March 31 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 31 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "no one denied me love…" Rock bottom, a place where nothing takes away the pain of day-to-day living. I'm thankful that tradition three, "a desire to stop drinking" opened the door to a new way of living no matter what else ailed me…

On occasion in Fellowship groups, a person will speak out and say this Fellowship is only for the type of alcoholics described in the big book. First feelings when I hear it, "horror and dismay that the person has so much prejudice, self prejudice and then a prejudice against "improper or less severe cases who have less of a problem, or more severe cases who have multi-addictions to substance and behaviour." And step one, makes it plain as do all the steps, that's none of my business…

In the AA daily reflections, the month of March is all about step three, letting go and letting good things come into our lives. Letting go the old attitudes and behaviour which kept us drinking, letting go being right about everything, letting go being wrong about everything. With the principles of open, honest and willing to change we find we can let go of something harmful today, and start something fresh which helps us develop a more healthy attitude and outlook in the moment of now…

Unconditional love… How to love without conditions, how to be loved back just as people can given their life experience and ability to develop their feelings. If a person has never learned how to love unconditionally, they cannot. I did not understand unconditional love until I began to experience it. And even now it can be so overwhelming I can break down. As a newcomer this happened to me and hurt a lot. It was part of the grieving process of letting go an old redundant life…

And although I wish it wasn't so, "pain is often a part of our spiritual progress" where our feelings are right sized for the experience we are having today. Contingent on being aware of what spiritual progress is, "the good, the bad and the ugly of life" in other words everything, having let go and made room for new living I may make some progress just for today…
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DonInLondon 2005-2011

Today I understand how the higher power works in my life. And have gratitude for everyone who has a higher power in their lives as they understand. Some call their higher power God, and some simply, the higher power. I cannot define God or Nature and Providence. I have learned that "truth," "love" and "wisdom" informs me what I can and cannot do today...

Rather than self reliance on my own point of view, my own outlook and my own self interest or personal opinion, asking for help to learn and understand what universal "truth," "love" and "wisdom" is on a daily basis. I have perspective, freedom of choice based on reality, life on life's terms, interdependent and equal, included in the possible. What more do I need today?

Inclusion, choice and fellowship, we learn how to be sober, recognise how to deal with life, know it can be at extremes sometimes, then return to a more balance outlook as we deal with life in the moment. As we learn the truth, develop friendships and loving relationships and gain wisdom from experience and others, life works. Always just for today..

Can we let go? When we and those we love, do the best possible, when best feels worst. We strive to do our best, yet it can feel like the worst cut of all to another .. How do we forgive, let go, and accept what is possible? Cherish reality and people we love ..
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AA Daily Reflection: NO ONE DENIED ME LOVE On the A.A. calendar it was Year Two . . . . A newcomer appeared at one of these groups . . . . He soon proved that his was a desperate case, and that above all he wanted to get well. . . . [He said], “Since I am the victim of another addiction even worse stigmatized than alcoholism, you may not want me among you.” TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 141-42
I came to you — a wife, mother, woman who had walked out on her husband, children, family. I was a drunk, a pill-head, a nothing. Yet no one denied me love, caring, a sense of belonging. Today, by God’s grace and the love of a good sponsor and a home group, I can say that –through you in Alcoholics Anonymous — I am a wife, a mother, a grandmother and a woman. Sober. Free of pills. Responsible. Without a Higher Power I found in the Fellowship, my life would be meaningless. I am full of gratitude to be a member of good standing in Alcoholics Anonymous.
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As Bill Sees It ~ Foundation for Life... We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms. In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for the day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out. There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. TWELVE AND TWELVE
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Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"
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March 30 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 30 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "group conscience…" The group conscience, one of the mainstays in our anarchic democracy. Recovery is about reality, developing our emotional range which fits with reality. Life is full of passion and compassion, as we start to feel life in the moment, emotions and actions can be balanced or at the extremes. The many voices in a group conscience provide experience, strength and hope and wisdom as we find our path day by day in Fellowship…

