[bluidkiti]

Day 18 – Stools & Bottles

Eighteenth Daily Reminder –Vindictiveness is a stumbling block to recovery for many members. They go to meetings and talk the program but reserve the right to suspect and hate–also the privilege of revenge. They are the advocates of justified resentments. They miss contented sobriety and wonder why AA fails to work for them.

Daily Inventory –Why is revenge so disturbing to an alcoholic’s peace of mind? Is resentment justified? Do hatred and revenge bar our chances for contented sobriety?

Suggested Meditation –Our revengeful attitudes are indicative of reservations to the AA program. They oppose a great fundamental principle which requires us to forgive before we can be forgiven. Resentment and vindictiveness are forms of mental drunkenness which AA never justifies. Revengeful alcoholics are of their 12 Step base. Prayer puts them back on again. We should try praying for those we hate. It pays well.

Spiritual Contact –Our Father, alert us to the future drunkenness which lies in attitudes of hatred and revenge. Help us to overcome them by praying for those we hate.

Daily Physical Audit –How often do we meditate upon the value of a healthy body to help arrest our alcoholism? Not enough, to be sure. What a shame to wait until some illness disables us before we realize the positive necessity of good health to our recovery. We need observe only a few simple rules to keep well. Systematic living habits which give us adequate exercise, fresh air, sunlight, food and rest are essential to a healthy body.

[bluidkiti]

Day 19 - Stools & Bottles

Nineteenth Daily Reminder -

A sincere group of newcomers, discussing the various merits of the AA program, agreed that without surrender an alcoholic could not recover from his illness. There was one dissenter who flatly condemned surrender as a negative mental attitude, branding it, "the cowardly act of a defeatist."

Daily Inventory -

Who was right? Are we defeatists? Is surrender so vital to our recovery? What is it that we surrender? How do we go about it?

Suggested Meditation -

Foolhardy describes the behavior of a diabetic who, refusing insulin, gorges himself with sugar. Insane describes the behavior of an alcoholic who will not admit his illness and keeps on drinking. We do not ignore broken bones. We have them set. Alcoholism is like a broken bone for us. Asking God to set this alcoholic fracture is a mark of intelligence. Surrender, to be sure, but only to a constructive power.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, save us from intellectual folly. Elevate us above the hairsplitting of words. Show us the logic of surrendering our alcoholism to You.

Daily Physical Audit -

We cannot choose the body we start life with, but we are responsible for its daily care. There are members who do not seem to understand that God does not help us physically when we refuse to help ourselves. They vainly pray for help instead of calling upon a surgeon to remove an infected appendix, tooth or tonsil. We should not delay taking our health problems to capable doctors with whom God has so abundantly supplied us.

[bluidkiti]

Day 20 - Stools & Bottles

Twentieth Daily Reminder -

The shortest route to a relapse in AA is to sober up without acquiring honesty, humility and a conscious contact with God. A good way to prevent this is suggested by Step Five. From it derive many essentials of recovery, such as: humility, freedom from fear, honesty and spiritual inspiration.

Daily Inventory -

Are we among those who have delayed taking Step Five? Is there a legitimate reason for holding off any longer? Why not arrange to take Step Five now?

Suggested Meditation -

Members frequently take their sobriety too much for granted. They forget that alcoholism is an incurable disease. They go to AA meetings, admit their weaker spots and mouth a few AA truths, yet cling tenaciously to some of their worst character defects. Their record of lip service is excellent, but their AA service is poor. Taking Step Five will uncover these facts. It keeps us humble and willing to serve.

Spiritual Contact -

Our Father, free us fro the doldrums of AA procrastination. Fill us with 12 Step enthusiasm. Give us the moral courage to take Step Five.

Daily Physical Audit -

Everyone has blood pressure. Some have it high. Some have it low. Some have it normal. High blood pressure damages the blood vessels and is the most common cause of heart disease for members. Its causes are unknown, but it is often associated with kidney disease, with functional disturbance of the nervous system, the endocrine glands and with overweight. We should watch our blood pressure closely and keep it within our normal range.

