We in AA are taught to live for today and to shut out all regrettable yesterdays. This philosophy is good, but it does not mean that we can cut off yesterdays as though they never existed.
If we had not been alcoholics in the yesterdays, we would not be in AA today. If our lives had not been wrecked, we would not now be rebuilding upon a better and surer foundation.
We do not need to lament over misspent yesterdays, but we should salvage what was good in them to help construct our new way of life.
Hazelden Foundation
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AA is not fundamentally a philosophy, but it is rather a program of active living. To commit the Big Book to memory, to listen attentively to all the group speakers will not guarantee continued sobriety.
The knowledge gained thereby, put into your everyday living, will make drinking practically impossible and certainly unenjoyable. If we fail to make the Program an integral part of our everyday living, we are almost sure to have some rough times ahead.
Hazelden Foundation
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Many persons look upon AA as something new and revolutionary whereas it is just the reverse. We have no new thoughts or doctrines and we have certainly discovered no new cures.
Our medications are those administered two thousand years ago. Our philosophies were borrowed, not word for word but in substance, from the Great Book our mothers read to us as children.
While science experimented for new and certain cures, we dug out the old but still potent prescription and administered it with sympathy and understanding. We can attest to the fact that it still works.
Published by Hazelden
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Reflection For The Day
If ever I come to the complacent conclusion that I don’t need The Program any longer, let me quickly remind myself that it can do far more than carry me through the anguish of living in the bondage of addiction. Let me further remind myself that I can make even greater strides in fulfilling myself, for The Program and the Twelve Steps is a philosophy — a way of life. Will I ever outgrow my need for The Program?
Today I Pray
May my Higher Power lead me through the Twelve Steps, not just once, but again and again, until they become the guiding principles of my existence. This is no quickie seminar on improving the quality of my life; this is my life, restored to me through Divine Power and the friendship of my fellow addicts, who, like me, are recovering in the best known way.
Today I Will Remember
Step by Step, from bondage to abundant life.
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Reflection for the Day
We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our surroundings—that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can really choose. As addictive persons, we lost our ability to choose whether we would pursue our addictions. Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. Do I believe that in “becoming willing” I have made the best of all choices?
Today I Pray
May I shed the idea that I am the world’s victim, an unfortunate creature caught in a web of circumstance, inferring that others ought to “make it up to me” because I have been given a bad deal on this earth. We are always given choices. May God help me to choose wisely.
Today I Will Remember
God is not a puppeteer.
© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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PHILOSOPHY
“To teach men how to live without certainty and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing philosophy can do.”
— Bertrand Russell
I suppose the “Twelve Steps” are a practical philosophy of how to live positively with the disease of alcoholism: (a) Don’t drink. (b) Find a God in your life that is understandable. (c) Begin to make positive choices in attitudes and behaviors. (d) Let “never forget” be an essential part of the message.
The miracle of this philosophy is that it reaches out to so many who suffer with addictive compulsions and teaches us how to live with being imperfect. I believe the Twelve Steps are the answer to “The Fall” of man — we are going home to God.
Let me see beyond the logic to Your loving energy.
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Page 315
Greater than Ourselves
If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the power needed for change wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.
Lack of power: That was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live — and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.
~ ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PP.44-45
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
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Our philosophy of living does not reach as far as immortality—it concerns itself with living this life one day at a time.
We do feel, however, that if we live this day to the best of our ability, endeavoring each day to improve over the preceding day, then when the time comes for us to consider immortality, we will be in a very favorable position, to say the least.
Published by Hazelden
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Reflection for the Day
An entire philosophy of life is condensed in the slogan, Live and Let Live. First we’re urged to live fully, richly, and happily—to fulfill our destiny with the joy that comes from doing well whatever we do. Then comes a more difficult challenge: Let live. This means accepting the right of every other person to live as he or she wishes, without criticism or judgment from us. The slogan rules out contempt for those who don’t think as we do. It also warns against resentments, reminding us not to interpret other people’s actions as intentional injuries to us. Am I becoming less tempted to involve my mind with thoughts of how others act or live?
Today I Pray
May I live my life to the fullest, understanding that pure pleasure-seeking is not pleasure-finding, but that God’s goodness is here to be shared. May I partake of it. May I learn not to take over the responsibility for another’s adult decisions; that is my old controlling self trying, just one more time, to be the executive director of other people’s lives.
Today I Will Remember
Live and let live.
© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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Reflection for the DayWe must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the hapless victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, and of our surroundings—that these are the sole forces that make our decisions for us. This is not the road to freedom. We have to believe that we can really choose. As addictive persons, we lost our ability to choose whether we would pursue our addictions. Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. Do I believe that in “becoming willing” I have made the best of all choices?Today I PrayMay I shed the idea that I am the world’s victim, an unfortunate creature caught in a web of circumstance, inferring that others ought to “make it up to me” because I have been given a bad deal on this earth. We are always given choices. May God help me to choose wisely.Today I Will RememberGod is not a puppeteer.© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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PHILOSOPHY
“To teach men how to live without certainty and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing philosophy can do.”
—Bertrand RussellI suppose the “Twelve Steps” are a practical philosophy of how to live positively with the disease of alcoholism: (a) Don’t drink. (b) Find a God in your life that is understandable. (c) Begin to make positive choices in attitudes and behaviors. (d) Let “never forget” be an essential part of the message.The miracle of this philosophy is that it reaches out to so many who suffer with addictive compulsions and teaches us how to live with being imperfect. I believe the Twelve Steps are the answer to “The Fall” of man—we are going home to God.Let me see beyond the logic to Your loving energy.
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11
November
Greater than OurselvesIf a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the power needed for change wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.Lack of power: That was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live — and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.~ ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PP.44-45 ~© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
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3
NovemberOur philosophy of living does not reach as far as immortality – it concerns itself with living this life one day at a time.
We do feel, however, that if we live this day to the best of our ability, endeavoring each day to improve over the preceding day, then when the time comes for us to consider immortality, we will be in a very favorable position, to say the least.Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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30
SeptemberOur AA philosophy is an idealistic philosophy. It has to be in order to be a happy philosophy. Some may declare that it is too much so, that we ignore more materialistic facts. Let us take from our philosophy all the good and the joy it promises. Let us give our gold no acid test.If our philosophy is unreal and foolish in the eyes of the more materialistic world, then what of it? It enables us to be happier than those that have good sense.Copyright Hazelden Foundation
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