Friendship

Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends -- this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 89

A friend is one who sees through you and still enjoys the view.
Y A N A = You Are Not Alone.

Courage to change

"God grant me the courage to change the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done."
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 41.

If I have the courage to begin, I have the courage to succeed.
A B C = Acceptance, Belief, Change.

“The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.”
Solomon Ibn Gabriol (1021-1058)

 

A Member Shares:

Hi, Terry here, alcoholic in recovery and grateful for you and this program and hard lessons underway. I was a Navy corpsman (medic). My job was to 'fix' ill and wounded folks. I tried to do that as a drunk and even when I got sober. Some of that is honorable. Some of it is pride. I thought I was in charge on a deeper level than I really am. When I came to sobriety, I tried to fix my dysfunctional family – counseling, etc. I did the same in a relationship that followed. No such luck. I came to realize that if I have done all I know how to do, if I have expended effort, drawn on my best resources, and pray as much and as hard as I can -- things still might not change. Then I have to make a decision – do I accept, and by default, co-sign or enable sickness to continue? Or do I change? I am learning to change. Sometimes doing “the next right thing” means leaving behind people I love. I miss my children, but it was less chaotic for them to stay and find their own paths, knowing that I love them and they are always welcome with me -- the same for friends. I learned I cannot keep other people sober, or “fix” much in other people. I cannot even “fix” myself except by asking my HP to direct my thinking, to let me know HIS will for me, and give me the grace, courage, and power to carry that out. Sometimes that means tough choices. If I make them with love and care, I trust they will be right. Not easy, but admission that I am not “in charge” and my HP has better plans for me (and others) than I could imagine. Thanks for blessing my life.

 

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do.”

 

 

“The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all the other woes of mankind, is wisdom.”

 

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Aristotle (384 BCE - 322 BCE) .

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.