Faith - April 30th

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
~St. Thomas Aquinas

A.A. Thought for the Day

The A.A. program is one of faith because we find that we must have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going to get sober. We're helpless before alcohol, but when we turn our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe, which we call God is the essential part of the A.A. program. Is faith still strong in me?


Whatever your faith may be, a faith in God, in people - whatever; it will be the Higher Power that will be there for you whenever you need it. I could not have gotten sober alone and I wouldn't want to have.
~Mike

Hope - April 29th

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

~ Albert Einstein

A.A. Thought for the Day

The A.A. program is one of faith, hope, and charity. It's a program of hope because when new members come into A.A., the first thing they get is hope. They hear older members tell how they had been through the same kind of hell that they have and how they found the way out through A.A. And this gives them hope that if others can do it, they can do it. Is hope still strong in me?

What can I say about hope? That when I drank I was empty and any thought of my future brought me down. I imagined a life of emptiness and of  my own funeral going unattended. Sobriety has changed all of that - life is happiness and now I look forward to moments of great joy watching loved ones get on with their lives. Maybe even having grandchildren in my life. As long as I live my program today then Hope will live.

~ Mike

Taking Action - April 28th

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
~ Anthony Robbins   


A.A. Thought for the Day

We're so glad to be free from liquor that we do something about it. We get into action. We come to meetings regularly. We go out and try to help other alcoholics. We pass on the good news whenever we get a chance. In a spirit of thankfulness to God, we get into action. The A.A. program is simple. Submit yourself to God, find release from liquor, and get into action. Do these things and keep doing them and you're all set for the rest of your life. Have I got into action?


Taking action for me meant getting involved with people and leaving my drinking friends behind. It didn't come quickly - my natural fear and mistrust of  people held me back. But I didn't drink and I kept going to meetings and eventually I even started to say hello to people - only to find that if I said hello to them they were more than happy to say hello back. In time I came to answer phones at our intergroup office and get involved in the program in other ways. Taking action for me meant taking the first tentative steps towards a new life.
~ Mike

Release - April 27th

“You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, 'I release the need for this in my life'.”

             ~Wayne Dyer


A.A. Thought for the Day

By submitting to God, we're released from the power of liquor. It has no more hold on us. We're also released from the things that were holding us down: pride, selfishness, and fear. And we're free to grow into a new life, which is so much better than the old life that there's no comparison. This release gives us serenity and peace with the world. Have I been released from the power of alcohol?
 
 
For the longest time after coming in to the program I thought that release from alcohol was all about not consuming it. Alcohol continued to be in my life, through the drinking of my colleagues, friends and family. I was always acutely aware of their drinking, constantly watching them, silently judging the amount the consumed and how they behaved. My mind was still being controlled by the hypnotic flicker of alcohols flame. Today though I am aware of alcohol it plays no part in my life. I do not drink alcohol nor do I judge those who do -  but I want the hand of AA to always be there for anyone who should ever need it.
~Mike

Submission - April 26th

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”  ~ Herman Hesse

A.A. Thought for the Day 

The A.A. program is one of submission, release, and action. When we're drinking, we're submitting to a power greater than ourselves, liquor. Our own wills are no use against the power of liquor. One drink and we're sunk. In A.A. we stop submitting to the power of liquor. Instead, we submit to a Power, also greater than ourselves, which we call God. Have I submitted myself to that Higher Power? 

Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives and our will over to the care of God. This step asks us to take action, to surrender our will to our Higher Power and to let God drive the bus. Our own wills having failed us too often in the past it is now time to accept that our Higher Power will do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. My daily prayer includes a pledge to turn my will over to the care of God - and on the rare occasions I've missed my morning prayer I will spend the day unsettled until I realize what it is that's missing. Have a wonderful 24 hours.
~ Mike

AA Works - April 25th

 Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else.  
Franklin D. Roosevelt


A.A. Thought for the Day

I don't believe that A.A. works because I read it in a book or because I hear people say so. I believe it because I see people getting sober and staying sober. An actual demonstration is what convinces me. When I see the change in people, I can't help believing that A.A. works. We could listen to talk about A.A. all day and still not believe it, but when we see it work, we have to believe it. Seeing is believing. Do I see A.A. work every day?


