Daily Recovery Readings - October 27

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God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will, not mine, be done.

October 27

Daily Reflections

GLOBAL SHARING

The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety.
These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to
the other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim
that today animates A.A.'s all around the globe.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151

The strength of Alcoholics Anonymous lies in the desire of each member and of each
group around the world to share with other alcoholics their suffering and the steps taken
to gain, and maintain, recovery. By keeping a conscious contact with my Higher Power, I
make sure that I always nurture my desire to help other alcoholics, thus insuring the
continuity of the wonderful fraternity of Alcoholics Anonymous.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

Seventh, I can help other alcoholics. I am of some use in the world. I have a purpose in
life. I am worth something at last. My life has a direction and a meaning. All that feeling
of futility is gone. I can do something worthwhile. God has given me a new lease on life so
that I can help other alcoholics. He has let me live through all the hazards of my alcoholic
life to bring me at last to a place of real usefulness in the world. He has let me live for
this. This is my opportunity and my destiny. I am worth something! Will I give as much of
my life as I can to A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

All of us have our own battle to win, the battle between the material view of life and the
spiritual view. Something must guide our lives. Will it be wealth, pride, selfishness, greed
or will it be faith, honesty, purity, unselfishness, love and service? Each one has a choice.
We can choose good or evil. We cannot choose both. Are we going to keep striving
until we win the battle? If we win the victory, we can believe that even God in His heaven
will rejoice.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may choose the good and resist the evil. I pray that I will not be a loser in the
battle for righteousness.

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As Bill Sees It

A Mighty Beginning, p. 298

Even the newest of newcomers find undreamed rewards as he tries to
help his brother alcoholic, the one who is even blinder than he. This is
indeed the kind of giving that actually demands nothing. He does not
expect his brother sufferer to pay him, or even to love him.

And then he discovers that through the divine paradox of this kind of
giving he has found his own reward, whether or not his brother has yet
received anything. His own character may still be gravely defective,
but he somehow knows that God has enabled him to make a mighty
beginning, and he senses that he stands at the edge of new mysteries,
joys, and experiences of which he had never before dreamed.

12 & 12, pp. 109-110

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Walk In Dry Places

Is your opinion of me important?
Inventory
A statement that is often quoted at AA meetings is Your opinion of me is not important. The purpose of this saying, apparently, is to wean us away from being people pleasers.
But the truth is that we all have legitimate interest in the opinions others hold of us. They may like or dislike us for the wrong reasons, but it is helpful for us to know this and accept it.
More important, the opinions of others can be useful in helping us take personal inventory and correct wrong behavior and attitudes. There may be a good reason why someone has a low opinion of us, and we should become aware of it.
It is true, however, that our opinions count the most in shaping our lives. If we're thinking badly about others, that can be more damaging to us than to them. Surprisingly, they may think better of us as we change our opinions about them.
I doubt that I can go through the day without being affected by other people's opinions of me. However, my main work will be in seeing that my own opinions aren't being destructive in my life.

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Keep It Simple

An excuse is worst and more terrible than a lie.---Alexander Pope
Excuses. They’re lies. We use excuses to hide from ourselves. Maybe we don’t want to be honest about our anger. So we say someone else made us angry. Maybe we don’t want to admit how mean we can be. So we pretend we have no part in what happens.
Excuses keep us from ourselves. They keep us from our High Power. A lot of our program is about looking at ourselves. Steps Four, Five, and Ten tell us to be honest about our excuses. We can be honest because we are good people. We are loved.
Prayer for the day: Today, I’ll say the serenity Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Action for the Day: I’ll list my five most often excuses. Then, I’ll share them with my friends, family, and sponsor. I’ll ask them to tell me when I make excuses.

