[bluidkiti]

October 25

Daily Reflections

A.A.'s HEARTBEAT

Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; . . . .
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 125

Without unity I would be unable to recover in A.A. on a daily basis. By practicing unity
within my group, with other A.A. members and at all levels of this great Fellowship, I
receive a pronounced feeling of knowing that I am a part of a miracle that was divinely
inspired. The ability of Bill W. and Dr. Bob, working together and passing it on to other
members, tells me that to give it away is to keep it. Unity is oneness and yet the whole
Fellowship is for all of us.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Fifth, I have learned to live one day at a time. I have finally realized the great fact that all
I have is now. This sweeps away all vain regret and it makes my thoughts of the future
free of fear. Now is mine. I can do what I want with it. I own it, for better or worse. What I
do now, in this present moment, is what makes up my life. My whole life is only a
succession of nows. I will take this moment, which has been given to me by the grace of
God, and I will do something with it. What I do with each now, will make me or break me.
Am I living in the now?

Meditation For The Day

We should work at overcoming ourselves, our selfish desires and our self-centeredness.
This can never be fully accomplished. We can never become entirely unselfish. But we
can come to realize that we are not at the center of the universe and that everything does
not revolve around us at the center. I am only one cell in a vast network of human cells. I
can at least make the effort to conquer the self-life and seek daily to obtain more and
more of this self-conquest. "He that overcomes himself is greater than he who conquers a
city."

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may strive to overcome my selfishness. I pray that I may achieve the right
perspective of my position in the world.

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As Bill Sees It

Daily Inventory, p. 296

Often, as we review each day, only the closest scrutiny will reveal
what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient
enemy rationalization has stepped in and has justified conduct which
was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had
good motives and reasons when we really hadn't.

We "constructively criticized" someone who needed it, when our
real motive was to win a useless argument. Or, the person concerned
not being present, we thought we were helping others to
understand him, when in actuality our true motive was to feel
superior by pulling him down.

We hurt those we loved because they needed to be "taught a
lesson," but we really wanted to punish. We were depressed and
complained we felt bad, when in fact we were mainly asking for
sympathy and attention.

12 & 12, p. 94

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Walk In Dry Places

Different routes to alcoholism
Understanding powerlessness
While alcoholics have much in common, the personal stories heard at AA open meetings show that we took different routes to alcoholism. Some became out-of-control drinkers almost from the beginning. Others lost control slowly after years of seemingly moderate drinking.
These differences are underscored by the fact that we also differ in physical and emotional traits. Some alcoholics, for example, were so emotionally disturbed that they became problem drinkers from the very start. Some appeared to "have it all together," yet became alcoholics after retirement or some other change in life patterns.
Whatever the route taken, we share in common our individual powerlessness at the time we knocked on AA's door. And the solution for each of us was the same: sobriety in AA.
The risk in listening to such different personal accounts is that some of us twist these differences into "proof" that we are not alcoholics. The reward of such sharing , however, is learning that we do have a common problem and that there is a solution that fits everyone, in spite of our diffences.
I'll remember today that I came to AA because I was powerless over alcohol. That has not changed.

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Keep It Simple

Love thy neighbor as thyself, but choose your neighbor.---Louise Beal
In our program, we learn a lot about loving ourselves. Then we start to see how this helps us love our neighbors. We learn to love ourselves honestly, seeing our strengths and our weaknesses. We learn to see others honestly . We learn how much to trust ourselves and when to get extra help. We learn how much to trust others too. We learn to love ourselves with a love that’s honest and challenging. We learn to love others this way too. We learn to care about others without losing our common sense. We learn to protect our spirits from harm.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me see others clearly. Help me love them. But help me choose carefully who I trust.
Action for the Day: Today, I’ll list three people I trust the most, and I’ll write down why.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Love has the quality of informing almost everything--even one's work. --Sylvia Ashton-Warner
We are changed through loving and being loved. Our attitudes are profoundly and positively affected by the presence of love in our lives. Each time we offer a loving response to a friend, co-worker, even a stranger, we powerfully influence the dynamics of the interaction between us.
Every response we make to someone changes us while it informs him or her. When we treat others with disdain, we invite the same. When we express only criticism of others, our self-assessment is equally negative. The beauty of a loving posture is that it calls forth love in response. The more love we give away, the more we receive.
Any task before us is lessened when we carry love in our hearts. Love is more powerful than fear. Love helps to open the channel to God, assuring us of the strength, the understanding, and the patience needed to complete any assignment confronting us.
God loves me, unconditionally. And I will experience the reality of that love the more I give it away. Love wants to change me--and it can.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

