Twenty-Four Hours A Day

A.A. Thought For The Day


The program of Alcoholics Anonymous involves a continuous striving for improvement. There can be no long resting period. We must try to work at it all the time. We must continually keep in mind that it is a program not to be measured in years, because we never fully reach our goals nor are we ever cured. Our alcoholism is only kept in abeyance by daily living of the program. It is a timeless program in every sense. We live it day by day, or more precisely, moment by moment – now. Am I always striving for improvement?


Meditation For The Day


Life is all a preparation for something better to come. God has a plan for your life and it will work out, if you try to do His will. God has things planned for you, far beyond what you can imagine now. But you must prepare yourself so that you will be ready for the better things to come. Now is the time for discipline and prayer. The time of expression will come later. Life can be flooded through and through with joy and gladness. So prepare yourself for those better things to come.


Prayer For The Day
I pray that I may prepare myself for better things that God has in store for me. I pray that I may trust God for the future.

A Day At A Time

Reflection For The Day

Once we surrendered and came to The Program, many of us wondered what we could do with all the time on our hands.  All the hours we’d previously spent planning, hiding, alibiing, getting loaded, coming down, getting “well,” juggling our accounts — and all the rest — threatened to turn into empty chunks of time that somehow had to be filled.  We needed new energy previously absorbed by our addictions.  We soon realized that substituting a new and different activity is far easier than just stopping the old activity and putting nothing in its place.  Am I redirecting my mind and energy?

Today I Pray

I pray that, once free of the encumbrance of my addiction.  I may turn to my Higher Power to discover for me how to fill my time constructively and creatively.  May that same Power that makes human paths cross and links certain people to specific situations, lead me along good new roads into good new places.

Today I Will Remember

Happenstance may be more than chance. 

Keep It Simple

 Hell is not to love anymore.

—George Bernanos

Someone in an AA group said, “From the first day I started this program, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.” This person had walked into a room full of love. In recovery, we are spiritual people because we believe in love. We have faith in love.

Love is respect. Love is truth with kindness. Love is being willing to forgive and help others.

Love is thinking about how our Higher Power wants us to act. Love is what we do best. We have turned our will and our life over to love.

Prayer for the Day: I pray that I may love all parts of life. Higher Power, help me seek out love, not material things.

Action for the Day: Today, I’ll think about what I love about recovery. I will share this with a couple of friends and my Higher Power. 

Step by Step

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

 – Step Four

“If we have been thorough about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies …We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can.” – Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd Edition, 1976, Ch 5 (“How It Works”), p 70.

Today, if the Fourth I wrote down yesterday is not “a lot,” chances are I have not been thorough; more likely, I have been dishonest by not accepting responsibility in any injury I inflicted or by seeing myself as I hope instead of how I am. But putting to paper our indiscretions and injury to others is not sufficient; we are asked to perceive our defects as futile and fatal and begin to understand their damage. Further, we are compelled to begin learning “tolerance, patience and good will toward all men …” and become willing to undo some of our damage. If I not been moved to understand all this, the Fourth I took yesterday may have been premature or dishonest; today, I seek the courage and understanding to do Step Four as it is intended. And our common journey continues. 

Step by step. – Chris M.

A Day At A Time - May 28 2026

Reflection For The Day

When we fist reached The Program and for the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense of belonging was exhilarating. We felt that the problem of isolation had been solved. We soon discovered, however, that while we weren’t alone any more, in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn’t belong. Step Five was the answer. Have I found through the Fifth step the beginning of true kinship with my fellows and God?

Today I Pray

May God help me learn to share myself, my attributes and my failings, not just as I take the Fifth Step but in a continuing give-and-take process with my friends. May I cultivate an attitude of openness and honesty with others, now that I have begun to be honest with myself. May I remember who I used to be — the child in a game of hide-and-seek, who hid so well that nobody could find her/him and everyone gave up trying and went home.

Today I Will Remember

I will be open to friendships.

Walk in Dry Places May 26 2026

Today’s problem
Orderly living

Facing a vexing or even threatening problem, we sometimes feel a sense of hopefulness or futility. “How will I ever get through this situation?” we think.

