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When one alcoholic/addict shares with another alcoholic/addict
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"Sobriety is a gift, a treasure to be cherished"
That is exactly how I feel about my sobriety. But for the grace of God, I am sober today. |
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We may think ourselves better than others, but that is our disease talking. We are all created equal, we walk beside each other, not one ahead or one ahead. It doesn't matter what the trappings are we wear, it is what is inside that counts. |
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August 28
"Not drinking is the first requirement for joy; the second requirement is gratitude." In Our Own Words Lombard, Ill., Feb. 1995 "The Most Beautiful Word in the English Language" In Our Own Words: Stories of Young AAs in Recovery https://snt145.mail.live.com/Handler...fimg%2f435.jpg August 29 "Not only ... could spiritual experiences make people saner, they could transform men and women so that they could do, feel, and believe what had hitherto been impossible to them. It mattered little whether these awakenings were sudden or gradual; their variety could be almost infinite." The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1953 "A Fragment of History: Origin of the Twelve Steps" The Language of the Heart https://snt145.mail.live.com/Handler...fimg%2f517.jpg August 30 "Happiness or tragedy might just depend upon a slight sign of recognition, a nod of the head or perhaps a friendly smile." Chappaqua, N.Y., December 1947 "Recognition" AA Grapevine August 31 "My past sobriety is not a ticket to future sobriety. I have to pay that fare and make the decision to recover daily." In Our Own Words AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1953 "A Fragment of History: Origin of the Twelve Steps" The Language of the Heart Grapevine quote of the day for the month of August. Sorry I have not been able to be post these daily. http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-dogs/0331.gif |
September 1
"I don't need to project the future or cry about the past. Just live to the best of my ability, one day at a time." AA Around the World Bangkok, Thailand, October 1988 "The Best of My Ability" AA Around the World: Adventures in Recovery ===== September 2 "By admitting where I was at fault, I was given the ability to forgive ... With forgiveness came a freedom that I had not anticipated. The amends had required nothing but courage, and a faith that my Higher Power would carry me where I had been too afraid to walk alone." Step by Step Book Sterling, Alaska, September 1993 "Scene of the Crime" Step By Step ===== September 3 "I had a really good reason for working Step Nine and making amends to my family and friends. I didn't want a parade of people at my funeral singing, 'Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead!'" Step by Step Book Sarasota, Fla., February 2009 "Heard at Meetings" ===== September 4 "AA is spiritual, is the eye of the hurricane, is my refuge and my comfort." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 Oklahoma City, Okla., December 1992 "Eye of the Hurricane" ===== September 5 "My Higher Power works incognito, defying definition and requiring faith." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 State College, Penn., April 1994 "Working Incognito" Spiritual Awakenings ===== September 6 "I felt myself move with a new power, courage, and faith that, by the grace of God, I have acquired as a result of working the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous." Spiritual Awakenings II Click to learn more Conn., June 2005 "Life and Taxes" Spiritual Awakenings II ===== September 7 "The individual must sometimes place the welfare of his fellows ahead of his own uncontrolled desires. Were the individual to yield nothing to the common welfare there could be no society at all - only self-will run riot; anarchy in the worst sense of the word." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1946 "The Individual in Relation to AA as a Group" September 8 "I am feeling much better now, and I thank God for AA and my good friends. I have learned how to accept their help." Emotional Sobriety II Queens, N.Y., February 1971 "Carrying the Message" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 9 "When I'm willing to pay the price for top-shelf sobriety, 'action' is still the magic word." Emotional Sobriety II Craig, Colo., January 1997 "Paying the Price for Improvement" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 10 "We who live in the haven of AA cling together with an intensity of purpose which the outside world seldom comprehends. The anarchy of the individual melts away. Self-love subsides and democracy becomes a reality. We begin to know true freedom of the spirit." