Keep it Simple <!--093024-->
If we follow the Twelve Steps, we’ll leave failure behind. We may have tried and tired to be sober, good people, but failed if we were doing it our way. Now is the time to stop listening to ourselves and start listening to pros, those who have gone before us. When we follow their lead, […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--093024-->
Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them? —Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy— We choose the lives we lead. We choose sadness or happiness; success or failure; dread or excited anticipation. Whether or not we are conscious of our choices, we are making them every moment. Accepting […]
A.A. Thought for the Day <!--093024-->
There are no leaders in A.A., except as they volunteer to accept responsibility. The work of carrying on A.A.–leading group meetings, serving on committees, speaking before other groups, doing twelfth-step work, spreading A.A. among the alcoholics of the community–all these things are done on a volunteer basis. If I don’t volunteer to do something concrete […]
Daily Reflections <!--093024-->
THE CIRCLE AND THE TRIANGLE The circle stands for the whole world of A.A., and the triangle stands for A.A.’s Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service. Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 139 Early in my A.A. life, I became employed in […]
Promise of a new Day <!--093024-->
Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to error that counts. —Nikki Giovanni— We’re not perfect. Our mistakes are consistent with the lessons we’ve been assigned to learn. We strive for perfection in ourselves and sometimes we demand it of others. And when we fall short of the mark, we frequently feel […]
Promise of a new Day <!--092924-->
Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word “happiness” would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. —Carl Gustav Jung— Life is full of contrasts. What we perceive or feel at this moment is often heightened by an experience we just passed through. It’s the sum […]
A.A.Thought for the Day <!--092924-->
Having got this far, shall we pause and ask ourselves some searching questions? We need to check up on ourselves periodically. Just how good an A.A. am I? Am I attending meetings regularly? Am I doing my share to carry the load? When there is something to be done, do I volunteer? Do I speak […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--092924-->
Female friendships that work are relationships in which women help each other to belong to themselves. —Louise Bernikow— To have anything worth giving to a friend, we must belong to ourselves. Are we someone we like? Does our behavior agree with our beliefs? Do our friends share our values, and when we are together do […]
Daily Reflections <!--092924-->
EXACTLY ALIKE Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers, stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called the group’s secretary an […]
Keep it Simple <!--092924-->
Al didn’t smile for forty years. You’ve got to admire a man like that. — From the TV show, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman”— Remember how we used to live? We were always trying to cover up some lie or mistake. We were all like Al. Our energy was going into our illness, not into living. […]