OUR PATHS ARE OUR OWN
… there was nothing left for us
but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools
laid at our feet.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 25
My first attempt at the Steps
was one of obligation and necessity,
which resulted in a deep feeling of discouragement
in the face of all those adverbs:
courageously; completely; humbly; directly; and only.
I considered Bill W. fortunate
to have gone through such a major,
even sensational, spiritual experience.
I had to discover, as time went on,
that my path was my own.
After a few twenty-four hours in the A.A. Fellowship,
thanks especially to the sharing of members in meetings,
I understood that everyone
gradually finds his or her own pace
in moving through the Steps.
Through progressive means,
I try to live according to these suggested principles.
As a result of these Steps,
I can say today that my attitude towards life,
people, and towards anything having to do with God,
has been transformed and improved.
******************************
True Ambition–and False
We have had a much keener look
at ourselves and those about us.
We have seen that we were prodded
by unreasonable fears or anxieties
into making a life business
of winning fame, money,
and what we thought was leadership.
So, false pride became the reverse side
of that ruinous coin marked "Fear."
We simply had to be Number One people
to cover up our deep-lying inferiorities.
True ambition is not what we thought it was.
True ambition is the profound desire to live usefully
and walk humbly under the grace of God.
12 & 12 - 1. p. 123, 2. pp. 124-125
*******
Step by Step Book
"One night after a Step Two meeting,
I decided to find out
what those courageous early members
who put our Twelve Steps together really meant by sanity.
I was a little surprised to find that my dictionary defined it
as the quality of being sound of mind, sound of judgment,
reasonable and rational in one's thoughts ...
As I sat there mulling over the definition,
an idea occurred to me:
'This is what I'm to be restored to –
sound, reasonable, rational thinking.'"
"Sanity Clause,"
Shenandoah, Iowa, February 1982
Step by Step
*******
Celebrating the Language of the Heart
"With respect to its own affairs,
the collective conscience of the group will, given time,
almost surely demonstrate its perfect dependability.
The group conscience will, in the end,
prove a far more infallible guide for group affairs
than the decision of any individual member,
however good or wise he may be."
"Tradition Two,"
AA Co-Founder,
Bill W.,
January 1948
The Language of the Heart
******************************
SERVANT, NOT MASTER
In A.A., we found that it did not matter too much
what our material condition was,
but it mattered greatly what our spiritual condition was.
As we improved our spiritual outlook,
money gradually became our servant and not our master.
It became a means of exchanging love
and service with those about us.
One of A.A.'s Loners is an Australian sheepman
who lives two thousand miles from the nearest town,
where yearly he sells his wool.
In order to be paid best prices
he has to get to town during a certain month.
But when he heard that a big regional A.A. meeting
was to be held at a later date
when wool prices would have fallen,
he gladly took a heavy financial loss
in order to make his journey then.
That's how much an A.A. meeting means to him.
1. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 122
2. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 31
*******
GRAPEVINE quote of the day
"The measure of my sobriety
isn't the distance between now and the last drink –
the measure of my sobriety
is the distance between now and the next drink."
White Rock, British Columbia, May 2005
"Life -- It Happens"
No Matter What: Dealing with Adversity in Sobriety
******************************
HUMBLE GRATITUDE
Joe McFadden
"Today I can hardly contain my humble gratitude
for the grace I stand - thank God for AA and all of you!"
Pride says look at what I did –
Gratitude says look at what God did!
Pride is the absence of humility.
Humility is the absence of pride.
The water I drank is being transformed
into flesh - bone - thought - feeling – energy,
in other words, all that it takes to maintain life –
I know I cannot do it nor can any human –
each of us has this infinite intelligence within –
it is the Father within doing the works we call life –
we cannot do anything good enough to earn it
or can we do anything bad enough
not to receive it by His grace
so, every breath we take is proof of His Presence within.
AA has taught me that God
is within each and every one of us
but it may be obscured by pomp,
calamity or worship of other things
but all who take the steps will gain access to
and belief in this power most of us call God.
******************************
Use that Broom
A good housekeeper sees to it that dust and dirt
do not accumulate in nooks and corners and on shelves.
Periodically, the house is gone over
and given a thorough cleaning.
Too often in our spiritual lives,
we allow negative things
to accumulate in the corners of our minds.
We tackle the obvious problems as they come along,
but allow the small difficulties to pile up in the corners.