[bluidkiti]

Day 21 – Stools & Bottles

Twenty-First Daily Reminder –

After a few months of unhappy sobriety, a disgruntled AA member left his group and resumed drinking. He openly left his group and resumed drinking. He openly opposed certain spiritual parts of our program, labeling them “opium for the masses” and rowed that AA could not run his life. He won his point but by drinking lost his job, wife and home.

Daily Inventory –

Could he have been rebelling against the provisions of Step Six and Seven? With regard to self-discipline, what are the functions of these steps?

Suggested Meditation –

The sign of outward depression in an alcoholic is only the shadow of the real oppression within. He is a very sick person ruled by a strong obsession which says, “I want to be free. I want to think and to drink as I please. I refuse to part with my character flaws — AA or no AA.” Such freedom only adds to our alcoholic bondage. Such spiritual rebellion is mental drunkenness–another slavery for us.

Spiritual Contact –

Our Father, illuminate our defects of character. Help us to enforce self-discipline. Grant us a willing desire to fully accept Steps 6 and 7.

Daily Physical Audit –

Modern medicine emphasizes diet as a powerful factor of healthful living. It claims we eat too much bread, fats and sugar at the expense of proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts and vitamins which support body growth and repair. Chemical reaction in the alcoholic’s body is impaired by lack of proper food. Our diet should be well balanced and fortified with ample vegetables, fruits and meat.

[bluidkiti]

Day 22 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Second Daily Reminder --

Having gained sobriety from living the AA program, it is easy to become overconfident about our future security. We often mistake recovery for cure and get off the AA beam. Satisfied with our progress and impressed by our evident maturity we become complacent and are ready to graduate from AA.

Daily Inventory --

What is complacency? Is it a danger signal? Do we ever reach full maturity in AA? Are there specific graduation qualifications? Name them.

Suggestion Meditation --

The Big Book gives the answers for all our drinking problems. It also gives an AA graduation test on page 42 in the old book, or page 31 second edition. "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." Complacency (self-satisfaction) is not for us. Our goal is serenity)the reward for daily AA living.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, we pray that we may realize our need for daily AA living. Manifest the dangers of complacency to us. Teach is the meaning of serenity.

Daily Physical Audit --

Alcoholics are physically ill from toxic poisoning acquired by substituting alcohol for food and rest. We are impatient people who want to get well fast. It is not uncommon for newcomers to resort to the self-administration of drugs and antibiotics. This is a dangerous practice from which we suffer ill effects. Sedation is most harmful because it is habit forming. AA is ineffective for the willful users of self-administered drugs.

[bluidkiti]

Day 23 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Third Daily Reminder --

The keys to AA success and service are found in the last eight words of Step 12, "to practice these principles in all our affairs." It takes a lot of constructive thought, effort and courage to arrest our alcoholism -- not the physical kind, but the moral courage to be honest with ourselves and live AA.

Daily Inventory --

Is there more to Step 12 than just "carrying the message"? What about "a spiritual awakening"? What is meant by "these principles"?

Suggested Meditation --

"These principles" cover all of the 12 Steps. "Carrying the message" to alcoholics is vital, indeed, but it is only a part of practicing "these principles in all our affairs." Without their practice there could be no recovery. Without it we could have no examples of contented sobriety--no message to carry--no sponsorship--no AA. Let us never forget the significance of the last eight words of Step 12.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, awaken us spiritually. Allow us to "carry the message" to alcoholics. Help us to stay sober and to live the 12 Steps 24 hours a day.

Daily Physical Audit --

Medical science has long been interested in the relation of blood sugar to the physical condition of the alcoholic and his lack of craving after eating.

Experience teaches is that compulsion to drink usually occurred when our stomachs were empty and our blood sugar low. We should remember this in AA and always try to maintain an adequate level of nutrition for defense against that first drink.

[bluidkiti]

Day 24 – Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Fourth Daily Reminder —

An AA member with several years of sobriety and a record of active service moved to another city and attached himself to the local group. Working upon the basis of AA seniority, he tried to assume authority and rule the group. Failing in this, he broke their unity and later got drunk himself.

Daily Inventory –

Is AA run? Do our members rule? Where is AA’s authority? How is it expressed? Bo we rule by force or lead by example?

Suggested Meditation —

A fellowship of sick persons, who are recovering from the effects of alcoholism, cannot be legislated back to health. They should be led by understanding alcoholics who have arrested their illness by 12 Step living and are willing to share their experiences with others. Our only authority is God’s Will activation the conscience of our group–His voice speaking through AA to the alcoholics who still suffer.