Learning with humility means we share the experience of learning. It's not about being perfect, unless it is true to say that the best way forward is always in the imperfectly perfect moment of now. Nothing stays the same, everything changes for us as individuals and for families, communities and societies. And whether we are in Fellowship or interconnected in the big world, everything is changing and not much of anything is standing still if it is to survive evolution and often revolution…

In Fellowship we are all trusted servants, and we all have ideas and preferred outcomes? And this can cause strife and difficulties. What makes Fellowship strong and able to continue to grow and develop is the passion and compassion we develop in our group conscience. And because we do not instruct or demand compliance in any way, we usually find a way forward which works for everyone and not just a few. When a faction tries to rule the majority in a group, and dictate rules, laws and regulations, the outcome is decline and dissolution. Unity service and recovery, no requirement to control, no need for exclusion, simply a desire to stop drinking and to be included offers the best way forward just for a day…

"Trust your gut!" Or in other words trust your feelings and then think about it, whatever "it" may be. In the blink of an eye, we can make our minds up about a lifetime partnership based on nature and nurture delivering us into a new relationship in a split second. That is the power of nature and nurture. Being complicated people, when we try and think it out, our thinking often takes us in another direction and then into the world of prejudice and harmful outcomes…

If we have lost or never had, or never learned what our feelings are, it can be a shock to the system to start to recognise the range of feelings we have as human beings. Often we do not have the words in our vocabulary or understanding to express our feelings clearly to those around us and this takes time to learn. Learning about our feelings, in this emotional and spiritual Fellowship is one of the greatest gifts anyone can receive…

When we drop our guard and show the world who we are, those who can help us will. Those who cannot help us, will fade away… No need to guard the inner me or pretend, at the same time it is a frightening prospect to listen to another person's reality until we actually experience our own reality and get used to learning and sharing our experience strength and hope of life just as it is today…


DonInLondon 2005-2011

Twelve steps helps us find acceptance daily and a new way of life, we still have consequences from our past ~ Gerald Jampolsky "Forgiveness means letting go of the past..." Acceptance from others is subject to their understanding, our past actions as well as current attitudes and behaviour...

Life is difficult enough, we need not make it more difficult! People are the way they are and we need find ~ Jessica Lange "Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons..." So we may experience life as it is and not as we may wish!
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AA Daily Reflection: OUR GROUP CONSCIENCE “. . . sometimes the good is the enemy of the best.” ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGE, p. 101 I think these words apply to every area of A.A.’s Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity and Service! I want them etched in my mind and life as I “trudge the Road of Happy Destiny” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 164). These words, often spoken by co-founder Bill W., were appropriately said to him as the result of the group’s conscience. It brought home to Bill W. the essence of our Second Tradition: “Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.”
Just as Bill W. was originally urged to remember, I think that in our group discussions we should never settle for the “good,” but always strive to attain the “best.” These common strivings are yet another example of a loving God, as we understand Him, expressing Himself through the group conscience. Experiences such as these help me to stay on the proper path of recovery. I learn to combine initiative with humility, responsibility with thankfulness, and thus relish the joys of living my twenty-four hour program.
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As Bill Sees It ~ In God's Economy... "In God's economy, nothing is wasted. Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is."
We did not always come closer to wisdom by reason of our virtues; our better understanding is often rooted in the pains of our former follies. Because this has been the essence of our individual experience, it is also the essence of our experience as a fellowship. 1. LETTER, 1942
Into the fabric of recovery from alcoholism are woven the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions, steps to be open honest and willing to learn, traditions to live unity service and recovery.
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Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJM_JUs0fM
"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"
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March 29 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 29 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "we are trusted servants…" To be of service for me is not being servile, it is to be helpful and aware. And being helpful, in any capacity anywhere at any time is a way of life and living to good conscience, and caring about people I encounter in any given day…

