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Daily Reflections - AA, Coimbatore (2025)

25/02/2023

AMBITION

“The child without ambition is like a watch with a broken spring.”
— R. W. Stockman

It is not wrong to have ambition. It is not wrong to want to be “somebody”. The tragedy is that this has to be said!

For too long we have played the tapes in our head that discouraged ambition and creative pride. We confused humility with timidity and self-abuse. We waited for things to happen, rather than made them happen.

Today I know that I am a creature of God — created to create. God is at work in my life. I am part of His miracle for the world.

O God, may I always have ambition for those things that are good and true.

09/11/2022

I have learned to be less negative and more positive. I used to take a negative view of almost everything. Most people, in my estimation, were bluffing. There seemed to be very little good in the world, but lots of hypocrisy and sham. People could not be trusted. They would “take you ” if they could. All church-goers were partly hypocrites. It seemed I should take everything “with a grain of salt.” That was my general attitude toward life. Now I am more positive. I believe in people and in their capabilities. There is much love and truth and honesty in the world. I try not to run people down. Life now seems worthwhile and it is good to live. Am I less negative and more positive?

08/11/2022

I have lost much of my inferiority complex. I was always trying to escape from life. I did not want to face reality. I was full of self-pity. I was constantly sorry for myself. I tried to avoid all responsibilities. I did not feel that I would handle the responsibilities for my family or my work. Owing to my inferiority complex, I was eager to be free of all responsibilities. I wanted to drift; I wanted to be “on the beach.” A.A. showed me how to get over my feeling of inferiority. It made me want to accept responsibility again. Have I lost my inferiority complex?

08/10/2022

UNDERSTANDING

“Intelligence is proved not by ease of learning but by understanding what we learn.”
– Joseph Whitney

For years I learned things without understanding what the words, or the meaning behind the words, really meant. An example was alcoholism. Then a man said, “My name is Bill, and I am an alcoholic and a recovering human being!” Then it struck me; recovery from a drug — alcohol — was not simply about putting down the glass but about changing and developing a positive lifestyle as a human being.

The same is true with spirituality. It is not about being religious, going to church or accepting dogma. It is about finding God in my life, discovering God in the decisions and actions I take and seeing Him in the world around me. Today I understand spirituality to be the link that unites all peoples and is centered on what is true and real.

15/09/2022

Comfort

"When I am feeling depressed, I repeat to myself statements such as these: 'Pain is the touchstone of progress.' . . .'Fear no evil.' . . .'This, too, will pass.' . . .'This experience can be turned to benefit.' These fragments of prayer bring far more than comfort. They keep me on the track of right acceptance; they break up my compulsive themes of guilt, depression, rebellion, and pride; and sometimes they endow me with the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Bill W., AA Grapevine, March 1962
c. 1967 AAWS, As Bill Sees It, p. 110

Thought to Consider . . .

God enters us through our wounds.

15/09/2022

Am I getting too busy?

Time Management.

It’s always risky when a recovering person gets too busy for meetings. It’s also dangerous when business and personal concerns crowd out interest in the program.

We should never deceive ourselves by thinking that we’re somehow safe just because our time is filled with useful and interesting work. Many of us have a tendency to become addicted to “busy-ness”. Though less destructive than drinking, this serves as an escape, just as alcohol did.

The danger is that when the work no longer satisfies us, we’ll find our lives becoming empty again. We could then be very vulnerable to taking a drink. We should never be too busy for the wonderful, constructive work of the program.

Far from taking time away from our other actives, work in the program will enhance everything we do.

I’ll try to balance my activities today, making sure that I have time for the program.

15/09/2022

If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort.

– Pg. 25-26 – There is a Solution

07/09/2022

"OUR SIDE OF THE STREET"

We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while can be accomplished until we do so, never trying to tell him what he should do. His faults are not discussed. We stick to our own.

— ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 77-78

I made amends to my dad soon after I quit drinking. My words fell on deaf ears since I had blamed him for my troubles. Several months later I made amends to my dad again. This time I wrote a letter in which I did not blame him nor mention his faults. It worked, and at last I understood! My side of the street is all that I'm responsible for and thanks to God and A.A.
it's clean for today.

27/08/2022

CENTERING OUR THOUGHTS

When World War II broke out, our A.A. dependence on a Higher Power had its first major test. A.A.'s entered the services and were scattered all over the world. Would they be able to take the discipline, stand up under fire, and endure . . . ?

