"ENTIRELY HONEST"

We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world. 
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 73-74


Honesty, like all virtues, is to be shared.  It began after I shared "....(my) whole life's story with someone..."
in order to find m place in the Fellowship.  Later I shared my life in order to help the newcomer find his place with us.  This sharing helps me to learn honesty in all my dealings and to know that God's plan for me comes true through honest openness and willingness.
DAILY REFLECTIONS MAY 4

Healing Heart and Mind

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, P. 55


Since it is true that God comes to me through people, I can see that by keeping people at a distance I also keep God at a distance.  God is nearer to me than I think and I can experience Him by loving people and allowing people to love me.  But I can neither love nor be loved if I allow my secrets to get in the way.

It's the side of myself that I refuse to look at that rules me.  I must be willing to look at the dark side in order to heal my mind and heart because that is the road to freedom.  I must walk into darkness to find the light and walk into fear to find peace.

By revealing my secrets - and thereby ridding myself of guilt - I can actually change my thinking: by altering my thinking, I can change myself.  My thoughts create my future.  What I will be tomorrow is determined by what I think today.
Daily Reflections May 1 

Joyful Discoveries

We realize we know only a little.  God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.  Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick.  The answers will come, if your own house is in order.  But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got.  See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others.  This is the Great Fact for us. (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 164)


Sobriety is a journey of joyful discovery.  Each day brings new experience, awareness, greater hope, deeper faith, broader tolerance.  I must maintain these attributes or I will have nothing to pass on.

Great events for this recovering alcoholic are the normal everyday joys found in being able to live another day in God's grace.

Self-Examination ~ Daily Reflections April 20

.....we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.  ~Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 86 ~

When said sincerely, this prayer teaches me to be truly unselfish and humble, for even in doing good deeds I often used to seek approval and glory for myself.  By examining my motives in all that I do, I can be of service to God and others, helping them do what they want to do.  When I put God in charge of my thinking, much needless worry is eliminated and I believe He guides me throughout the day.  When I eliminate thoughts of self-pity, dishonesty and self-centeredness as soon as they enter my mind, I find peace with God, my neighbor and myself.

"I am a miracle"

The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. 
Alcoholics anonymous, p. 25


This truly is a fact in my life today, and a real miracle. I always believed in God, but could never put that belief meaningfully into my life.  Today, because of Alcoholics Anonymous, I now trust and rely on God, as I understand Him: I am sober today because of that!  Learning to rust and rely on God was something I could never have done alone.  I now believe in miracles because I am one! 

Daily Resolutions

The idea of "twenty-four-hour living"  applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual.  Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow. 
As Bill sees it, p. 284


A new Year: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes -- a time to consider directions, goals, and actions.  I must make some plans to live a normal life, but also I must live emotionally within a twenty-four-hour frame, for if I do, I don't have to make New Year's resolutions! I can make every day a New Year's day!  I can decide, "Today I will do this.... Today I will do that."  Each day I can measure my life by trying to do a little better, by deciding to follow God's will and by making an effort to put the principles of our A.A. program into action.