H.P. AS GUIDE See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164 Having a right relationship with God seemed to be an impossible order. My chaotic past had left me filled with guilt and remorse and I wondered how this "God business" could work. A.A. told me that I must turn my will and my life over to the care of God, as...
ACCEPTANCE We admitted we couldn't lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, and so we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A. group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 109 Freedom came to me only with my acceptance that I could turn my will and my life over to the care of my...
LOVED BACK TO RECOVERY Our whole treasured philosophy of self-sufficiency had to be cast aside. This had not been done with old-fashioned willpower; it was instead a matter of developing the willingness to accept these new facts of living. We neither ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we were free. BEST OF THE GRAPEVINE, Vol. I, p. 198 I can be free of my old enslaving self. After a while I recognize, and believe in, the good within...
FREEDOM FROM FEAR When, with God's help, we calmly accepted our lot, then we found we could live at peace with ourselves and show others who still suffered the same fears that they could get over them, too. We found that freedom from fear was more important than freedom from want. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 122 Material values ruled my life for many years during my active alcoholism. I believed that all of my possessions would make...
WE STAND—OR FALL—TOGETHER . . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 561 Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to...
