Alcoholics Anonymous

by Alcoholics Anonymous

spent the entire day, more than eight or nine hours, going into people’s offices and making my amends. Some were thrilled to see me. One woman called the police. When they arrived, it turned out the policeman was in A.A., and he convinced the woman not

Those events that once made me feel ashamed and disgraced now allow me to share with others how to become a useful member of the human race.

Like everyone else I have good days and bad days. Unlike my attitude while I was still drinking, however, I rarely dread what

I told A.A. members that the Bugalademujs were fooling around with my Big Book. You know what—they are still at it today.

but I do believe I became one because I drank too much too often.

We tried the switch technique, the time control schedule, the drink-only-on-weekends ploy. Nothing worked.

I stated that my brain told me I was an alcoholic but the rest of me didn’t believe it.

New friends have shown me hidden truths in those sayings that I once found so shallow.

now finds sincere warmth in just being available. I count it a privilege to help another drunk.

the result of the way I reacted to what happened to me as a child.

i am a result of the way i reacted!!!

A.A. has taught me that through this simple program I may experience a change in this reaction pattern that will indeed allow me to “match calamity with serenity.”

I grew up believing that one had to be totally self-sufficient, for one never dared to depend on another human being.

trauma response

spiritual hunger.

have shown me that the need for self-analysis that A.A. has shown me is vital if I am to survive.

defogged

Society can do anything it chooses to do with me when I am drunk, and I can’t lift a finger to stop it,

I no longer need to escape reality.

“H” is for honesty, the “O” is for open-mindedness, and the “W” is for willingness;

Rationalization is giving a socially acceptable reason for socially unacceptable behavior, and socially unacceptable behavior is a form of insanity.”

A.A. has taught me that I will have peace of mind in exact proportion to the peace of mind I bring into the lives of other people,

He said, in effect: “If you have a resentment you want to be free of, if you will pray for the person or the thing that you resent, you will be free. If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you will be free. Ask for their health, their prosperity, their happiness, and you will be free. Even when you don’t really want it for them and your prayers are only words and you don’t mean it, go ahead and do it anyway. Do it every day for two weeks, and you will find you have come to mean it and to want it for them, and you will realize that where you used to feel bitterness and resentment and hatred, you now feel compassionate understanding and love.”

This is the resentment prayer

“It teaches us how to handle sobriety.”

to learn how to handle sobriety—which is what I could not handle in the first place. That’s why I drank.

I read self-help books.

I began sneaking drinks when

My values became distorted. To

And yet my ability to lie outwardly and to kid myself inwardly grew with every drink I took.

Indeed, I had to drink now to live, to cope with the demands of everyday existence.

I had always been oversensitive to criticism and was acutely so now. When I was criticized or reprimanded, the bottle was my refuge and comfort.

THIS!!

Bruises appeared mysteriously over my body.

by the grace of God, Dr. Harry Tiebout,

This!!! Harry Tiebout

It was the late Dr. Tiebout, then, who persuaded me to seek help through A.A. I acquired a sponsor and began attending meetings but continued to drink.

HARRY TIEBOUT!!!

I have learned to deal with disappointments and problems

I have come to realize that the name of the game is not so much to stop drinking as to stay sober

but we have to deal with sobriety every day.

we cannot afford resentments and self-pity,

rid ourselves of guilt and remorse

emotional swings that got us into trouble both when we were up and when we were down.

We are taught to differentiate between our wants (which are never satisfied) and our needs (which are always provided for).

We cast off the burdens of the past and the anxieties of the future, as we begin to live in the...

the serenity to accept the things we cann...

and thus lose our quickness to anger and our sensitiv...

THIS!!! Vulnerable to criticism!

Above all, we reject fantasizing and accept reality. The more I drank, the more ...

I imagined getting even for hurts and ...

A.A. led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms.

He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life;

Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience.

capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover,

mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.

HOW Honesty Openmindednes and Willingness

principle is contempt prior to investigation.”