Thoughts For The Day~*~Change ^*^*^ August 26
TransitionsDaily
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Change
"How many of us would presume to
declare, 'Well, I'm sober and I'm happy. What more can I want or do?
I'm fine the way I am.' We know that the price of such self-satisfaction
is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude
awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo
can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot
stand still."
Bill W., AA Grapevine, February 1961
As Bill Sees
It, p. 25
Thought
to Consider . . .
There is
no progress without change.
P A C E
Positive Attitudes Change Everything
*~*^Just For Today!^*~*
Didn't Look Good
Tradition Five: Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
I was soon
sitting beside a big hulk of a man. Decidedly unfriendly, he stared at me out of
eyes which were slits in his red and swollen face. I had to agree with the
doctor - he certainly didn't look good. But I told him my own story. I explained
what a wonderful Fellowship we had, how well we understood each other. I bore
down hard on the hopelessness of the drunk's dilemma. I insisted that few drunks
could ever get well on their own steam, but that in our groups we could do
together what we could not do separately. He interrupted to scoff at this and
asserted he'd fix his wife, his partner, and his alcoholism by
himself.
1981 AAWS Inc.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page
152
GIVING IT AWAY
Though they know they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves to others.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159
Those words, for me, refer to a transference of power, through which God, as I understand Him, enters my life. Through prayer and meditation, I open channels, then I establish and improve my conscious contact with God. Through action I then receive the power I need to maintain my sobriety each day. By maintaining my spiritual condition, by giving away what has been so freely given to me, I am granted a daily reprieve.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS WORLD SERVICES, INC.
*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*
Maudlin Martyrdom
"Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects that we know.
It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can cut off all effective
communication with our fellows because of its inordinate demands for
attention and sympathy. It is a maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill
afford. "The remedy? Well, let's have a hard look at ourselves, and a still
harder one at A.A.'s Twelve Steps to recovery. When we see how many of our
fellow A.A.'s have used the Steps to transcend great pain and adversity, we
shall be inspired to try these life-giving principles for ourselves."
LETTER, 1966
*~*^Big
Book
Quote^*~*
"For the type of alcoholic who is able
and willing to get well, little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word,
is needed or wanted. The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering
alcohol, are on the wrong track."
Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition
Working With Others, pg.
97
*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*
A.A. Thought for the Day
"If we are still clinging to something that we will
not let go, we must sincerely ask God to help us to be willing to let even
that go, too. We cannot divide our lives into compartments and keep some for
ourselves. We must give all the compartments to God. We must say:
'My
Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray
that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands
in the way of my usefulness to you and my
friends."' Am I still clinging to something that I
will not let go?
Meditation for the Day
The
laws of nature cannot be changed and must be obeyed if you are to stay healthy.
No exceptions will be made in your case. Submit to the laws of nature or they
will finally break you. And in the realm of the spirit, in all human
relationships, submit to the moral laws and to the will of God. If you continue
to break the laws of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, you will be
broken to some extent yourself. The moral and spiritual laws of God, like the
laws of nature, are unbreakable without some disaster. If you are dishonest,
impure, selfish, and unloving, you will not be living according to the laws
of the spirit and you will suffer the consequences.
Prayer for
the Day
I pray that I may submit to the laws of
nature and to the laws of God. I pray that I may live in harmony with all the
laws of life.
Hazelden Foundation
PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012
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