The Doctor's Opinion

WE OF Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the reader will be interested in the medical estimate of the plan of recovery described in this book. Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the sufferings of our members and have witnessed our return to health.

p. xxv

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Women Suffer Too

Despite great opportunities, alcohol nearly ended her life. Early member, she spread the word among women in our pioneering period.

WHAT WAS I saying . . . From far away, as if in a delirium, I had heard my own voice—calling someone "Dorothy," talking of shops, of jobs . . . the words came clearer . . . this sound of my own voice frightened me as it got closer . . . and suddenly, there I was, talking of I knew not what, to someone I'd never seen before this very moment. Abruptly I stopped speaking. Where was I?

p. 200

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Twelve - "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs."

A.A.'s manner of making ready to receive this gift lies in the practice of the Twelve Steps in our program. So let's consider briefly what we have been trying to do up to this point:
Step One showed us an amazing paradox: We found that we were totally unable to be rid of the alcohol obsession until we first admitted that we were powerless over it. In Step Two we saw that since we could not restore ourselves to sanity, some Higher Power must necessarily do so if we were to survive. Consequently, in Step Three we turned our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. For the time being, we who were atheist or agnostic discovered that our own group, or A.A. as a whole, would suffice as a higher power. Beginning with Step Four, we commenced to search out the things in ourselves which had brought us to physical, moral, and spiritual bankruptcy. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory. Looking at Step Five, we decided that an inventory, taken alone, wouldn't be enough. We knew we would have to quit the deadly business of living alone with our conflicts, and in honesty confide these to God and another human being. At Step Six, many of us balked--for the practical reason that we did not wish to have all our defects of character removed, because we still loved some of them too much. Yet we knew we had to make a settlement with the fundamental principle of Step Six. So we decided that while we still had some flaws of character that we could not yet relinquish, we ought nevertheless to quit our stubborn, rebellious hanging on to them. We said to ourselves, "This I cannot do today, perhaps, but I can stop crying out `No, never!' " Then, in Step Seven, we humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings such as He could or would under the conditions of the day we asked.

pp. 107-108

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"Be the change you want to see in the world."
--Mohandas Ghandi

Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet.
--German Proverb

It doesn't take a lot of effort to know the needs of another person. By helping others you
are helping yourself.
--unknown

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
--Abraham Lincoln

In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday.
--unknown

Learn to enjoy little things; there are so many of them!
--unknown

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

FLEXIBILITY

"Better bend than break."
-- Scottish Proverb

Dis-ease: to be controlling, stiff, uncomfortable and unbending.

Sobriety: being relaxed, comfortable and flexible in my personal life and my interaction
with others.

Life: not a race but an experience; it is not an exercise but an adventure.

Before I accepted my alcoholism, I went through periods of "dryness" --- when I was
rigid, stiff and unbending. It was awful! Everything became a test, a job, a
premeditated act behind a mask of cheerfulness. I was angry, resentful and in pain. My
problem was that I stopped drinking to please other people, rather than accept the
true nature of my disease. Dryness is controlled denial.

Today the sobriety I have gained from an acceptance of self has overflowed into an
acceptance of life on life's terms --- and I am happy.

Let the wind of experience continue to bend me in the knowledge of Your love.

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"From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised."
Psalms 113:3

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things
grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be
rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's
field, God's building.
1 Corinthians 3:7-9

"Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight
yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart."
Psalm 37:3-4

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts the burdens of those bent
beneath their loads. The LORD loves the righteous. The LORD protects the foreigners
among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The
LORD will reign forever.
Psalm 146:8-10

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Daily Inspiration

Treat your family as you would treat a best friend. Lord, help me to treasure my family with all of their imperfections as well as my own and cherish the time we have together.

There is no real happiness without God and no peace when we separate ourselves from Him. Lord, You said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you". I give you my troubled heart.