Thoughts For The Day~*~Change^*^*^ June 21

[Transitions Daily]

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~
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Change 
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"Let us never fear needed change.  Certainly we have to discriminate between
changes for worse and changes for better.  But once a need becomes clearly apparent
in an individual, in a group, or in AA as a whole, it has long since been found out that we cannot stand still and look the other way.  The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails." 
Bill W., Grapevine, July 1965
1967AAWS, As Bill Sees It,  p. 115 
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Thought to Consider . . . 

God used two people to create me; He used a whole Fellowship to change me. 

*~*AACRONYMS*~*

A C T I O N  =  Any Change Toward Improving One's Nature.

*~*^Just For Today!^*~*

Steps

From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":

"Though subject to considerable variation, it all boiled down into a pretty consistent procedure which comprised six steps. These were approximately as follows: 

1. "We admitted that we were licked, that we were powerless  over alcohol.

 

2.  "We made a moral inventory of our defects or sins.

 

3.   "We confessed or shared our shortcomings with another person in confidence.

 

4.   "We made restitution to all those we have harmed by our drinking.

 

5.  "We tried to help other alcoholics, with no thought of reward in money or prestige.

 
6.    We prayed to whatever God we thought there was for power to practice these precepts.

"This was the substance of what, by the fall of 1938, we were telling newcomers. Several of the Oxford Groups other ideas and attitudes had been definitely rejected, including any which could involve us in theological controversy."

 2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 160

*~*^Daily Reflections^*~*

FEAR AND FAITH 

The achievement of freedom from fear is a lifetime undertaking, one that can never be wholly completed.  When under heavy attack, acute illness, or in other conditions of serious insecurity, we shall all react to this emotion -- well or badly, as the case may be.  Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear. 
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 263 

Fear has caused suffering when I could have had more faith.  There are times when fear suddenly tears me apart, just when I'm experiencing feelings of joy, happiness and a lightness of heart.  Faith and a feeling of self-worth toward a Higher Power -- helps me endure tragedy and ecstasy.  When I choose to give all of my fears over to my Higher Power, I will be free.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.

*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*

This Matter of Honesty 

"Only God can fully know what absolute honesty is. Therefore, each of us has to conceive what this great ideal may be--to the best or our ability. "Fallible as we all are, and will be in this life, it would be  presumption to suppose that we could ever really achieve absolute honesty. The best we can do is to strive for a better quality of honesty.  "Sometimes we need to place love ahead of indiscriminate 'factual honesty.' We cannot, under the guise of 'perfect honesty,' cruelly and unnecessarily hurt others. Always one must ask, 'What is the best and most loving thing I can do?' " 
LETTER, 1966 

*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*

"Although financial recovery is on the way for many of us, we found we could not place money first. For us, material well-being always followed spiritual progress; it never preceded."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg. 127~

*~*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*~*

A.A. Thought for the Day 

Intelligent faith in that Power greater than ourselves can be counted on to stabilize our emotions. It has an incomparable capacity to help us look at life in balanced
perspective. We look up, around, and away from ourselves, and we see that nine out of ten things that at the moment upset us will shortly disappear. Problems solve themselves, criticism and unkindness vanish as though they had never been. Have I got the proper perspective toward life? 

Meditation for the Day

A truly spiritual man or woman would like to have a serene mind. The only way to keep calm in this troubled world is to have a serene mind. The calm and sane mind sees spiritual things as the true realities and material things as only temporary and fleeting. That sort of mind you can never obtain by reasoning, because your reasoning powers are limited by space and time. That kind of a mind you can never obtain by reading, because other minds are also limited in the same way.  You can only have that mind by an act of faith, by making the venture of belief. 

Prayer for the Day 

I pray that I may have a calm and sane mind. I pray that I may look up, around, and away from myself. 
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012