Trusting ourselves is very difficult when we start from a place self harm and self prejudice. Even today, living to good conscience I am often pulled up in the moment and the memory of something I have done in the past which may have broken a rule. Indeed often I was employed to rewrite rules and break the old rules to improve a situation or an organisation. Those recollections make me shudder at how easy it is to be blown off course in a difficult world…

I cannot change the past, at the same time it is a great source of experience. Life today, to be open and honest, and willing to change. To be trustworthy and behave fairly in my relationships. I feel I did start off life with these principles from an early age. And then the real world bent me out of shape. We can compromise and negotiate, at the same time the principles of open honest and willing, unity service and recovery, keep me on the straight and narrow road of destiny one day at a time…

And today I realise it is simply progress. And I must reiterate progress is the key, because even today I can see when I take time out to look at my behaviour and my attitudes, prejudice can surface when people are either dishonest with themselves or dishonest with others. My silence and turning a blind eye to my personal conduct is as bad for me as ignoring the conduct of others… Sometimes it is right to mind my own business and not criticise others, fortunately because I'm aware I can take responsibility for my attitudes and my behaviour day to day…

Trust! A breach of trust can be devastating. Thank God, nature and nurture and the universe that I am an open book these days. My medical records are about to be updated and accessible to all medical sources just in case something were to happen to me and I could not communicate...

Trust in relationships, develops through time. At the same time, trusts will be broken because we are human and sometimes without thinking we hurt other people and then worse we hurt ourselves as a consequence. If we feel the pain caused we can grow and learn from it and that is real progress. Amends and forgiveness starts with understanding our own fallibility and the consequences. Forgiveness comes in our learning, humility and accepting a need to change day by day. Forgive everything everybody does, and forgive ourselves as well, and we do face consequences. Trust and forgiveness are earned in the moment, amends can take a lifetime and can be made every single day…

To love, be loved back and useful! How we love each other and how we form loving relationships… There is no rule book, we don't choose who we love, the nature of how we love is demonstrated by our actions and behaviour. Unconditionally loving others will lead to consequences we might prefer were different. And this is perfectly okay with me. Keeping it simple is the most difficult path for complicated people one day at a time…
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DonInLondon 2005-2011

Unity Service & Recovery, we give support, sharing experience, strength and hope. We look to what we can do to help in fellowship, greet, make tea, organise meetings. We may sponsor newcomers and explain how fellowship works. We suggest we never control, we encourage freedom in sobriety, to thine own self be true..

We are good enough today.. progress not perfect. Unconditional love; we help, we support and we love without condition. A gentle reminder to self is understanding unconditional means loving others when they cannot love themselves or anyone else, including us! Keep loving, expect nothing, accept everything is simply as it may be...
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AA Daily Reflection: TRUSTED SERVANTS March 29 They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless privilege of doing the group’s chores. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 134

In Zorba the Greek, Nikos Kazantzakis describes an encounter between his principle character and an old man busily at work planting a tree. “What is it that you are doing?” Zorba asks. The old man replies: “You can see very well what I am doing, my son, I’m planting a tree.” “But why plant a tree,” Zorba asks, “if you won’t be able to see it bear fruit?” And the old man answers: “I, my son, live as though I were never going to die.” The response brings a faint smile to Zorba’s lips and, as he walks away, he exclaims with a note of irony: “How strange — I live as though I were going to die tomorrow!” As a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I have found that the Third Legacy is a fertile soil in which to plant the tree of my sobriety. The fruits I harvest are wonderful: peace, security, understanding and twenty-four hours of eternal fulfillment; and with the soundness of mind to listen to the voice of my conscience when, in silence, it gently speaks to me, saying: You must let go in service. There are others who must plant the harvest.
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As Bill Sees It ~ Getting off a "Dry Bender" "Sometimes, we become depressed. I ought to know; I have been a champion dry-bender case myself. While the surface causes were a part of the picture -- trigger-events that precipitated depression -- the underlying causes, I am satisfied, ran much deeper. "Intellectually, I could accept my situation. Emotionally, I could not. "To these problems, there are certainly no pat answers. But part of the answer surely lies in the constant effort to practice all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps." LETTER, 1954
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Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJM_JUs0fM
"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"-/-

