Thoughts For The Day~*~Criticism ^*^*^ November 6
Transitions Daily
~*~A.A.
Thoughts For
The
Day~*~
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(\ ~~ /)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
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Criticism
"Now and then all of us fall under heavy criticism. When we
are angered and hurt, it's difficult not to retaliate in kind. Yet we can
restrain ourselves and then probe ourselves, asking whether our critics
were really right. If so, we can admit our defects to them. This usually
clears the air for mutual understanding. . .Maybe a sense of humor can be
our saving grace -- thus we can both forgive and forget."
Bill W., Letter, 1966
c. 1967AAWS, As Bill Sees
It, p. 184
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Thought
to Consider . . .
The best
way to get even is to forget.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
S O B E R = Son Of a Basket, Everything's
Real
*~*^Just For Today!^*~*
Every AA Ought to Know
Dr. Bob was essentially a far more humble person than I. In some ways he was a sort of spiritual natural, and this anonymity business came rather easily to him. He could not understand why some people should want so much publicity. In the years before he died, his personal example respecting anonymity did much to help me keep my own lid on. I think of one affecting instance in particular, one that every AA ought to know. When it was sure that Dr. Bob was mortally afflicted, some of his friends suggested that there should be a suitable monument or mausoleum erected in honor of him and his wife Anne - something befitting a founder and his lady. Of course this was a very natural and moving tribute. The committee went so far as to show him a sketch of the proposed edifice. Telling me about this, Dr. Bob grinned broadly and said, God bless them. They mean well. But for heaven's sake, Bill, let's you and I get buried just like other folks.
A year after his passing, I
visited the Akron cemetery where Dr. Bob and Anne lie. The simple stone says not
a word about Alcoholics Anonymous. Some people may think that this wonderful
couple carried personal anonymity too far when they so firmly refused to use the
words "Alcoholics Anonymous" even on their own burial stone. For one, I do not
think so. I think that this moving and final example of self-effacement will
prove of more permanent worth to AA than any amount of public attention or any
great monument.
1985, AAWS,
Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pages
136-137
GOING WITH THE FLOW
Sought through prayer
and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. .
. .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p.
96
The first words I speak when arising in the morning
are, "I arise, O God, to do Thy will," This is the shortest prayer I know and it
is deeply ingrained in me. Prayer doesn't change God's attitude toward me; it
changes my attitude toward God. As distinguished from prayer, meditation is a
quiet time without words. To be centered is to be physically relaxed,
emotionally calm, mentally focused and spiritually aware. One way to keep the
channel open and to improve my conscious contact with God is to maintain a
grateful attitude. On the days when I am grateful, good things seem to happen in
my life. The instant I start cursing things in my life, however, the flow of
good stops. God did not interrupt the flow; my own negativity
did.
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES,
INC.
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
We
recall, a little ruefully,
how much store we used to set by imagination as it tried to create
reality
out of bottles. Yes, we reveled in that sort of thinking, didn't we?
And,
though sober nowadays, don't we often try to do much the same
thing? Perhaps our trouble was not that we used our imagination. Perhaps
the real trouble was our almost total inability to point imagination
toward the right objectives. There's nothing the matter with truly
constructive imagination; all sound achievement rests upon it. After
all, no
man can build a house until he first visions a plan for
it.
12 & 12, p. 100
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"One of the many
doctors who had the opportunity of reading this book in manuscript form told
us that the use of sweets was often helpful, of course depending upon a
doctor's advice. He thought all alcoholics should constantly have chocolate
available for its quick energy value at times of fatigue. He added that
occasionally in the night a vague craving arose which would be satisfied by
candy. Many of us have noticed a tendency to eat sweets and have found
this practice beneficial."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The Family Afterward, pg.
133~
*~*^Twenty
Four
Hours
A Day^*~*
A.A. Thought For The Day
Fear and worry had me down. They were increased
by my drinking. I worried about what had done when I was drunk. I was afraid of
what the consequences might be. I was afraid to face people because of the fear
of being found out. Fear kept me in hot water all the time. I was a nervous
wreck from fear and worry. I was a tied-up bundle of nerves. I had a fear of
failure, of the future, of growing old, of sickness, of hangover, of suicide. I
had a wrong set of ideas and attitudes. When A.A. told me to surrender these
fears and worries to a Higher Power, I did so. I now try to think faith instead
of fear. Have I put faith in place of fear?
Meditation For The Day
Spiritual power is
God in action. God can only act through human beings. Whenever you, however weak
you may be, allow God to act through you, then all you think and say and do is
spiritually powerful. It is not you alone who produces a change in the lives of
others! It is also the Divine Spirit in you and working through you. Power is
God in action. God can use you as a tool to accomplish miracles in peoples'
lives.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that
I may try to let God's power act through me today. I pray that I may get rid of
those blocks which keep His power from me.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN
55012