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.

Words Of Wisdom Fron His Holiness Dalai Lama

Importance of Inner Values

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.

Words of Wisdom from His Holiness Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama

If each of us can learn to relate to each other more out of compassion, with a sense of connection to each other and a deep recognition of our common humanity, and more important, to teach this to our children, I believe that this can go a long way in reducing many of the conflicts and problems that we see today.

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.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 11
A WORD TO DROP: "BLAME"
To see how erratic emotions victimized us often took a long
time. We could perceive them quickly in others, but only
slowly in ourselves First of all, we had to admit that we had
many of these defects, even though such disclosures were
painful and humiliating. Where other people were
concerned, we had to drop the word "blame" from our
speech and thought
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 47
When I did my Fourth Step, following the Big Book
guidelines, I noticed that my grudge list was filled with my
prejudices and my blaming others for my not being able to
succeed and to live up to my potential. I also discovered I
felt different because I was black. As I continued to work
on the Step, I learned that I always had drunk to rid myself
of those feelings. It was only when I sobered up and
worked on my inventory, that I could no longer blame
anyone.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 10
GROWING UP
The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the
better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder
whatever responsibility this entails.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 115
Sometimes when I've become willing to do what I should
have been doing all along, I want praise and recognition. I
don't realize that the more I'm willing to act differently, the
more exciting my life is. The more I am willing to help
others, the more rewards I receive. That's what practicing
the principles means to me. Fun and benefits for me are in
the willingness to do the actions, not to get immediate
results. Being a little kinder, a little slower to anger, a little
more loving makes my life better— day by day.