A Note from Bill W.

To what extent I was personally responsible for my drinking, I don't know.
Yet I'm not one to take complete refuge in the idea that I was a sick man only.
In earlier years I certainly had some degree of free will.
That free will I used badly, to the great misery of my mother and countless others.
I am deeply ashamed.
As one who knows me a little, you may have heard how, ten years ago, a friend, himself a liberated alcoholic, came to me bearing the light which finally led me out of the toils.
There will come a day like that for you and yours -- I'm so confident!
-- The Language of the Heart, p. 102


The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Embracing Reality

Above all, we reject fantasizing and accept reality.
The more I drank, the more I fantasized everything.
I imagined getting even for hurts and rejections.
In my mind's eye, I played and re-played scenes in which I was plucked magically from the bar where I stood nursing a drink and was instantly exalted to some position of power and prestige.
I lived in a dream world.
AA led me gently from this fantasizing to embrace reality with open arms.
And I found it beautiful! For, at last, I was at peace with myself.
And with others. And with God.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 559


Few people have the imagination to see reality.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Powerlessness

I knew I had to admit I was powerless over other people.
I had to admit this just as, in order to keep sober, I had to admit I was powerless over alcohol.
I cannot make anyone love me, or even like me. . .
All I can do is work to make myself worthy of love.
-- The Best of the Grapevine [Vol. 2], p. 104


When we love, we see in others what we wish to have in ourselves.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The Solution

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution.
We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree. . .
This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p.17


The solution is simple; the solution is spiritual.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Self-will Run Riot

Selfishness -- self-centeredness!
That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. . .
So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making.
They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 62


Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

A Ditty On Weiner

There once was a pervert named Weiner
Who had a depraved demeanor
Forced from the Hill
For acting like Bill
Now Congress is one weiner leaner

Attitudes

We find that our old attitudes toward our instincts need to undergo drastic revisions. . .
We have learned that the satisfaction of instincts cannot be the sole end and aim of our lives.
If we place instincts first, we have got the cart before the horse; we shall be pulled backward into disillusionment.
But when we are willing to place spiritual growth first -- then and only then do we have a real chance.
-- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 114


Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Prayer

My sponsor said, "Pray if you can."
Having no faith whatever, thinking that prayer must be a kind of autohypnotic play-acting, alone in my apartment I got down on my knees like a little child and prayed to the unknown God.
I said, "God, take away my compulsion to drink."
And my compulsion to drink was removed, and it has not returned from that day to this.
Without knowing how I had done it, I had surrendered to the Power, and the Power did for me what I could not do of my own will
-- Came To Believe . . ., p. 98

Trying to pray is praying.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Trading

I became willing to make sobriety the most important thing in my life. . .
But how does one do that?
I traded dependence on puny self for dependence on God.
I traded resentment for understanding, fear for trust, selfishness for love.
I traded dissatisfaction for hope, dishonesty for truth.
I traded retaliation for amendment; taking for giving.
I traded leaning upon others for serving others.
I traded sectarian bigotry for tolerance.
-- Thank You For Sharing, p. 40


Bigotry disfigures the heart.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Pictures

My sponsor used to say to me, "If I could only paint you a picture of how beautiful life can be without booze . . . "
I wanted so badly to see the picture as it was in her mind.
Well, now I'm living it and trying to paint for others.
AA has become a way of life and living for me.
It has brought about a revelation of self, the discovery of an inner being, an awareness of God.
-- Experience, Strength and Hope, p. 315

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

A New Life

Life will take on a new meaning.
To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends -- this is an experience you must not miss.
We know you will not want to miss it.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p.89


Life is an ongoing miracle.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Easy Does It

Sitting quietly for 15 or 20 minutes before starting each day's activities helps us set out in a relaxed, orderly frame of mind.
Some of us use specific methods of prayer or meditation which we have found particularly well suited to this purpose.
And maybe several times during a hectic day, we manage to sit undisturbed, with eyes closed, for a five-minute break, then resume work refreshed.
-- Living Sober, p.45


While it isn't always easy, if I keep it simple, it works.