I chose this picture of Robert Downey Jr. today because I believe he represents the best that 12 Step programs has to offer. He is cross-addicted, has relapsed many times and has never given up on himself. He picked up a 5 Year medallion at an AA meeting in January of 2010. It is unfortunate for him that his struggles were so public but I am inspired by his resolve and I hope you will be too. He is proof that the program works.
 ~ Mike

Proof - April 22nd

“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”

• Abraham Lincoln  

A.A. Thought for the Day

People believe in A.A. when they see it work. An actual demonstration is what convinces them. What they read in books, what they hear people say doesn't always convince them. But when they see a real honest to goodness change take place in a person, a change from a drunkard to a sober, useful citizen, that's something they can believe because they can see it. There's really only one thing that proves to me that A.A. works. Have I seen the change in people who come into A.A.?


I have witnessed profound changes is people in AA - all for the better. I am happier in my own skin today and (I think) a better person for it. I think proof of AA's effectiveness is celebrated at every birthday and in the announcements of the upcoming birthdays of other members. All these people who used to be either frightened of or indifferent towards others now taking pleasure in the success of their brothers and sisters in the program. That is proof enough for me.


Mike

Path to a New Ending - April 20th

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

• Maria Robinson

A.A. Thought for the Day

The satisfaction you get out of living a sober life is made up of a lot of little things, but they add up to a satisfactory and happy life. You take out of life what you put into it. So I'd say to people coming into A.A.: "Don't worry about what life will be like without liquor. Just hang in there and a lot of good things will happen to you. And you'll have that feeling of quiet satisfaction and peace and serenity and gratitude for the grace of God." Is my life becoming really worth living?

The Big Book suggests that we should not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. This is a difficult thing to do - but if we work our steps and acknowledge our personality defects then go on to make amends that should provide us with closure on the past. These actions will set us on a path very much different from what we have known. Enjoy the journey today.

Mike

Satisfaction - April 19th

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”

• Mark Twain

A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I've been putting sobriety into my life, I've been taking out a lot of good things. I can describe it best as a kind of quiet satisfaction. I feel good. I feel right with the world, on the right side of the fence. As long as I put sobriety into my life, almost everything I take out is good. The satisfaction you get out of living a sober life is made up of a lot of little things. You have the ambition to do things you didn't feel like doing when you were drinking. Am I getting satisfaction out of living a sober life?


When I first came to sobriety I thought that self acceptance would come automatically but it did not. Peace with myself improved slowly over time and sobriety has provided me with a much better existence, new friends, self-respect, the ability to love and be loved, and the patience to let my life unfold one day at a time.


Mike

As You Sow - April 18th

Men are not punished for their sins, but by them.  

• Elbert Hubbard

A.A. Thought for the Day

As I look back over my drinking career, have I learned that you take out of life what you put into it? When I put drinking into my life, did I take out a lot of bad things? Hospitals with the D.T.'s? Jails for drunken driving? Loss of job? Loss of home and family? When I put drinking into my life, was almost everything I took out bad?


I was sober about 6 weeks when I came into the program and began learning the steps. Being overly focused on getting forgiveness I wanted desperately to make amends to the folks I had harmed. This was a fool's errand. Not having learned anything about humility I was concerned with my feelings and not the feelings of those who I'd harmed. My objective was a good one but my motivation was selfish.


I can't say that I am unselfish today but I try to be. When I make amends now I try to acknowledge the other persons feelings. Have a great 24 hours.


Mike

Preparation - April 16th

“Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity”

Henry Hartman

Chapter 2 of the AA Big Book discusses the case of an American businessman who went to great trouble to try and get sober. He consulted the best psychiatric minds of the day to no avail and ends up consulting with Dr. Carl Jung - only to have that too end in failure. The Chapter goes on to suggest that finding ones innate spirituality offers the best hope for recovery.

Many alcoholics who tentatively "try out" AA are often put off by the frequent references to God common to most meetings. Get right with your own higher power and don't allow others to dictate what your beliefs should or should not be. If you choose to believe in a Christian God then fine - that works for you. If you believe in Buddha, Confucius or even if you are a Humanist - all are fine as long as they give you faith and provide comfort. I don't believe there could be such a thing as a "wrong" Higher Power.

