If you don’t know please ask your sponsor…
From today’s Daily Reflection: “Those Who Still Suffer”
“For us, if we neglect those who are still sick, there is unremitting danger to our own lives and sanity.”
It is my personal opinion (fwiw) that this is a piece of writing that undoes the profundity expressed in meetings that the newcomer is the most important person in the room. I think whoever made that statement up about the newcomer needed to say something they thought made them sound important.
When you get down to reality, in a belief system based on a Higher Power, each and …read more

Keep your big mouth shut!
This, for me, goes a very long way to defining humility.
I was always Johnny-On-The-Spot when someone was troubled, in harms’ way or hurt. It seemed that accidents happened close by and I’d be there to help. But I had a motive despite the coincidental nature of most of these circumstances.
I wanted attention. I wanted someone to pay attention to me, to reward me. Self-centered in the extreme because if I didn’t receive attention or reward I got angry and pouted. Of true humility I knew absolutely nothing.
Then came AA and wise oldtime AA members including Matt …read more

Really? But you’ve “done” your Seventh Step, right? Um Hmmm.
This applies to me as well folks! Today’s Reflection;
Shortcomings Removed
“When I put the Seventh Step into action I must remember that there are no blanks to fill in.”
Isn’t this interesting? If I hadn’t read this I’d be wondering what they meant. They go on to say;
“It doesn’t say, ‘Humbly asked Him to (fill in the blank) remove our shortcomings.’ For years, I filled in the imaginary blank with ‘Help me!’ ‘Give me the courage to,’ and ‘Give me the strength,’ etc. The Step says simply that God will remove my shortcomings.”
Must …read more

“Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works.”
From page 75 in AA’s 12&12;
“During this process of learning more about humility, the most profound result of all was the change in our attitude toward God. And this was true whether we had been believers or unbelievers. We began to get over the idea that the Higher Power was a sort of bush-league pinch hitter, to be called upon only in an emergency.”
You know what the two foxhole prayers are – don’t you?
The first is “Please dear God, get me out of this one and I swear, I’ll never do …read more

My first stop each day, if you hadn’t figured it out , is the Daily Reflection. Today’s begins with this: “My stability came out of trying to give, not out of demanding that I receive.”
And I damn well want to know why I am still unstable when I make no friggin’ demands upon God for anything!!!
I’ve been reading our literature and it’s references to demands as opposed to requests for some time now. I understand the differences. It was made clear to me what I’d been doing with my alcoholic, negative thinking when I was drinking and even early …read more

Doesn’t necessarily work if you’re an alcoholic…
From The Seventh Step in the 12&12;
“True, most of us thought good character was desirable, but obviously good character was something one needed to get on with the business of being self-satisfied.”
Yeah – right. In the case of most alcoholics and also most humans, we were previously told “Instead of regarding the satisfaction of our material desires as the means by which we could live and function as human beings, we had taken these satisfactions to be the final end and aim of life.” How true! And how perverse was that thinking…
That led to …read more

Sooo – I’m human just like you
With an added feature – alcoholism… Permanent, progressive, fatal and damn patient! Mighty damn patient.
Mary Christine said: “Hang in there and know that God loves you and is being kind and loving towards you even though it feels horrible.” Think about that for a moment. It reminds me of a prayer I found during the divorce days while looking through Rosary prayers. I needed some level of comfort from the pain and alcohol was no longer available to offer relief. I found this: “Sometimes, in His wisdom, He allows the suffering to …read more

From Silkworth.net;
The Seventh Step Prayers
“I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch.” (p. 13)
“My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands …read more

For those who might not understand – the pop is a sound heard when someone’s head makes a sudden, strained, and loud emergence from the nether regions of your ****ole! anal cavity!

Heard something else at a meeting today and I loved it. Why? Because it came from the mouth of someone who is a Viet Nam vet, has 10 years sobriety, is a cancer survivor and is also a “retired” member of a “motorcycle club.” He now calls himself a “motorcycle enthusiast” rather than a biker!
He closed his sharing with;
“Once I was a hopeless dope fiend. Today …read more

From Silkworth.net;
4th STEP Prayers
WHEN IN DOUBT
“I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure.”
(p.13)
WHEN I AM DISTURBED BY THE CONDUCT (SYMPTOMS) OF OTHERS
“This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.”
(p. 67 BB)
God help me to show this person the same tolerance, …read more