Gratitude - May 7th

“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy”

~ Jacques Maritain

A.A. Thought for the Day

It's very important to keep in a grateful frame of mind, if we want to stay sober. We should be grateful that we're living in a day and age when an alcoholic isn't treated as he often used to be treated before Alcoholics Anonymous was started. In the old days, every town had its town drunk who was regarded with scorn and ridiculed by the rest of the townspeople. We have come into A.A. and found all the sympathy, understanding, and fellowship that we could ask for. There's no other group like A.A. in the world. Am I grateful?


I say a gratitude prayer every morning to thank my higher power for sobriety and all the blessings that sobriety allows me to enjoy. A morning meditation is important to my day and without it I would feel ungrounded and unsettled. I had the opportunity to meet with friends yesterday - people I had worked with 30 years ago. Going to meet them raised fear in me because though I've been sober over 14 years most of these people only knew me as an active alcoholic. My fear, of course, turned out to be completely unfounded. They were as I remembered them - friends. May you have a wonderful 24 hours.
~Mike

Inner Voice - Sept 6th

I learned to listen to my body with an inner concentration like meditation, to get guidance as to when to exercise and when to rest. I learned that healing and cure are active processes in which I myself needed to participate.

•   Rollo May  

In our spiritual growth, one of our movements is from passive to active, from helpless to responsive. For example, we are passive if we don't take responsibility for our bodies and don't care for our wellness and conditioning. Do we passively leave our health in the doctor's hands?

Do we take responsibility for our relationships? Are we active in nurturing them? We could add our own interests and positive energy to enrich them.

Our Higher Power speaks to us in a quiet, subtle voice, which can easily be ignored until we learn to listen. It takes courage to listen to this inner voice. When we listen, we develop a relationship that is a strong force moving us into recovery. We are still powerless over many things, but we can make active choices in how we will grow and how we will respond.
I will be guided in my choices by my inner voice.