— AS BILL SEES IT, p. 200

I will center my thoughts on a Higher Power. I will surrender all to this power within me. I will become a soldier for this power, feeling the might of the spiritual army as it exists in my life today. I will allow a wave of spiritual union to connect me through my gratitude, obedience and discipline to this Higher Power. Let me allow this power to lead me through the orders of the day. May the steps I take today strengthen my words and deeds, may I know that the message I carry is mine to share, given freely by this power greater than myself.

23/08/2022

The Spiritual Experience Is You

“When I look at people now, I don’t see issues,” he said. “I see souls.”

The man said he had a spiritual experience. Actually, he said he had four. He didn’t go to the mountains, or the ocean, or the desert to have them. He had his four spiritual experiences in the same place– in the parking lot outside a Shell gas station in Portland, Oregon. “The car filled with light. I filled with light. My heart just opened up and I forgave everyone I was resenting,” he continued. “Even my ex-wife.”

We don’t have to search for spiritual experiences. We are the spiritual experience– a spiritual being having a human life. Look at the people around you. Now look again and see souls. See them having many kinds of spiritual experiences in the form of human life.

When you look for holy ground, look down. That’s where your spiritual experience takes place. Right where you’re standing, wherever you are now.

11/04/2022

In that alcoholic world, one drink always leads to another and you can’t stop till you’re paralyzed. And the next morning it begins all over again. You eventually land in a hospital or jail. You lose your job. Your home is broken up. You’re always in a mess. You’re on the merry-go-round and you can’t get off. You’re in a squirrel cage and you can’t get out. Am I convinced that the alcoholic world is not a pleasant place for me to live in?

11/04/2022

I must learn to accept self-discipline. I must try never to yield one point that I have already won. I must not let myself go in resentments, hates, fears, pride, lust, or gossip. Even if the discipline keeps me separated from some people who are without discipline, nevertheless I will carry on. I may have different ways and a different standard of living than some others. I may be actuated by different motives than some people. But I will try to live the way I believe God wants me to live, no matter what others say.

07/04/2022

A WIDE ARC OF GRATITUDE

And, speaking for Dr. Bob and myself, I gratefully declare that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois, neither of us could have lived to see A.A.'s beginning.

— THE A.A. WAY OF LIFE, p. 67

Am I capable of such generous tribute and gratitude to my wife, parents and friends, without whose support I might never have survived to reach A.A.'s doors? I will work on this and try to see the plan my Higher Power is showing me which links our lives together.

From the book Daily Reflections
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

06/04/2022

FAILURE

“No man is a failure who is enjoying life.”
–William Feather

Spirituality is fun. I enjoy my sobriety today and I do not take myself too seriously.

For years I thought I was a failure and this “thought” manifested the behavior of a failure. I hid, sulked, was jealous, carried resentments and isolated myself from life – and then blamed the world.

Today because I really understand and accept that I am a child of God, I know that I am not a failure and I have a glorious future in recovery.

Today I have hope. Today I have confidence. Today I am able to accept and forgive. Today I am able to love my neighbor because I love myself.

In my enjoyment of life may I reflect your love for the world.

12/12/2021

Demanding credit
Approval.

The struggle for recognition sometimes takes an ugly form in AA. Even the pioneers of AA had disputes about who deserved credit for the fellowship’s success.

Demanding credit and recognition is a loser’s game for people who are seeking growth in sobriety. It is an indication that we still need applause and approval of the sort that drove us while we were drinking. It is a way of saying that we still don’t believe good work should be done for its own sake, but rather for the applause that goes with it.

The real kicker is that people who demand recognition never get enough of it. Ironically, if we don’t try to obtain credit for our actions, it sometimes comes anyway, without effort on our part.

I’ll watch myself for any tendency to demand credit for the things I do in the program. My healthy growth in sobriety should be reward enough.

18/10/2021

AN OPEN MIND

True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, . . .

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 33

My alcoholic thinking led me to believe that I could control my drinking, but I couldn't. When I came to A.A., I realized that God was speaking to me through my group. My mind was open just enough to know that I needed His help. A real, honest acceptance of A.A. took more time, but with it came humility. I know how insane I was, and I am extremely grateful to have my sanity restored to me and to be a sober alcoholic. The new, sober me is a much better person than I ever could have been without A.A.

17/10/2021

Who ever angers you controls you.

17/10/2021

EMOTIONAL SOBRIETY

If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God’s help, continually surrender these hobbling liabilities.

Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able to twelfth-step ourselves, as well as others, into emotional sobriety.

Daily Reflections - AA

25/02/2023

09/11/2022

08/11/2022

08/10/2022

15/09/2022

15/09/2022

15/09/2022

07/09/2022

27/08/2022

23/08/2022

11/04/2022

11/04/2022

07/04/2022

06/04/2022

12/12/2021

18/10/2021

17/10/2021

17/10/2021

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