The One Change That Makes All The Difference (With Step 3)

Thought for today: By the time we’ve come to Step 3, we have started to feel an awareness of a Power greater than us that we can tap into.  We find ourselves drawn to this Power for guidance and inspiration. DA Step 3 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to […]

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Tips For Making a Gratitude List

Thought for today: Gratitude sustains us.  It cannot coexist with resentment.  It helps us deal with petty frustrations and despair over past mistakes.  It is optimistic.  We don’t feel like hiding.  In the worst of times, gratitude improves our lives.  How do we get gratitude? A member shares: “I had many resentments when I first […]

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Grateful Gift-Giving

Thought for today: Many of us celebrate holidays with gift-giving.  Some of us keeping giving beyond a healthy point and don’t know when to stop. Gift-giving should be a joyful thing, but we don’t want to over-do it, right?  How?  A member shares: “I used to give a lot to people during the holidays, to the […]

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Making Direct Amends

Thought for today: Recovery starts by taking care of ourselves again.  It branches out from a place of self-care.  That’s why a repayment plan can’t come first. We need to find our inner truth first.  We need to know what our income and expenses are for a month. A member shares: “My sponsor shortened my list […]

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Am I Grateful?

Thought for today: Father Martin, a very public advocate of the Twelve Steps, once said that “Gratitude is the one coin with which you can buy God.”   How could he say that? His talks described how gratitude heals.  Gratitude helps our recovery grow. If we are grateful, we have no capacity for hatred.  We set aside old wounds, not in […]

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Why Is Pride A “Defect of Character”?

Thought for today: When a person first attends a DA meeting, they may hear the concept in studying the Twelve Steps that Pride is a defect of character.  How can Pride be a that? A newcomer asks: “How can Pride be bad?  Isn’t it a good thing – pride of country, being proud of my accomplishments, being proud of […]

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April 7, How To Turn Anger Over Frustration Into Gratitude Over Solutions

Thought for today: A member shares: “My first time in DA, I was angry all the time.  I would be on the phone with a creditor and start yelling and cursing at them.  My family was terrified of me at those times.  Then I’d feel raw, but that didn’t stop me. “I left DA after […]

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March 10, DA Promise Nine: “Acceptance and Gratitude”

Thought for today: Why do we wait so very long before inviting a Higher Power to help us with our problems? We seem to exhaust all other options first. If we are honest with ourselves we may find it’s because we secretly enjoy indulging in self-pity, resentment, and longing in “quiet desperation” for a solution […]

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March 5, How Gratitude Leads Us To DA Promise Four: Prosperity

Thought for today: A prosperous liger is available in DA when we work the DA Tools and DA Steps.  Prosperity takes work But most of us have gone through periods of feeling too overwhelmed by life to do the work we know we need to do.  How do we get back on track (or on […]

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February 8, Sponsoring Is Gratitude In Action

Thought for today: Another DA principle we practice is gratitude.  Gratitude for the progress we’ve made in our personal recovery.  Gratitude for the help and inspiration we’ve found in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Tools of DA.  And, especially, gratitude for being able to give back as a sponsor. As a sponsor we share with someone […]

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