Recovery Thoughts & Quotes 9/20

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~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~



Balance

"Most of us must admit that we have loved but a few;
that we have been indifferent to the many
so long as none of them gave us trouble;
and as for the remainder -- well, we have really
disliked or hated them.
Although these attitudes are common enough,
we AA's find we need something much better
in order to keep our balance.
We can't stand it if we hate deeply.
The idea that we can be possessively loving of a few,
and can continue to fear or hate anybody,
has to be abandoned, if only a little at a time."
c. 1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pp. 92-3
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Thought to Consider . . .

Bigotry disfigures the heart.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
F A I T H = Facing All In Trusting Him

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*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*


Publicity
From "The Three Legacies of Alcoholics Anonymous":
"In September, 1939, the Liberty [magazine] piece hit the newsstands. It was a bit lurid, and we thought the title, 'Alcoholics and God,' would scare off plenty of prospects. Maybe it did, but several hundred alcoholics and their families were not scared. Liberty magazine received 800 urgent pleas for help, which were promptly turned over to [office manager] Ruth and me [Bill W.]. She wrote fine personal letters to every one of them, enclosing a leaflet which described the A.A. book. The response was wonderful [sic] Several hundred books sold at once at full retail price of $3.50. Even more importantly, we struck up a correspondence with alcoholics, their friends, and their families all over the country. Ruth could at last draw a few dollars a week for herself. And all those moving appeals for assistance had made us forget our own troubles. Looking after all those new people by mail and relating [sic] them in some cases to each other and in others to the groups in Akron, New York, and Cleveland became our chief occupation until early 1940. Shortly after the Liberty article came out, Cleveland's Plain Dealer ran its great series of pieces, as already described. This brought in new book orders and new problems by scores. Alcoholics Anonymous was on the march, out of its infancy into adolescence."

2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pg. 178

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*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*
"In this book you read again and again that faith did for us what we
could not do for ourselves. We hope you are convinced now that God can
remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him. If you have
already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser handicaps,
you have made a good beginning. That being so you have swallowed and
digested some big chunks of truth about yourself."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 70~

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Misc. AA Literature - Quote




Sometimes, when friends tell us how well we are doing, we know better inside. We know we aren't doing well enough. We still can't handle life, as life is. There must be a serious flaw somewhere in our spiritual practice and development.
What, then, is it?
The chances are better than even that we shall locate our trouble in our misunderstanding or neglect of A.A.'s Step Eleven - prayer, meditation, and the guidance of God.
The other Steps can keep most of us sober and somehow functioning. But Step Eleven can keep us growing, if we try hard and work at it continually.

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Member Submitted Quote



Those who relapse are attending powerlessness graduate school.

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12 x 12 Quote

"This phenomenon of contrast really set us thinking. Squarely before us
was the question 'How anonymous should an AA member be?' Our growth
made it plain that we couldn't be a secret society, but it was equally
plain that we couldn't be a vaudeville circuit, either. The charting of
a safe path between these extremes took a long time." (Twelve and
Twelve, Tradition Twelve, pg. 185)