AA Thoughts For Today - May

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AA Thought for the Day

May 26

Secrets
I can neither love nor be loved if I allow my secrets to get in the way.
It’s the side of myself that I refuse to look at that rules me.
I must be willing to look at the dark side in order to heal my mind and heart
because that is the road to freedom.
- Daily Reflections, p. 130

Thought to Ponder . . .
I must walk into darkness to find the light.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
H O W = Honesty, Open-mindedness, Willingness.

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

Honesty

"Rarely have we seen a person fail
who has thoroughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are people
who cannot or will not give themselves
to this simple program,
usually men and women who are
constitutionally incapable of
being honest with themselves.
There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault;
they seem to have been born that way.
They are naturally incapable of
grasping and developing a manner of living
which demands rigorous honesty.
Their chances are less than average.
There are those, too, who suffer from
grave emotional and mental disorders,
but many of them do recover
if they have the capacity to be honest."
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58

Thought to Consider . . .

Every recovery from alcoholism
began with one sober hour.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
GOD
Give Others Dignity

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

Completeness
>From "Into Action":
"This is perhaps difficult especially discussing our defects with another person. We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. Many of us thought it necessary to go much further. We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so. The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell. We think the reason is that they never completed their housecleaning. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only thought they had lost their egoism and fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else all their life story."
2001 AAWS, Inc., Fourth Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 72-73

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

AA is not a separate country, cut off from the mainland of the real world; it is the schoolroom I missed somewhere along the line ... a treasure house of other people's experience, strength and hope."
Norman, Okla., July 1992
"Out of This World,"
AA Grapevine

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quotes ^*~*~*~*~*

"To get over drinking will require a transformation of thought and
attitude. We all had to place recovery above everything, for without
recovery we would have lost both home and business."
Alcoholics Anonymous, To Employers, pg. 143

"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

“The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear – primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 76

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Perhaps more often than we think, we make no contact at depth with alcoholics who are suffering the dilemma of no faith.
Certainly none are more sensitive to spiritual cocksureness, pride, and aggression than they are. I'm sure this is something we too often forget.
In A.A.'s first years, I all but ruined the whole undertaking with this sort of unconscious arrogance. God as I understood Him had to be for everybody. Sometimes my aggression was subtle and sometimes it was crude. But either way it was damaging--perhaps fatally so--to numbers of nonbelievers.
Of course this sort of thing isn't confined to Twelfth Step work. It is very apt to leak out into our relations with everybody. Even now, I catch myself chanting that same old barrier-building refrain: 'Do as I do, believe as I do--or else!'

Prayer For The Day: Day by Day
Day by day, dear Lord of you
Three things I pray:
To see you more clearly,
To love you more dearly,
To follow you more nearly,
Day by day.
- St. Richard of Chichester