March 28 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 28 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "equality…" Steps and traditions work when we work at them and have a timeless quality about them. Timeless in the sense of them working just for today and they remain fresh and instant in our attitudes and actions… Not tablets of stone to weigh us down, more often wisdom to lift us up…

My personal understanding of the steps and traditions is always being developed to meet the needs of my life today. With every breath, truth love and wisdom grows as my life experience grows. This is my personal evolution and sometimes revolution. The first step in my revolution was to completely stop drinking and have a desire to stop drinking. Breaking the habit of a lifetime is a revolution. And then the evolution began…

Equality! I am not bigger or smaller or more or less important than anyone else on this planet. Sometimes because of culture and the way society works some people are elevated or feel elevated. Day-to-day I am a learner, and with inclusion I can share my experience, strength and hope. Sometimes it can be wisdom sometimes complete nonsense and nonsensical to the listener or reader. One man's meat, turns another man into a vegetarian! Living your own experience, develops skills and wisdom to be shared where and when we are included and not excluded…

In the fellowship of AA with a desire to stop drinking, we are included which is the very foundation and opportunity to find unconditional love. The newcomer shares about what it is like to be on the front line, the old-timer about what it is like to be sober more than a day. And then of course there are those obvious to everyone else, "bleeding deacons" who find fault with anyone and everyone not just for today, every bleeding day…
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DonInLondon 2005-2011

"Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity...After joining A.A., I found the way of life I had been searching for. In A.A. no member is any better than any other member; we’re just alcoholics trying to recover from alcoholism"

Our spiritual moment of now is here, same for everyone, to experience; truth, love and wisdom of everyone we meet. Our spiritual experience is contingent on our attitude and behaviour toward; truth, love and wisdom of others. Letting go, we have room for new living, happy or sad, it is "real spiritual life" today..
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AA Daily Reflection: EQUALITY ~ Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 565
Prior to A.A., I often felt that I didn’t “fit in” with the people around me. Usually “they” had more/less money than I did, and my points of view didn’t jibe with “theirs.” The amount of prejudice I had experienced in society only proved to me just how phony some self -righteous people were. After joining A.A., I found the way of life I had been searching for. In A.A. no member is any better than any other member; we’re just alcoholics trying to recover from alcoholism.
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As Bill Sees It ~ Gratitude Should Go Forward ~ "Gratitude should go forward, rather than backward. "In other words, if you carry the message to still others, you will be making the best possible repayment for the help given to you." No satisfaction has been deeper and no joy greater than in a Twelfth Step job well done. To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, and above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives -- these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message.
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Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"
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March 27 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 27 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous | Today's AA daily reflection: "AA's freedoms…" As Bill one of the cofounders wrote, "we trust that we already know what our several freedoms truly are; ... And that there are no mandates laws or commandments in our fellowship." If our Fellowship was anything other than anarchic democracy I doubt I would have stayed and found sobriety…



I have always found that truth works when I work at it. I have to let go what I think I know and what I've learned which can be full of prejudice towards myself and towards others. Self prejudice in the end caught me in a spiral of 24 7 drinking, isolation and a desperately desolate existence. Fellowship provided me with a way to find the truth of my situation daily, how to be loved and love back and useful in whatever way a person finds in recovery…



Contingent on the day I ask for help and let go my old attitudes and behaviour, I keep on making progress to be able to feel life as it is in the moment. Every feeling is valid, and when they are at extremes that is when I need ask for help most, because I cannot keep feeling extremes without creating more anxiety and the likelihood of hiding and pretending I am okay, when I am not. Pretence and falsehoods will only gnaw deep and create fear, when there is no need. I need never be alone again…



