Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
relieve me of the bondage of self, that i may better do Thy will. AA p. 63
AUGUST 26th
GIVING IT AWAY
Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves for others.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159
Those words, for me, refer to a transference of power, through which God, as I understand Him, enters my life. Through prayer and meditation, I open channels, then I establish and improve my conscious contact with God. Through action I then receive the power I need to maintain my sobriety each day. By maintaining my spiritual condition, by giving away what has been so freely given to me, I am granted a daily reprieve.
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
When I first was around the rooms they got me in the kitchen helping to pour the tea and coffee so I would have to speak with people and I couldn't try and hide in a corner somewhere ha ha.
They called it "service" and even though I was in and out of AA a lot at first I always knew it would would do me good to get a little out of my comfort zone to commit to some small job or other to be "a part of" rather than "apart from"
I didn't have a lot to give or a message to carry back then but I could get off my bum and do something helpful.
Such blessings.
AUGUST 27th
CENTERING OUR THOUGHTS
When World War II broke out, our A.A. dependence on a Higher Power had its first major test. A.A.'s entered the services and were scattered all over the world. Would they be able to take the discipline, stand up under fire, and endure . . . ?
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 200
I will center my thoughts on a Higher Power. I will surrender all to this power within me. I will become a soldier for this power, feeling the might of the spiritual army as it exists in my life today. I will allow a wave of spiritual union to connect me through my gratitude, obedience and discipline to this Higher Power. Let me allow this power to lead me through the orders of the day. May the steps I take today strengthen my words and deeds, may I know that the message I carry is mine to share, given freely by this power greater than myself.
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
I love my AA meetings but people, sponsors and meetings cannot be with me wherever I go. They cannot be there 24/7. They are the added bonus and extra dimension on my sober journey but my HP is with me always. Lately I haven't been to many meetings due to circumstance and travel but I don't depend on them.
Recently we were in West Flanders paying our respects to where members of our families are buried from WWI so it's poignant for me to read that. There was no AA then of course but God and spiritual principals have always been somewhere in the human psyche.
AUGUST 28th
LIGHTENING THE BURDEN
Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. . . . the dark past is . . . the key to life and happiness for others.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 124
Since I have been sober, I have been healed of many pains: deceiving my partner, deserting my best friend, and spoiling my mother's hopes for my life. In each case someone in the program told me of a similar problem, and I was able to share what happened to me. When my story was told, both of us got up with lighter hearts.
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.
As I try to help another alcoholic it's necessary for me to recall and relate similar experiences and what I did in recovery to address them to be at peace with the past. Personal experience can be a powerful aid to both the person currently troubled and the person who has been similarly troubled in the past.
I CHOOSE ANONYMITY
We are sure that humility, expressed by anonymity, is the greatest safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 187
Since there are no rules in A.A. I place myself where I want to be, and so I choose anonymity. I want my God to use me, humbly, as one of His tools in this program. Sacrifice is the art of giving of myself freely, allowing humility to replace my ego. With sobriety, I suppress that urge to cry out to the world, "I am a member of A.A." and I experience inner joy and peace. I let people see the changes in me and hope they will ask what happened to me. I place the principles of spirituality ahead of judging, fault-finding, and criticism. I want love and caring in my group, so I can grow.
AUGUST 30th
THE ONLY REQUIREMENT . . .
"At one time . . . every A.A. group had many membership rules. Everybody was scared witless that something or somebody would capsize the boat. . . .The total list was a mile long. If all those rules had been in effect everywhere, nobody could have possibly joined A.A. at all, . . ."
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 139-40
I'm grateful that the Third Tradition only requires of me a desire to stop drinking. I had been breaking promises for years. In the Fellowship I didn't have to make promises, I didn't have to concentrate. It only required my attending one meeting, in a foggy condition, to know I was home. I didn't have to pledge undying love. Here, strangers hugged me. "It gets better," they said, and "One day at a time, you can do it." They were no longer strangers, but caring friends. I ask God to help me to reach out to people desiring sobriety, and to, please, keep me grateful!
From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.