Finding a Higher Power that works for you, that resonates with your soul, will prepare you for life's inevitable hardships. 

Motivation - April 15th

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

• Mark Twain

AA Thought for the Day:


Terrible things could have happened to any one of us. We never will know what might have happened to us when we were drunk. We usually thought: "That couldn't happen to me." But any one of us could have killed somebody or have been killed ourselves, if we were drunk enough. But fear of these things never kept us from drinking. Do I believe that in A.A. we have something more effective than fear?


RCAF Flyers:


The RCAF Flyers was a senior amateur Canadian ice hockey team, based out of Ottawa. The club won the gold medal in the 1948 Winter Olympics. The club also won the Allan Cup Canadian championship in 1942.

In 2001 the Gold Medal winning team was honoured by the Canadian Forces when it was announced that the 1948 RCAF Flyers were selected as Canada’s greatest military athletes of the 20th century.

Misadventure - April 14th

“No young man believes he shall ever die” 

• William Hazlitt

A police captain once told about certain cases he had come across in his police work. The cause of the tragedy in each case was drunkenness. He told his audience about a man who got into an argument with his wife while he was drunk and beat her to death. Then he went out and drank some more. The police captain also told about a man who got too near the edge of an old quarry hole when he was drunk and fell one hundred and fifty feet to his death. When I read or hear these stories, do I think about our motto: "But for the grace of God"?

I remember once coming to in a ditch, still at the wheel of my car with the motor running. My friend in the passenger seat was peacefully asleep (out cold). What if some poor schlub on his way home from an evening shift had crossed my path that night? I am truly grateful that I never hurt anyone while driving drunk.

Mike

Perseverance

When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. 

• Franklin D. Roosevelt

Having found my way into this new world by the grace of God and the help of A.A., am I going to take that first drink, when I know that just one drink will change my whole world? Am I deliberately going back to the suffering of that alcoholic world? Or am I going to hang onto the happiness of this sober world? Is there any doubt about the answer? With God's help, am I going to hang onto A.A. with both hands?


I've never found myself sitting at a bar staring at a beer or a drink wanting to drink and wanting to stay sober at the same time. Relapse and a return to addiction claims 90% of people coming into this program and most alcoholics will die too young as the result of disease, suicide or misadventure long before their days should be up. 


My obsession with alcohol has caught me off guard many times since '96 when I stopped drinking. I remember sitting on top of Mont Tremblant one beautiful fall afternoon and a man sitting beside me poured himself a glass of wine - the smell seemed to envelop me and I thought to myself "wouldn't it be nice...." I think most relapse comes on completely unexpected. May you avoid temptation today.


Mike

A NEW & BETTER LIFE

“Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.”

• Josh Billings (1818-1885)

This sober world is a pleasant place for an alcoholic to live in. Once you've got out of your alcoholic fog, you find that the world looks good. You find real friends in A.A. You get a job. You feel good in the morning. You eat a good breakfast and you do a good day's work at home or outside. And your family loves you and welcomes you because you're sober. Am I convinced that this sober world is a pleasant place for an alcoholic to live in?


I didn't know what to expect when I got sober but I was sure that life would get better. And it did. Where there was once loneliness there is no family, love and laughter. Life is by no means perfect but it is immeasurably better than the solitary life this alcoholic once chose for himself.


Mike

Acceptance

In that alcoholic world, one drink always leads to another and you can't stop till you're paralyzed. And the next morning it begins all over again. You eventually land in a hospital or jail. You lose your job. Your home is broken up. You're always in a mess. You're on the merry go round and you can't get off. You're in a squirrel cage and you can't get out. Am I convinced that the alcoholic world is not a pleasant place for me to live in?

I always assumed that blackouts were a normal part of drinking and they never concerned me. What did bother me was when people I drank with felt the need to tell me what I had done or said in a blackout - that would even extend to me not wanting to read my Phone bills because I didn't want to see who I had drunk-dialed the past month. I don't want to go back to that - hiding from myself to avoid shame. This is where I'm supposed to be - sober and at peace with myself.


Mike

A.A. Thought for the Day

Third, alcoholics recover their proper relationship with other people. They think less about themselves and more about others. They try to help other alcoholics. They make new friends so that they're no longer lonely. They try to live a life of service instead of selfishness. All their relationships with other people are improved. They solve their personality problems by recovering their personal integrity, their faith in a Higher Power, and their way of fellowship and service to others. Is my drink problem solved as long as my personality problem is solved?

I have found that "letting it go" or the more orthodox AA catchphrase "Let Go & Let God" needs to be a contract I make with myself on a daily basis. Don't sweat the small stuff.....this too shall pass....

There are literally dozens of slogans and though they may be cliché they do offer a great deal of wisdom. Lately I have been using the 4 Agreements and more specifically the second agreement - "Don't take anything personally." to help me to maintain a solid grounding and not give in to the temptation to engage  in negativity - which is my own personal cliché .

Mike 

Faith - April 8th

A.A. Thought for the Day

Second, alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They admit that they're helpless by themselves and they call on that Higher Power for help. They surrender their lives to God, as they understand Him. They put their drink problem in God's hands and leave it there. They recover their faith in a Higher Power that can help them. Have I recovered my faith?

I fear that the frequent references to God may put many people off. Most AA members have heard from friends who could benefit from a 12-step program that they would never consider going because of the religious overtones of the meetings. That is unfortunate because there are so many in the program who don't believe in God or, like me, have a specific God in mind when considering their Higher Power and yet go on to know a wonderful new life as the direct result of this program. Sobriety is such a gift to all who find it that it's a shame to avoid it over something so trivial. I am sure that our common Higher Power, whatever it is, is as accepting of Atheists and Agnostics as it is of people of varying religious beliefs. I wish you all a spiritual and sober 24 hours.


Mike 

Service - April 4th

A.A. Thought for the Day

When I came into A.A., I found men and women who had been through the same things I had been through. But now they were thinking more about how they could help others than they were about themselves. They were a lot more unselfish than I ever was. By coming to meetings and associating with them, I began to think a little less about myself and a little more about other people. I also learned that I didn't have to depend on myself alone to get out of the mess I was in. I could get a greater strength than my own. Am I now depending less on myself and more on God?'

Service

For some odd reason I have found that the people in the meetings I attend who give the most of themselves seem to be those people who had fallen the furthest. 

Selfishness - April 3rd

A.A. Thought for the Day

When I was drinking, I was absolutely selfish, I thought of myself first, last, and always. The universe revolved around me at the center. When I woke up in the morning with a hangover, my only thought was how terrible I felt and about what I could do to make myself feel better. And the only thing I could think of was more liquor. To quit was impossible. I couldn't see beyond myself and my own need for another drink. Can I now look out and beyond my own selfishness?

Selfishness

I have always kept a special kind of contempt for people who are or were obviously selfish. The "me first" attitude has always gotten under my skin like very few other things in life. Whether its a coworker seeking the approval of a boss or some stranger cutting me off in traffic I would seethe or even lash out way beyond what was appropriate to the situation. I can still catch myself behaving like this on occasion but the difference today is that I now know that the behaviour of others is not about me and thinking it was about me was my own selfishness at work. My morning gratitude prayer includes a request for help in having humility for this day - may you find humility as well.

Renewing Relationships - April 2nd

A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I've been in A.A., have I made a start towards becoming more loving to my family and friends? Do I visit my parents? Am I more appreciative of my spouse than I was before? Am I grateful to my family for having put up with me? Have I found real understanding with my children? Do I feel that the friends I've found in A.A. are real friends? Do I believe that they are always ready to help me and do I want to help them if I can? Do I really care now about other people?

Successful Transformation

I chose this picture because I believe that in order to reconnect with our friends and loved ones we have to become less egocentric as well as making ourselves more vulnerable by showing ourselves for who we truly are. We need to risk that which has kept us stuck in place throughout our addictions - our egocentric need to try to control how others perceive us. New insights made available by sobriety and the wisdom of our sponsors and other friends in the program tell us that we have no control over people, places and things.


The first step to developing a new intimate and honest relationship with our friends and loved ones is to remove the mask we have faced the world with for too long.