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1946 "The Individual in Relation to AA as a Group" ===== September 11 "Alcoholics Anonymous has given me something of real value that I can share with others." Spiritual Awakenings II Click to learn more Tucson, Ariz., May 2004 "The Fugitives" ===== September 12 "Ever so slowly, I could feel myself changing. Things that had seemed important were no longer important. There was inside me a warming, a softening, a stirring, as the petals of a rosebud stir almost imperceptibly into a blossom." Spiritual Awakenings II Neoga, Ill., February 1974 "There Can Be Love and Laughter" ===== September 13 "I am learning how to cope with life, people, and situations, not as I want them to be, but as they really are." Emotional Sobriety II Millburn, N.J., July 1971 "Reality Can Be Uncomfortable" ===== September 14 "The way our 'worthy' alcoholics have sometimes tried to judge the 'less worthy' is, as we look back on it, rather comical. Imagine, if you can, one alcoholic judging another!" Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., August 1946 "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" The Language of the Heart ===== September 15 "The next time you feel hurt, outraged, bitter or resentful - the beginning of many a slip as attested to by AA speakers - try to remember quickly that you haven't been mortally harmed. In nearly all cases, it's just a pain in your feelings!" Emotional Sobriety II Elmhurst, N.Y., March 1950 "Got a Pain in Your Feelings?" |
September 16
"Am I strong enough? Am I willing to commit my life and my heart at an even deeper level to doing whatever it takes to keep moving forward?" Spiritual Awakenings II North Hollywood, Calif., September 2005 "Where's My Reward?" Spiritual Awakenings II ===== September 17 "Though all alone out there, an AA from the Marshall Islands still claimed his group had three members, to wit: 'God, the book Alcoholics Anonymous, and me.'" Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., September 1950 "We Came of Age" The Language of the Heart ===== September 18 "The inner energy that is love connects all the parts of us - our emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual selves." Emotional Sobriety II Calif., March 1984 "Powerful Simplicity" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 19 "One day, after sitting alone, soaked in tears and feeling empty, worthless, and crippled in the smallest task, I reached out and gave my phone number to someone else - they were hurting, too. In that simplest of acts, my world changed." Spiritual Awakenings II Salt Lake City, Utah, July 2007 "Life, Not Regrets" Spiritual Awakenings II ===== September 20 "There has to be something to be grateful for if I am only willing to change my attitude and look for it." Emotional Sobriety II Mesa, Ariz., March 2010 "Not On Fire" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 21 "Most of us do follow, in our personal lives, the Twelve suggested Steps to recovery ... We do this from choice. We prefer recovery to death. Then, little by little, we ... conform because we want to." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1947 "Will AA Ever Have a Personal Government?" ===== September 22 "With the help of the Fellowship, the Twelve Steps, and a Higher Power ... I do not have to be a newcomer again." Emotional Sobriety II Montpelier, Vt., March 2003 "Confessions of a Reluctant Newcomer" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 23 "I have made a determined effort to focus more on seeing myself as God sees me." Spiritual Awakenings II Click to learn more Reston, Va., December 2009 "I'm Not Broken" Spiritual Awakenings II ===== September 24 "While we readily share our views, perhaps one of the nicest things about the AA program is that we don't always have to agree with each other." Emotional Sobriety II Click to learn more Brooklyn, N.Y., June 1975 "Self-Acceptance" Emotional Sobriety II ===== September 25 "Those little maxims 'Easy Does It' and 'Live and Let Live' have come to be deeply meaningful and significant." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1947 "Will AA Ever Have a Personal Government?" ===== September 26 "The beauty of sobriety is that sometimes I am the one supported, and other times the one supporting. One act helps destroy my ego, the other my self-centeredness. I need to practice both actions if I want to survive" No Matter What Los Angeles, Calif., July 2007 "Self-Support" No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== September 27 "Always a heady wine, success may sometimes cause us to forget that each of us lives on borrowed time." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., October 1947 "Traditions Stressed in Memphis Talk" The Language of the Heart ===== September 28 "I don't fear for the future because I am in the loving arms of AA today." No Matter What Los Angeles, Calif., July 2007 "Self-Support" No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== September 29 "I've never taken my sobriety for granted because I know I'm only one drink away from ruining my life." No Matter What Jamaica Plain, Mass., May 1997 "The Littlest Things" No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== September 30 "Since today marks not only the last day of my life to this date, but also the first day of the rest of my life, and since I have come to believe that the best is yet to come, I think today has been my best day sober." Lubbock, Texas, December 2000 "My Best Day Sober" No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== |
