Each day a new Beginning <!--091525-->
When our myths, dreams, and ideals are shattered, our world topples. —Kathleen Casey Thiesen— The act of “becoming” topples our world, and rightly so. We outgrow yesterday’s ideals, and we have begun realizing, in our unfolding, the dreams of last year. Now new dreams call us. Recovery has toppled our world. Hallelujah! In our abstinence, […]
Keep it Simple <!--091525-->
Often the test of courage is not to die but to live. —Vittorio Alfiert— What brave people we are! We have chosen life. Okay, maybe we had a little push, maybe a big push from our family, police, or the pain of our disease. But still, we’ve chosen recovery. We choose daily to let our […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--091425-->
What a strange pattern the shuttle of life can weave. —Frances Marion— How shortsighted is our judgment about today’s experiences! We’ll see with clarity where they may lead us only after we’ve reached our destination. Of one thing we can be certain: Today’s experiences, in concert with yesterday’s and all that’s gone before, are combining […]
Promise of a new Day <!--091425-->
Out of every crisis comes the chance to be reborn… —Nena O’Neill— It is not our smooth passages that reveal new understands, but the strenuous, uphill battles that benefit us with knowledge we need to grow. Looking on our challenges as gifts whose resolution promises greater comfort makes them agreeable, perhaps even prized. Without them […]
Keep it Simple <!--091425-->
You must look into people, as well as at them. —Lord Chesterfield— When we were using alcohol and other drugs, we only looked at people. We treated them like objects. Often, we could only see how they helped us get high, or how they got in our way. Now we can see others as people. […]
A.A. Thought for the Day <!--091425-->
“How does A.A. grow? Some of us sell A.A. as we go about. Little clusters of twos and threes and fives keep springing up in different communities, through contact with the larger centers. Those of us who travel drop in at other groups as often as we can. This practice enables us to lend a […]
Daily Reflections <!--091425-->
PEACE OF MIND Do we lay the matter before our sponsor or spiritual adviser, earnestly asking God’s help and guidance–meanwhile resolving to do the right thing when it becomes clear, cost what it may? TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p p. 86-87 My belief in a Higher Power is an essential part of my work […]
A.A. Thought for the Day <!--091325-->
“No one is too discredited, nor has sunk too low, to be welcomed cordially into A.A., if he or she means business. Social distinctions, petty rivalries and jealousies are laughed out of countenance. Being wrecked in the same vessel, being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned to the welfare of […]
Daily Reflections <!--091325-->
REPAIRING THE DAMAGE Good judgment, careful sense of timing, courage and prudence – these are the qualities we shall need when we take Step Nine. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 83 To make amends can be viewed two ways: first, that of repairing damage, for if I have damaged my neighbor’s fence, I “make […]
Each day a new Beginning <!--091325-->
Nobody told me how hard and lonely change is. —Joan Gilbertson— Pain, repeatedly experienced, indicates a need for self-assessment, an inventory of our behavior. Honest self-appraisal may well call for change, a change in attitude perhaps, a change in specific behavior in some instances, or maybe a change in direction. We get off the right […]