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Each Day a New Beginning

Problems have only the size and the power that you give them. --S. H.
We will not be free from all difficulties today, or during any period of our lives. But we have the personal power to eliminate the threat, the sting of any challenge. But it's our vision of circumstances that gives them their interpretation.
At this moment, we are defining our experience. We are labeling events good or bad, valuable or meaningless. And our growth, particularly this day, is greatly influenced by the value judgments we attach to our experiences.
As we grow stronger emotionally and spiritually, we learn that all difficulties are truly opportunities for exceptional growth and increased awareness of the truth of existence. All experiences can be taken in stride if we are trustful of their intended blessing.
We are sharing this life, every moment of it, with a power greater than ourselves. We need not worry about any circumstance. Always we are watched over. We never need struggle alone.
We can let go of our problems. It's ourselves and that attitude we have cultivated that makes any situation a problem. We can turn it loose and therein discover the solution.
I will not make mountains out of the molehills of my life.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 11 - A Vision For You

Many a man, yet dazed from his hospital experience, has stepped over the threshold of that home into freedom. Many an alcoholic who entered there came away with an answer. He succumbed to that gay crowd inside, who laughed at their own misfortunes and understood his. Impressed by those who visited him at the hospital, he capitulated entirely when, later, in an upper room of this house, he heard the story of some man whose experience closely tallied with his own. The expression on the faces of the women, that indefinable something in the eyes of the men, the stimulating and electric atmosphere of the place, conspired to let him know that here was haven at last.

p. 160

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

Student Of Life

Living at home with her parents, she tried using willpower to beat the obsession to drink. But it wasn't until she met another alcoholic and went to an A.A. meeting that sobriety took hold.

As I spoke, I looked around the room. More importantly, I looked at the faces of the people in the room and I saw it. I saw the understanding, the empathy, the love. Today I believe I saw my Higher Power for the first time in those faces. While still up at the podium, it hit me--this is what I had been looking for all my life. This was the answer, right here in front of me. Indescribable relief came over me; I knew the fight was over.

p. 326

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Four - "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

So when A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory, it must seem to every newcomer that more is being asked of him than he can do. Both his pride and his fear beat him back every time he tries to look within himself. Pride says, "You need not pass this way," and Fear says, "You dare not look!" But the testimony of A.A.'s who have really tried a moral inventory is that pride and fear of this sort turn out to be bogeymen, nothing else. Once we have a complete willingness to take inventory, and exert ourselves to do the job thoroughly, a wonderful light falls upon this foggy scene. As we persist, a brand-new kind of confidence is born, and the sense of relief at finally facing ourselves is indescribable. These are the first fruits of Step Four.

pp. 49-50

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Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of others, but from doing
something worthwhile.
--Wilfred Grenfell

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder...you
are blessed because you can offer healing touch.
--unknown

"Never let yesterday use up today."
--Richard H. Nelson

LETTING GO
I feel so scared
Let go
I am so worried
Just let go
I am so angry
Please let go
My insanity keeps growing
I beseech thee to just let go
I am so peaceful
Thank you, you let it go
--Deborah Ann Smith

Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
--Gerald Jampolsky

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Father Leo's Daily Meditation

JUSTICE

"Justice is truth in action."
Benjamin Disraeli

It is not enough for me to believe that a thing is true, it is important for me to live out
my beliefs. For too long I had a thousand beliefs that only kept me silent. A fear of
displeasing others played a large part in my silence.

Today I understand justice to be part of what I mean by spirituality: I need to be seen
to walk as I talk! I am comfortable when I remain silent in the face of injustice. As a
recovering alcoholic, this uncomfortability is dangerous because it can so easily lead
to low self-esteem, anger, resentments and relapse.

Today I know I can have a slip without taking a drink. I slip from where I want to be
in my life. My personal integrity combines a justice that can be seen in my lifestyle.

O God of justice, teach me never again to hide in the lie of silence.

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"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly
lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
James 1:17

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the
breastplate of righteousness in place."
Ephesians 4:14

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Daily Inspiration

It is the little bits of kindness and love that make this world happy. Lord, may I do my part to make today happy for someone.

There is no personal problem that you cannot solve. Lord, Your presence within me is all power. You are my help in every need.

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NA Just For Today

Living In The Present

"We want to look our past in the face, see it for what it really was, and release it so we can live today."

