A.A. Thought for the Day <!--081625-->
“The alcoholic is absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. We must admit we can do nothing about it ourselves. Willpower and self-knowledge will never help in the strange mental blank spots when we are tempted to drink. An alcoholic mentally is in a very sick condition. The last flicker of conviction […]
Keep it Simple <!--081625-->
The strongest rebellion may be expressed in quiet, undramatic behavior.—Benjamin Spock— In recovery, we each rebel against our disease. Each day we fight for the freedom to stay close to our Higher Power, friends and family. It’s mainly a quiet battle. It’s fought daily. We fight and win by acting in a spiritual way. We […]
Daily Reflections <!--081625-->
“I HAD DROPPED OUT” We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have “harmed” other people. What kinds of “harm” do people do one another, anyway? To define the word “harm” in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--081625-->
Love is a force. It is not a result; it is a cause. It is not a product; it produces. It is a power, like money, or steam or electricity. It is valueless unless you can give something else by means of it. —Anne Morrow Lindbergh— Love and feeling loved—how often both elude us! We […]
Keep it Simple <!--081525-->
We know what we are, but know not what we may be. —Shakespeare— We are addicts. We suffer from an illness. We go to Twelve Step meetings because we know who we are. We have a sponsor because we know who we are. We ask friends for support because we know who we are. We […]
Promise of a new Day <!--081525-->
If politics may be broadly defined as “the way we are with each other” then anything that affects the way we connect with each other is political. —Phyllis Jane Rose— There’s a word for someone who is democratic with strangers and despotic with intimates, and the word is hypocrite. One of the important lessons of […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--081525-->
Life does not need to mutilate itself in order to be pure. —Simone Weil— How terribly complicated we choose to make life’s many questions. Should we call a friend and apologize or wait for her call? Are the children getting the kind of care they must, right now? That we “Came to believe in a […]
A.A. Thought for the Day <!--081525-->
“Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we have admitted we are alcoholics, we must have no reservations of any kind, nor any lurking notion that some day we will be immune to alcohol. What sort of […]
Daily Reflections <!--081525-->
DIDN’T WE HURT ANYBODY? Some of us, though, tripped over a very different snag. We clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt anybody but ourselves. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS , p. 79 This Step seemed so simple. I identified several people whom I had harmed, but they were no longer available. […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--081425-->
Often when we’re being tough and strong, we’re scared. It takes a lot of courage to allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to be soft. —Dudley Martineau— We’ve developed defenses for protection because we have felt the need for protection from the abuses of others, parents on occasion, bosses, spouses, even strangers. And in certain situations, […]