Let go, asking for help in a practical way when I don't know the answers, does not mean I will get the answers. I will get a broader perspective, and the solution may take some time. Fear, ego and pride will keep me in everlasting ignorance I have heard it said. And I have found that to be true. Let go is one action and incomplete without asking for help, the second action which illuminates and helps me get guidance from any power greater than me. And there are many to ask and some will help me find the solutions day by day by day…



Every single step in the twelve step program is practical and has impact every day. Indeed we need experience of life for the twelve steps to be relevant and for us to learn how they work. The steps keep me in tune with my life as I live it today and it is not about knowing the answers before the questions become obvious. Life is serendipity and full of change and if I do not hold to expectations or feeling I deserve something, like really works and can be lived to the full…

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DonInLondon 2005-2011



If we could see ourselves as others see us, if we could listen as others hear us, if we could feel the impact we have as others feel our impact. The gentle art of feedback, in fellowship we learn to be open, honest and willing, finding out who we are becoming today..



Fellowship where freedom of choice is paramount in sober living, keeps us honest, and willing to change ~ Nelson Mandela "Let freedom reign. The sun never to set on so glorious a human achievement" -/- Unity Service and Recovery, let go and let good, in truth we trust, good for today..



We learn to let go and let good. A daily practice in living twelve steps as we encounter experiences which need us to be forgiving of ourselves and others. Good conscience develops our awareness. Acceptance is our action to free up our choices and 'Keeping Life Real' ~ Hannah Arendt "Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom" -/-

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AA Daily Reflection: A.A.'s FREEDOMS We trust that we already know what our several freedoms truly are; that no future generation of AA’s will ever feel compelled to limit them. Our AA freedoms create the soil in which genuine love can grow. . . . LANGUAGE OF THE HEART, p. 303

I craved freedom. First, freedom to drink; later, freedom from drink. The A.A. program of recovery rests on a foundation of free choice. There are no mandates, laws or commandments. A.A.’s spiritual program, as outlined in the Twelve Steps, and by which I am offered even greater freedoms, is only suggested. I can take it or leave it. Sponsorship is offered, not forced, and I come and go as I will. It is these and other freedoms that allow me to recapture the dignity that was crushed by the burden of drink, and which is so dearly needed to support an enduring sobriety.

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As Bill Sees It ~ Daily Reprieve We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.

We of A.A. obey spiritual principles, at first because we must, then because we ought to, and ultimately because we love the kind of life such obedience brings. Great suffering and great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we need no others.



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

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March 26 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 26 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "our learning is never over…" The quote actually reads "the teaching is never over." I am not a teacher, I am a learner and I learn with you and together we make progress and we are not perfect or qualified beyond the moment of now…



Every day in recovery we trudge the road of destiny. The road of destiny can be guess work, can be planned, cannot be planned or the road is "what it is..." The saying, "the blind leading the blind" might be applicable if we were unable to keep learning what works today and what does not work today. Our emotional and spiritual path, where my emotions fit my situation in the moment of now offer the best opportunity to learn. If I'm sober I can learn more about life and living it making progress today…



How I understand the difference between being "a learner" and being "a teacher" is important for me. If I say I am a teacher, I'm likely to try and teach you. If I am a learner, I'm likely to be learning with you. And this fits with my understanding of humility and having the capacity to keep learning life, letting go old ideas, attitudes and actions and being willing to listen and develop new attitudes and actions and keep changing and adapting as life changes every day…



"It works if you work it, so work it you're worth it!" This is sometimes added to the serenity prayer at the end of the meetings here in London UK. Some people are happy with the serenity prayer and do not add this particular sentence. Grant me the serenity, to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. And I don't mind these days adding it works if you work it, so work it you're worth it. It reminds me when I let go the old ways, I need to work on new ways of life in all that life offers today…



