I’m going to take a few liberties with some of A.A.’s literature…
From pages 32-33 in the 12&12;
“To clergymen, doctors, friends, and families, the loveaholic who means well and tries hard is a heartbreaking riddle. To most L.A.’s, he/she is not. There are too many of us who have been just like him/her, and have found the riddle’s answer. The answer has to do with the quality of faith rather than its quantity. This has been our blind spot. We supposed we had humility when we really hadn’t. We supposed we had been serious about religious practices when, upon honest appraisal, …read more

From page 81 in AA’s 12&12;
“Such gross misbehavior is not by any means a full catalogue of the harms we do. Let us think of some of the subtler ones which can sometimes be quite as damaging. Suppose that in our family lives we happen to be miserly, irresponsible, callous, or cold. Suppose that we are irritable, critical, impatient, and humorless. Suppose we lavish attention upon one member of the family and neglect the others.”
Through the years I’ve watched my share of alcoholics who’ve, unfortunately, allowed themselves to return to selfishness and self-centeredness. In quite a few instances these folks …read more

But the Daily Reflection for October 9th holds true today as it does each day…
A Spiritual Axiom
“It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us.”
In the body of the person’s response in the Daily Reflection they say this;
“Feelings come from inside, not from outward circumstances. When my spiritual condition is positive, I react positively.”
On page 90 in the 12&12, speaking about the spiritual axiom and anger, it says;
“Few people have been more victimized by resentments than have we alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified …read more

I had been clearly defiant to those around me when I was a child (not drinking), later on once I had begun to drink, and as an adult because by then I was a walking, talking attitude case.
I didn’t see it, they did. And they told me. When they told me, it pi**ed me off. Then I became more defiant. Eventually, some mere mention of it would twist my gut into instant anger.
Had they also mentioned that I was defying God I think I might have really lost it. He was my last and only hope – but – He …read more

Especially for a powerful negative thinker…
“Mysterious Paradoxes”
The Daily Reflection for Feb., 23rd.
“Such is the paradox of A.A. regeneration: strength arising out of complete defeat and weakness, the loss of one’s old life as a condition for finding a new one.”
A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 46
“What glorious mysteries paradoxes are!”
Really? Not to a negative thinker… like I was.
“They do not compute, yet when recognized and accepted, they reaffirm something in the universe beyond human logic.”
Where’s Spock when I need him? Did you have a scientific, analytical mind like me?

I’d have never been able to put any credence in today’s Daily Reflection.
Guidance
“… this means a belief in a Creator who is all power, justice, and love; a God who intends for me a purpose, a meaning, and a destiny to grow, however … haltingly, toward His own likeness and image.”
As Bill Sees It, p.51
“As I began to understand my own powerlessness and my dependence on God, as I understand Him, I began to see that there was a life which, if I could have it, I would have chosen for myself from the beginning.”
This is in direct contradiction …read more

For the meeting you’ll be sitting in for the next hour?
This is from “The AA Group: Where It All Begins” pages 11 and 12;
Background for many topic meetings derives from A.A. literature, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book), Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, As Bill Sees It, Daily Reflections, and from the A.A. Grapevine.
A few specific topic suggestions may include:
• attitude
• defects of character
• fear
• freedom through sobriety
• gratitude
• higher power
• honesty
• humility
• making amends
• resentments
• sponsorship
• surrender
• the tools of recovery
• tolerance
• willingness

That he read the Second Step and then let me know how “we” had so often prayed – wrongly.
Well – at least he read the Step
“In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward.”
Eventually I took stock to discover that I had worked on a “reward system” my whole life. With a foundation of expectations, hidden expectations, I was always ready to help – for a reason. And that reason was a reward. Material …read more

Because there is “One who has all power,” I can look back today and believe that on the day I came strolling in to Alcoholics Anonymous God had opened the gates of hell and
LET ME OUT!!!
A free man… a free child of His… and I will be forever grateful.
This picture was taken a “number” of years ago lol. You’d never know, unless you’re here, how well I clean up but I have.

Nope, don’t quite look like that anymore. Can you believe that, until recently, I was wearing some really nice Hart Schaffner and Marx suits to work? Miracles. …read more

I’ve heard it said “If you pray, don’t worry. If you worry, don’t pray.” Now I don’t know about that but…
Once again, from Came to Believe;
Heard At Meetings
“Many people pray as though to overcome the will of a reluctant God, instead of taking hold of the willingness of a loving God.”
Wow – oh heck yeah…
“It is wise to pray for the future, but not to worry about it, because we can’t live it until it becomes the present. The depth of our anxiety measures the distance we are from God.”
And I was taught that if God seemed farther away, I …read more