Thoughts For The Day~*~Illusion ^*^*^ January 21
Transitions Daily
No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
c. 1976, 2001 AAWS
Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 30
Thought to Consider . . . .
The two most dangerous words in a recovering alcoholic's vocabulary are, "I'm different."
*~*AACRONYMS*~*
A S K
Ass-Saving Kit
Experience
"To us it is not
far-fetched, for this kind of thinking has been characteristic of every single
one of us. There was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our
sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the
first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won
out. Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it
could have happened."
2001 AAWS, Inc.
Fourth
Edition; Alcoholics Anonymous, pg.
37
SERVING MY BROTHER
The member talks to the newcomer not in a spirit of power but in a spirit of humility and weakness.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE p. 279
As the days pass in A.A., I ask God to guide my thoughts and the words that I speak. In this labor of continuous participation in the Fellowship, I have numerous opportunities to speak. So I frequently ask God to help me watch over my thoughts and my words, that they may be the true and proper reflections of our program; to focus my aspirations once again to seek His guidance; to help me be truly kind and loving, helpful and healing, yet always filled with humility, and free from any trace of arrogance.
Today I may very well have to deal with disagreeable attitudes or utterances - the typical stock-in-trade attitude of the still-suffering alcoholic. If this should happen, I will take a moment to center myself in God, so that I will be able to respond from a perspective of composure, strength and sensibility.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*
Citizens Again
"Each of us in turn - that is, the
member who gets the most out of the program - spends a very large amount of time
on Twelfth Step work in the early years. That was my case, and perhaps I should
not have stayed sober with less work. "However, sooner or later most of us
are presented with other obligations - to family, friends, and country. As you
will remember, the Twelfth Step also refers to "'practicing these principles in
all our affairs." Therefore, I think your choice of whether to take a particular
Twelfth Step job is to be found in your own conscience. No one else can tell you
for certain what you ought to do at a particular time. "I just know that you
are expected, at some point, to do more than carry the message of A.A. to other
alcoholics. In A.A. we aim not only for sobriety - we try again to become
citizens of the world that we rejected, and of the world that once rejected us.
This is the ultimate demonstration toward which Twelfth Step work is the first
but not the final step."
LETTER, 1959
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I
would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now. I would not
go back to it even if I could."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
More About Alcoholism, pg.
43
"Our liquor was but a
symptom."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition
How It Works, pg. 64
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the
Day
To grasp the A.A. program, we have to think things out. Saint
Paul said: "They are transformed by the renewing of their minds." We have to
learn to think straight. We have to change from alcoholic thinking to sober
thinking. We must build up a new way of looking at things. Before we came into
A.A., we wanted an artificial life of excitement and everything that goes with
drinking. That kind of a life looked normal to us then. But as we look back now,
that life looks the exact opposite of normal. In fact, it looks most abnormal.
We must reeducate our minds. Am I changing from an abnormal thinker to a normal
thinker?
Meditation for the Day
I will take the most crowded day without
fear. I believe that God is with me and controlling all. I will let confidence
be the motif running through all the crowded day. I will not get worried,
because I know that God is my helper. Underneath are the everlasting arms. I
will rest in them, even though the day is full of things crowding in upon me.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may be calm and let nothing
upset me. I pray that I may not let material things control me and choke out
spiritual things.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
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