Basic Text, p.28

For many of us, the past is like a bad dream. Our lives aren't the same any more, but we still have fleeting, highly charged emotional memories of a really uncomfortable past. The guilt, fear, and anger that once dominated us may spill into our new life, complicating our efforts to change and grow.

The Twelve Steps are the formula that helps us learn to put the past in its place. Through the Fourth and Fifth Steps, we become aware that our old behavior didn't work. We ask a Higher Power to relieve us of our shortcomings in the Sixth and Seventh Steps, and we begin to be relieved of the guilt and fear that plagued us for so many years. In the Eighth and Ninth Steps, by making amends, we demonstrate to others that our lives are changing. We are no longer controlled by the past. Once the past loses its control over us, we are free to find new ways to live, ways that reflect who we truly are.

Just for today: I don't have to be controlled by my past. I will live this new day as the new person I am becoming.

pg. 313

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You are reading from the book Today's Gift.
Walk. Don't walk. --Traffic Light
Signs direct us on our way in life. Traffic lights tell us to walk (or not), Golden Arches point us to dinner, geese flying south herald the coming winter, flashing neon tells us what to buy. We know how to read these signs of worlds and weather; they help to guide us on our journey.
We can learn to read the signs of human beings, too, to be detectives of the human spirit. Laugh lines around eyes and mouth, the texture of hands, tension in jaws and shoulders can tell much about a person, if we stop to look. All around us are signs that tell us others feel the pain and joy we feel, others need us as we need them, we are understood, and we are not alone.
The marvelous bonus in learning to read these signs in others is that we can begin to let ourselves be read, also.
Will I make good reading for others today?


You are reading from the book Touchstones.
I feel the more I know God, that He would sooner we did wrong in loving than never love for fear we should do wrong.
--Father Andrew
Love has often been called the first rule of a spiritual life. As we awaken to our new life in this program, we learn that all of God's creation is full of objects for us to love. A sunset repeats the creative energy at work in our world today. It appears briefly, invites our love, and slowly fades away, only to be repeated in a new form the next day. The color and markings on a little bug may inspire our love, as may the smell of moist earth, the excitement of a Broadway musical, the craftsmanship of a well-made tool, or the look of warmth on a friend's face. These are all opportunities for us to let go and feel our love.
We men often feel awkward in expressing love. Perhaps we're so self-conscious and guarded that we brace ourselves against saying or doing anything that wouldn't look good. We're learning through our spiritual development to be more fervent lovers and less perfectionistic in love.
I will be renewed today each time I appreciate something near me.


You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning.
Problems have only the size and the power that you give them. --S. H.
We will not be free from all difficulties today, or during any period of our lives. But we have the personal power to eliminate the threat, the sting of any challenge. But it's our vision of circumstances that gives them their interpretation.
At this moment, we are defining our experience. We are labeling events good or bad, valuable or meaningless. And our growth, particularly this day, is greatly influenced by the value judgments we attach to our experiences.
As we grow stronger emotionally and spiritually, we learn that all difficulties are truly opportunities for exceptional growth and increased awareness of the truth of existence. All experiences can be taken in stride if we are trustful of their intended blessing.
We are sharing this life, every moment of it, with a power greater than ourselves. We need not worry about any circumstance. Always we are watched over. We never need struggle alone.
We can let go of our problems. It's ourselves and that attitude we have cultivated that makes any situation a problem. We can turn it loose and therein discover the solution.
I will not make mountains out of the molehills of my life.


You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go.
Step Eleven
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. --Step Eleven of Al Anon
"... praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out" means that we ask on a daily basis to be shown the plan for that day. We also ask our Source for the power we need to carry that through. We will get a yes to both requests.
We do not ask other people to show their will for us. We ask God. Then we trust that we'll be empowered to carry God's will through.
God never, never asks us to do anything that He would not equip us to do. He never asks us to do anything we can't do. If we are to do it, we will be empowered. That's the easy part of this program. We never have to do more than we can, or anything we can't. If we want to worry and fuss we can, but we don't need to. That is our choice.
I have learned, through difficult and good times that this Step will carry me through. When I don't know what to do next, God does. Working this Step, one day at a time, will take us to places we could never have traveled on our own. Simple acts, done daily in accordance to God's will for us, lead to a Grand Plan for our life.
Today, I will focus on asking God to show me what He wants me to do. I will ask God for the power to do that; then I will go ahead and get the job done. God, help me let go of my fears about living life one day at a time. Help me trust that when life is lived simply and in trust, a beautiful mosaic called "my life" will be woven. I am being divinely led, guided, and cared for.


