Created to carry the message of recovery to all addicts. Whether the addiction is alcohol, drugs, food or any other addiction the program of recovery is the same. I am a recovering alcoholic of over twenty-seven years, a day at a time of course and I believe my primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve recovery. Remember seven days without a meeting makes one weak. Sign up to get emails.This Blog is NOT IN ANY WAY affiliated to either A.A. or N.A. Help to stop drinking.
“Could I be an alcoholic without some of the hair-raising experiences I had heard of in meetings? The answer came to me very simply in the first step of the Twelve Steps of AA. ‘We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.’ This didn’t say we had to be in jail, 10, 50 or 100 times. It didn’t say I had to lose one, five or 10 jobs. It didn’t say I had to lose my family. It didn’t say I had to finally live on skid row and drink bay rum, canned heat or lemon extract. It did say, ‘admitted I was powerless over alcohol; that my life had become unmanageable.'” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Part II (“They Stopped in Time”), Ch. 10 (“It Might Have Been Worse”), p 379.
Today, no excuses, no justifications, no rationalizations, no comparisons, no “I didn’t get that bad,” no fear, no shame, no anguish – only sheer guts and courage: “I am powerless.” Enough is enough. No more rejecting the idea of a Higher Power. I have seen and lived in the darkest of places; if something so bad could take me there, maybe something better can lead me on blind faith to a place of light. Today, I disempower that over which I am powerless by saying, “No more!” Today, no more. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.
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A.A. Thought For The Day 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?
Meditation For The Day I must learn to accept self-discipline. I must try never to yield one point that I have already won. I must not let myself go in resentments, hates, fears, pride, lust, or gossip. Even if the discipline keeps me separated from some people who are without discipline, nevertheless I will carry on. I may have different ways and a different standard of living than some others. I may be actuated by different motives than some people. But I will try to live the way I believe God wants me to live, no matter what others say.
Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be an example to others of a better way of living. I pray that I may carry on in spite of hindrances.
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. . . AND NO MORE RESERVATIONS We have seen the truth again and again: “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.”. . . If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.
. . . To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. ~ ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33 ~
These words are underlined in my book. They are true for men and women alcoholics. On many occasions I’ve turned to this page and reflected on this passage. I need never fool myself by recalling my sometimes differing drinking patterns, or by believing I am “cured.” I like to think that, if sobriety is God’s gift to me, then my sober life is my gift to God. I hope God is as happy with His gift as I am with mine.
But the alcoholic . . . will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.
~ Alcoholics Anonymous
Our program says three things are more important than knowing ourselves: (1) admitting we have no control over our addiction, (2) believing in a Higher Power, and (3) turning our lives over to the care of that Higher Power.
Knowing ourselves makes our lives better in recovery. But it does not give us sobriety. Sobriety starts with surrender to our Higher Power. We now know we need the faith and strength we get from a Higher Power. We also need the support of others in our program.
Prayer for the Day
Higher Power, thank you for my sobriety today. Teach me what I need to know about myself to do Your will today.
Action for the Day
Today, I’ll talk with my sponsor about the change in my spirit that keeps me sober.
A.A. Thought For The Day “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we have admitted we are alcoholics, we must have no reservations of any kind, nor any lurking notion that some day we will be immune to alcohol. What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink? Parallel with sound reasoning, there inevitably runs some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. There is little thought of what the terrific consequences may be.” Have I given up all excuses for taking a drink? Meditation For The Day “Where two or three are banded together, I will be there in the midst of them.” When God finds two or three people in union, who only want His will to be done, who want only to serve Him, He has a plan that can be revealed to them. The grace of God can come to people who are together in one place with one accord. A union like this is miracle-working. God is able to use such people. Only good can come through such consecrated people, brought together in unified groups for a single purpose and of a single mind. Prayer For The Day I pray that I may be part of a unified group. I pray that I may contribute my share to its consecrated purpose.
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Today, while I did not choose to be alcoholic, I have a choice to be a non-drinking one. Admitting in Step One that I am powerless over alcohol does not mean I am doomed to an alcoholic death from accident, illness or a lengthy prison sentence for a drunk-related felony. In my gift from God of choice, I have the power to overcome alcohol by disempowering it and choosing abstinence and 12-Step recovery. And while the 12 Steps impress that I and I alone am responsible for my alcoholism, I and I alone also am responsible for my own recovery; its success or failure rests with no one and nothing but me. Ironically, while the Program also impresses the powerlessness I have over an array of things from alcohol to character defects, I am in control of not fueling that powerlessness by choosing not to be defeated by it – through the 12 Steps. Today, I can assert my power over powerlessness, and my power is in the 12 Steps. And our common journey continues. Step by step. – Chris M.
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We always get worse, never better. We are never cured. Our alcoholism can only be arrested. No matter how long we have been sober, if we try liquor again, we’re as bad or worse than we ever were. There is no exception to this rule in the whole history of A.A. We can never recapture the good times of the past. They are gone forever. Will I try to recapture them?
Meditation For The Day
Your life has been given to you mainly for the purpose of training your soul. This life we live is not so much for the body as for the soul. We often choose the way of life that best suits the body, not the way that best suits the soul. God wants you to choose what suits the soul as well as the body. Accept this belief and a wonderful molding of character is the result. Reject it and God’s purpose for your life is frustrated, and your spiritual progress is delayed. Your soul is being trained by the good you choose. Thus the purpose of your life is being accomplished.
Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may choose what is good for my soul. I pray that I may realize God’s purpose for my life.
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