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AA Thought for the Day

September 2

Habits
My habit patterns became totally based
on how to continue drinking day in and day out.
I became a past master of denial, an artist with self-pity, and by the time I heard
the thumping of dirt and pebbles onto the lid of my coffin, the habit patterns
had become permanent and I couldn't stop drinking even when I wanted to.
Such is the place that some of us find ourselves in when we join AA.
- AA Around The World, p. 65

Thought to Ponder . . .
Habits are like cork or lead -- they tend to keep you up or hold you down.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
T H I N K = Thank Heavens I Now Know.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Grudges
"We had to see that every time we played the big shot,
we turned people against us.
We had to see that when we harbored grudges
and planned revenge for such defeats,
we were really hitting ourselves with the club of anger
we had intended to use on others.
We learned that if we were seriously disturbed,
our first need was to quiet that disturbance,
regardless of who or what we thought caused it.."

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 47
Copyright 1952 A.A.W.S. Inc.

Thought to Consider . . .
Anger is the hot wind that extinguishes the light of reason.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A N G E R = Any No Good Energy Rising.

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

The Right to be Wrong Tradition Four:
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
This meant, of course, that we had been given the courage to declare each A.A. group an individual entity, strictly reliant on its own conscience as a guide to action. In charting this enormous expanse of freedom, we found it necessary to post only two storm signals: A group ought not do anything which would greatly injure A.A. as a whole, nor ought it affiliate itself with anything or anybody else. There would be real danger should we commence to call some groups "wet," others "dry," still others "Republican" or "Communist," and yet others "Catholic" or "Protestant." The A.A. group would have to stick to its course or be hopelessly lost. Sobriety had to be its sole objective. In all other respects there was perfect freedom of will and action. Every group had the right to be wrong.
1981, AAWS, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, page 147

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"By admitting where I was at fault, I was given the ability to forgive ... With forgiveness came a freedom that I had not anticipated. The amends had required nothing but courage, and a faith that my Higher Power would carry me where I had been too afraid to walk alone."
Sterling, Alaska, September 1993
"Scene of the Crime"
Step By Step

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental
defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither
he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense
must come from a Higher Power."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 43~

"In meditation, we ask God what we should do about each specific matter. The right answer will come, if we want it." ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 69~

"I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me."
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 13

"And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support."
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p. 97

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

Few indeed are those who, assailed by the tyrant alcohol, have ever won through in singlehanded combat. It is a statistical fact that alcoholics almost never recover on their personal resources alone.
'Way up toward Point Barrow in Alaska, a couple of prospectors got themselves a cabin and a case of Scotch. The weather turned bitter, fifty below, and they got so drunk they let the fire go out. Barely escaping death by freezing, one of them woke up in time to rekindle the fire. He was prowling around outside for fuel, and he looked into an empty oil drum filled with frozen water. Down in the ice cake he saw a reddish-yellow object. When thawed out, it was seen to be an A.A. book. One of the pair read the book and sobered up. Legend has it that he became the founder of one of our farthest north groups.

Prayer for the Day: Lord, give me tolerance toward those whose thoughts and ways, in the Program and life, conflict with mine. For though I would, I cannot always know what constitutes the Absolute Truth. The other person may be right, while I may be all wrong, yet unaware. Lord, make my motives right, for only this can ease my conscience when I sometimes err. Lord, give me tolerance, for who am I to stand in judgment on another person's mistakes? No one knows better than my inward self how many little blunders I have and can make. Life is full of stones that somehow trip us, and meaning not, we stumble now and then. Lord, give me tolerance, for only You are rightly fit to judge my fellow travelers.