@}-;-'---


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Pride-blindness

We scarcely need to be reminded that excessive guilt or rebellion leads to spiritual poverty.
But it was a very long time before we knew we could go even more broke on spiritual pride.
When we early AA's got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we coined this expression: "Don't try to get too damned good by Thursday!" . . . This is our AA way of warning against pride-blindness, and the imaginary perfections that we do not possess.
--The Language of the Heart, p. 255

Swallowing my pride will not get me drunk.

@}-;-'---


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Willingness

When I become "willing to make amends to them all" I am saying to them, "your pain is my pain; when I hurt you, I hurt myself; I will try not to hurt you anymore." With this kind of willingness to identify, my Higher Power has always set up my amends and allowed both of us to grow from the love involved in such an act.
--Experience, Strength and Hope [Vol. 2], p. 163


If faith without works is dead; then willingness without action is fantasy.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Open-mindedness

Faced with alcoholic destruction, we became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.
In this respect alcohol was the great persuader.
It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.
Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 48


Minds are like parachutes -- they won't work unless they're open.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Honesty

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.
There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.
They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty.
Their chances are less than average.
There are those, too, who suffer from grave mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 58

Honesty is the absence of the intent to deceive.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Quiet Thinking

Peace, love, and joy can be sought through quiet thinking and honest prayer.
The wholeness, the new awareness, that is produced affects one's relationship with God and man to a degree greater than it would seem in ordinary life. . .
The Power that is greater than ourselves puts us in tune with the world. . .
The feeling is one of completeness.
-- Came To Believe . . ., p.65


Meditation means trusting the silence around me for a while, as if it were an answer I had long sought.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Acceptance

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's world by mistake.
Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 417


My serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Understanding

God began to clear my channels so that real understanding began to come.
Then was the time when full realization and acknowledgement came to me.
It was realization and acknowledgement of the fact that I was full of self-pity and resentment, realization of the fact that I had not given my problems to God.
I was still trying to do my own fixing.
-- Experience, Strength and Hope, p.22


So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Mental Housecleaning

Few people who have ever had a hangover could forget how unreasonably irritable it makes you feel.
Sometimes, we took it out on family members, fellow workers, friends, or strangers who certainly had not earned our displeasure.
That tendency can hang around awhile after we start staying sober, the way wraiths of stale smoke do in a closed-up barroom, reminding us of drinking days -- until we do a good mental housecleaning.
-- Living Sober p.22


Anger is the wind that blows out the light of reason


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Honesty

I always thought honesty had something to do with telling other people the truth.
Dr. Silkworth explained that it had to do first with telling myself the truth.
I spent most of my life worrying about myself, thinking that I was unwanted,
that I was unloved.
I've learned since being in AA that the more I worry about me loving you,
and the less I worry about you loving me, the happier I'll be.
-- Experience, Strength and Hope, p.218


Honesty isn't an event -- it's a process.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Decision

At first we "made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."
But as we progress in the God-oriented life, we come to know that "decision" has a special meaning.
What we really gain is the knowledge -- not the hope or the conclusion or the wish but the actual, intimate knowledge -- that we already are in the care of God whether we have made a decision or not and whether we understand Him or not.
-- The Best of the Grapevine[Vol. 2], p.81


God can only do for me what He can do through me.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

A Sturdy Start

We still don't think it is very smart to keep trying to see in the dark if you can simply switch on a lamp and use its light.
We didn't get sober entirely on our own.
That isn't the way we learned to stay sober.
And the full enjoyment of living sober isn't a one-person job, either.
When we could look, even temporarily, at just a few new ideas different from our old ones, we had already begun to make a sturdy start.
-- Living Sober, p.73


I stood in the sunlight at last.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

True Freedom

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p.98


Happiness and peace of mind are always here, open and free to anyone.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Listening

