Thoughts For The Day~*~Guidance ^*^*^ August 22
TransitionsDaily
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Guidance
"I am a firm believer in both guidance and prayer. But I am fully aware, and humble enough, I hope, to see there may be nothing infallible about my guidance. The minute I figure I have got a perfectly clear pipeline to God, I have become egotistical enough to get into real trouble. Nobody can cause more needless grief than a power-driver who thinks he's got it straight from God."
Bill W. Letter 1950
1967 AAWS As Bill Sees It p. 38
Thought to Consider . . .
It's not making a mistake that will kill me. It's defending it that does the damage.
F E A R
Frantic Efforts to Appear Recovered
*~*^Just For Today!^*~*
An A.A.
sponsor is not a professional caseworker or counselor of any sort. A sponsor is
not someone to borrow money from, nor get clothes, jobs, or food from. A sponsor
is not a medical expert, nor qualified to give religious, legal, domestic or
psychiatric advice, although a good sponsor is usually willing to discuss such
matters confidentially, and often can suggest where the appropriate professional
assistance can be obtained.
A
sponsor is simply a sober alcoholic who can help solve only
one problem: how to stay sober. And the sponsor has only one tool to use -
personal experience, not scientific wisdom.
Sponsors have been
there, and often have more concern, hope, compassion, and confidence for us than
we have for ourselves. They certainly have had more experience. Remembering
their own condition, they reach out to help, not
down.
1998 AAWS Inc.
Living Sober page 27
SEEKING EMOTIONAL STABILITY
When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS p. 116
All my life I depended on people for my emotional needs and security, but today I cannot live that way anymore. By the grace of God, I have admitted my powerlessness over people, places and things. I had been a real "people addict"; wherever I went there had to be someone who would pay some kind of attention to me. It was the kind of attitude that could only get worse, because the more I depended on others and demanded attention, the less I received. I have given up believing that any human power can relieve me of that empty feeling. Although I remain a fragile human being who needs to work A.A. Steps to keep this particular principle before my personality, it is only a loving God who can give me inner peace and emotional stability.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES INC.
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
Freed Prisoners
Letter to a prison group:
"Every A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has
walled himself out of society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you
folks has been even more difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall
around you. But there isn't any really essential difference, a fact that
practically all A.A.'s now know. Therefore, when you members come into the
world of A.A. on the outside, you can be sure that no one will care a fig that
you have done time. What you are trying to be - not what you were - is all
that counts with us."
<<< >>>
"Mental and
emotional difficulties are sometimes very hard to take while we are trying to
maintain sobriety. Yet we do see, in the long run, that transcendence over such
problems is the real test of the A.A. way of living. Adversity gives us more
opportunity to grow than does comfort or success."
1. LETTER 1949
2. LETTER
1964
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"Let no alcoholic say he
cannot recover unless he has his family back. This just isn't so. In some
cases the wife will never come back for one reason or another. Remind the
prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon
his relationship with God. We have seen men get well whose families
have not returned at all. We have seen others slip when the family
came back too soon."
Alcoholics Anonymous
4th Edition
Working With Others pg. 99
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
"Those who do not recover are people who are constitutionally
incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are
not at fault. They seem to be born that way. They are naturally incapable of
grasping and developing a manner of living that demands rigorous honesty. Their
chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave
emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover, if they have the
capacity to be honest." Am I completely honest with myself and with other
people?
Meditation for the Day
You
can make use of your mistakes, failures, losses, and sufferings. It is not
what happens to you so much as what use you make of it. Take your
sufferings, difficulties, and hardships and make use of them to help some
unfortunate soul who is faced with the same troubles. Then something good
will come out of your suffering and the world will be a better place because
of it. The good you do each day will live on, after the trouble and distress
have gone, after the difficulty and the pain have passed away.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may make good use of my mistakes and failures. I pray
that some good may result from my painful experiences.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
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