Daily Reflection

APRIL 5
TRUE BROTHERHOOD
We have not once sought to be one in a family, to be a friend
among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a
useful member of society. Always we tried to struggle to the
top of the heap, or to hide underneath it This self-centered
behavior blocked a partnership relation with any one of
those about us. Of true brotherhood we had small
comprehension.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 53
This message contained in Step Four was the first one I
heard loud and clear; I hadn't seen myself in print before!
Prior to my coining into A.A., I knew of no place that could
teach me how to become a person among persons. From my
very first meeting, I saw people doing just that and I wanted
what they had. One of the reasons that I'm a happy, sober
alcoholic today is that I'm learning this most important
lesson.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 4
CRYING FOR THE MOON
"This very real feeling of inferiority is magnified by his
childish sensitivity and it is this state of affairs which
generates in him that insatiable, abnormal craving for selfapproval
and success in the eyes of the world. Still a child,
he cries for the moon. And the moon, it seems, won't have
him!"
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 102
While drinking I seemed to vacillate between feeling totally
invisible and believing I was the center of the universe.
Searching for that elusive balance between the two has
become a major part of my recovery. The moon I constantly
cried for is, in sobriety, rarely full; it shows me instead its
many other phases, and there are lessons in them all. True
learning has often followed an eclipse, a time of darkness,
but with each cycle of my recovery, the light grows stronger
and my vision is clearer.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 3
ACCEPTING OUR HUMANNESS
We finally saw that the inventory should be ours, not the
other man's So we admitted our wrongs honestly and
became willing to set these matters straight.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 222
Why is it that the alcoholic is so unwilling to accept
responsibility? I used to drink because of the things that
other people did to me. Once I came to A.A. I was told to
look at where I had been wrong. What did I have to do with
all these different matters? When I simply accepted that I
had a part in them, I was able to put it on paper and see it
for what it was —humanness. I am not expected to be
perfect! I have made errors before and I will make them
again. To be honest about them allows me to accept
them—and myself—and those with whom I had the
differences; from there, recovery is just a short distance
ahead.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 2
CHARACTER BUILDING
Demands made upon other people for too much attention,
protection, and love can only invite domination or
revulsion. . . .
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 44
When I uncovered my need for approval in the Fourth Step,
I didn't think it should rank as a character defect. I wanted
to think of it more as an asset (that is, the desire to please
people). It was quickly pointed out to me that this "need"
can be very crippling. Today I still enjoy getting the
approval of others, but I am not willing to pay the price I
used to pay to get it. I will not bend myself into a pretzel to
get others to like me. If I get your approval, that's fine; but
if I don't, I will survive without it. I am responsible for
speaking what I perceive to be the truth, not what I think
others may want to hear.
Similarly, my false pride always kept me overly
concerned about my reputation. Since being enlightened in
the A.A. program, my aim is to improve my character.

Daily Reflection

APRIL 1
LOOKING WITHIN
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of
ourselves.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 42
Step Four is the vigorous and painstaking effort to discover
what the liabilities in each of us have been, and are. I want
to find exactly how, when, and where my natural desires
have warped me. I wish to look squarely at the unhappiness
this has caused others and myself. By discovering what my
emotional deformities are, I can move toward their correction.
Without a willing and persistent effort to do this,
there can be little sobriety or contentment for me.
To resolve ambivalent feelings, I need to feel a strong
and helpful sense of myself. Such an awareness doesn't
happen overnight, and no one's self-awareness is
permanent. Everyone has the capacity for growth, and for
self-awareness, through an honest encounter with reality.
When I don't avoid issues but meet them directly, always
trying to resolve them, they become fewer and fewer.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 31

NO ONE DENIED ME LOVE

On the A. A. calendar it was Year Two. . . . A newcomer

appeared at one of these groups. . . . He soon proved that

his was a desperate case, and that above all he wanted to

get well . . . [He said], "Since I am the victim of another

addiction even worse stigmatized than alcoholism, you may

not want me among you."

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 141-42

I came to you—a wife, mother, woman who had walked out

on her husband, children, family. I was a drunk, a pill-head,

a nothing. Yet no one denied me love, caring, a sense of

belonging. Today, by God's grace and the love of a good

sponsor and a home group, I can say that—through you in

Alcoholics Anonymous—I am a wife, a mother, a

grandmother and a woman. Sober. Free of pills. Responsible.

