Daily Reflection

OCTOBER 15
MY CHECKLIST, NOT YOURS
Gossip barbed with our anger, a polite form of murder by
character assassination, has its satisfactions for us, too.
Here we are not trying to help those we criticize; we are
trying to proclaim our own righteousness.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 67
Sometimes I don't realize that I gossiped about someone
until the end of the day, when I take an inventory of the
day's activities, and then, my gossiping appears like a
blemish in my beautiful day. How could I have said
something like that? Gossip shows its ugly head during a
coffee break or lunch with business associates, or I may
gossip during the evening, when I'm tired from the day's
activities, and feel justified in bolstering my ego at the
expense of someone else.
Character defects like gossip sneak into my life when I
am not making a constant effort to work the Twelve Steps of
recovery. I need to remind myself that my uniqueness is the
blessing of my being, and that applies equally to everyone
who crosses my path in life's journey. Today the only
inventory I need to take is my own. I'll leave judgment of
others to the Final Judge—Divine Providence.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 29
EXACTLY ALIKE
Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is
the bright spot of our lives.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers,
stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and
forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually called
the group's secretary an unquotable name and walked out. I
was glad he was there—once again I saw what I had been
like. But I also saw what I still am, and what I still could
be. I don't have to be drunk to want to be the exception and
the center of attention. I have often felt abused and
responded abusively when I was simply being treated as a
garden variety human being. The more the man tried to
insist he was different, the more I realized that he and I
were exactly alike.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 28
LOVE WITHOUT STRINGS
Practical experience shows that nothing will so much
insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other
alcoholics.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89
Sponsorship held two surprises for me. First, that my
sponsees cared about me. What I had thought was gratitude
was more like love. They wanted me to be happy, to grow
and remain sober. Knowing how they felt kept me from
drinking more than once. Second, I discovered that I was
able to love someone else responsibly, with respectful and
genuine concern for that person's growth. Before that time,
I had thought that my ability to care sincerely about
another's well-being had atrophied from lack of use. To
learn that I can love, without greed or anxiety, has been
one of the deepest gifts the program has given me.
Gratitude for that gift has kept me sober many times.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Inductees

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Inductees

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 27
WITHOUT RESERVATION
When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely
result in outgoing love, . . .
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37
While practicing service to others, if my successes give rise
to grandiosity, I must reflect on what brought me to this
point. What has been given joyfully, with love, must be
passed on without reservation and without expectation. For
as I grow, I find that no matter how much I give with love,
I receive much more in spirit.

Words Of Wisdom From His Holiness Dalia Lama

The nature of our motivation determines the character of our work.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 26
OUR CHILDREN
The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly
relations with his children. . . . In time they will see that he
is a new man and in their own way they will let him know
it. . . . From that point on, progress will be rapid.
Marvelous results often follow such a reunion.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 134
While on the road to recovery I received a gift that could
not be purchased. It was a card from my son in college,
saying, "Dad, you can't imagine how glad I am that
everything is okay. Happy Birthday, I love you." My son
had told me that he loved me before. It had been during the
previous Christmas holidays, when he had said to me,
while crying, "Dad, I love you! Can't you see what you're
doing to yourself?" I couldn't. Choked with emotion, I had
cried, but this time, when I received my son's card, my tears
were tears of joy, not desperation.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 25
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth:
Job or no job—wife or no wife—we simply do not stop
drinking so long as we place dependence upon other
people ahead of dependence on God.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98
Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a
drink: "She said . . . ," "He said "I got fired yesterday," "I
got a great job today." No area of my life could be good if I
drank again. In sobriety my life gets better each day. I must
always remember not to drink, to trust God, and to stay
active in A.A. Am I putting anything before my sobriety,
God, and A.A. today?

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 24
VIGILANCE
We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again:
"Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" Commencing to
drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as
bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must
be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that
someday we will be immune to alcohol
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33
Today I am an alcoholic. Tomorrow will be no different.
My alcoholism lives within me now and forever. I must
never forget what I am. Alcohol will surely kill me if I fail
to recognize and acknowledge my disease on a daily basis.
I am not playing a game in which a loss is a temporary
setback. I am dealing with my disease, for which there is
no cure, only daily acceptance and vigilance.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 23
"I WAS AN EXCEPTION"
He [Bill W.] said to me, gently and simply, "Do you think
that you are one of us?"
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 413
During my drinking life I was convinced I was an
exception. I thought I was beyond petty requirements and
had the right to be excused. I never realized that the dark
counterbalance of my attitude was the constant feeling that
I did not "belong." At first, in A.A., I identified with others
only as an alcoholic. What a wonderful awakening for me
it has been to realize that, if human beings were doing the
best they could, then so was I! All of the pains, confusions
and joys they feel are not exceptional, but part of my life,
just as much as anybody's.

Snow White

I'm pretty sure all of the 7 dwarfs were named after a stage of Snow Whites' heroin addiction.

Daily Reflection

SEPTEMBER 22
A "LIMITLESS LODE"
Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last ounce
of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at our release from a
lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has
struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to
hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once
that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay
dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and
insists on giving away the entire product.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 128-29
When I talk with a newcomer to A.A., my past looks me
straight in the face. I see the pain in those hopeful eyes, I
extend my hand, and then the miracle happens: / become
healed. My problems vanish as I reach out to this trembling
soul.