Thoughts For The Day~*~Possibilities ^*^*^ March 27
Transitions Daily
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Possibilities
"How shall we come to terms with seeming failure or success? Can we now adjust to either without despair or pride? Can we accept poverty, sickness, loneliness, and bereavement with courage and serenity? The AA answer to these questions about living is 'Yes, all of these things are possible.'"
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 112
Thought to Consider . . .
It works - it really does.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 88
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
EGO
Easing God Out
*~*^Just For Today!^*~*
"The medical aspect of alcoholism includes the problem of hospitalization, and here also great progress has been made. Many hospitals have been reluctant to take alcoholics at all. State and Provincial institutions usually have required alcoholics to stay for long periods of commitment. Therefore it has been difficult and it still is to persuade the average general hospital to take in A.A. prospects for short periods of treatment and to grant sponsors the necessary visiting privileges in co-operation with our local Intergroup Associations.
"It is good to report that
this condition is rapidly changing for the better. Our pioneering activity in
this field, together with the use which A.A. Headquarters has been able to make
of that experience, has a special interest for us all. Two American hospitals
have afforded fine examples of how medicine and A.A. can best co-operate. At St.
Thomas Hospital in Akron Dr. Bob, the wonderful Sister Ignatia, and the hospital
staff presided over an alcoholic ward which had treated several thousand
alcoholics by the time of Dr. Bob's death in 1950. And beginning in 1945,
Knickerbocker Hospital in New York provided an A.A. ward under the care of our
first friend in medicine, Dr. William D. Silkworth, who was assisted with rare
devotion and skill by nurse Teddy. By 1954, 10,000 alcoholics had been referred
to Knickerbocker by the New York Intergroup Association and had passed through
this ward, the majority on their way to freedom. [c. 1959]"
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics
Anonymous Comes of Age,
pg.206
A.A.'s FREEDOMS
We trust that we already know what our several freedoms truly are; that no future generation of AA's will ever feel compelled to limit them. Our AA freedoms create the soil in which genuine love can grow. . . .
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 303
I craved freedom. First, freedom to drink; later, freedom from drink. The A.A. program of recovery rests on a foundation of free choice. There are no mandates, laws or commandments. A.A.'s spiritual program, as outlined in the Twelve Steps, and by which I am offered even greater freedoms, is only suggested. I can take it or leave it. Sponsorship is offered, not forced, and I come and go as I will. It is these and other freedoms that allow me to recapture the dignity that was crushed by the burden of drink, and which is so dearly needed to support an enduring sobriety.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*
Room for Improvement
WE have come to believe that A.A.'s recovery Steps and Traditions represent the approximate truths which we need for our particular purpose. The more we practice them, the more we like them. So there is little doubt that A.A. principles will continue to be advocated in the form they stand now.
If our basics are so firmly fixed as all this, then what is there left to change or to improve? The answer will immediately occur to us. While we need not alter our truths, we can surely improve their application to ourselves, to A.A. as a whole, and to our relation with the world around us. We can constantly step up the practice of "these principles in all our affairs."
GRAPEVINE, FEBRUARY 1961
*~*^Big Book Quote^*~*
"We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. 'Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?' As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 47
*^Twenty Four Hours A Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
You get the power to overcome drinking through the fellowship of other alcoholics who have found the way out. You get power by honestly sharing your past experience by a personal witness. You get power by coming to believe in a Higher Power, the Divine Principle in the universe which can help you. You get power by working with other alcoholics. In these four ways, thousands of alcoholics have found all the power they needed to overcome drinking. Am I ready and willing to accept this power and work for it?
Meditation for the Day
The power of God's spirit is the greatest power in the universe. Our conquest of each other, the great kings and conquerors, the conquest of wealth, the leaders of the money society, all amount to very little in the end. But one who conquers oneself is greater than one who conquers a city. Material things have no permanence. But God's spirit is eternal. Everything really worthwhile in the world is the result of the power of God's spirit.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may open myself to the power of God's spirit. I pray that my relationships with others may be improved by this spirit.
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