Thought to Consider….
It isn’t difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill – just add a little dirt.
Isolation is a darkroom where we develop negatives.
I didn’t know how sick I was until I started getting better.
Newcomers are the lifeblood of the program, but our oldtimers are the arteries.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him. . .
“The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered.”
During this 17-year period [1918-1935], Dr. Bob had worked out a grim routine that permitted him to drink and somehow still maintain his medical practice. Careful never to go near the hospital while he was drinking, he would stay sober until four o’clock in the afternoon. It was really a horrible nightmare, this earning money, getting liquor, smuggling it home, getting drunk, morning jitters, taking large doses of sedatives to make it possible for me to earn more money, and so on ad nauseum, he wrote. “I used to promise my wife, my friends, and my children that I would drink no more – promises which seldom kept me sober through the day, though I was very sincere when I made them.”
Principles
“Experience shows that few alcoholics will long stay away from a group just because they don’t like the way it is run. Most return and adjust themselves to whatever conditions they must. Some go to a different group, or form a new one. In other words, once an alcoholic fully realizes that he cannot get well alone, he will somehow find a way to get well and stay well in the company of others.”
“The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.”
“Spirituality is an awakening or is it all the loose ends woven together into a mellow fabric? It’s understanding or is it all the knowledge one need ever know? It’s freedom if you consider fear slavery. It’s confidence or is it the belief that a higher power will see you through any storm or gale? It’s adhering to the dictates of your conscience or is it a deep, genuine, living concern for the people and the planet? It’s peace of mind in the face of adversity. It’s a keen and sharpened desire for survival.”
Recovery
“Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable”
“The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did – then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen – Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.”
Dianne