Without a Higher Power I found in the Fellowship, my

life would be meaningless. I am full of gratitude to be a

member of good standing in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 30
OUR GROUP CONSCIENCE
". . . sometimes the good is the enemy of the best"
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE P- 101
I think these words apply to every area of A.A.'s Three
Legacies: Recovery, Unity and Service! I want them etched
in my mind and life as I "trudge the Road of Happy
Destiny" (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 164). These words,
often spoken by co-founder Bill W., were appropriately
said to him as the result of the group's conscience. It
brought home to Bill W. the essence of our Second Tradition:
"Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not
govern."
Just as Bill W. was originally urged to remember, I think
that in our group discussions we should never settle for the
"good," but always strive to attain the "best." These
common strivings are yet another example of a loving God,
as we understand Him, expressing Himself through the
group conscience. Experiences such as these help me to
stay on the proper path of recovery. I learn to combine
initiative with humility, responsibility with thankfulness,
and thus relish the joys of living my twenty-four hour
program.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 29
TRUSTED SERVANTS
They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless
privilege of doing the group's chores
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 134
In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an
encounter between his principal character and an old man
busily at work planting a tree. "What is it you are doing?"
Zorba asks. The old man replies: "You can see very well
what I'm doing, my son, I'm planting a tree." "But why
plant a tree," Zorba asks, "if you won't be able to see it bear
fruit?" And the old man answers: "I, my son, live as though
I were never going to die." The response brings a faint
smile to Zorba's lips and, as he walks away, he exclaims
with a note of irony: "How strange—I live as though I were
going to die tomorrow!"
As a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have found
that the Third Legacy is a fertile soil in which to plant the
tree of my sobriety. The fruits I harvest are wonderful:
peace, security, understanding and twenty-four hours of
eternal fulfillment; and with the soundness of mind to listen
to the voice of my conscience when, in silence, it gently
speaks to me, saying: You must let go in service. There are
others who must plant and harvest.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 28
EQUALITY
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from
alcoholism Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover.
Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or
conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together
for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided
that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 565
Prior to A.A., I often felt that I didn't "fit in" with the
people around me. Usually "they" had more/ less money
than I did, and my points of view didn't jibe with "theirs."
The amount of prejudice I had experienced in society only
proved to me just how phony some self-righteous people
were. After joining A. A., I found the way of life I had been
searching for. In A.A. no member is better than any other
member; we're just alcoholics trying to recover from
alcoholism.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 27
A.A.'s FREEDOMS
We trust that we already know what our several freedoms
truly are; that no future generation of AAs will ever feel
compelled to limit them. Our AA freedoms create the soil in
which genuine love can grow. . . .
LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 303
I craved freedom. First, freedom to drink; later, freedom
from drink. The A.A. program of recovery rests on a
foundation of free choice. There are no mandates, laws or
commandments. A.A.'s spiritual program, as outlined in the
Twelve Steps, and by which I am offered even greater
freedoms, is only suggested. I can take it or leave it.
Sponsorship is offered, not forced, and I come and go as I
will. It is these and other freedoms that allow me to recapture
the dignity that was crushed by the burden of drink,
and which is so dearly needed to support an enduring
sobriety.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 26
THE TEACHING IS NEVER OVER
Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit
your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the
wreckage of your past Give freely of what you find and join
us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and
you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of
Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you—until
then.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164
These words put a lump in my throat each time I read them.
In the beginning it was because I felt, "Oh no! The teaching
is over. Now I'm on my own. It will never be this new
again." Today I feel deep affection for our A.A. pioneers
when I read this passage, realizing that it sums up all of
what I believe in, and strive for, and that—with God's
blessing—the teaching is never over, I'm never on my own,
and every day is brand new.

Daily Reflection

MARCH 25
A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART
 try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful
heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with
gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing
love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.
AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37
I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate in
that we are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful
and of how important gratitude is to our sobriety. I am truly
grateful for the sobriety God has given me through the
A.A. program and am glad I can give back what was given
to me freely. I am grateful not only for sobriety, but for the
quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been
gracious enough to give me sober days and a life blessed
with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give
and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others—in
our Fellowship, my family and my community. For all of
this, I have "a full and thankful heart."