Today I practice restraint of tongue and pen and I do not hurt anyone intentionally. Today I give myself time to express myself appropriately. Today I go beyond negative feelings. I act as if I am coming from a place of love. --Ruth Fishel

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Journey To The Heart
October 27
Have You Been Working Too Hard?

Have you been working too hard at your job, at life, at your spiritual progress? Have you been working too hard on your relationships with people, or trying to gain insights, or on trying to figure out where to go or what to do next?

Many of us have had to work hard. To get from where we were to where we are, we had to push, force, put one foot in front of the other. At least we thought we did. But life doesn’t have to be that hard. Not anymore. The biggest task, the smallest task, the task of living our lives doesn’t have to be that difficult.

There’s a natural rhythm for everything that happens along the way. There’s a natural rhythm and order for all we’re to do. Yes, there are times to begin. Yes, there are times to put one foot in front of the other and go forward. But the joy, the service, the way of life we’re seeking doesn’t come from force. It comes naturally, easily, much more easily than you think. Stop pushing so hard, and see how quickly that rhythm finds you.

You don’t have to make life happen. In fact, you can’t. Relax. Let go. And let it happen.

*****

more language of letting go
Be aware of the illusion of control

Remember how it feels when we try to control someone else.

"I was driving down the road one day behind a car that I decided was driving too slowly," a friend said to me. "I was yelling, raging, and carrying on about the driver in front of me, trying to mentally will him out of my way. I wanted him to move over and let me by.

"While I was driving I observed myself. Then I started to laugh. I wasn't angry about this driver in front of me. I was angry because I was trying to control something that I couldn't change."

Be aware of all your feelings. But also remember to be aware that sometimes it's not the other person that's making us crazy. We're doing it to ourselves.

God, help me be aware of the self-created drama in my life. Help me let go of my need to control. Give me the courage of my feelings. And help me be aware of when my self-will is running riot.

*****

Reviving a Community Tradition
Storytelling by Madisyn Taylor

Most cultures use storytelling to pass down family history using the power and energy of the human voice.

Ever since our ancestors could first communicate, we have gathered to share our stories. We have passed along creation tales and tragic stories of love lost. We have repeated accounts of real heroism and simple stories of family history. When our forebears lived closer to the land and to each other, the practice of storytelling was imbued with ritual and occasion. Members of the tribe would often gather around the fire to hear their genealogy recited aloud by an elder or master storyteller. Listeners could track how their own lives, and the lives of their parents, interwove with the lives of the other tribe members, as everyone’s ancient relatives once played out similar life dramas together.

As a custom, some cultures’ storytellers repeat the same tale over and over because they believe that each time you hear it, you come to the story as a different person and view the plot and characters in a new light. Hearing the story over and over is a way to gauge where you have been and where you are now on your path of personal evolution. It also helps the younger generation learn the stories so that they can pass them to forthcoming generations.

When we hear others tell stories, we can laugh at their humorous adventures, feel the thrill of exciting encounters, see parts of ourselves in them, and learn from the challenges they face. Though most of our formal traditions of storytelling are lost, it does not mean we have to be without. We can begin new practices in our own families of listening to one another, of honoring our own journey, and witnessing the journeys of those around us. We can revive the fireside communal by gathering around the campfire or hearth with family and friends, sharing in stories. By building new practices of storytelling, we give ourselves and the ones we love an opportunity to draw ever closer in our shared human experience. Published with permission from Daily OM

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A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

The Program’s Fourth Step suggests that we make a fearless moral inventory of ourselves. For so many of us, especially newcomers, the task seems impossible. Each time we take pencil in hand and try to look inward, Pride says confidingly, “You don’t have to bother to look.” And Fear cautions, “You’d better not look.” We find eventually that this sort of pride and fear are mere wisps of smoke, the cloudy strands from which we woven the mythology of our old ideas. When we push pride and fear aside and finally make a fearless inventory, we experience relief and a new sense of confidence beyond description. Have I made an inventory? Have I shared its rewards so as to encourage others?