Sometimes, the body can speak an eloquent language all its own.
I see and feel that in meetings.
So coming to regular meetings of AA is a priceless gift on a great many levels -- mental, spiritual, social, emotional, and now possibly physical.
Listening quietly is already a joy to me, and if it calms me down and lowers my blood pressure in the process, that's just another great reason to keep coming back.
-- Thank You For Sharing, p.81


Learn to listen; listen to learn.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Accept

Accept man's place in the universal scheme.
Accept my life as one minute particle of the whole.
None of us can ever fathom the glories and the uncharted regions of the universe.
But we can live on earth and love one another.
We can let in the beginnings of concern, compassion, consideration, and watch ourselves grow.
-- Came To Believe . . .,[Vol. 2], p.120

The Three "C's" -- Concern, Compassion, Consideration.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Good, Better, Best from Oregon

GOOD, from Bend, Oregon
A policeman had a perfect spot to watch for speeders, but wasn't getting many. Then he discovered the problem--a 12-year-old boy was standing up the road with a hand-painted sign, which read 'RADAR TRAP AHEAD.' The officer also found the boy had an accomplice who was down the road with a sign reading 'TIPS' and a bucket full of money. (And we used to just sell lemonade!)

BETTER, from Pendleton, Oregon
A motorist was mailed a picture of his car speeding through an automated radar post in in Pendleton, Oregon. A $40 speeding ticket was included. Being cute, he sent the police department a picture of $40. The police responded with another mailed photo of handcuffs.

BEST, from Eugene, Oregon
A young woman was pulled over for speeding. An Oregon State Trooper walked to her car window, flipping open his ticket book. She said, "I bet you are going to sell me a ticket to the State Trooper's Ball."
He replied, "Oregon State Troopers don't have balls." There was a moment of silence. He then closed his book, tipped his hat, got back in his patrol car and left.






We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Compulsion

I did not get over my craving for liquor much for the first two and one-half years of abstinence.
It was almost always with me. . .
I used to get terribly upset when I saw my friends drink and knew I could not,but I schooled myself to believe that though once I had the same privilege, I had abused it so frightfully that it was withdrawn.
So it doesn't behoove me to squawk about it for, after all, nobody ever had to throw me down and pour liquor down my throat.
-- Alcoholics Anonymous, p.181


I am worth staying sober for.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Self-centeredness

How amazing the revelation that the world, and everyone in it, can get along just fine with or without me.
What a relief to know that people, places and things will be perfectly okay
without my control and direction.
And how wordlessly wonderful to believe that a power greater than me exists separate and apart from myself.
-- Daily Reflections, p.51


RULE #62: "Don't take yourself too damn seriously."



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Grace

I have learned my own version of what spirituality is.
It does not mean I have to be like the saints who claimed to have direct advice and visions from God.
It means I have to be concerned with my fellowman; through this alone can I receive the grace of God, my Higher Power, for, in the words of John Donne, so long before AA, "No man is an island."
-- Came To Believe . . ., p.81

The will of God will never take me where the grace of God will not protect me.


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

The Evening of D Day

FDR’s Prayer, Read over the Radio on the Evening of D-Day





My Fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - June 6, 1944




We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

Loneliness

The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself.
As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down.
Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding, companionship and approval.
Momentarily we did -- then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen -- Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.
Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!
-Alcoholics Anonymous, p.151


Is the life I'm living the life that wants to live in me?


We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)

I Wish I Were

I wish I were big enough to honestly admit all my shortcomings.

Brilliant enough to accept praise without it making me arrogant.

Tall enough to tower over dishonesty.

Strong enough to welcome criticism.

Compassionate enough to understand human frailties.

Wise enough to recognize mistakes.

Humble enough to appreciate greatness.

Brave enough to stand by my friends.

Human enough to be thoughtful of my neighbor.

And spiritual enough to be devoted to the love of God.



We cannot change the directions of the wind, but we can adjust our sails. Living without an aim is like sailing without a compass. Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise. ... B-)