October 1
"Keeping a Tenth Step journal about my day-to-day life, my relations with other people, and the stuff that still roiled around in my head helped me see patterns in my thoughts and behavior, which I could discuss with my sponsor. And once I began to sit quietly, reflect on what I'd written, and pray, I began to sleep peacefully for the first time in my life." In Our Own Words Manchester, N.H., March 2001 "Peace at Last," In Our Own Words: Stories of Young AAs in Recovery ===== "We can always come up with a reason to drink. The secret is, how many reasons can we come up with to stay sober?" No Matter What Click to learn more Topeka, Kan., July 2001 An Important Secret No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== "The measure of my sobriety isn't the distance between now and the last drink -- the measure of my sobriety is the distance between now and the next drink." No Matter What White Rock, British Columbia, May 2005 "Life -- It Happens" No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 4 "We AAs have had to learn that the kinds of freedom that we must possess cannot possibly be obtained by violence. As a Fellowship, we cannot fight anybody, anywhere or at any time. This has been proved. When we had directly attacked John Barleycorn, we had lost. Booze fighting had never worked. When we quarrel too much with each other, we get drunk." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., November 1960 "Freedom Under God: |
October 5
"Each night, I think of the Tenth Step and ask myself, 'Have I, this day, helped more than I've harmed? Given more than I've taken? Created more than I've destroyed?'" Step by Step Book Minneapolis, Minn., December 1977 "It Takes Practice to Be Human," Step By Step ===== October 6 "Nothing could be sadder than to lose touch with ourselves in recovery; to have our connection to our Higher Power blocked by resentment; to be governed by old ideas we are only dimly aware of and that hold us back; or to be reduced by our fears to living sequestered from life. For the sunlight of the spirit to enter, the window must be kept clean so the light can pour through." Step by Step Book New York, N.Y., October 2010 "Safety Valve," Step By Step ===== October 7 "As of this moment I repose serenely on Cloud 9, being thankful in silent meditation. I know the grim realism of this troubled world will bring me sharply back to earth at any moment, but I pray I may make a safe, happy landing." Cincinnati, OHIO, May 1957 "Let There Be Light," Into Action ===== October 8 "I know what the temptation of fame and money really is ... I was once a breaker of anonymity myself. I thank God that years ago the voice of experience and the urging of wise friends took me out of that perilous path into which I might have led our entire Society." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1955 "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous" The Language of the Heart ===== October 9 "The slogans are simple things ... these AA tranquilizers do not solve our problems, but they can calm us down, remind us of a better way to proceed, and perhaps even put us in a mood to make better decisions." New York, N.Y., November 1958 "Using the Slogans," Into Action |
October 10
"With the clock ticking like it is, I do not have time for anger, resentment, or self-pity. Time is far too precious." Durham, N.C., April 2002 "Just an Attitude," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 11 "One night, in a moment of desperation, I got down on my knees and remembered a prayer an old sponsor had given me. It said, 'God, help me be of service ... to something or someone...' I knew intuitively it was the answer." Edmonton, Alberta, May 2010 "Sinking Fast," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 12 "The temptations of riches could sometimes be worse than the pains of poverty." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., December 1957 "The Greatest Gift of All" The Language of the Heart ===== October 13 "Seeing my defects is not enough to make them improve or go away -- the solution seems to be following awareness with action." Step by Step Book Coldwater, Mich., December 2006 "Daily Reminder," Step By Step ===== October 14 "How does one tune in to the Higher Power? The answer I have learned from AA is to recharge my spiritual battery every day -- 'you can't pull today's load with yesterday's horse.'" Joliet, Ill., July 1985 "Willingness to Grow," Into Action ===== October 15 "I found I had to exert every ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies upon people, upon AA, indeed, upon any set of circumstances whatever. Then only could I be free to love." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1958 "The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety" The Language of the Heart https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...TME7I-KkZLar9Q |
October 16
