Thoughts For The Day~*~Fear ^*^*^ December 3
Transitions Daily
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/AA\
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Fear
"We have had a much keener look at ourselves and those about us. We have seen that we were prodded by unreasonable fears and anxieties into making a life business of winning fame, money, and what we thought was leadership. So false pride became the reverse side of that ruinous coin marked 'Fear.' We simply had to be Number One people to cover up our deep-lying inferiorities."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 123
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Thought to Consider . . .
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
F E A R = Frantic Efforts to Appear Recovered
*~*^Just
For
Today!^*~*
It is important that we remain anonymous because we are too few, at present to handle the overwhelming number of personal appeals which may result from this publication. Being mostly business or professional folk, we could not well carry on our occupations in such an event. We would like it understood that our alcoholic work is an avocation.
When writing or speaking publicly about alcoholism, we urge each of our Fellowship to omit his personal name, designating himself instead as "a member of Alcoholics Anonymous."
Very earnestly we ask the
press also, to observe this request, for otherwise we shall be greatly
handicapped.
1989, Carry the Message, Inc.,
Alcoholics Anonymous, [First Edition facsimile], page vii
IN ALL OUR AFFAIRS
. . . we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 106
I find that carrying the message of recovery to other alcoholics is easy because it helps me to stay sober and it provides me with a sense of well-being about my own recovery. The hard part is practicing these principles in all my affairs. It is important that I share the benefits I receive from A.A., especially at home. Doesn't my family deserve the same patience, tolerance and understanding I so readily give to the alcoholic? When reviewing my day I try to ask, "Did I have a chance to be a friend today and miss it?" "Did I have a chance to rise above a nasty situation and avoid it?" "Did I have a chance to say 'I'm sorry,' and refuse to?
Just as I ask God for help with my alcoholism each day, I ask for help in extending my recovery to include all situations and all people!
Copyright 1990 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*
Random Quote - Servant, Not Master
In A.A., we found that it did not matter too much what our material condition was, but it mattered greatly what our spiritual condition was. As we improved our spiritual outlook, money gradually became our servant and not our master. It became a means of exchanging love and service with those about us.
<<<>>>
One of A.A.'s Loners is an Australian sheepman who lives two thousand miles from the nearest town, where yearly he sells his wool. In order to be paid the best prices he has to get to town during a certain month. But when he heard that a big regional A.A. meeting was to be held at a later date when wool prices would have fallen, he gladly took a heavy financial loss in order to make his journey then. That's how much an A.A. meeting means to him.
1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 122 - 2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 31
*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*
"When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous,
find out all you can about him. If he does not want to stop drinking,
don't waste time trying to persuade him. You may spoil a later
opportunity."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th
Edition, Working With Others, pg.
90
*~*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
There is some alcoholic thought,
conscious or unconscious, that comes before every slip. As long as we live, we
must be on the lookout for such thoughts and guard against them. In fact, our
A.A. training is mostly to prepare us, to make us ready to recognize such
thoughts at once and to reject them at once. The slip comes when we allow such
thoughts to remain in our minds, even before we actually go through the motions
of lifting the glass to our lips. The A.A. program is largely one of mental
training. How well is my mind prepared?
Meditation for the Day
Fret not your mind with puzzles that you
cannot solve. The solutions may never be shown to you until you have left this
life. The loss of dear ones, the inequality of life, the deformed and the
maimed, and many other puzzling things may not be known to you until you reach
the life beyond. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear
them now." Only step by step, stage by stage, can you proceed in your journey
into greater knowledge and understanding.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be content that things that
I now see darkly will someday be made clear. I pray that I may have faith that
someday I will see face to face.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012