Spiritual Contact —

Our Father, may our examples of serenity and happy sobriety attract to us the alcoholics who still suffer. Make us realize the value of service.

Daily Physical Audit —

Good health is our best safeguard against disease. Some people inherit it while others must fight to acquire it. The alcoholic, regardless of his former status, has placed himself in the second category. Recovery from alcoholism now confronts us with two real problems. The first one is to regain our health. The second is to maintain it. Willingness to admit and treat our illness and physical defects is an important asset to recovery.

[bluidkiti]

Day 25 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Fifth Daily Reminder --

Unity of purpose, thought and acts is vitally important to an AA group's success, Without unity we can only expect failure. You and I may stand or fall in accordance with the success of our group. We owe a unified stand on AA purpose to ourselves, to our group and to its future membership.

Daily Inventory --

Does the welfare of the group come first? Does individual recovery depend upon group unity? Who is responsible for the unity of the group?

Suggested Meditation --

Tradition One advises us that without unity an AA group cannot survive. Without a group many of us could not survive. Obviously, the preservation of group unity is the responsibility of every member. We must hang together or John Barleycorn will surely hang us separately. With this in mind, let us put our petty ambitions aside and band ourselves together with determination to support the principles of AA.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, we pray that our group may bne unified in its purpose to maintain individual sobriety and pass it on to alcoholics seeking our aid.

Daily Physical Audit --

Although the heart is innocent of creating many pains and feelings of discomfort attributed to it, we act wisely to investigate the cause of unusual symptoms which may occur. A good way to prevent heart trouble is to see your doctor for a check-up every year and to consult him at the appearance of any symptom which may or may not have its source in the heart. Perhaps this may disclose organic illness in time for treatment and cure.

[bluidkiti]

Day 26 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Sixth Daily Reminder --

A dirty middle-aged alcoholic lay dying on an old couch in the slums of a Midwestern city. Sick, helpless and broke he called upon AA for help. Sympathetic members responded, placed him in a hospital. He recovered and later joined AA where he stayed and served with credit to his group.

Daily Inventory --

What are the requirements for AA membership? Are we interested in both low and high bottom drunks? How do we handle those who refuse to believe in God?

Suggested Meditation --

"The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking." It is not within our province to refuse AA to an alcoholic who asks for help. God has a way of handling those who do not believe in Him. AA does not demand belief in God, yet the newcomer soon learns that contented sobriety demands it. There can be no satisfactory personality change in a member who refuses spiritual help.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, prevent us from passing judgment upon anyone. Grant us wisdom to discern between tolerance and indulgence. Let us live and give AA.

Daily Physical Audit --

Common sense governs the rules of healthful living. Good health does not result from a single act but is the result of many daily practices which eventually becomes habits of self-preservation. They keep us from "digging our grave with our own teeth." There are detours to be observed on the road of Wellville which circumvent fast eating, overeating, gulping food down with liquids and eating when overfatigued.

[bluidkiti]

Day 27 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Seventh Daily Reminder --

An AA veteran, the main speaker at an anniversary meeting, sat waiting for almost two hours while other speakers dramatized many subjects -- some of them foreign to AA. Finally he was introduced. He spoke for thirty minutes, inspiring us with the humble virtues of AA. His subject? Love and service.

Daily Inventory --

Have we ever visualized the power of true humility? Do we seek contented sobriety or AA recognition? Are our efforts inspired by love and service?

Suggested Meditation --

The truly great members of AA are all humble members. They give freely of their talent but seek no praise. The publicity seeker is different. He lacks humility but never seems to feel small about it. We can be either great or small about in AA, but as we sacrifice our vanities upon the alter of AA service we will rise and grow in stature and gain recognition without seeking it.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, knowing the weakness of our vanity, we pray for the strength of humility. Reveal our need for love and service. Makes us worthy AA servants.

Daily Physical Audit --

Alcohol does not contribute to diabetes, but diabetes can contribute to relapses. We find verification of this fact in the lives of our diabetics who, suffering from complications of their primary illness, go on a mental spree and end up drunk. AA diabetics have two incurable diseases to arrest. They should adhere strictly to their diet. Undue physical and mental effort must be avoided. Infection and neglect may lead to gangrene, blindness and death.

[bluidkiti]

Day 28 - Stools & Bottles

Twenty-Eighth Daily Reminder

A few AA members and their wives were assembled at the home of another member for a weekly AA meeting. The host arrived too late to hold his meeting. When questioned about his absence he shouted, "What in h--l is all this bellyaching about -- I'm here and sober, isn't that enough?"

Daily Inventory --

Is sullen and surly sobriety enough? How far off the beam dare we get? Is it possible to benefit from aor add to AA meetings in an angry, sullen mood?

Suggested Meditation --

It is remarkable that a few months of sobriety will allow us to forget the mental binge always precedes the physical drunk. Members who are physically dry and mentally wet do not stay that way. We must either improve our sobriety or vainly try to suppress our alcoholism. Suppression is not our answer. It only leads to drinking. It lets us drift back, like washed pigs, to wallow in the alcoholic mire.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, help us to stay put with our group. Fill us with enthusiasm for the AA program. We pray for willingness to improve upon our sobriety.

Daily Physical Audit --

Relaxation and sleep are not only good health practices, they are vital essentials of life itself. We cannot miss them for any great length of time and live healthy lives. Nature's rules for the upkeep of the body are definite and exacting. Alcoholics require systematic daily rest periods to relieve mental fatigue. Our body tissues need sleep to overcome the chemical changes caused by work during the day.

[bluidkiti]

Stools & Bottles Day Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Ninth Daily Reminder --

An older AA member killed himself today, bringing sorrow and grave concern to the members of his group. Despite their knowledge of infidelity with his family, self-sedation and his refusal to consider alcoholism a disease, some members wondered why he resumed drinking and then took his own life.

Daily Inventory --

The reasons for this man's troubles are well defined in Chapter Five in the Big Book. Honesty pays big dividends in AA. Let's work it 24 hours daily.

Suggested Meditation --

All drinking alcoholics are potential suicides. Contented sobriety and AA are not compatible with suicide, nor with dishonesty in business and home dealings, nor in sneaking that first drink. Alcoholism is more than sin--it is sickness also. If it were just a sinful act we could recover by asking forgiveness and keep right on drinking. That's what we did before AA. That's what killed our old friend.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, we know our great need for Your help and wisdom. Grant them to us. Enable us to arrest the dishonest and fatality of alcoholism.

Daily Physical Audit --

Medical doctors have not recognized alcohol as the cause of gastric ulcer. Alcohol, smoking and spicy foods, however, do aggravate conditions where ulcers exist. Members with known ulcers are advised to follow prescribed medication and diet. Persons with high-up abdominal pains, bloating, pains in the back, nausea after eating and black or bloody stools may be developing ulcers and should get a physical checkup.

[bluidkiti]

Stools & Bottles Day Thirty
Thirtieth Daily Reminder --

The unmanageable lives which we have developed from years of self-centered drinking have taught us our weakness apart from the help and influence of a Higher Power. AA suggests that we avail ourselves of God's power. It advises us to pray unselfish prayers that help us and are a blessing to mankind.

Daily Inventory --

Have we a relationship with God? Is there a brotherhood of man? Are we our brothers keeper? Do we understand the power of unselfish prayer?

Suggested Meditation --

Some members claim that AA is a selfish program. Is this true or is AA just the opposite--a program which frees us from self-centeredness? Their statements are well meant but most misleading. It seems that intelligence, not selfishness, actuates our recovery from alcoholism. Step 11 suggests that we pray to lose self-will and that our prayers include welfare of others.

Spiritual Contact --

Our Father, let us see beyond life's material needs to our 24-hour spiritual needs. Clear our minds of selfishness. May we be guided by Your Will.

Daily Physical Audit --

Most alcoholics require some form of moderate exercise to keep fit physically. Since ignorance of the harm of overexertion does not shield us from its physical penalties, we should work within the individual limits of our strength. Outdoor exercise taken once or twice a week stimulates circulation, help digestion, aids elimination and adds years to our lives.

[MajestyJo]

Strange, I put Stools and Bottles in the search engine and this didn't come up. Guess I didn't have the right wording.