We cannot learn and adopt new attitudes and behaviour from simply reading, listening and watching. Adopting new attitudes and behaviour requires practice, not to be perfect, simply to learn by doing, by feeling and engaging in living in the moment of now. Someone said recently in a meeting, "I had to stop thinking and start living again." Understanding our feelings is crucial to coping with reality and although we might try think and analyse everything before doing it does lead to paralysis and no action if there is no practice. A bit like knowing the answer and how it should be: but having no practical skills to get there. Fellowship is learning as we go just for today…





DonInLondon 2005-2011



Fellowship.. similarities in experience, strength and hope develop unity and recovery ~ Voltaire "Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?" -/- Learning by living our lives we experience what we can and cannot do and share wisdom to know the difference ...



"We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns."- Orison Swett Marden



I woke up, said the serenity prayer, can do, cannot do, tripped over my wisdom to know the difference and said it again! ~ Louis L'Amour "A body shouldn't heed what might be. He's got to do with what is" -/- Step one.. step two.. step three and serenity, let go and let good, now I smile gently ...



Open To Truth, Love And Wisdom of Others [we let go having to be right, self obsessed and self medicating our lives away into oblivion and harms way]

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AA Daily Reflection: Daily Reflections ~ THE TEACHING IS NEVER OVER Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you — until then. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 164



These words put a lump in my throat each time I read them. In the beginning it was because I felt, “Oh no! The teaching is over. Now I’m on my own. It will never be this new again.” Today I feel deep affection for the A.A. pioneers when I read this passage, realizing that it sums up all of what I believe in, and strive for, and that — with God’s blessing — the teaching is never over, I’m never on my own, and every day is brand new.

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As Bill Sees It ~ True Independence of the Spirit The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore, dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit. At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence.



Every modern house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. By accepting with delight our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find ourselves personally more independent, more comfortable and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily needs. Though we readily accept this principle of healthy dependence in many of our temporal affairs, we often fiercely resist the identical principle when asked to apply it as means of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know freedom under God until we try to seek His will for us. The choice is ours. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 36

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Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

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March 25 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 25 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "a full and thankful heart…" Letting go the old life, where expectations and notions that I might deserve something just because… To a new outlook on a daily basis, "let go and let good things happen by being open honest and willing."



Happily in recovery, I realise and dedicate myself to actions which help me be open. My ambition is to have a sober day and my aspiration is to make the most of what can be done on my own and also by asking the help when I don't know what to do. I don't negotiate when I meditate, and I don't focus on me when I pray. My life is not conventional, my usefulness is not predetermined, I keep learning how to love people and be loved back and cope with reality just for today…



On a daily basis we do make and enter into negotiations and bargain with "reality" when we find it difficult. And actually life is difficult! And when I find myself entering into negotiations and bargaining with God or simply the universe, I forget the serenity prayer if I am falling into my old behaviour. When I say the serenity prayer inside my head or out loud I'm always reminded where serenity starts: in good conscience, or to God, "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."



I always come to the conclusion that I can have gratitude for knowing what my situation is day by day. It does not mean I will like my circumstances, indeed my feelings may be very hard to deal with as life goes on, and age is taking the edge off me! At the same time I do know what is working within emotionally and what is working physically. Knowing my situation really helps to understand what I can and cannot do today. Admitting and accepting life on life's terms…



Let go and let God, and letting go and handing it over is almost coming to a place of inertia and no action. Letting go and asking for help in practical ways is action leading to the possibility of different outcomes. Let go and let God, letting go and handing it over can really rankle and feel like letting go and giving up in my world. The key is ask the help, and search for the answers whereever they may be, and the "higher power" is always there in the moment of now…



DonInLondon 2005-2011



Wisdom gained from open, honest and willing actions improves our daily courage, faith and confidence ~ Thomas Jefferson "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom" ~ Closed, unwilling and isolated we remain fearful, need find a brave face and find a brittle ego to shield us from our dark...



