| Starting from today, 15th February 2006 I shall try to place a new message each day on this page to help us in our recovery. I may take passages from the Big Book or other approved AA literature where copyright is not infringed.. I hope you will like this and hope that it may be of help to you and to others If you would like to see previous daily messages from December 2005 to March 2006 click on this link.. To get the month of April 2006 click on this link |
| Dear Lillian. Sorry I got behind with the daily messages. Here are some more. Hope you enjoy them. Love and hugs.............. Webmaster |
| May 1st 2006 In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought permanent sobriety to even one alcoholic woman. Like the "high bottoms," the women said they were different; A.A. couldn't be for them. But as the communication was perfected, mostly by the women themselves, the picture changed. This process of identification and transmission has gone on and on. The Skid-Rower said he was different. Even more loudly, the socialite (or Park Avenue stumblebum) said the same - so did the artists and the professional people, the rich, the poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians and the Eskimos, the veterans, and the prisoners. But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we admit that the chips are finally down. GRAPEVINE, OCTOBER 1959 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. May 2nd 2006 In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the areas of life in which I was standing still. There was always the alibi: "After all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with much more important matters." That was my near perfect prescription for comfort and complacency. *** *** May 3rd 2006 How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I'm sober and I'm happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way I am." We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still. Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. May 4th 2006 The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore, dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit. At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. By accepting with delight our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find ourselves personally more independent, more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily needs. Though we readily accept this principle of healthy dependence in many of our temporal affairs, we often fiercely resist the identical principle when asked to apply it as a means of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know freedom under God until we try to seek His will for us. The choice is ours. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 36 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Troublemakers Can Be Teachers May 5th 2006 Few of us are any longer afraid of what any newcomer can do to our A.A. reputation or effectiveness. Those who slip, those who panhandle, those who scandalize, those with mental twists, those who rebel at the program, those who trade on the A.A. reputation - all such persons seldom harm an A.A. group for long. Some of these have become our most respected and best loved. Some have remained to try our patience, sober nevertheless. Others have drifted away. We have begun to regard the troublesome ones not as menaces, but rather as our teachers. They oblige us to cultivate patience, tolerance, and humility. We finally see that they are only people sicker than the rest of us, that we who condemn them are the Pharisees whose false righteousness does our group the deeper spiritual damage. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1946 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. May 6th 2006 "Gratitude should go forward, rather than backward. "In other words, if you carry the message to still others, you will be making the best possible repayment for the help given to you." LETTER, 1959 *** *** May 7th 2006 No satisfaction has been deeper and no joy greater than in a Twelfth Step job well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives - these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 110 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. May 8th 2006 "Sometimes, we become depressed. I ought to know; I have been a champion dry-bender case myself. While the surface causes were a part of the picture - trigger-events that precipitated depression - the underlying causes, I am satisfied, ran much deeper. "Intellectually, I could accept my situation. Emotionally, I could not. "To these problems, there are certainly no pat answers. But part of the answer surely lies in the constant effort to practice all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps." LETTER, 1954 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Tuesday 9th May We treasure our "Serenity Prayer" because it brings a new light to us that can dissipate our oldtime and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves. In the radiance of this prayer we see that defeat, rightly accepted, need be no disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down. GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Wednesday 10th May We found that we had indeed been worshipers. What a state of mental goose flesh that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshiped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves? And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence? It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one form or another, we had been living by faith and little else. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 54 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thursday 11th May In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the areas of life in which I was standing still. There was always the alibi: "After all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with much more important matters." That was my near perfect prescription for comfort and complacency. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961 Friday 12th May How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I'm sober and I'm happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way I am." We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still. GRAPEVINE, FEBRUARY 1961 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Saturday 13th May We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85 Sunday 14th May We of A.A. obey spiritual principles, at first because we must, then because we ought to, and ultimately because we love the kind of life such obedience brings. Great suffering and great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we need no others. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 174 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Monday 15th May Few of us are any longer afraid of what any newcomer can do to our A.A. reputation or effectiveness. Those who slip, those who panhandle, those who scandalize, those with mental twists, those who rebel at the program, those who trade on the A.A. reputation - all such persons seldom harm an A.A. group for long. Some of these have become our most respected and best loved. Some have remained to try our patience, sober nevertheless. Others have drifted away. We have begun to regard the troublesome ones not as menaces, but rather as our teachers. They oblige us to cultivate patience, tolerance, and humility. We finally see that they are only people sicker than the rest of us, that we who condemn them are the Pharisees whose false righteousness does our group the deeper spiritual damage. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1946 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Tuesday 16th May 2006 "Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I commiserate only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not understand the purpose and ultimate utility of pain." LETTER, 1950 Wednesday 17th May 2006 Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and continued turmoil before serenity. TWELVE AND TWELVE, pp. 93-94 Thursday 18th May 2006 "Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though the moment you do not see." LETTER, 1950 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Friday 19th May A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven't been given the truth may die. SERVICE MANUAL, p. 5 Saturday 20th May Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has placed in our hands. GRAPEVINE, APRIL 1961 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Sunday 21st May The temptation is to become rather possessive of newcomers. Perhaps we try to give them advice about their affairs which we aren't really competent to give or ought not give at all. Then we are hurt and confused when the advice is rejected, or when it is accepted and brings still greater confusion. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 111 Monday 22nd May "You can't make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is too crazy to know what he does want. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it is and why, and leave him alone. "If people really want to get drunk, there is, so far as I know, no way of stopping this - so leave them alone and let them get drunk. But don't exclude them from the water pail, either." LETTER, 1942 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. DEAR FRIENDS.I'M SORRY I COULD NOT PUT THE MESSAGES SINCE 22ND MAY BUT I'LL TRY TO CARRY ON FROM TODAY. YOURS IN FELLOWSHIP AND SERVICE....WEBMASTER Friday 9th June Disagreeable or unexpected problems are not the only ones that call for self-control. We must be quite as careful when we begin to achieve some measure of importance and material success. For no people have ever loved personal triumphs more than we have loved them; we drank of success as of a wine which could never fail to make us-feel elated. Blinded by prideful self-confidence, we were apt to play the big shot. Now that we're in A.A. and sober, winning back the esteem of our friends and business associates, we find that we still need to exercise special vigilance. As an insurance against the dangers of big-shot-ism, we can often check ourselves by remembering that we are today sober only by the grace of God and that any success we may be having is far more His success than ours. TWELVE AND TWELVE, pp. 91-92 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Saturday 10th June 2006 (71 YEARS AGO TODAY AA WAS FOUNDED) "God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference." *** *** We treasure our "Serenity Prayer" because it brings a new light to us that can dissipate our oldtime and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves. In the radiance of this prayer we see that defeat, rightly accepted, need be no disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down. GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Sunday 11th June "Each of us in turn - that is, the member who gets the most out of the program - spends a very large amount of time on Twelfth Step work in the early years. That was my case, and perhaps I should not have stayed sober with less work. "However, sooner or later most of us are presented with other obligations - to family, friends, and country. As you will remember, the Twelfth Step also refers to "'practicing these principles in all our affairs." Therefore, I think your choice of whether to take a particular Twelfth Step job is to be found in your own conscience. No one else can tell you for certain what you ought to do at a particular time. "I just know that you are expected, at some point, to do more than carry the message of A.A. to other alcoholics. In A.A. we aim not only for sobriety - we try again to become citizens of the world that we rejected, and of the world that once rejected us. This is the ultimate demonstration toward which Twelfth Step work is the first but not the final step." LETTER, 1959 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Monday 12th June The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear - primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of reducing these demands. Tuesday 13th June For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a steppingstone to prudence and to a decent respect for others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. And the more we have of respect and justice, the more we shall begin to find the love which can suffer much, and yet be freely given. So fear need not always be destructive, because the lessons of its consequences can lead us to positive values. GRAPEVINE, JANUARY 1962 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Wednesday 14th June We found that we had indeed been worshipers. What a state of mental goose flesh that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshiped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves? And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence? It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one form or another, we had been living by faith and little else. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 54 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Thursday 15th June In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought permanent sobriety to even one alcoholic woman. Like the "high bottoms," the women said they were different; A.A. couldn't be for them. But as the communication was perfected, mostly by the women themselves, the picture changed. This process of identification and transmission has gone on and on. The Skid-Rower said he was different. Even more loudly, the socialite (or Park Avenue stumblebum) said the same - so did the artists and the professional people, the rich, the poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians and the Eskimos, the veterans, and the prisoners. But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we admit that the chips are finally down. GRAPEVINE, OCTOBER 1959 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Friday 16th June In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the areas of life in which I was standing still. There was always the alibi: "After all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with much more important matters." That was my near perfect prescription for comfort and complacency. GRAPEVINE, JUNE 1961 Saturday 17th June How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I'm sober and I'm happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way I am." We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still. GRAPEVINE, FEBRUARY 1961 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Sunday 18th June When alcoholism strikes, very unnatural situations may develop which work against marriage partnership and compatible union. If the man is affected, the wife must become the head of the house, often the breadwinner. As matters get worse, the husband becomes a sick and irresponsible child who needs to be looked after and extricated from endless scrapes and impasses. Very gradually, usually without any realization of the fact, the wife is forced to become the mother of an erring boy, and the alcoholic alternately loves and hates her maternal care. Under the influence of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, these situations are often set right. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 117-118 Monday 19th June Whether the family goes on a spiritual basis or not, the alcoholic member has to if he would recover. The others must be convinced of his new status beyond the shadow of a doubt. Seeing is believing to most families who have lived with a drinker. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 135 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Tuesday 20th June Looking back, we see that our freedom to choose badly was not, after all, a very real freedom. When we chose because we "must," this was not a free choice, either. But it got us started in the right direction. When we chose because we "ought to," we were really doing better. This time we were earning some freedom, making ourselves ready for more. But when, now and then, we could gladly make right choices without rebellion, hold-out, or conflict, then we had our first view of what perfect freedom under God's will could be like. GRAPEVINE, MAY 1960 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Wednesday 21st June My workshop stands on a hill back of our home. Looking over the valley, I see the village community house where our local group meets. Beyond the circle of my horizon lies the whole world of A.A. A.A. TODAY, p. 7 Thursday 22nd June The unity of A.A. is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God. TWELVE AND TWELVE, p. 129 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Friday 23rd June We often tend to slight serious meditation and prayer as something not really necessary. To be sure, we feel it is something that might help us to meet an occasional emergency, but at first many of us are apt to regard it as a somewhat mysterious skill of clergymen, from which we may hope to get a secondhand benefit. TWELVE AND TWELVE p. 96 Saturday 24th June In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances. TWELVE AND TWELVE. p. 104 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Sunday 25th June It is possible for us to use the alleged dishonesty of other people as a plausible excuse for not meeting our own obligations. Once, some prejudiced friends exhorted me never to go back to Wall Street. They were sure that the rampant materialism and double-dealing down there would stunt my spiritual growth. Because this sounded so high-minded, I continued to stay away from the only business that I knew. When, finally, my household went broke, I realized I hadn't been able to face the prospect of going back to work. So I returned to Wall Street, and 1 have ever since been glad that I did. I needed to rediscover that there are many fine people in New York's financial district. Then, too, I needed the experience of staying sober in the very surroundings where alcohol had cut me down. A Wall Street business trip to Akron, Ohio, first brought me face to face with Dr. Bob. So the birth of A.A. hinged on my effort to meet my bread-and-butter responsibilities. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Monday 26th June We need not apologize to anyone for depending upon the Creator. We have good reason to disbelieve those who think spirituality is the way of weakness. For us, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that men of faith seldom lack courage. They trust their God. So we never apologize for our belief in Him. Instead, we try to let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 68 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. Tuesday 27th June We know that as long as the alcoholic keeps away from drink, he usually reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, in both the bodily and the mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this. These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 22-23 Copyright®1967 Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. |
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