The Health and Wellness Channel is writing about independence for our theme day and, as I read through the wonderful synopsis by Kendra I found myself thinking “Couldn’t all these folks apply this one same principle to each one of their challenges?”
And, from personal experience, I’d love to tell them that this one will work and work well! It assuredly does for us alkies
Let Go and Let God
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand Him.”
From A.A.’s 12&12;

I think today’s Daily Reflections is one of those that has the capacity to enlarge your expectations…
Forming True Partnerships
“But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them. The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being.”
Can these words apply to me, am I still unable to form a true partnership with another human being? What a terrible handicap that would be for me to carry into …read more

And I’ll waver in and out of it, dammit, because I have basic human instincts…
As I do so often – from “The Language of the Heart” page 237-238 (I ought to set up a cot on these pages)
“My basic flaw had always been dependence – almost absolute dependence – on people or circumstances to supply me with prestige, security, and the like.”
It’s that “and the like” stuff that gets me! Bill doesn’t talk about love, affection, attention, a feeling of worthiness, a feeling of being needed, in this area. “And the like.” He does speak of depression, which I am …read more

On page 63, the last paragraph written on our Third Step says;
“This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.”
Only a beginning, there’s a long way to go…
“Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted.”
Well, of course I never attempted it, I didn’t have the problem – you did. The world did. My boss did. My wife did. Etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum.
“Though our decision was a vital and …read more

Let’s end the month of March with the Third Step. There’s a motive, yes. I’ll let you in on it in a minute…
Step #3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
This is a wonderful paragraph from the Big Book, pg. 61;
“Our actor is self-centered – ego-centric, as people like to call it nowadays. He is like the retired business man who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation; the minister who sighs over the sins of the …read more

One of the many places in our literature which provided those oldtimers with enough resources to tell me the truth about me is on page 40 in our 12&12;
“Then it is explained that other steps of the A.A. program can be practiced with success only when Step Three is given a determined and persistent trial. This statement may surprise newcomers who have experienced nothing but constant deflation and a growing conviction that human will is of no value whatever.”
Are there really newcomers like that? (j/k)
“They have become persuaded, and rightly so, that many problems besides alcohol will not yield to …read more

There is no gray area for me in either the Third or Seventh Steps. For me…
Third
“God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always. We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves …read more

We’ve seen the First Step Promises, the Second Step Promises, now here are the Third Step Promises from the AA History Lovers Group at Yahoo!
1. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. (58:1)
2. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. (58:1)
3. Their chances are less than average. (58:1)
4. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go …read more

Is today’s Daily Reflection…
Immediately before the quote in the Daily Reflection, The Big Book says;
“We had to ask ourselves why we shouldn’t apply to our human problems this same readiness to change our point of view. We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people – was not a basic solution of these bedevilments more important than whether …read more

See this from yesterday;
“If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful.”
Then, when the show doesn’t please the alcoholic mind “What Usually Happens?”
“He begins to think life doesn’t treat him very well. He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be.”
And the family will have to use their “computer eyes” to decipher what to expect – demanding or gracious, probably knowing intuitively that in some manner …read more