Change

From "A New Man":

"But the real miracle was what happened to him in the next ten years. He began helping people. I mean helping! No call has been too hard, too inconvenient, too 'hopeless.' He founded the A.A. group in his town, and he is embarrassed if you mention this to others or comment on the amount of A.A. work he is doing. He is not the same man I was trying to twelfth-step. I failed in all my efforts to help the man I knew. And then someone else provided a new man."

Bernardsville, New Jersey, USA

1973 AAWS, Inc.
Came to Believe, 30^th printing 2004, pg. 15

Friendship

"Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up around you, to have a host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives."

1976 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 89

Thought to Consider . . .

I keep my sobriety by giving it away.

AACRONYMS

C A R E
Comforting And Reassuring Each other

Help Others

My lifetime listens to yours.
  —Muriel Rukeyser
Our experiences educate us to help show each other the way. Others' experiences, likewise, will help still others. We need to share our histories. And the program offers us the way. There is no greater honor we can give one another than rapt attention. We each want to be heard, to be special, to be acknowledged. And recognition may will be the balm that will heal someone's hurt today.

A new day faces us, a day filled with opportunities to really listen to someone who needs to be heard. And the surprise is that we will hear a message just right for us, where we are now.

Help others

Thought for the Day

In A.A. we learn that since we are alcoholics we can be uniquely useful people. That is, we can help other alcoholics when perhaps somebody who has not had our experience with drinking could not help them. That makes us uniquely useful. The A.A.s are a unique group of people because they have taken their own greatest defeat and failure and sickness and used it as a means of helping others. We who have been through the same thing are the ones who can best help other alcoholics. Do I believe that I can be uniquely useful?

Meditation for the Day

Twelfth step work

Thought for the Day

In twelfth step work, the second thing is confession. By frankly sharing with prospects, we get them talking about their own experiences. They will open up and confess things to us that they haven't been able to tell other people. And they feel better when this confession has been made. It's a great load off their minds to get these things out into the open. It's the things that are kept hidden that weigh on the mind. They feel a sense of release and freedom when they have opened up their hearts to us. Do I care enough about other alcoholics to help them to make a confession?

Meditation of the Day

Sharing about ourselves

Thought for the Day

If we get up in a meeting and tell some thing about ourselves in order to help the other person, we feel a whole lot better. It's the old law of the more you give the more you get. Witnessing and confession are part of keeping sober. You never know when you may help somebody. Helping others is one of the best ways to stay sober your self. And the satisfaction you get out of helping a fellow human being is one of the finest experiences you can have. Am I helping others?

Meditation for the Day

Extend a Hand

The crisis of our time . . . is a crisis not of the hands but of the hearts.
--Archibald MacLeish

We singlemindedly search for love, for belonging, for affirmation from others that will wipe out the torment of alienation that haunts our wakefulness and our dreams. "Does he truly care?" we wonder. "Did she try to call as she said?" Our fears, coupled with our loneliness, turn us inward and the seduction of isolation tightens its hold.

Our hearts plead, sometimes silently, other times hysterically, for comfort. And paradoxically, another's crisis can end our own.

Fear of the unknown

I can stand what I know. It's what I don't know that frightens me.
  —Frances Newton


Fear of the unknown, often referred to as free-floating anxiety, catches up to us on occasion. But it needn't. The program offers us strength whenever we need it, and faith diminishes all fear. It is said that fear cannot exist where there is faith.

We have many days when we feel strong, in touch with our higher power, able to meet all situations. On those days, we are seldom conscious of how our faith is guiding us.

Insurance against taking that first drink

Thought for the Day

Every time we go to an A.A. meeting, every time we say the Lord's Prayer, every time we have a quiet time before breakfast, we're paying a premium on our insurance against taking that first drink. And every time we help another alcoholic, we're making a large payment on our drink insurance. We're making sure that our policy doesn't lapse. Am I building up an endowment in serenity, peace, and happiness that will put me on easy street for the rest of my life?

Meditation for the Day

Helping Others

 
Make yourself a blessing to someone. Your kind smile or pat on the back just might pull someone back from the edge.
 —Carmelia Elliott

Someone will be helped today by our kindness. Compassionate attention assures others that they do matter, and every one of us needs that reassurance occasionally. The program has given us the vehicle for giving and seeking the help we need--it's sponsorship.

Not all of the people we encounter share our program, however. Sponsorship as we know it isn't a reality in their lives. Offering words of encouragement to them, or a willing ear, can be unexpected gifts. They will be deeply appreciated.

Happiness is something we all deserve

I believe that a sign of maturity is accepting deferred gratification.
  —Peggy Cahn

It's okay to want to feel good all the time. Happiness is something we all deserve. However, there are often preparatory steps we need to take, a number of which will not bring joy, before we arrive at a place of sustained happiness.

The level of our pain at any particular moment has prompted us to seek short-term highs. And with each attempt at a quick "fix," we will be reminded that, just as with our many former attempts, the high is very short-term.

Big Book Step 12

Donna S alcoholic.....

I cant help everyone, it is sad some don't get it..but i was told they are my reminders of what is still out there. I  never give up though, i let them know i am here for them and my door is always open ( cell phone as well).  I remember when i was new and how hard it was... not know what to think, how to act, and all these people saying different things, read this, read that, do this, do that, argggg slow down please!! BUT, I learned a lot though from those people.
The main thing i heard is don't take it to heart as everyone has an opinion and we all know what that means. lol My sponsor told me, if u don't like what someone says, it means YOU need to hear it!!!  It took  time for me to get that message, but i did over time.

I've seen people come and go over the years since I've been in recovery. Some passed away sober, some not. The book says we not only help the alkie who is suffering but we can be of service to there family. 

Working With Others ( share)

Step Twelve Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

This chapter, which is called "Working With Others", gives us the part of Step Twelve that deals only with ways to carrying this message to other alcoholics. When WE work with others, OUR lives change. we don't help another alcoholic because THEIR sick, we help another alcoholic because WE are sick, and part of our program of recovery is that we need to be helping others.

LITTLE THINGS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

There was a man taking his morning walk on the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded,
they were left behind and with the suns’ morning rays, they would die.
The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly.