Alcoholics Anonymous

by Alcoholics Anonymous

Whatever our ideal turns out to be, we must be willing to

grow toward it. We must be willing to make amends where we have done harm, provided that we do not bring about still more harm in so doing. In other words, we treat sex as we would any other problem. In meditation, we ask God what we should do abou...

we let God be the final judge.

If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will

be forgiven and will have learned our lesson.

not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. We are not theorizing. These ...

This takes us out of ourselves. It quiets the imperious urge, when to yield would mean heartache.

have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality.

have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness.

have begun to learn tolerance, patience...

toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on the...

have listed the people we have hurt b...

willing to straighten out the pas...

God can remove whatever self-will has blocked you off from Him.

made a good beginning.

new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path.

have admitted certain defects;

have ascertained in a...

what the trou...

have put our finger on the weak items in our per...

cast...

requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human be...

solitary self-appraisal insufficient.

The best reason first: If we skip this vital step, we may not

overcome drinking. Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives. Trying to avoid this humbling experience, they have turned to easier methods. Almost invariably they got drunk. Having persevered with the rest of the program, they wondered why they fell.

reason is that they never completed their...

took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the wor...

thought they had lost their egoism and fear; they only thought they h...

not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told so...

presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see.

We have seldom told them the whole truth nor have we followed their advice.

We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world.

story we tell to someone who will understand, yet be unaffected.

hard on ourself, but always considerate of others.

Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink

problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.

We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.

ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last.

If we can answer to our satisfaction, we then look at Step Six.

Are we now ready to let God

remove from us all the things which we have admitted are objectionable? Can He now take them all—every one? If we still cling to something we will not...

“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 in the way...

me strength, as I go out from here, to do your...

We have a list of all persons we have harmed and to whom we are willing to make amends. We made it when we took inventory.

We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.

we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol.

Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.

We go to him in a helpful and forgiving spirit, confessing our former ill feeling and expressing our regret.

We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worthwhile can be accomplished until we do

Rarely do we fail to make satisfactory progress.