Recovery Thoughts & Quotes 9/4

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~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~




Unity
^*^*^
"Moved by the spirit of anonymity,
we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction
as AA members both among fellow alcoholics
and before the general public.
As we lay aside these very human aspirations,
we believe that each of us takes part
in the weaving of a protective mantle
which covers our whole Society and under which
we may grow and work in unity.
We are sure that humility, expressed by anonymity,
is the greatest safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous
can ever have."
1952AAWS, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 187
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Thought to Consider . . .

To help each other, is to help ourselves.

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
A A's - R - U S = Alcoholics Anonymous Recovery Unity Service

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*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*


Conditional Recovery
From: "Steering clear of emotional entanglements"
Another caution: Tying our sobriety to someone we are emotionally involved with proves flatly disastrous. "I'll stay sober if so-and-so does this or that" puts an unhealthy condition on our recovery. We have to stay sober for ourselves, no matter what other people do or fail to do.

We should remember, too, that intense dislike also is an emotional entanglement, often a reversal of past love. We need to cool any overboard feeling, lest it flip us back into the drink.

1998, AAWS, Inc., Living Sober, pages 61-62

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*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was a crushing blow."


~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 42~

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Misc. AA Literature - Quote




It was evident that a solitary self-appraisal, and the admission of our defects based upon that alone, wouldn't be nearly enough. We'd have to have outside help if we were surely to know and admit the truth about ourselves - the help of God and of another human being.
Only by discussing ourselves, holding back nothing, only by being willing to take advice and accept direction could we set foot on the road to straight thinking, solid honesty, and genuine humility.

If we are fooling ourselves, a competent adviser can see this quickly. And, as he skillfully guides us away from our fantasies, we are surprised to find that we have few of the usual urges to defend ourselves against unpleasant truths. In no other way can fear, pride, and ignorance be so readily melted. After a time, we realize that we are standing firm on a brand-new foundation for integrity, and we gratefully credit our sponsors, whose advice pointed the way.

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12 x 12 Quote


"When listing the people we have harmed, most of us hit another solid
obstacle. We got a pretty severe shock when we realized that we were
preparing to make a face-to-face admission of our wretched conduct to
those we had hurt. It had been embarrassing enough when in confidence
we had admitted these things to God, to ourselves, and to another human
being. But the prospect of actually visiting or even writing the people
concerned now overwhelmed us, especially when we remembered in what
poor favor we stood with most of them. There were cases, too, where we
had damaged others who were still happily unaware of being hurt. Why,
we cried, shouldn't bygones be bygones? Why do we have to think of
these people at all? These were some of the ways in which fear
conspired with pride to hinder our making a list of all the people we
had harmed." (Twelve and Twelve, Step Eight, pg. 78)