Patcha

Daily Reflections

HAPPINESS COMES QUIETLY

"The trouble with us alcoholics was this: We demanded
that the world give us happiness and peace of mind in
just the particular order we wanted to get it - by the
alcohol route. And we weren't successful. But when we
take time to find out some of the spiritual laws, and
familiarize ourselves with them, and put them into
practice, then we do get happiness and peace of mind. . .
There seem to be some rules that we have to follow, but
happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and
free to anyone."
DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS, p. 308

The simplicity of the A.A. program teaches me that
happiness isn't something I can "demand." It comes upon
me quietly, while I serve others. In offering my hand
to the newcomer or to someone who has relapsed, I find
that my own sobriety has been recharged with
indescribable gratitude and happiness.

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Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day

It doesn't do much good to come to meetings only once in
a while and sit around, hoping to get something out of
the program. That's all right at first, but it won't help
us very long. Sooner or later we have to get into action,
by coming to meetings regularly, by giving a personal
witness of our experience with alcohol, and by trying to
help other alcoholics. Building a new life takes all the
energy that we used to spend on drinking. Am I spending
at least as much time and effort on the new life that I'm
trying to build in A.A.?

Meditation For The Day

With God's help, I will build a protective screen around
myself which will keep out all evil thoughts. I will
fashion it out of my attitude toward God and my attitude
toward other people. When one worrying or impatient
thought enters my mind, I will put it out at once. I
know that love and trust are the solvents for the worry
and frets of life. I will use them to form a protective
screen around me.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that frets and impatience and worry may not
corrode my protective screen against all evil thoughts.
I pray that I may banish all these from my life.

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As Bill Sees It

Toward Honesty, p. 17

The perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one
permeates human affairs from top to bottom. This subtle and elusive
kind of selfish-righteousness can underlie the smallest act or thought.
Learning daily to spot, admit, and correct these flaws is the essence of
character-building and good living.

<< << << >> >> >>

The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the deception of
ourselves.

<< << << >> >> >>

Somehow, being alone with God doesn't seem as embarrassing as
facing up to another person. Until we actually sit down and talk aloud
about what we have so long hidden, our willingness to clean house is
still largely theoretical. When we are honest with another person, it
confirms that we have been honest with ourselves and with God.

1. 12 & 12, pp. 94-95
2. Grapevine, August 1961
3. 12 & 12, p. 60

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Walk In Dry Places

Avoiding AA Chauvism___Friendliness toward Others

The term "chauvinism" has often been applied to men who are prejudiced toward women. But "chauvinism" has broader meanings as well. It is a belief in the alleged superiority of one's own nation or group. AA members can develop this peculiar chauvinism in supposing that there is some superiority in having survived alcoholism.

In the past, some of us have been particularly critical of non-alcoholics who choose to work in the alcoholism field. We may have relied on the axiom "it takes an alcoholic to understand an alcoholic" when in fact there are many people who have suffered from other problems and can understand our sufferings.

Perhaps one of the worst things about AA chauvinism is that it can offend people who could benefit from its principles and could become our allies in the work of helping alcoholics. While we have been highly successful in helping others, we still have not reached more than a small percentage of those who suffer. Additional breakthroughs are needed in the field of alcoholism, and the vital information might come from a non-alcoholic who empathizes with our suffering and wants to do something about it. Even AA has received some of its best ideas from non-alcoholics.

I will know today that membership in AA really means that I've found a rightful place in a larger fellowship; The Human Race. I'll view the world as a friendly place.

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Keep It Simple

When all else fails, read the instructions. Agnes Allen

The instructions for recovery are in our Twelve Step program. Yet, there are times when we feel our program isn't working. at these times, we need to read the instructions. Have you followed the "instructions," the wise words are found in The Big Book, The Twelve and Twelve, and other recovery literature? When we do, we recover. It's hard at times, and easy at others. Our problems go deeper than just staying sober. No matter what our problems, our program can help us start fixing them, if we follow the instructions. Don't use alcohol or other drugs. Go to meeting. Talk often with sponsors and program friends. Work the Steps. Think. Easy Does It. First Things First. Listen. Let Go and Let God. One Day at a Time.

Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, tell me which instructions to read today. If I'm headed for trouble, help me out.

Today's Action: I'll read the instructions today.

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition

Chapter 9 - The Family Afterward

The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children. Their young minds were impressionable while he was drinking. Without saying so, they may cordially hate him for what he has done to them and to their mother. The children are sometimes dominated by a pathetic hardness and cynicism. They cannot seem to forgive and forget. This may hang on for months, long after their mother has accepted dad’s new way of living and thinking.

p. 134

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Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition Stories

BUILDING A NEW LIFE - Hallucinating and restrained by sheriff's deputies and hospital staff, this once-happy family man received an unexpected gift from God--a firm foundation in sobriety that would hold up through good times and bad.

Pushed by my sponsor, I got into service work right away, and I really enjoyed it. Now I'm a general service representative of a Spanish-speaking group, learning how to express myself about this great gift of sobriety in my original language.

p. 485

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Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

Step Seven - "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. "

So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time. A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once. Rebellion dogs our every step at first.

p. 73

************************************************** *********Warriors Anonymous Practice of the Day-
BB pg 84-85-
Ch 6- Into Action:
(Some of the 10th Step Promises)

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone-even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality-safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

-Tom- After Doing Steps 1 through 8 and all the amends I could in my 9th Step, my Sponsor and I read this paragraph together. As we read, he kept stopping and asking me, “is this true in your Life, Yes or no?” To my surprise, my answer was and is , yes.

In the 2nd Step I owned my insanity: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity”

After fully doing Steps 1-10, to the best of my ability, I received The Miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 10th Step Promise: “For by this time sanity will have returned.”
This was a Gift given to me by focusing on doing the work of each step. However there is a hook at the end: “That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”

My job is to do the Work and leave the outcome of the Work to my Higher Power.

Today I pray that I remember that I can’t stay sober today, off of yesterday’s work.