Thanks again to the folks at the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo!
There are far more than Twelve Promises written in the Big Book “Alcoholics Anonymous.”
This is a listing of only those relating to the First Step (please, some may be a stretch – utilize, don’t analyze);
First Step Promises:
1. How many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism. (Title page).
2. Who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. (foreword 1st edition xiii)
3. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. (foreword 1st edition xiii)
4. We are …read more

This will come as a surprise to a couple of good friends. It is an example of “thinking?” My thinking overnight based on some words that were offered to me yesterday.
But first – regardless of the outcome I am thankful because I have been motivated. The motivation was certainly from the God I understand today. All the frills that came along with it may have hidden its meaning for a day or two but I was finally able to see the signpost. Therefore, within a couple of days the SCCSCU will be in receipt of a letter, however poorly written …read more

Do you really mean that? Are you sure?
It seems like this months Daily Reflections are more on target, for me, than most other months. What today’s actually speaks to my mind is: “Count Your Blessings, Not Your Troubles”
“One exercise that I try to practice is to try for a full inventory of my blessings…”

“What did I have to be grateful for? I shut myself up and started listing the blessings for which I was in no way responsible, beginning with having been born of sound mind and body.”

Well, maybe he was born with a sound mind lol.

“I went through seventy-four …read more

Well, this first sentence has the promise of becoming long and a run-on eh?
We’ve seen the First Step Promises, the Second Step Promises, , the Third Step Promises, and the Fourth Step Promises, now here are the Fifth Step Promises from the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo!
1. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. (72:2)
2. If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. (72:2)
3. They took inventory all right, but …read more

We’ve seen the First Step Promises, the Second Step Promises, , the Third Step Promises, now here are the Fourth Step Promises from the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo!
1. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. (64:0)
2. Our liquor was but a symptom. (64:0)
3. Resentment is …read more

Perhaps I might sub-title this one “What step are you on?”
I was 5 months away from my last drink (thru today) and still angry as he**. Of course, I was still pretty smart too, ya’ know? The anger tore at my insides though, so I went to Fr. Tom and asked him why I was still so angry. First word – First Step, I’d learned to ask for help.
This is simply my personal experience. I’d been going to one meeting a week, at a group that had that sign posted on the basement wall “One meeting a week makes one …read more

I have a good idea why this poem is titled “Investment Counsel.”
From “Living Sober“ we are given some insight into what might be wise things to spend a few dollars/cents on in early sobriety…
In the first few weeks without a drink
When the wolf is at the door,
And the sheriff’s at the window
And you’re sleeping on the floor,
And life looks bleak and hopeless
From a monetary angle,
It’s time to spend, in certain ways,
To solve the awful tangle:
That token or that bus fare
To get you to a meeting,
That dime (?) to use the telephone
For that necessary greeting,
That nickel (?) for “expenses”
That makes you …read more

Who? Me? You?
No, it doesn’t work that way.
I’m reading another Blog whereon someone takes great pains to decide for a lot of folks whether they truly are or are not real alcoholics, apparently in some mis-guided attempt to weed out some level of our membership by the use of the unaided will.
Disturbing as that may be, fortunately I find myself referring to the same literature this person refers to – The Big Book. Here, I must admit, I take words very literally. So, when I read page 31 and it says “We do not like to pronounce any individual as …read more

From the story “The Vicious Cycle” page 227;
“… the group in New York was composed of about twelve men who were working on the principle of every drunk for himself; we had no real formula and no name. We would follow one man’s ideas for a while, decide he was wrong, and switch to another’s method. But we were staying sober as long as we kept and talked together. There was one meeting a week at Bill’s home in Brooklyn, and we all took turns there spouting off about how we had changed our lives overnight, how many drunks we …read more

Poor Me, Poor Me, Pour Me a drink…
Self pity. See how many you can identify with;
Pg. 8 – “No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master.” – Bill W.
Pg. 15 – “My wife and I abandoned ourselves with enthusiasm to the idea of helping other alcoholics to a solution of their problems. It was fortunate, for my old business associates remained skeptical for a year and a half. during which I …read more