The truth is we have probably worked our way through many situations much like today’s problem. It is a wonder, for example, that most of us survived the crises brought on by our compulsion. We will certainly be able to work through or around today’s problem.

The Twelve step program is a plan for mastering the problems of life. As we apply its principles in all of our affairs, we find improvements beginning to appear. We also can find the confidence and fortitude that we’ve always needed.

Knowing that my Higher power is in the midst of the situation, I’ll face today’s problem with the assurance of an outcome that will be for my highest good.

A Day At A Time May 22 2026

Reflection For The Day

When I first listened to people in The Program talking freely and honestly about themselves, I was stunned. Their stories of their own addictive escapades, of their own secret fears, and of their own gnawing loneliness were literally mind-blowing for me. I discovered — and hardly dared believe it at first — that I’m not alone. I’m not all that different from everybody else and, in fact, we’re all very much the same. I began to sense that I do belong somewhere, and my loneliness began to leave me. Do I try to give to others what has been given freely to me?

Today I Pray

May I begin to see, as the life stories of my friends in The Program unfold for me, that our similarities are far more startling than our differences. As I listen to their accounts of addition and recovery, may I experience often that small shock of recognition, a “hey-that’s-me!” feeling that is quick to chase away my separateness. May I become a wholehearted member of the group, giving and taking in equal parts.

Today I Will Remember

Sameness, not Differences.

A Day At A Time May 21 2026

Reflection For The Day

“The language of friendship is not words, but meanings,” wrote Thoreau. Life indeed takes on new meanings, as well as new meaning in The Program. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends — this is an experience not to be missed. Can I recall my initial reactions when I came to The Program? Do I believe that I've finally come home?

Today I Pray

As The Program has given life new meanings for me, may I pass along to others that same chance to re-evaluate their lives in the light of sobriety, common purpose, friendships and spiritual expansion. Praise God for my new vision of human life. Praise Him for restoring for me the value and purpose of living.

Today I Will Remember

I value my Life.

A Day At A Time - May 16 2026

Reflection For The Day

Many of us in The Program share the memory that we originally drank or used other chemicals to “belong,” to “fit in,” or to “be a part of the crowd.” Others of us fueled our addictions to “get in” — to feel, at least for a short time, that we fitted in with the rest of the human race. Sometimes, the chemicals had desired effect, temporarily assuaging our feelings of apartness. But when the chemicals’ effects wore off, we were left feeling more alone, more left out, more “different” than ever. Do I still sometimes feel that “my case is different?”

Today I Pray

God, may I get over my feeling of being “different” or in some way unique, of not belonging. It was this feeling that led me to my chemical use in the first place. It also kept me from seeing the seriousness of my addiction, since I thought “I am different. I cna handle it.” May I now be aware that I do belong, to a vast fellowship of people like me. With every shared experience, my “uniqueness” is disappearing.

Today I Will Remember

I am not unique.

A Day At A Time - May 14 2026

Reflection For The Day

“A very popular error — having the courage of one’s convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack upon one’s convictions,” wrote Nietzsche. The Program is helping me to get rid of my old ideas by sharing with others and working the Twelve Steps. Having made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself; having admitted too God, to myself, and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs; and having become entirely ready to have God remove all my defects of character — I will humbly ask Him to remove my shortcomings. Am I trying to follow The Program just as it is?

Today I Pray

I pray that I may continue to practice the Twelve Steps, over and over again, if need be. The Program has worked for hundreds and hundreds of recovering chemically dependent people the world over. It can work for me. May I pause regularly and check to see if I am really practicing The Program, as it is set forth.

Today I Will Remember

Step By Step. Day By Day.

A Day At A Time - May 9 2026

Reflection For The Day

“Perfect courage,” wrote La Rochefoucauld, “means doing witnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.” As we grow in The Program, we recognize persistent fear for what it is, and we become able to handle it. We begin to see each adversity as a God-given opportunity to develop the kind of courage which is born of humility, rather than of bravado. Do I realize that whistling to keep up my courage is merely good practice for whistling?

Today I Pray

May I find courage in my Higher Power. Since all things are possible through Him, I must be able to overcome the insidious fears that haunt me — so often fears of losing someone or some thing that has become important in my life. I pray for my own willingness to let go of those fears.

Today I Will Remember

Praying is more than whistling in the dark.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - May 8 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

I’m grateful that I found a program in A.A. that could keep me
sober. I’m grateful that A.A. has shown me the way to faith in
a Higher Power, because the renewing of that faith has changed
my way of life. And I’ve found a happiness and contentment that
I had forgotten existed, by simply believing in God and trying
to live the kind of a life that I know He wants me to live. As
long as I stay grateful, I’ll stay sober. Am I in a grateful
frame of mind?

Meditation For The Day

God can work through you better when you are not hurrying. Go
very slowly, very quietly, from one duty to the next, taking
time to rest and pray between. Do not be too busy. Take
everything in order. Venture often into the rest of God and
you will find peace. At work that results from resting with
God is good work. Claim the power to work miracles in human
lives. Know that you can do many things through the Higher
Power. Know that you can do good things through God who rests
you and gives you strength. Partake regularly of rest and
prayer.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may not be in too much of a hurry. I pray that


I may take time out often to rest with God.

Keep It Simple - May 6 2026

Anyone who follows a middle course is called a sage.

— Maimonides

Much of the wisdom of our program is about how to live in the middle. We learn how to pause and think before we act. We ask, “What is the best way to handle this?” We look for the smooth part of the road. Our actions tell us who we are. We listen to our actions, and we think about them. This listening and thinking takes time. This slows us down. It’s good for us. It gives us time to talk with our Higher Power. After all, we want our actions to come from the new values our Higher Power has given us. Thus, over time we act and feel wiser. The wisdom of the program becomes part of who we are.

Prayer for the Day: I pray that I I don’t get caught up in the rush of the day. Higher Power, teach me to stop and think, to seek Your wisdom.


Action for the Day: Today, I’ll set aside time to think, meditate, and be alone. I will listen to what’s inside me

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - May 1 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

The A.A. program is one of charity because the real meaning of
the word charity is to care enough about other people to really
want to help them. To get the full benefit of the program, we
must try to help other alcoholics. We may try to help somebody
and think we have failed, but the seed we have planted may bear
fruit some time. We never know the results even a word of ours
might have. But the main thing is to have charity for others,
a real desire to help them, whether we succeed or not. Do I
have real charity?

Meditation For The Day

All material things, the universe, the world, even our bodies,
may be Eternal Thought expressed in time and space. The more
the physicists and astronomers reduce matter, the more it becomes
a mathematical formula, which is thought. In the final analysis,
matter is thought. When Eternal Thought expresses itself within
the framework of space and time, it becomes matter. Our thoughts,
within the box of space and time, cannot know anything firsthand,
except material things. But we can deduce that outside the box of
space and time is Eternal Thought, which we can call God.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may be a true expression of Eternal Thought.
I pray that God’s thoughts may work through my thoughts.

Twenty-Four Hours A Day - April 30 2026

A.A. Thought For The Day

The A.A. program is one of faith because we find that we must
have faith in a Power greater than ourselves if we are going
to get sober. We’re helpless before alcohol, but when we turn
our drink problem over to God and have faith that He can give
us all the strength we need, then we have the drink problem
licked. Faith in that Divine Principle in the universe which
we call God is the essential part of the A.A. program. Is faith
still strong in me?

Meditation For The Day

Each one of us is a child of God, and as such, we are full of
the promise of spiritual growth. A young person is like the
springtime of the year. The full time of the fruit is not yet,
but there is promise of the blossom. There is a spark of the
Divine in every one of us. Each has some of God’s spirit that
can be developed by spiritual exercise. Know that your life is
full of glad promise. Such blessings can be yours, such joys,
such wonders, as long as you develop in the sunshine of God’s
love.

Prayer For The Day

I pray that I may develop the divine spark within me. I pray
that by so doing I may fulfill the promise of a more abundant life.

A Day At A Time - April 30 2026

Reflection For The Day

We’re taught in The Program that “faith without works is dead.” How true this is for the addicted person. For if an addicted person fails to perfect or enlarge his or her spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, s/he can’t survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If s/he doesn’t work, s/he’ll surely return to his or her addiction; and if s/he returns to addiction, s/he’ll likely die. Then faith will be dead indeed. Do I believe, through my faith, that I can be uniquely useful to those who still suffer?