"As I continue to struggle, I think of the words of an old-timer in my area. No matter what the topic, he always finishes sharing with the words, 'and I haven't had a drink today.' Remembering his words never fails to bring to my mind the words 'experience, strength, and hope.'" "Out of Work, But Not Hope," Anonymous, December 2000 No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 17 "A new spiritual awakening can come at every meeting." Hartsdale-Ardsley, N.Y., January 1957 "Twelve Steps to a Meeting," Into Action ===== October 18 "One day leads to the next, no matter how unhappy I choose to be." Sioux Rapids, IA, January 2004 "Adult Love," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 19 "A leader in AA service is ... a man (or a woman) who can personally put principles, plans and policies into such dedicated and effective action that the rest of us want to back him up and help him with his job." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., April 1959 "Leadership in AA: Ever a Vital Need" The Language of the Heart ===== October 20 "First Things First. That's a real gem." New York, N.Y., November 1958 "Using the Slogans," Into Action https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...It20_t3rRhsz7F |
October 21
"Only by accepting my powerlessness over alcohol did I begin to discover the powers that alcohol had obliterated: God, health, truth, love, nature, fellowship, humor, creativity, and even simple daily kindness." Barrington, Ill., June 2007 "In Your Bones," Into Action ===== October 22 "My anger served as an iron shield, and I refused to remove it for fear God would send me still more pain." Jamaica Plain, Mass., May 1997 "The Littlest Things," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 23 "To be teachable, I had to be reachable." Wollstonecraft, Australia, May 1984 "The Winner's Guide to Boring Meetings," Into Action ===== October 24 "This process of identification and transmission has gone on and on. The skid rower said he was different. Even more loudly the socialite (or Park Avenue stumble bum) said the same -- so did the arts and the professions, the rich, the poor, the religious, the agnostics, the Indians and the Eskimos, the veterans and the prisoners. "But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we all admit that the chips are finally down; when we see that it is really a question of do or die in our world wide Fellowship of 'the common suffering and the common deliverance." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1960 "AA Communication Can Cross All Barriers" The Language of the Heart ===== October 25 "I made the decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God, and then I got out of the way." Christchurch, New Zealand, March 2010 "Gimme Shelter," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...5pc7a3HOEkDmHQ |
October 26
"The Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. No sanctions or punishments can be invoked for their infractions. Perhaps in no other area of society would these principles succeed. Yet in this Fellowship of alcoholics, the unenforceable Traditions carry a power greater than that of law." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1960 "The Language of the Heart" ===== October 27 "It's funny how life is lived forward -- and understood backward." Vail, Ariz., October 2005 "Living Life Forward," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 28 "In this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. So we shall have to settle, respecting most of our problems, for a very gradual progress, punctuated sometimes by heavy setbacks. Our old-time attitudes of 'all or nothing' will have to be abandoned." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., March 1962 "What Is Acceptance?" The Language of the Heart ===== October 29 "No one at the gym, at work, in my neighborhood, or even in church had ever put their hand out to me. In AA, it happened every day." Trenton, N.J., April 2005 "Falling Apart on the Inside," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 30 "My perception of any situation is in my control -- I have a choice about which way my mind will react. I try my best to look for positive solutions; I take my problems to my sponsor or I let my friends at a meeting know what is going on inside me." Pinellas Park, Fla, November 2006 "How the Universe Works," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== October 31 "At the end of each day ... I hope that I can say a short prayer of gratitude for another day of sobriety. Anything else good that happens is a bonus." White Rock, British Columbia, May 2005 "Life--It Happens," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...GSqE-hWRa9GPDd |
November 1
