A PRICELESS REWARD . . . work with other alcoholics. . . . It works when other activities fail. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 "Life will take on new meaning," as the Big Book says (p. 89). This promise has helped me to avoid self-seeking and self-pity. To watch others grow in this wonderful program, to see them improve the quality of their lives, is a priceless reward for my effort to help others. Self-examination is yet another reward for an...
PARTNERS IN RECOVERY . . . nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. . . . Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. . . . Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances! ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, pp. 89, 100 Doing the right things for the right reasons; this is my way of...
DOING ANYTHING TO HELP Offer him friendship and fellowship. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 95 I remember how attracted I was to the two men from A.A. who Twelfth-Stepped me. They said I could have what they had, with no conditions attached, that all I had to do was make my own decision to join them on the pathway to recovery. When I start convincing a newcomer to do things my way, I...
REACHING OUT Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 95 When I come into contact with a newcomer, do I have a tendency to look at him from my perceived angle of success in A.A.? Do I compare him with the large number of acquaintances I have made in the Fellowship? Do I point out to him in a...
THINKING OF OTHERS Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 20 Thinking of others has never come easily to me. Even when I try to work the A.A. program, I'm prone to thinking, "How do I feel today. Am I happy, joyous and free?" The program tells me that my thoughts must reach out to those around me: "Would that newcomer welcome someone...