Today I Pray

May my faith in my Higher Power and in the influence of The Program be multiplied within me as I pass it along to others who are overcoming similar addictions. May I be certain that my helping others is not simply repaying my debts, but it is the only way I know to continue my spiritual growth and maintain my own sobriety.

Today I Will Remember

The more faith I can give, the more I will have.

A Day At A Time - April 29 2026

Reflection For The Day

As I grow in The Program — sharing, caring, and becoming more and more active — I find that it’s becoming easier to live in the Now. Even my vocabulary is changing. No longer is every other sentence salted with such well-used phrases as “could’ve,” “should’ve,” “would’ve,” “might’ve.” What’s done is done and what will be will be The only time that really matters is Now. Am I gaining real pleasure and serenity and peace in The Program?

Today I Pray

That I may collect all my scattered memories from the past and high-flown schemes and overblown fears for future and compact them into the neater confines of Today. Only by living in the Now may I keep my balance, without bending backwards to the past or tipping forward into the future. May I stop trying to get my arms around my whole unwieldy lifetime and carry it around in a gunny sack with me wherever I go.

Today I Will Remember

Make room for today.

As Bill Sees It - April 28 2026

Prelude to the Program, p. 118

Few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless
they have “hit bottom,” for practicing A.A.’s Steps means the
adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still
drinking can dream of taking. The average alcoholic, self-centered in
the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect–unless he has to do these
things in order to stay alive himself.

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

We know that the newcomer has to “hit bottom”; otherwise, not
much can happen. Because we are drunks who understand him, we
can use at depth the nutcracker of the-obsession-plus-the-allergy as a
tool of such power that it can shatter his ego. Only thus can he be
convinced that on his own unaided resources he has little or no
chance.

1. 12 & 12, p. 24
2. A.A. Today, p. 8

One Day At A Time - April 23 2026

Loneliness ~

Feeling our loneliness magnifies it.
Understanding our loneliness can open doors into our self-awareness,
which we long for and need.

Anthony Robbins

Before I found my Twelve Step program, I felt so lonely. I was stuck in total isolation and the feeling of loneliness felt one hundred times worse. The isolation and loneliness caused me to continually eat … and so I’d isolate more. What a vicious cycle!

When I found my recovery program, I still wanted to isolate. When going to meetings, I wanted the seat with nobody around it. I didn’t want to open my mouth to share or talk, even after the meeting. I kept coming back even though I felt alone, because I heard familiar things that really interested me. I eventually saw that most of the people in the room felt the same loneliness I did. I began to understand why I felt so lonely.

When I understood that my compulsive eating was causing me to isolate and be more lonely, a big burden was lifted off my shoulders. I finally felt some hope! Then I found that there were many other doors in the past that I should open and become more aware of. These past happenings were what started and fueled this disease of compulsive eating. I wanted to know but I was also afraid to find out.

The similarities, kindness and love I found in the rooms made it easier to look at my past. Understanding that I was not the total reason for my loneliness, I began making amends. I needed to forgive others who had harmed me and those I had harmed. I felt lighter and more self aware, and confidence began to emerge.

One Day at a Time . . .
I will remember that it’s okay and good to feel my feelings but they don’t have to rule my life. I don’t have to let loneliness magnify, causing me to eat uncontrollably to solve the problem. I’ve learned to turn things over to my Higher Power and to let them go. Looking back is the key to my self-awareness and my recovery.


~ Jeanette ~

A DAY AT A TIME - April 14 2026

Reflection for the Day
Every man and woman who has joined the Program and intends to stick around has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn’t it true that, in all matters related to their addictions, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of the Program? So already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one’s own will and one’s own ideas about the addiction in favor of those suggested by the Program. If this isn’t turning one’s will and life over to a new-found “Providence,” then what is it? Have I had a spiritual awakening as the result of the Steps?

Today I Pray
For myself, I pray for a God-centered life. I thank God often for the spiritual awakening I have felt since I turned my life over to Him. May the words “spiritual awakening” be a clue to others that there is a free fund of spiritual power within each person. It must only be discovered.

Today I Will Remember
I will try to be God-centered.

© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation