New way of life

AA Thought for the Day

When we were drinking, most of us were full of pride and selfishness. We believed we could handle our own affairs, even though we were making a mess of our lives. We were very stubborn and didn’t like to take advice. We resented being told what to do. To us, humility looked like weakness. But when we came into AA, we began to be humble. And we found out that humility gave us the power we needed to overcome drinking. Have I learned that there is power in humility?

Meditation for the Day

CULTIVATING FAITH

"I don't think we can do anything very well in this world unless we practice it. And I don't believe we do A.A. too well unless we practice it.  . . . We should practice . . . acquiring the spirit of service. We should attempt to acquire some faith, which isn't easily done, especially for the person who has always been very materialistic, following the standards of society today. But I think faith can be acquired; it can be acquired slowly; it has to be cultivated. That was not easy for me, and I assume that it is difficult for everyone else . . ."

DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS  pp. 307-308

HAPPINESS IS NOT THE POINT

I don't think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge? 


In my search "to be happy", I changed jobs, married and divorced, took geographical cures, and ran myself into debt-financially, emotionally and spiritually.
 
In A.A., I'm learning to grow up. Instead of demanding that people, places and things make me happy, I can ask God for self-acceptance. When a problem overwhelms me,

Many types of people

As we live within the recovering community, we will meet many types of people. We will meet some who take their recovery very seriously and others who don’t. We must remember that this is our life we’re fighting for. Addiction is a very dangerous and deadly illness. We need to surround ourselves with the best. We deserve it. An AA saying tells us to “Stick with the winners.” Why? So we, too, can be winners.

During our active addiction, we helped to bring out the worst in others. We supported our using friends in doing things that were dangerous and destructive.

Progress, not perfection

Every forward step we take, we leave some phantom of ourselves behind.

~John Spalding

A recovering person once remarked that every day when he woke up, he said, “Okay, God, surprise me.” Although each day brings new challenges, there is one thing it won’t bring—perfection. Today we can expect a mixed bag of experiences with a wide range of emotions to match.

If we’re feeling discouraged or negative about our life, one way to cultivate an attitude of gratitude is to look back and see how far we’ve come. Remember, we seek “Progress, not perfection.” There is always something to be grateful for, including the ability to find something to be grateful for.

When life is so bad that I want to cry, I’ll try laughing instead.