Daily Reflection

APRIL 23

A.A. IS NOT A CURE-ALL

It would be a product of false pride to claim that A. A. is a

cure-all, even for alcoholism

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 285

In my early years of sobriety I was full of pride, thinking

that A. A. was the only source of treatment for a good and

happy life. It certainly was the basic ingredient for my

sobriety and even today, with over twelve years in the

program, I am very involved in meetings, sponsorship and

service. During the first four years of my recovery, I found

it necessary to seek professional help, since my emotional

health was extremely poor. There are those folks too, who

have found sobriety and happiness in other organizations.

A.A. taught me that I had a choice: to go to any lengths to

enhance my sobriety. A.A. may not be a cure-all for

everything, but it is the center of my sober living.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 22
NEW SOIL . . . NEW ROOTS
Moments of perception can build into a lifetime of spiritual
serenity, as I have excellent reason to know, loots of
reality, supplanting the neurotic underbrush, will hold fast
despite the high winds of the forces which would destroy
us, or which we would use to destroy ourselves.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 173
[ came to A.A. green—a seedling quivering with exposed
taproots. It was for survival but it was a >beginning. I
stretched, developed, twisted, but with he help of others,
my spirit eventually burst up from the roots. I was free. I
acted, withered, went inside, prayed, acted again,
understood anew, as one moment of perception struck. Up
from my roots, spirit-arms lengthened into strong, green
.hoots: high-springing servants stepping skyward.
Here on earth God unconditionally continues the legacy
of higher love. My A.A. life put me "on a different footing
. . . [my] roots grasped a new soil" (Alcoholics Anonymous,
p. 12).

Daily Reflection

APRIL 21
CULTIVATING FAITH
"I don't think we can do anything very well in this world
unless we practice it And I don't believe we do A.A. too well
unless we practice it. . . . We should practice . . . acquiring
the spirit of service. We should attempt to acquire some faith,
which isn't easily done, especially for the person who has
always been very materialistic, following the standards of
society today. But I think faith can be acquired; it can be
acquired slowly; it has to be cultivated. That was not easy
for me, and I assume that it is difficult for everyone else.
. . . "
DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS, pp. 307-08
Fear is often the force that prevents me from acquiring and
cultivating the power of faith. Fear blocks my appreciation
of beauty, tolerance, forgiveness, service, and serenity