Today I Pray

May I not be stalled by my inhibitions when it comes to making a moral inventory of myself. May I not get to the Fourth Step and then screech to a stop because the task seems overwhelming. May I know that my inventory today, even though I try to make it “thorough” and honest, may not be as complete as it will be if I repeat it again, for the process of self-discovery goes on and on.

Today I will Remember

Praise God for Progress.

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One More Day

Better be alone than in bad company.
–Thomas Fuller

Most of us have had the experience of being befriended by someone who seems to want to spend every waking moment in our company. At first, we may be delighted with the attention and enjoy the excitement of the developing relationship. Then, suddenly we feel smothered. The other person gives us no time along; he or she is such a constant presence that we feel out of touch with ourselves.

We seem to have to choose between crushing our new friend or submitting to the constant intrusion, but first we may need to remind ourselves that we have the right to create the framework of our company is not our choice, we are free to say, “I need more time alone.” This isn’t a rejection of others; it’s an affirmation of ourselves and our need for solitude.

I can find a healthy balance between my time with others and my time alone.

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Food For Thought

A Good Meal

A good meal for us is an abstinent meal. Fancy frills and gourmet delights are not good if they threaten our abstinence. Because we have over emphasized food in the past, we tend to be too concerned about what we will have for dinner - and lunch - and breakfast.

It is a relief to come to the conclusion that whatever we have to eat is good if it fits our food plan. We do not have to spend a lot of time and energy deciding what we will eat today. If what we choose does not turn out to be especially pleasing, we are free to choose something else tomorrow.

Most of us are familiar with the basic principles of good nutrition. By abstaining from compulsive overeating, we are giving our bodies the best possible treatment. By avoiding refined sugars and starches, we eliminate empty calories and choose those foods with the protein, vitamins, and minerals necessary for good health. Whatever we eat, the abstinent meal is a good meal.

Thank You for good, abstinent meals.

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One Day At A Time

Living in the Present
“As long as you are seeking to find happiness somewhere,
you are overlooking where true happiness is.”
Gangaji

Happiness is always somewhere else, isn’t it? It is all too human to put off our happiness until a more appropriate or perfect time. Ideally, we know that happiness is not a matter of timing; it is a state of mind caused by even the smallest actions that we take (or fail to take) each day. However, I often used to remark to others that, “One day I will be happy when I get thin.” I got much thinner, but never thin enough, it seems. “One day I will take a night course.” I was so busy working, “on-call”, and doing things for others that I never managed to find the time.

“One day I will start this new food Plan,” I’d promised myself. It had worked for others. I truly wanted to give myself a chance to see if it could work for me too, yet I approached it haphazardly, at first. On paper, any food plan is just a diet, unless, you have a Sponsor, use the Tools, and work the Steps! I’d been told this over and over, and later--lived the actual experience of doing it my way. As long as I told myself, “One day I will find the time for me,” it didn’t come about!

One day at a time...
I now realize that as long as I keep looking to the future in order to allot myself wonderful challenges and small joys, I am choosing to postpone my happiness until my life is perfect, which is never in the realm of reality. I believe that this is why those who have gone before us in recovery suggest that we live life on life’s terms to the best of our ability just “One day at a time.”
~ January K.

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AA 'Big Book' - Quote

Resentment is the 'number one' offender. It destroys more alcohlolics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. - Pg. 64 - How It Works

Hour To Hour - Book - Quote

Even when we consciously don't think we want to get high, our disease of addiction works through our subconscious and calls, 'what do they know; just one won't hurt; well, if they're going to be like that!' Our subconscious pops silly excuses for using into our minds. We must learn to recognize and neutralize these thoughts.

