From page 88 in the 12&12;
“Can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to good purpose under all conditions?”
I.E., when reality jumps up and says “hello” will we be grounded well enough in The Twelve Steps where we can call on our tools to help us go through whatever it is that life has to offer us, good or bad?
From today’s Daily Reflection;
“I have found that pain lets me know there is something wrong with my emotions, just as physical pain lets me know there is something wrong with my body. When I take appropriate action through the …read more

Today’s Daily Reflections speaks of removing the ground glass in us. Damn – that’s sounds and “feels” painful…
Remember, from the Seventh Step;
“In every case, pain had been the price of admission into a new life.”
I’d asked God for dozens of do-overs, never believing there was any hope. In addition, I sure didn’t exactly perceive that were I to be graced with a new life that, by necessity, it would have to be born through pain!
“But this admission price had purchased more than we expected. It brought a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain.”
In …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

The title of today’s Daily Reflection is Pride. Without going into detail, this reading is very appropriate for me right now! I really like what it says because it truly nails the subject and transcends pitiful and pathetic injustices.
“For thousands of years we have been demanding more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted.
In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap …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

Perfect timing Mary Christine
I’ve written on this before and it is both timely and – well, timely.
From the Daily Reflections for July 9th;
I Am An Instrument

Humbly Asked Him To Remove Our Shortcomings. (12 and 12, p. 70)
The subject of humility is a difficult one. Humility is not thinking less of myself than I ought to; it is acknowledging that I do certain things well, it is accepting a compliment graciously.
God can only do for me what He can do through me. Humility is the result of knowing that God is the doer, not me. In the light of …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

No alcoholic can stay sober at all…
Then, directly related to self-centeredness in the extreme, “Unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they still haven’t much chance of becoming truly happy.”
Which, for now, is where I lose understanding.
The state of mind is such that faith and humility are sorely lacking meaning that selfishness is on the table. Do the right thing, do the right thing, do the right thing… and? What?
“Humility, as a word and as an ideal, has a very bad time of it in our world.” It is having a …read more