Alcoholics Anonymous - Fourth Edition
The Doctorâs Opinion
We believe, and so suggested a few years ago, that the action of alcohol on these chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy; that the phenomenon of craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.
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I came to this program to save my butt and found out it was attached to my soul.
âAnonymous
âIf youâre not feeling Godâs Presence, who moved?â God exists everywhere. Whenever we feel abandoned by God, remember, it is we
who have moved. God is always fully present to us when we remember to open our hearts to that Presence.
âMary Manin Morrissey
God, help me stay alert to the lessons of today.
-Melody Beattie
Walk in Dry Places
Understanding Compulsion
Protecting Sobriety
Often called a âcompulsive illness,â alcoholism is still a baffling mystery to most people. All we really know is that a single drink, a pleasant beverage for many, becomes a deadly trigger for alcoholics. We may even think itâs unfair that weâre unable to enjoy the pleasant customs of social drinking. If we let down our guard, we can even entertain the thought that weâve somehow been cured of the compulsion to drink.
But we donât have to understand the exact nature of compulsion to realize that we are victims of it. Bitter experience and the tragic examples of others should tell us that our compulsion exists and is activated by the first drink. Thatâs really all the understanding we need for living successfully in sobriety.
If thereâs anything we should question, itâs not whether we have the compulsion, but why we would have any doubts after so much bad experience with alcohol. After all, if we always had a bad reaction from any other food or beverage, we would soon give it up. Why is there so much persistence in denying that we are compulsively attached to alcohol?
We still may be trying to convince ourselves that we can take a drink safely, and this delusion is another way the compulsion works. All we have to understand is that a single drink leads to our destruction.
Iâll remember today that Iâve accepted the fact that I am alcoholic and subject to disaster with a first drink. Iâll live today with the knowledge that I only have to understand that I have a compulsion to drink.
Keep It Simple
The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day a time. --Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln did great things for the United States. He took life One Day at a time.. He broke the future into manageable pieces. We can do the same. We can live in the present and focus on the task at hand.
Spirituality comes when we focus this way. When we stay in the present we find choice. And we worry less about the future. Still, we must have goals.
We must plan for the future.
Goals and plans help us give more credit to the present than to the future. And when we feel good about the present, we feel good about the future.
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me focus. Help me keep my energy in the present. Have me live life One Day at a Time.
Action for the Day: When I find myself drifting into the future, Iâll work at bring myself back to the present.
You have to leave the city of your comfort and go unto the wilderness of your intuition. What youâll discover will be wonderful. What youâll
discover will be yourself.
âAlan Alda
Right now, this moment, is the time to celebrate by dancing beneath the warmth of the sun.
âGary Barnes
When we are doing our best to live as God would have us live, if we are in harmony with God, we shall feel and be at peace.
âUnknown
Life is like a mirror. If you frown at it, it frowns back. If you smile, it returns the greeting.
May I look at my experiences, not as trouble, but as a way to use my experience to help others.
âUnknown
One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.
âJim Rohn
The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.
âNorman Vincent Peale
Thoughts have power. Thoughts are energy. You can make your world or break it by your thinking.
âSusan Taylor
When your knees knock, kneel on them.
âWe have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.â
âMartin Luther King Jr.
BLAME. Four-Five-Six-SevenâŚI am so glad I jumped into step work with a sponsor and got through these life-changing steps! I really thought bc I was a hard worker, anything that wasnât up to my âstandardsâ was somebody elseâs fault. Blame is the Swiss army knife of the addict / alcoholic. But when we drop it, our lives can begin! And, from my opening words, now I believe I know where six-seven comes from! Kids are talking about the step that separates the men from the boys. 
Keep It Simple
Life I love you, all is groovy.âPaul Simon
Prayer for the Day: Higher Power, help me let go of my fears and enjoy life. I havenât always known how to enjoy life, but Working the Twelve Steps is more than recovery from alcohol or other drug addiction. Itâs also about how to enjoy life. Our illness pulled us toward death. Our spirits were dying, and maybe our bodies were dying. Now our spirits are coming to life. We feel more alive than ever before. Our feelings are coming alive. We feel hope and faith, love, and joy, and even hurt and fear. We notice the sunshine as well as the clouds. We know life needs both sunshine and rain, both joy and pain. We are alive. You can teach me. All life is from You, so teach me to be free in Your light and love.
Action for the Day: Right now, I can think of at least three things in life that make me feel like sunshine. What are they?
Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.
âJohn (Jay) McCloy
Learning is an upward, ever-evolving process. We will never reach the point where weâve learned all we need to know. Every aspect of life
contains lessons. We can choose to discard them or to embrace them. Lessons embraced lead to wisdom.
âMary Manin Morrissey
We can stop waiting for others to give us what we need and take responsibility for ourselves. When we do, the gates to freedom will swing wide. Walk through.
âMelody Beattie
Believe and the healing will come.
âGary Barnes
Each of us is a unique expression of Godâs beauty.
âJane F. Maxwell