May my subconscious 'arguments' that subtly tell me to use, have no power to influence my true goal of staying clean and clear.

Freeing Me

Today, I understand that in forgiving someone else I free myself. I held back on forgiveness because it seemed too kind an act for those who had hurt me. Why should I make them feel good? Why should I let them off the hook? I understand now that forgiving someone else and letting go - when I am truly ready - dissolves the resentment that is stored within me. I will not jump to forgiveness too quickly, forcing myself to do what I am not sincerely able to do. I will not forgive because it is the right thing to do. I will fully feel and acknowledge all that blocks me, and I will give myself the time I need to do this. When I do forgive, it will be to set myself free, to let go of the past and move on.

- Tian Dayton PhD

Pocket Sponsor - Book - Quote

Probably any one of us can get along with perfect people, but our task is to get along with imperfect people. The worst part of trying to get along with imperfect people is that they refuse to change into what we want.

When I think about how hard it is to change myself, I know how hard it will be to change others.

"Walk Softly and Carry a Big Book" - Book

You don't get drunk watching another drink. You don't get serenity watching others do the steps.

Time for Joy - Book - Quote

Today I practice restraint of tongue and pen and I do not hurt anyone intentionally. Today I give myself time to express myself appropriately. Today I go beyond negative feelings. I act as if I am coming from a place of love.

Alkiespeak - Book - Quote

If you take alcohol out of my life, I'm left with emptiness, darkness, despair, and all-consuming hopelessness. If it's not replaced with something of value, I must drink. And I know absolutely, from my experience, that Alcoholics Anonymous is that something of value that fills that hole and fulfills every need I shall ever have. - Cubby S.

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AA Thought for the Day

October 27

Spirituality
I woke up the Saturday morning following the beginners meeting with the answer absolutely clear:
Religion was something taught me, acquired, an external experience,
while spirituality welled up from within, and required no education, no Torah or Bible, no shaman or priest.
I believe my Higher Power led me to this explanation, as it was too clear and bright an idea for so early in the morning!
- Thank You For Sharing, p.199

Thought to Ponder . . .
Spirituality is the essence of being; it can shape reality.

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

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

Humility
"Moved by the spirit of anonymity,
we try to give up our natural desires
for personal distinction as AA members
both among fellow alcoholics and before
the general public.
As we lay aside these very human aspirations,
we believe that each of us takes part
in the weaving of a protective mantle
which covers our whole Society
and under which we may grow and work in unity.
We are sure that humility, expressed by anonymity,
is the greatest safeguard
Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have."
c.1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 187

Thought to Consider . . .
Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
but thinking of yourself less.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Acceptance, Trust

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

Grave Nature
From: "Foreword to Second Edition"
The spark that was to flare into the first AA group was struck at Akron, Ohio in June 1935, during a talk between a New York stockbroker and an Akron physician. Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by AA members, and whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages. >From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God.
2001, AAWS, Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous, pages xv-xvi

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

"It's funny how life is lived forward -- and understood backward."
Vail, Ariz., October 2005
"Living Life Forward,"
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety

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

"When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could
not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that
either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He
isn't."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 53~

There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which
is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in
everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to
investigation.
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Appendice II, Spiritual Experience, pg. 568~

If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.
-Alcoholics Anonymous p.76

But when I became willing to clean house and then asked a Higher Power, God as I understood Him, to give me release, my obsession to drink vanished.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.63

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

We who have traveled a path through agnosticism or atheism beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that, whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a rational idea of what life is all about.
Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices, when we might have seen that many spiritually minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness, and usefulness that we should have sought for ourselves.

Prayer for the Day: Love - Higher Power, Remind me that: Love is patient, Love is kind. Love is not jealous, it does not put on airs, it is not snobbish. Love is never ruse, it is not self-seeking, it is not prone to anger, neither does it brood over injuries. Love does not rejoice in what is wrong, but rejoices with the truth.There is no limit to love's forbearance, its truth, its hope, its power to endure.

Ask and you shall receive,
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Matthew 7:7