Daily Reflection

APRIL 20
SELF-EXAMINATION
. . . we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking
that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking
motives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 86
When said sincerely, this prayer teaches me to be truly
unselfish and humble, for even in doing good deeds I often
used to seek approval and glory for myself. By examining
my motives in all that I do, I can be of service to God and
others, helping them do what they want to do. When I put
God in charge of my thinking, much needless worry is
eliminated and I believe He guides me throughout the day.
When I eliminate thoughts of self-pity, dishonesty and selfcenteredness
as soon as they enter my mind, I find peace
with God, my neighbor and myself.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 19
BROTHERS IN OUR DEFECTS
We recovered alcoholics are not so much brothers in virtue
as we are brothers in our defects, and in our common
strivings to overcome them
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 167
The identification that one alcoholic has with another is
mysterious, spiritual—almost incomprehensible. But it is
there. I "feel" it. Today I feel that I can help people and that
they can help me.
It is a new and exciting feeling for me to care for
someone; to care what they are feeling, hoping for, praying
for; to know their sadness, joy, horror, sorrow, grief; to
want to share those feelings so that someone can have
relief. I never knew how to do this—or how to try. I never
even cared. The Fellowship of A.A., and God, are teaching
me how to care about others.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 18
SELF-HONESTY
The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the
deception of ourselves. . . . When we are honest with
another person, it confirms that we have been honest with
ourselves and with God.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 17
When I was drinking, I deceived myself about reality,
rewriting it to what I wanted it to be. Deceiving others is a
character defect—even if it is just stretching the truth a bit
or cleaning up my motives so others would think well of
me. My Higher Power can remove this character defect, but
first I have to help myself become willing to receive that
help by not practicing deception. I need to remember each
day that deceiving myself about myself is setting myself up
for failure or disappointment in life and in Alcoholics
Anonymous. A close, honest relationship with a Higher
Power is the only solid foundation I've found for honesty
with self and with others.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 17
LOVE AND FEAR AS OPPOSITES
All these failings generate fear, a soul-sickness in its own
right.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 49
"Fear knocked at the door; faith answered; no one was
there." I don't know to whom this quote should be
attributed, but it certainly indicates very clearly that fear is
an illusion. I create the illusion myself.
I experienced fear early in my life and I mistakenly
thought that the mere presence of it made me a coward. I
didn't know that one of the definitions of "courage" is "the
willingness to do the right thing in spite of fear." Courage,
then, is not necessarily the absence of fear.
During the times I didn't have love in my life I most
assuredly had fear. To fear God is to be afraid of joy. In
looking back, I realize that, during the times I feared God
most, there was no joy in my life. As I learned not to fear
God, I also learned to experience joy.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 16
ANGER: A "DUBIOUS LUXURY"
If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch
and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the
dubious luxury of the normal men, but for alcoholics these
things are poison.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 66
"Dubious luxury." How often have I remembered those
words. It's not just anger that's best left to nonalcoholics; I
built a list including justifiable resentment, self-pity,
judgmentalism, self-righteousness, false pride and false
humility. I'm always surprised to read the actual quote. So
well have the principles of the program been drummed into
me that I keep thinking all of these defects are listed too.
Thank God I can't afford them—or I surely would indulge
in them.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 15
THE BONDAGE OF RESENTMENTS
. . . harboring resentment is infinitely grave. For then we
shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 5
It has been said, "Anger is a luxury I cannot afford." Does
this suggest I ignore this human emotion? I believe not.
Before I learned of the A.A. program, I was a slave to the
behavior patterns of alcoholism. I was chained to
negativity, with no hope of cutting loose.
The Steps offered me an alternative. Step Four was the
beginning of the end of my bondage. The process of
"letting go" started with an inventory. I needed not be
frightened, for the previous Steps assured me I was not
alone. My Higher Power led me to this door and gave me
the gift of choice. Today I can choose to open the door to
freedom and rejoice in the sunlight of the Steps, as they
cleanse the spirit within me.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 14
THE "NUMBER ONE OFFENDER"
Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more
alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of
spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and
physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 64
As I look at myself practicing the Fourth Step, it is easy to
gloss over the wrong that I have done, because I can easily
see it as a question of "getting even" for a wrong done to
me. If I continue to relive my old hurt, it is a resentment
and resentment bars the sunlight from my soul. If I
continue o relive hurts and hates, I will hurt and hate
myself. After years in the dark of resentments, I have bund
the sunlight. I must let go of resentments; I cannot afford
them.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 13
THE FALSE COMFORT OF SELF-PITY
Self-pity is one of the most unhappy and consuming defects
that we know. It is a bar to all spiritual progress and can
cut off all effective communication with our fellows because
of its inordinate demands for attention and sympathy. It is a
maudlin form of martyrdom, which we can ill afford.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 238
The false comfort of self-pity screens me from reality only
momentarily and then demands, like a drug, that I take an
ever bigger dose. If I succumb to this it could lead to a
relapse into drinking. What can I do? One certain antidote is
to turn my attention, however slightly at first, toward others
who are genuinely less fortunate than I, preferably other
alcoholics. In the same degree that I actively demonstrate
my empathy with them, I will lessen my own exaggerated
suffering.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 12
GIVING UP INSANITY
. . . where alcohol has been involved, we have been
strangely insane.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 38
Alcoholism required me to drink, whether I wanted to or
not. Insanity dominated my life and was the essence of my
disease. It robbed me of the freedom of choice over
drinking and, therefore, robbed me of all other choices.
When I drank, I was unable to make effective choices in
any part of my life and life became unmanageable.
I ask God to help me understand and accept the full
meaning of the disease of alcoholism.