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.

Honesty & Change - April 1st

A.A. Thought for the Day

Since I've been in A.A., have I made a start towards becoming more honest? Do I no longer have to lie to my husband or wife? Do I try to have meals on time, and do I try to earn what I make at work? Am I trying to be honest? Have I faced myself as I really am and have I admitted to myself that I'm no good by myself, but have to rely on God to help me do the right thing? Am I beginning to find out what it means to be alive and to face the world honestly and without fear?

• NOTE FROM MIKE: After over a year of posting to this blog as a part of my morning meditation it is time for a change. I think I will start posting the AA Thought for the Day from the 24 Hours a Day Book which is also put out by the good folks at Hazelden. I hope that this little corner of the internet provides comfort for anyone who might stumble upon it.