Big book chapter 2

AA Big book in images

Hear what I’m trying to do is any individual alcoholic can read the BIG BOOK on the go you can download these images to your mobile phone  and read it whenever you wish to so for that I converted alcoholics anonymous  Big book page by page in to jpg image .

 

 

 

Keeping It Simple

When I showed up at your doors, you kept it very simple for me. You said, "Don't drink, go to meetings, get a sponsor, and keep coming back." You said that if I did this, things would get better. You didn't tell me when but I believed you just the same. . . I was an alcoholic who wanted a new way of life,and that was all you cared about.

- Thank You For Sharing, p. 88.

While it isn't always easy, if I keep it simple, it works.

K I S S = Keep It Serenely Simple.

The Art of Happiness There was never a time when so much official effort was being expended to produce happiness, and probably never a time when so little attention was paid by the individual to creating and personal qualities that make for it. What one misses most today is the evidence of widespread personal determination to develop a character that will, in itself, given any reasonable odds, make for happiness. Our whole emphasis is on the reform of living conditions, of increased wages, of controls on the economic structure-the government approach-and so little on man improving himself. The ingredients of happiness are so simple that they can be counted on one hand. Happiness comes from within, and rests most securely on simple goodness and clear conscience. Religion may not be essential to it, but no one ins known to have gained it without a philosophy resting on ethical principles. Selfishness is its enemy; to make another happy is to be happy one's self. It is quiet, seldom found for long in crowds, most easily won in moments of solitude and reflection. It cannot be bought; indeed, money has very little to do with it. No one is happy unless he is reasonably well satisfied with himself, so that the quest for tranquility must of necessity begin with self-examination. We shall not often be content with what we discover in this scrutiny. There is much to do, and so little done. Upon this searching self-analysis, however, depends the discovery of those qualities that make each man unique, and whose development alone can bring satisfaction. Of all those who have tried, down the ages, to outline a program for happiness, few have succeeded so well as William Henry Channing, chaplain of the House of Representatives in the middle of the last century: "To live content with small means; so seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy . . . to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never; in a word to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common." It will be noted that no government can do this for you; you must do it for yourself.

Action

My AA way of life now demands constant action -- an active self honesty and recognition of the necessity for living in day-tight compartments. Patience must be practiced. In gratitude, I must humbly come to believe every moment of every day.
- Came to Believe . . ., p. 96
Gratitude is not a word in AA. It's an action.
S W A T = Surrender, Willingness, Action, Trust.

 

 

 We aren't bad people trying to get good. We're sick people trying to get well. We don't have a problem. We have a solution witch we don't like.

"Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die."

"The power behind me is greater than the problem in front of me."

" The quality of your recovery is proportional to the quality of your surrender."

Instead of praying "God be with me,"
I pray "God bear with me!"

God doesn't close one door
without opening a better one
BUT
we've got to get our fingers
out of the closing door. The reason We're in pain is because we have our fingers in a door God is trying to close.

 

Remember and have no doubt! The God who can punish us for our sins is also capable in His limitless mercy of absolving us from our sins. There is no heavy sin or curse that cannot be redeemed by deeds and prayer.

It is not until you awaken and become fully present that you will realize that you have not been present. It is not until you awaken that you will realize you have been asleep, dreaming that you are awake.

A saying from the area of Chinese medicine would be appropriate to mention here: "One disease, long life; no disease, short life." In other words, those who know what's wrong with them and take care of themselves accordingly will tend to live a lot longer than those who consider themselves perfectly happy and neglect their weakness. So, in that sense at least, a Weakness of some sort can do you a big favor, if you acknowledge that it's there.

Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.

A positive sense of self can bring heaven to earth. If one manifests their divine nature they can transform their inner world and cultivate a life of love and compassion. Love and wholeness will bring us rewarding new life experiences and fulfill our souls potential. Let us all nurture awareness and nourish the spirit, for by doing so we will walk the earth in friendship as we reconnect with joy.

 

Carrying the message

 

". . . we tried to carry this message to alcoholics." What message? Hope. Example. The way out. The way back. A handful of simple principles to unravel most of our snarled-up problems. A touch of humor -- not taking ourselves so damned seriously. Meetings. Availability. Talk, talk, talk. . ."Carrying the message" is all these things.

- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 179
 In AA we carry the message ... not the mess.

E S H = Experience, Strength and Hope.

Since drug abuse and addiction have so many scopes and disturb so many aspects of an individual’s life, healing is not simple. Valuable treatment programs characteristically include many mechanisms, each going to a particular piece of the sickness and its consequences. Addiction management must assist the person to stop using drugs, sustain a drug-free way of life, and attain fruitful functioning in the family unit, at work, and in the general public. Due to the fact that substance abuse is in general a chronic disease, addicts are not able to just end the use of drugs for a short time and be cured. Most addicts need long-term or recurring episodes of care to attain the decisive goal of sustained abstinence and recovery of their lives.

Drug addiction is a multifaceted illness distinguished by powerful and, at times, unmanageable drug desire, along with uncontrollable drug in search of and use that persist even in the face of overwhelming consequences. Despite the fact that the path to drug dependence begins with the deliberate act of using drugs, as time goes by, a person’s aptitude to select not to do so gets compromised, and looking for and taking drugs becomes neurotic. This conduct results mainly from the consequences of extended drug exposure on brain performance. Craving is a brain illness that impacts multiple brain functions, as well as the ones involved in gain and enthusiasm, knowledge and memory, and inhibitory control over behavior.

A Member Shares:
Good evening, I'm Ann, and I'm an alcoholic. This weekend, I had the pleasure to go to a group's anniversary meeting. There was great food, upbeat members, and lots of great sharing from the speakers. As I listened to the story of one speaker who had over 25 years of sobriety, I was struck by the sheer miracles we are privy to in AA. From the depths of despair to lives that are rich and full of laughter and goodwill, we truly do change radically if we are willing. The speaker's story reminded me of the times in my own life when I simply did not believe that anything or anyone could help. I felt so alone and inadequate and hopeless. Then, I recall waking up one day with a “knowing” of how to solve my problem. I absolutely knew that I would and could be safe; I had somehow found the power to carry it out. Within a week, my life had changed. I had gone from hopeless to empowered, and had no way to explain what had happened. Today, I know what that was. It was the same power I found one morning to stop the insanity of alcoholism. My life has been filled with such moments of grace. I will be sure there is no solution to some problem, and then it changes. It always seems it changes in a blink. And in AA, we share our stories with others. We share honestly about that despair, our insanity, and then the miracles of how we've been transformed. Even when I was drinking, I was attending AA open meetings fairly regularly. Do you not think I wasn't hearing those miracles while secretly drinking and worrying that I might have a real problem myself? Of course, I was. I am sober by the grace of God, for sure. But the generous sharing by AA members is how God carried the message to me, even when I was still drinking. I will be eternally grateful, too. Because that morning when I personally “woke up,” I had not a shred of doubt that AA works, that I would be OK, and that I knew exactly what to do next. I still need to be constantly reminded that there is simply no problem that God cannot and will not help me through in this life. I hear your courage, wisdom, and strength and I'm reminded that I, too, can tap into that power.

Pause

Pause.

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day.
"Thy will be done." 
         ( courtesy AAOnline.net )

- Alcoholics Anonymous, pp. 87-88.

The Three "P's" -- Pause, Pray, Proceed.

P A U S E = Patience And Understanding Succeed Every time.