Daily Reflections Quotes

“It is very difficult for me to come to terms with my spiritual illness because of my great pride, disguised by my material successes and my intellectual power. Intelligence is not incompatible with humility, provided I place humility first. To seek prestige and wealth is the ultimate goal for many in the modern world. To be fashionable and to seem better than I really am is a spiritual illness. To recognize and to admit my weaknesses is the beginning of good spiritual health. It is a sign of spiritual health to be able to ask God every day to enlighten me, to recognize His will, and to have the strength to execute it. My spiritual health is excellent when I realize that the better I get, the more I discover how much help I need from others.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“Every day I stand at turning points. My thoughts and actions can propel me toward growth or turn me down the road to old habits and to booze. Sometimes turning points are beginnings, as when I decide to start praising, instead of condemning someone. Or when I begin to ask for help instead of going it alone. At other times turning points are endings, such as when I see clearly the need to stop festering resentments or crippling self-seeking. Many shortcomings tempt me daily; therefore, I also have daily opportunities to become aware of them. In one form or another, many of my character defects appear daily: self-condemnation, anger, running away, being prideful, wanting to get even, or acting out of grandiosity. Attempting half measures to eliminate these defects merely paralyzes my efforts to change. It is only when I ask God for help, with complete abandon, that I become willing—and able—to change.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“Being a little kinder, a little slower to anger, a little more loving makes my life better—day by day.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“RIGOROUS HONESTY Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect—unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 24 I am an alcoholic. If I drink I will die. My, what power, energy, and emotion this simple statement generates in me! But it’s really all I need to know for today. Am I willing to stay alive today? Am I willing to stay sober today? Am I willing to ask for help and am I willing to be a help to another suffering alcoholic today? Have I discovered the fatal nature of my situation? What must I do, today, to stay sober?”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“must keep reminding myself that I am human, that I am doing the best I can, even when that best is sometimes poor.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“The essence of all growth is a willingness to make a change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“May I always remember that the power within me is far greater than any fear before me. May I always have patience, for I am on the right road.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“IMPATIENT? TRY LEVITATING We reacted more strongly to frustrations than normal people. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 111 Impatience with other people is one of my principal failings. Following a slow car in a no-passing lane, or waiting in a restaurant for the check, drives me to distraction. Before I give God a chance to slow me down, I explode, and that’s what I call being quicker than God. That repeated experience gave me an idea. I thought if I could look down on these events from God’s point of view, I might better control my feelings and behavior. I tried it and when I encountered the next slow driver, I levitated and looked down on the other car and upon myself. I saw an elderly couple driving along, happily chatting about their grandchildren. They were followed by me—bug-eyed and red of face—who had no time schedule to meet anyway. I looked so silly that I dropped back into reality and slowed down. Seeing things from God’s angle of vision can be very relaxing.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“To make amends can be viewed two ways: first, that of repairing damage, for if I have damaged my neighbor’s fence, I “make a mend,” and that is a direct amend; the second way is by modifying my behavior, for if my actions have harmed someone, I make a daily effort to cause no further harm. I “mend my ways,” and that is an indirect amend. Which is the best approach? The only right approach, provided that I am causing no further harm in so doing, is to do both. If harm is done, then I simply “mend my ways.” To take action in this manner assures me of making honest amends.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. . . . On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. . . . Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“I have found that pain is a friend; it lets me know there is something wrong with my emotions, just as a physical pain lets me know there is something wrong with my body.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“In my recovery, I learned that the pain of my defects is the very substance God uses to cleanse my character and to set me free.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“A New Year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes—a”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“I just have to ask whether acceptance—or change—is required.”
― AA World Services Inc., Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART I 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”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“But I’ve also learned I am not powerless over some things. I am not powerless over my attitudes. I am not powerless over negativity. I am not powerless over assuming responsibility for my own recovery.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“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.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“I had been a real “people addict”; wherever I went there had to be someone who would pay some kind of attention to me.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“For the first time in years I opened my box of paints and poured out an honest rage, an explosion of reds and blacks and yellows. As I looked at the drawing, tears of joy and relief flowed down my cheeks. In my disease, I had given up my art, a self-inflicted punishment far greater than any imposed from outside.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“concepts. The glass was put down through this one act of Providence and my journey into sobriety began. My life continues to unfold with divine care and direction. Step One, in which”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“The more I learn, the less I know—a humbling fact—but I sincerely want to keep growing.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“do,”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A book of reflections by A.A. members for A.A. members

“that. Today I do not have to struggle or exert my will. If I take those Twelve Steps and let my Higher Power do the real work, my alcohol problem disappears all by itself. My living problems also cease to be struggles. I just have to ask whether acceptance—or change—is required. It is not my will, but His, that needs doing.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A book of reflections by A.A. members for A.A. members

“I thank God for the wisdom of the early founders who knew so well the alcoholic’s disdain for being manipulated.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“sincerity, depth and devotion with which I practice the Twelve Steps of A.A.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“Therefore, what else are we to do but bear with one another and treat each other as we would be treated in similar circumstances?”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“A COMMON SOLUTION The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 17”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“The spiritual awakening I have enjoyed as the result of working the Steps is the awareness that I am no longer alone.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

“I can “Let Go and Let God” by humbly repeating: “Thy will, not mine, be done.”
― Alcoholics Anonymous, Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members