AA Thoughts For Today - October

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AA Thought for the Day

October 29

Spiritual Growth
The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines.
The principles we have set down are guides to progress.
We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 60

Thought to Ponder
Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional, growing spiritually is up to me.

AA-related 'Alconym'
K I S S = Keeping It Simple, Spiritually.

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

Touchstones
"All AA progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words:
humility and responsibility.
Our whole spiritual development can be accurately
measured by our degree of adherence to these
magnificent standards.
Ever deepening humility,
accompanied by an ever greater willingness
to accept and act upon clear-cut obligations --
these are truly our touchstones
for all growth in the life of the spirit.
They hold up to us the very essence
of right being and right doing.
It is by them that we are enabled to find and to do God's will."
Bill W., Talk, 1965
c.1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 271

Thought to Consider . . .
The solution is simple.
The solution is spiritual.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S O B E R = Simply Observe Bill's Exemplary Recovery

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

Focus
From: "Acceptance Was the Answer"
I can do the same thing with an AA meeting. The more I focus my mind on its defects - late start, long drunkalogs, cigarette smoke - the worse the meeting becomes. But when I try to see what I can add to the meeting, rather than what I can get out of it, and when I focus my mind on what's good about it, rather than what's wrong with it, the meeting keeps getting better and better. When I focus on what's good today, I have a good day, and when I focus on what's bad, I have a bad day. If I focus on a problem, the problem increases; if I focus on the answer, the answer increases.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, page 419

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

"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

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

"Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to
Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give
freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the
Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you
trudge the Road of Happy Destiny."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, A Vision For You, pg. 164~

There is action and more action. Faith without works is dead.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 88~

Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity?
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.62

The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.52

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We A.A.'s are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck, when camaraderie, joyousness, and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to captain's table.
Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of sharing in a common peril - relapse into alcoholism - continues to be an important element in the powerful cement which binds us of A.A. together.
Our first woman alcoholic had been a patient of Dr. Harry Tiebout's, and he had handed her a prepublication manuscript copy of the Big Book. The first reading made her rebellious, but the second convinced her. Presently she came to a meeting held in our living room, and from there she returned to the sanitarium carrying this classic message to a fellow patient: 'We aren't alone any more.'

Prayer for the Day: The Twelve Rewards -
Spirit of the Universe, I humbly ask for Your help so I may continue to realize the rewards of recovery:
1. Hope instead of desperation.
2. Faith instead of despair.
3. Courage instead of fear.
4. Peace of mind instead of confusion.
5. Self-respect instead of self-contempt.
6. Self-confidence instead of helplessness.
7. The respect of others instead of pity and contempt.
8. A clean conscience instead of a sense of guilt.
9. Real friendship instead of loneliness.
10. A clean pattern of life instead of a purposeless existence.
11. The love and understanding of my family instead of their doubts and fears.
12. The freedom of a happy life instead of the bondage of addiction.