For instance, if we are faced
with a problem of health or finance,
we get to work on that immediately,
but if, on the other hand, someone has injured us,
instead of handling the incident spiritually at the time,
we tuck it away
and perhaps pack in a little resentment along with it.
Such problems should be dealt with as they arise.
If someone has injured you, forgive him now,
and be done with it.
Take care of the other difficulties in like manner.
Be a good housekeeper.
Clean out every nook and corner—
and God will make you worthy
of greater accomplishments in the future.
*******
Just for today..............
When drinking, we thought that drinking
would somehow solve our problems.
Instead we found that alcohol was a dissolvent –
it ended up dissolving our marriages, our careers,
our sense of priorities, our relationships with people we loved.
We also found that our resolve
to stop drinking was by itself not enough –
we had to take action,
to get involved in AA and find the higher power we needed.
So.................
Do I understand that resolve and self-knowledge
are not enough? Am I involved in my sobriety?
Regardless of worldly success or failure,
regardless of pain or joy, regardless of sickness or health
or even of death itself,
a new life of endless possibilities
can be lived if we are willing to continue our awakening,
through the practice of A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
~~ Bill W.
Please see "As Bill See It" Page 8
******************************
FEAR
"Nothing in life is to be feared.
It is only to be understood."
-- Marie Curie
God is on my side.
Today I really believe and understand this truth,
and it helps me cope with my fears.
Now I am beginning to understand
that I was the only real enemy in my life.
With this new understanding of God,
I have the power of choice back in my life.
I do not have to stay in a sick process.
I do not need sick and negative people in my life.
I do not have to place myself
in destructive relationships or in fearful situations.
God is alive in my life
and I am discovering the spiritual power of choice.
God, give me the courage to confront my fear
and be willing to make changes in my life.
You are reading from the book:
SAY YES TO YOUR LIFE BY FATHER LEO BOOTH
*******
ALKIESPEAK – Book – Quote
I don’t wish to become a member of any club
which will have me as a member.
– Groucho Marx.
~*~*~*~*~*~
If you touch, you feel. If you ask, you learn.
If you look, you see.
If you love, you live.
–unknown
Situations I fear are rarely as bad as the fear itself.
–unknown
******************************
~*~A.A. Thoughts for the Day~*
^*^*^*^*^
(\ ~~ /)
( \ (AA)/ )
(_ /AA\ _)
/AA\
^*^*^*^*^
Insecurity
^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^*^
The achievement of freedom from fear
is a lifetime undertaking,
one that can never be wholly completed.
When under heavy attack, acute illness,
or in other conditions of serious insecurity,
we shall all react, well or badly, as the case may be.
Only the vainglorious claim perfect freedom from fear,
though their very grandiosity is really rooted
in the fears they have temporarily forgotten.
Bill W.,
January 1962
c. 1988 AA Grapevine,
The Language of the Heart, p. 265
******************************
Thought to Consider . . .
Once we clear a hurdle, it doesn't seem so high.
~*~*~*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*~*~*~
T R U S T = Try Relying Upon Steps and Traditions
******************************
~*~*~*~*~*^ Just for Today! ^*
Action
From "The Shared Gift"
"A.A. is more than a set of principles;
it is a society of alcoholics in action.
We must carry the message, else we
ourselves can wither and those who
haven't been given the truth may die."
c. 1967, As Bill Sees It, page 13
******************************
THE VICTORY OF SURRENDER
We perceive that only through utter defeat
are we able to take our first steps
toward liberation and strength.
Our admissions of personal powerlessness
finally turn out to be firm bedrock
upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p 21
When alcohol influenced every facet of my life, when bottles became the symbol of all my self-indulgence and permissiveness, when I came to realize that, by myself, I could do nothing to overcome the power of alcohol, I realized I had no recourse except surrender. In surrender I found victory -- victory over my selfish self-indulgence, victory over my stubborn resistance to life as it was given to me. When I stopped fighting anybody or anything, I started on the path to sobriety, serenity and peace.
Copyright 1990
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
WORLD SERVICES, INC.
******************************
~*~*~*~*^As Bill Sees It^*~*~*
All or Nothing?
Acceptance and faith
are capable of producing 100 per cent sobriety.
In fact, they usually do;
and they must, else we could have no life at all.
But the moment we carry these attitudes
into our emotional problems,
we find that only relative results are possible.
Nobody can, for example,
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