AA Thought for the Day
(courtesy AA-Alive.net)
September 25, 2013
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Steps
If you have decided you want what we have
and are willing to go to any length to get it --
then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way.
But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command,
we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start.
- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58
Thought to Ponder . . .
The Twelve Steps -- a manuscript for rational living.
AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
S T E P S = Solutions Through Each Positive Step.
A Member Shares:
Mab, here, alcoholic. Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” And (shudder) Step 5. “Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” Sad to say, but my patterns were I drank, I got drunk. I drank when happy, when sad, when lonely, when with people, when I was successful, and when I failed. But when I drank, I was not in my right mind and caused harm to others and to myself, invariably. So, yes, sweating that 4th Step is a given for us all, I imagine. Yet, I was immensely anxious to do it, a.s.a.p. as you all had convinced me that it was the way to freedom and healing. The act of writing forced me into reviewing my own stupidity, cringe, my own shame, yet my own endurance. So, having written it all out in the kindest, least horrifying words, minimizing as much as possible some of my more horrific events, my sponsor sat me down and told me to put my paper away and tell it to her. Shock! Wow, and you know what? Things came out that weren't on that paper, stuff that was even deeper than the incidents, stuff that really were at the heart of my disease. So, far beyond wisdom are the wiles of sponsors, and HP knew where my heart was and what was best. That paper is burned, gone and forgotten, my amends made just the same to those I harmed. But the very fact that I did it and did it willingly albeit fearfully, is much more important than the details. Oh, and by the way, nothing said in my 5th Step shocked my sponsor one bit. In fact, she told some tales from her 4th Step that went way beyond what I had ever thought of doing. Imagine that! Thanks for letting me share.
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(All shares are reproduced with the kind permission of the person sharing)
Thanks to all of you for sharing so generously of your experience, strength and hope in carrying the AA message.
Blessings in sobriety to all,
In love and service,
joanna b
dailythought@aa-alive.org
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