"In important matters there was still considerable disagreement between the Eastern and the Midwestern viewpoints. Our people out there were still active Oxford Group members, while we in New York had withdrawn a year before. In Akron and vicinity they still talked about the Oxford Groups absolutes: absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love. This dose was found to be too rich for New Yorkers, and we had abandoned the expressions. But all of us, East and West, were placing increasing emphasis on Dr. Silkworth's expression describing the alcoholic's dilemma: the obsession plus the allergy. By now we knew from experience that the new prospect had to accept Step One or get no place."
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 160-61
*~*~*~*~*^As
Bill
Sees
It^*~*~*~*~*
Coping with Anger
Few people have been more victimized by resentments than have we
alcoholics. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well-nursed grudge could
make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in separating justified
from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath was always justified. Anger,
that occasional luxury of more balanced people, could keep us on an emotional
jag indefinitely. These "dry benders" often led straight to the bottle.
<<<>>>
Nothing pays of like restraint of tongue and pen.
We must avoid
quick-tempered criticism, furious power-driven argument,
sulking, and silent scorn. These are emotional booby traps baited with pride and
vengefulness. When we are tempted by the bait, we should train ourselves to step
back and think. We can neither think nor act to good purpose until the habit of
self-restraint has become automatic.
TWELVE AND TWELVE - 1. P. 90 - 2. P.
91
*~*~*~*~*^
Big
Book
Quote
^*~*~*~*~*
"...we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun
in our
existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on
enjoying
life."
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, The
Family Afterward, pg. 132
*~*~*~*^Twenty
Four
Hours A
Day^*~*~*~*
A.A. Thought for the Day
You can prove to yourself that life is
basically and
fundamentally an inner attitude. just try to remember
what
troubled you most a week ago. You probably will find
it difficult to
remember. Why then should you unduly worry
or fret over the problems that
arise today? Your attitude
toward them can be changed by putting yourself
and your
problems in God's hands and trusting Him to see that
everything
will turn out all right, provided you are
trying to do the right thing. Your
changed mental attitude
toward your problems relieves you of their burden
and you
can face them without fear. Has my mental attitude changed?
Meditation for the
Day
You
cannot see the future. It's a blessing that you cannot.
You could not bear
to know all the future. That is why God
only reveals it to you day by day.
The first step each day
is to lay your will before God as an offering, ready
for God
to do what is best for you. Be sure that, if you trust God,
what
He does for you will be for the best. The second step
is to be confident
that God is powerful enough to do anything
He wills, and that no miracle in
human lives is impossible
with Him. Then leave the future to God.
Prayer for the Day
I
pray that I may gladly leave my future in God's hands.
I pray that I may be
confident that good things will happen,
as long as I am on the right
path.
Hazelden Foundation PO Box 176 Center City, MN 55012