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-)