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AA Thought for the Day

June 11, 2017

A Lifetime Process
We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures,
we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness,
we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people. . .
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 52

Thought to Ponder . . .
Recovery is not an event; it is a process.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
A A = Altered Attitudes.

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

Gratitude
"Another exercise that I practice
is to try for a full inventory of my blessings
and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts that are mine -
both temporal and spiritual.
Here I try to achieve a state of joyful gratitude.
When such a brand of gratitude is repeatedly affirmed
and pondered,
it can finally displace the natural tendency
to congratulate myself on whatever progress
I may have been enabled to make in some areas of living.
I try hard to hold fast to the truth
that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits.
When brimming with gratitude,
one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love,
the finest emotion that we can ever know."
Bill W., March 1962
1988AAGrapevine, The Language of the Heart, p. 271

Thought to Consider . . .
I have learned what a heart full of gratitude feels like.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
T H I N K = The Happiness I Never Knew

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

Illness
>From "Building a New Life":
"That year I went to an alcohol treatment program twice. The first time I was in treatment, I was shaving at the mirror in
the bathroom and it seemed to me that my beard was growing back in as fast as I could shave it off. Even though I was
in a hospital gown, I escaped, running down the streets and jumping up and over fences. I was on the porch of a
woman's house banging on the door for her to let me in when the police arrived. I tried to convince them she was my
wife and my children were inside, but they saw the hospital bracelet on my wrist, and they took me back to the program.
"The doctor told me that if I went into D.T.'s like that again I might not come out."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 482

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

"Instead of looking backward into the dreariness of my past, I'm looking forward to a bright future because I've finally taken responsibility for my life."
Canaan, Conn., June 1997
"Making Room to Grow Up"
Step By Step: Real AAs, Real Recovery

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

"In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we
could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off
from Him. If you have already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser handicaps,
you have made a good beginning. That being so you have swallowed and
digested some big chunks of truth about yourself."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 70~

"Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of
our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-
seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they
retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation,
but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made
decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 62~

Even these “last-gaspers” often had difficulty in realizing how hopeless they actually were.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 22

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We need to distinguish sharply between spiritual simplicity and functional simplicity.
When we say that A.A. advocates no theological proposition except God as we understand Him, we greatly simplify A.A.
life by avoiding conflict and exclusiveness.
But when we get into questions of action by groups, by areas, and by A.A. as a whole, we find that we must to some
extent organize to carry the message--or else face chaos. And chaos is not simplicity.
I learned that the temporary or seeming good can often be the deadly enemy of the permanent best. When it comes to
survival for A.A., nothing short of our very best will be good enough.

Prayer For The Day: Gracious Father, I beseech thee to give me wisdom for kind thoughts and deeds. Teach me true hospitality, that I may be gracious in my own home and appreciative in the home of others. May I not temper my hospitality for certain reasons, but have a genuine welcome for all. Amen.