Letting go old patterns of thinking and feeling, simply letting go bad habits is never easy until it becomes so.. ~ Benjamin Franklin "The doors of wisdom are never shut" -/- With courage we look outward, with faith we see truth, we have choices and with confidence we walk into a new day...

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AA Daily Reflection: Daily Reflections ~ A FULL AND THANKFUL HEART I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain certain conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one’s heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 37



I believe that we in Alcoholics Anonymous are fortunate in that we are constantly reminded of the need to be grateful and of how important gratitude is in our sobriety. I am truly grateful for the sobriety God has given me through the A.A. program and am glad I can give back what was given to me freely. I am grateful not only for sobriety, but for the quality of life my sobriety has brought. God has been gracious enough to give me sober days and a life blessed with peace and contentment, as well as the ability to give and receive love, and the opportunity to serve others — in our Fellowship, my family and community. For all of this, I have “a full and thankful heart.”

-/-

As Bill Sees It ~ Never Again! "Most people feel more secure on the twenty-four-hour basis than they do in the resolution that they will never drink again. Most of them have broken too many resolutions. It's really a matter of personal choice; every A.A. has the privilege of interpreting the program as he likes.



"Personally, I take the atitude that I intend never to drink again. This is somewhat different from saying, `I will never drink again.' The latter attitude sometimes gets people in trouble because it is undertaking on a personal basis to do what we alcoholics never could do. It is too much an act of will and leaves us too little room for the idea that God will release us fromthe drink obsession provided we follow the A.A. program." LETTER, 1949

-/-



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 24 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 24 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "active not passive, man is supposed to think and act…" I don't really like the word supposed, when it comes to thinking and action. And the omission of the word emotional is not helpful to me. Humans are emotional and spiritual and we derive serenity from our ability to cope with reality...



Three words came to mind reading the daily reflections from AA this morning, "expectations, ambition and aspiration" and I know expectations are resentments under construction for me. At the same time I do have ambitions and aspirations on a daily basis. My ambition? To have a sober day and my aspiration is to cope well and enjoy and appreciate what is beautiful. My ambition is constant, to be sober and my aspirations can change in any given moment as long as I am open to change and be flexible as life changes in the moment of now…



I was never overloaded with my own expectations, indeed my expectations of life never amounted to much. And my ambitions and aspirations were always limited by my imagination or by the present state of the world. When I narrow my outlook to expectations, it really is a very small outlook. And my ambitions and aspirations can be so narrowed if all I have is expectation. Letting go expectations, opening my eyes and letting connections be made in all directions will always improve my outlook, ambitions and aspirations. Letting go and letting in the world makes anything possible as long as I see reality and not a fantasy…



At the same time, being a proper human I still have fantasies and they are good fantasies I assure you! Emotional and spiritual well-being, for complicated human beings. I need to understand my feelings, what is real and what is not real and how to cope with my situation on a daily basis. Trying to resolve all my issues on my own is very limiting, asking the help and letting go and letting the world in will always provide a broader and deeper understanding of what I can and cannot do on a daily basis…



In the United Kingdom, there seems to be a rush to increase the unit price of alcohol in order to stop disorder! Like anywhere else in the world, when a government aims to impose its will on the will of the people, the people will prove to be tenacious and resilient in their pursuit of happiness. Taxation and penalties drives behaviour underground, home brewing is where it all started for me, under the guidance of a rebellious father… The greater the limits of liberty, the greater the defiance created…



And for me as an individual in recovery some time, the restriction of liberty does not lead to a change in mindset when it comes to personal behaviour. And the question is what is the greater good? People learning from experience or people being restricted through taxation. The issues are moribund and full of prejudice. And the breadth of the problem is far too big for me, my ambition to be sober and my aspiration to enjoy what is beautiful today…



