“I cannot stay sober on yesterday’s meetings or past 12 step calls; I need to put my gratitude into action today. Without action, my gratitude is just a pleasant motion. I need to put it into action by working step 12, by carrying the message and practicing the principles in all my affairs.”
– Daily Reflections 5/25

This is a great reminder that everything that is good in my life, the reason that I am even still here, is from working a program of rigorous action on a daily basis. When I do that and I carry the message, I open the door to living happy, joyous, and free. I am able to be the man that I am meant to be. Without doing the daily work, I quickly fall into “self-will” and cut off my connection to a HP. Carrying the message and practicing the principles in all my affairs is truly showing gratitude. ILML!

– JasonW

“I have learned that I must lay down the “weapons” of self in order to pick up the “tools” of the program. If I sometimes keep on struggling, it is because I’m still hanging onto my old ideas and… the results are nil.”
– Daily Reflections

I always have to remind myself that when I’m struggling in any way that I have to find acceptance and take a look at myself in what I am doing or not doing. I believe my HP is nothing but happiness, joy, and freedom, so when I’m struggling the solution is to get back to the program which connects me to my HP. Good reminder for me today. ILML!

– JasonW

“Forgiveness of self and forgiveness of others are just two currents in the same river, both hinder or shut off completely by the dam of resentment. Once that dam is lifted both currents can flow.”
– Daily Reflections 5/17

This statement is so simple but it’s a good reminder of the damage of resentment. If my life is not “flowing”, my spiritual progress is hindered. Resentment cuts off my connection to a HP. Daily step work, meetings, and helping others is the solution. I’m grateful that I have this program in my life today. ILML!

“All AA progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. To honor these precepts I need only to pray, and care for my fellow man as if each one were my brother.”
– Daily Reflections 4/28

This quote keeps it very simple, which works for me very well. By taking direction, accepting that I don’t have all the answers (keeps me humble), and practicing the principles of the program on a daily basis, I demonstrate to myself that I am responsible. When I do this I am able to help others more effectively and love my life even when things are not going the way I want them to go. I love the simplicity, I have to be humble and responsible, that’s all. I can do that. ILML!

-Jason W

“I had constructed my prison with bars of self-will and self-indulgence, from which I could not escape. True escape required a willingness to follow whatever right actions were needed to turn the lock. With that willingness and action, both the lock and the bars themselves open for me. Continued willingness and action keep me free – in a kind of extended daily probation – that need never end.”
-Daily Reflections

What this tells me is that without a daily reprieve, I quickly fall back to self-will and self-indulgence and I’m again not free. My addiction is always waiting for me, it never goes away and to drink is to die, so a daily plan of action is an absolute must. With willingness and action, one day at a time, I am a free man. ILML!

– Jason W

“We want to find exactly how, when, and where our natural desires have warped us. We wish to look squarely at the unhappiness this has caused others and ourselves. By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move forward toward their correction.”
– Daily Reflections

My “natural desires” caused myself and others a lot of pain and suffering. My best thinking is warped by alcoholism. The only solution for me has been this program. When I am accountable to my sponsor, do daily spiritual work, go to meetings, sponsor others, etc., I am put on a path to correct negative thinking. I can trust myself and others can trust me. I am able to remedy my “emotional deformities” and become the man I am supposed to be. ILML

– Jason W

“Without a HP I found in the fellowship, my life would be meaningless. I am full of gratitude to be a member of good standing in this Program.”
– Daily Reflections

In early sobriety I would’ve found this statement hard to swallow. But today I know that all of my success and serenity has come from working the program and seeking a connection to a HP. Everything I have comes from this. My connection to a HP through working the steps is the solution to my restlessness, irritability, and discontent. There is no problem too big for the steps. I am grateful to have found the solution. ILML!

– Jason W

“Storing up grievances is not only a waste of time, but a waste of life that could be lived to greater satisfaction. If I keep a ledger of “oppressions and indignities,” I’m only restoring them to painful reality.”
– A Day at a Time 3/27

I believe this means that what we focus on grows larger and becomes our reality. So, today I’m going to focus on what I do have, as opposed to what I don’t have, what I like about a person opposed to what I don’t like, how successful I am opposed to what I have not a achieved yet, etc. Positive thinking changes my perception. ILML!

– Jason W

“For us, material well-being always followed spiritual progress; it never proceeded. (p127 BB). I suddenly understood that this promise was a guarantee. I saw that it put priorities in the correct order, that spiritual progress would diminish that terrible fear of being destitute, just as it diminished many other fears. My life’s purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to possess.”
– Daily reflections

If I can stay humble, work a program one day at a time, and look for what I can add to the situation opposed to what I can take from it, then I live abundantly. With this change of perception I am in a place to be more successful. ILML!

– JasonW

“If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we’ll find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its consequent unhealthy demand. So let us, with my HP’s help, continually surrender these crippling liabilities.… May I transfer my dependency to my HP, as I understand Him.”
– A Day at a Time 3/12

This reminds me that everything that makes me uneasy has partly to do with me. The program has taught me to do daily inventories where I can always find my part in the matter. When I do this, I avoid playing the victim, and harboring resentment. I can take responsibility for myself and learn and grow. This program helps me avoid the burden of being uneasy. ILML!

– JasonW