AA Thoughts For Today - October

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AA Thought for the Day

October 30

Isolation
What are we likely to receive from Step Five?
For one thing, we shall get rid of that terrible sense of isolation we've always had.
Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.
Even before our drinking got bad and people began to cut us off,
nearly all of us suffered the feeling that we didn't quite belong.
- Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, p. 57

Thought to Ponder
An alcoholic is someone who wants to be held while isolating.

AA-related 'Alconym'
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone.

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

Principles
"Experience shows that few alcoholics
will long stay away from a group
just because they don't like the way it is run.
Most return and adjust themselves
to whatever conditions they must.
Some go to a different group, or form a new one.
In other words, once an alcoholic fully realizes
that he cannot get well alone,
he will somehow find a way to get well and stay well
in the company of others."
Bill W., Letter, 1943
c.1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 312

Thought to Consider . . .
It isn't difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill
- just add a little dirt.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
H A L T = Honestly, Actively, Lovingly, Tolerant.

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

Grim Routine
From: "Chapter 7: Make it snappy"
During this 17-year period [1918-1935], Dr. Bob had worked out a grim routine that permitted him to drink and somehow still maintain his medical practice. Careful never to go near the hospital while he was drinking, he would stay sober until four o'clock in the afternoon. It was really a horrible nightmare, this earning money, getting liquor, smuggling it home, getting drunk, morning jitters, taking large doses of sedatives to make it possible for me to earn more money, and so on ad nauseum, he wrote. I used to promise my wife, my friends, and my children that I would drink no more - promises which seldom kept me sober through the day, though I was very sincere when I made them.
1984, AAWS, Inc., "PASS IT ON", page 140

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

"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

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

"The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost
the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes
practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring
into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the
suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are
without defense against the first drink."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 24~

Since the home has suffered more than anything else, it is well that
a man exert himself there. He is not likely to get far in any
direction if he fails to show unselfishness and love under his own
roof. We know there are difficult wives and families, but the man
who is getting over alcoholism must remember he did much to make them so.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 127~

Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.68

We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.122

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Had I not been blessed with wise and loving advisers, I might have cracked up long ago. A doctor once saved me from death by alcoholism because he obliged me to face up to the deadliness of that malady. Another doctor, a psychiatrist, later on helped me save my sanity because he led me to ferret out some of my deep-lying defects. From a clergyman I acquired the truthful principles by which we A.A.'s now try to live.
But these precious friends did far more than supply me with their professional skills. I learned that I could go to them with any problem whatever. Their wisdom and their integrity were mine for the asking.
Many of my dearest A.A. friends have stood with me in exactly this same relation. Oftentimes they could help where others could not, simply because they were A.A.'s.

Prayer for the Day: New Day - Thank You, God, for today. This is the beginning of a new day. I can waste it or use it for good. What I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever- leaving in it's place something I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, not loss; good, not evil; success, not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for today.