Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions

by Alcoholics Anonymous

“problem drinkers,” but cannot endure the suggestion that they are in fact mentally ill. They

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understand the difference between sane drinking...

“Sanity” is defined as “soundne...

Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on

Honesty open mindedness willingness DO stop fighting PHENOMENON OF CRAVING How many of you believe you have a choice whether you drink or not? Can you control it once you start? and Can you control it once you stop? To be Alcoholic you must: Experience the physical craving as well as have the mental obsession. Symptoms of the PHYSICAL part of the Disease: 1. The feeling of euphoria that comes after starting to drink instead of the nausea that normal people feel. 2. The inability, at times, to stop drinking, even when faced with the knowledge and evidence that you should. With the alcoholic the craving starts after you put alcohol in the system. The phenomenon of craving for alcohol happens on the way up, as you’re getting higher. Alcoholics do get the craving coming off (withdrawing from) booze- as shown by DTs. Untreated or unaided alcoholics, when withdrawing from alcohol, often die without the help of people and/or medications to get them through the horrible physical withdrawal. CAUTION: You can be an alcoholic and not have gone through those terrible cycles because you are in early stages of alcoholism. You may be an alcoholic and drug addict and come off alcohol with the use of chemicals (legal or illegal) and have experienced only mild withdrawls, so.... look carefully at your own symptoms. You should ask yourself: What did alcohol do for me once I started drinking? “The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink”. Alcoholics Anonymous- pg.24

In the first two Steps we were engaged in reflection.

These conclusions did not require action; they required only acceptance.

Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing.

placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.

the key of willingness.

like Einstein’s theory of relativity or a proposition in nuclear physics.

and how unconscious of that dependence.

he might first take a look at the results normal people are getting from self-sufficiency.

juggernaut

juggernaut overwhelming uncertainty ✍🏿️huge powerful overwhelming Disambiguate remove uncertainty of meaning📘

admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.

solution

because he cannot use alcohol to kill the pain,

Of course the sponsor points out that our friend’s life is still

newcomers who have experienced nothing but constant deflation and a growing conviction that human will is of no value whatever.

the individual alone. But now it appears that there are certain things which only the individual can do. All by himself, and in the light of his own circumstances, he needs to develop the quality of willingness.

Influence a force or quality

Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God’s intention for us. To

b :morally excellent :righteous <a virtuous decision> PHENOMENON OF CRAVING How many of you believe you have a choice whether you drink or not? Can you control it once you start? and Can you control it once you stop? To be Alcoholic you must: Experience the physical craving as well as have the mental obsession. Symptoms of the PHYSICAL part of the Disease: 1. The feeling of euphoria that comes after starting to drink instead of the nausea that normal people feel. 2. The inability, at times, to stop drinking, even when faced with the knowledge and evidence that you should. With the alcoholic the craving starts after you put alcohol in the system. The phenomenon of craving for alcohol happens on the way up, as you’re getting higher. Alcoholics do get the craving coming off (withdrawing from) booze- as shown by DTs. Untreated or unaided alcoholics, when withdrawing from alcohol, often die without the help of people and/or medications to get them through the horrible physical withdrawal. CAUTION: You can be an alcoholic and not have gone through those terrible cycles because you are in early stages of alcoholism. You may be an alcoholic and drug addict and come off alcohol with the use of chemicals (legal or illegal) and have experienced only mild withdrawls, so.... look carefully at your own symptoms. You should ask yourself: What did alcohol do for me once I started drinking? “The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink”. Alcoholics Anonymous- pg.24. PHENOMENON OF CRAVING (for non-alcoholics) If you are a loved one or family member, there may be a physical manifestation experienced when the drinking alcoholic’s negative legal, financial or physical consequences are temporarily averted. The chaos of the home or workplace may stimulate extremes of emotions which can lead to dependence on unhealthy relationships. Justification, minimalization and rationalization adds to your feeling of over-importance. You may have a physical and emotional let down when the alcoholic sobers up and starts to function, as normal people do, and that “high,” once achieved from emotional extremes, becomes less attainable. If you are a Drug Addict, you sometimes get physically sick while getting high – throwing up, diarrhea, etc.(other symptoms of the physical allergy). As you start to come down, the physical need or demand for more increases. Drug addicts get a craving for more on the way down from a high (withdrawal). Drug addicts, unlike late stage alcoholics, usually have the ability to come off (withdraw from) heroin and cocaine while detained in jails or hospitals. They do get sick, but don’t die from withdrawal. In the case of the Addict and the Al-Anon, the withdrawal symptoms disappear when the “craving” is satisfied. However, when the alcoholic drinks the craving for alcohol becomes stronger. That’s what makes alcoholism different.

Once we have come into agreement with these ideas, it is really easy to begin the practice of Step Three. In all times of emotional disturbance or indecision, we can pause, ask for quiet, and in the stillness simply say: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine, be done.”

natural desires have warped

the basic problem is.

When an individual’s desire for prestige becomes uncontrollable, whether in the sewing circle or at the international conference table, other people suffer and often revolt.

This collision of instincts can produce anything from a cold snub to a blazing revolution.

are set in conflict not only with ourselves, but with other people wh...

have drunk to drown feelings of fear, frustration, and depression.

This perverse soul-sickness is not pleasant to look upon.

to probe them, we are liable to suffer severe reactions.

For this is pride in reverse.

They comfort the melancholy one by first showing him that his case is not strange or different, that his character defects are probably not more numerous or worse than those of anyone else in A.A.

This tends to clear away morbidity and encourage balance.

As soon as he begins to be more objective, the newcomer can fearlessly, rather than fearfully, look at his own defects.

Argumentative

their ego has built,

have suffered severely from self-justification

vengeful resentments, self-pity, and unwarranted pride.

Seven Deadly Sins of

the chief block to true progress.

A.A. suggests a fearless moral inventory,

Pride says, “You need not pass this way,” and Fear says, “You dare not

When, and how, and in just what instances did my selfish pursuit of the sex relation damage other

Bottom 50

The most common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity, and depression.

4 horses

Questioning directed to this end might run like this: Looking at both past and present, what sex situations have caused me anxiety, bitterness, frustration, or depression? Appraising each situation fairly, can I see where I have been at fault?

inventory. In this connection, it is wise to write out our questions and answers.

appraisal. It will be the first tangible evidence of our complete willingness to move forward.