"No prophet can presume to say whether the world outcome will be blazing destruction or the beginning, under God's intention, of the brightest era yet known to mankind. I am sure we AAs well comprehend this scene. In microcosm, we have experienced this identical state of terrifying uncertainty, each in his own life." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., January 1962 "This Matter of Fear" The Language of the Heart ===== November 2 "In despair, I had cried out, 'Now I am willing to do anything. If there is a God, will he show himself?' And he did. This was my first conscious contact, my first awakening. I asked from the heart, and I received." Celebrating The Language of the Heart AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1960 "The Language of the Heart" The Language of the Heart ===== November 3 "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," Spiritual Awakenings ===== November 4 "Regardless of what happened before or what may happen tomorrow, what is the very best thing I can possibly do, right now?" Santa Monica, Calif., May 2007 "A Life Without Problems," No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety ===== November 5 "One of the truly great gifts in this Fellowship of mutually concerned people is the gift of the art of listening ... But our need to listen goes beyond meetings and talks with friends ... We need Step Eleven and our greater conscious contact with the Divine Listener. Then will our serenity emerge; then will our help to others have quality." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 Anonymous, May 1960 "Where the Words Come From," Spiritual Awakenings ===== November 6 "The Twelve Steps ... are simple in language, plain in meaning. They are also workable by any person having a sincere desire to obtain and keep sobriety. The results are the proof. Their simplicity and workability are such that no special interpretations, and certainly no reservations, have ever been necessary. And it has become increasingly clear that the degree of harmonious living which we achieve is in direct ratio to our earnest attempt to follow them literally under divine guidance to the best of our ability." Best of Grapevine Volume 2 AA Co-Founder, Dr. Bob, September 1948 "The Fundamentals in Retrospect" The Best of the Grapevine, Volume 2 ===== November 7 "Our Twelve Traditions ... represent the sum of our experience as individuals, as groups within AA, and similarly with our fellows and other organizations in the great fellowship of humanity under God throughout the world. They are all suggestions, yet the spirit in which they have been conceived merits their serious, prayerful consideration as the guideposts of AA policy for the individual, the group, and our various committees, local and national." Best of Grapevine Volume 2 AA Co-Founder, Dr. Bob, September 1948 "The Fundamentals in Retrospect" The Best of the Grapevine, Volume 2 ===== November 8 "Spiritual progress isn't what gets us sober, it's what keeps us sober." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 State College, Pa.,April 1994 "Working Incognito," Spiritual Awakenings https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...G3d906hqnRX5Tg |
November 9
"Full consciousness ... implies not only the willingness to receive the love and benefits AA has to offer, but also to surrender to the equally painful experience of exposure to ourselves, and others, of ourselves." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 Pleasantville, N.Y., August 1959 "The Sense of Sobriety," Spiritual Awakenings November 10 "We measure our progress in AA by two words, 'humility' and 'responsibility.' May I ever keep my eye on these yardsticks as I continue to seek only knowledge of his will for me." Spiritual Awakenings Vol. 1 Tulsa, Okla., July 1978 "The Power of the Program," Spiritual Awakenings http://www.animated-gifs.eu/religion...cross/0073.gif |
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When I do that, I stay clean. By helping new people, I don't forget where I came from, what it was like, so that I can appreciate what I have in today and be grateful for the recovery that has been given so freely to me. In order to keep it, I must give it away. More importantly, I have to have it to give. You can't give away what you don't have. I was told that I needed to top myself up and then give away the overflow. I have also found that you can't help someone unless they are truly willing to get help. There are many who need this program, but it only works for those who want it and have a willingness to live it. When I share or listen with a fellow alcoholic/addict, it is important to identify and not compare. We may not have used the same substance, but the feelings and the pain is the same. Whether I use alcohol, pills, men, relationships, food, work, gambling, etc. to fill my emptiness, it all leads to the same soul sickness. http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-...-love/0012.gif |
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Acceptance is one of the spiritual principles of Step One. I was told that I had to do the first half of this step 100%, and I was warned that the second half was conditional to my spiritual connection, one day at a time. When I accepted my disease, surrendered my day to my Higher Power, got honest with me, then my life would be manageable. If I didn't have these spiritual principles, and tried to manage my own life, then it certainly would become unmanageable, and would stay so until such a time, as I could find the honest, surrender and acceptance I need to bring myself back to my essence and connected to the God of my understanding. http://www.animated-gifs.eu/mammals-...-love/0011.gif |
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