I will always aim to develop opinions and beliefs based on reality rather than a fantasy. When it comes to trying to help in the fellowship of AA, very early on rules, laws and regulations would lead to exclusion rather than inclusion. So there are no laws, rules or regulations in the fellowship of AA and everyone is included if they have a desire to stop drinking. Personal choice and making informed choices is the very essence of this emotional and spiritual Fellowship. Learning about the truth of life, how to love people and be loved back without conditions and useful in whatever capacity we can. And it works, when we work at it, just for a day…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



With challenge and support we can develop courage, faith and confidence [enough stress] , distress then fear, brave facing and ego may pull us down.. Inspired by Marilu Henner ~ "having realistic expectations helps identify where we have stress and distress, important in finding balance and to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life" ~ Expectations are resentments under construction!

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: ACTIVE, NOT PASSIVE MARCH 24 Man is supposed to think, and act. He wasn’t made to God’s image to be an automaton. As Bill Sees It, p. 55



Before I joined A.A., I often did not think, and reacted to people and situations. When not reacting I acted in a mechanical fashion. After joining A.A., I started seeking daily guidance from a Power greater than myself, and learning to listen for that guidance. Then I began to make decisions and act on them, rather than react to them. The results have been constructive; I no longer allow others to make decisions for me and then criticize me for it. Today–and every day–with a heart full of gratitude, and a desire for God’s will to be done through me, my life is worth sharing, especially with my fellow alcoholics! Above all, if I do not make a religion out of anything, even A.A., then I can be an open channel for God’s expression.

-/-

As Bill sees it ~ Eternal Values

Many people will have no truck at all with absolute spiritual values. Perfectionists, they say, are either full of conceit because they fancy they have reached some impossible goal, or else they are swamped in self-condemnation because they have not done so. Yet I think that we should not hold this view. It is not the fault of great ideals that they are sometimes misused and so become shallow excuses for guilt, rebellion, and pride. On the contrary, we cannot grow very much unless we constantly try to envision that the eternal spiritual values are "Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be consumed by maudlin guilt for failure to achieve His likeness and image by Thursday next. Progress is our aim, and His perfection is the beacon, light-years away, that draws us on."

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJM_JUs0fM

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 23 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 23 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous | Today's AA daily reflection: "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." As I admitted I was an alcoholic some time ago, acceptance on a daily basis has become a strong foundation in my recovery. I need not hide the truth of who I am today, an alcoholic in recovery one day at a time… Letting go and accepting who I am today an alcoholic in recovery, means there is no way I need hide anything. Open honest and willing to find the truth, live the truth and understand that truth changes as life changes. Progress without shame or guilt, simply a learner each and every day. Letting go and no longer hiding, opening up to the possibilities and my personal limits emotionally and physically is not easy, indeed life is difficult…

Sometimes when I feel a desire that my emotional and spiritual condition would improve, impatience and intolerance of myself might lead to a feeling of inadequacy. And then I remind myself it could be worse! I may not be able to control my emotions, but now I understand them better I know what helps to improve my outlook, by sharing how I feel and how I am dealing with reality informs others around me and often they can help me cope with the reality of now…

Breakfast with my sister, at her club in Chelsea today. A wander down to the Albert Bridge and a few snaps of the river. And the beautiful woman walks by, a redhead. A smile and a hello, and a smile and "good morning and how you?" A brief encounter of the best kind as she sashays on her way. It is good to appreciate beauty in motion, and the River Thames, just for today… -/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011

We are living "spiritual reality" in every feeling, thought and deed ~ Maya Angelou "My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return." -/- as we learn and cherish, to love, be loved and useful .. always

Hope founded on "spiritual and reality offers acceptance on the road of destiny ~ Helen Keller "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence" -/- Let go, let good when good is possible.. -/- As Bill sees it... Newcomer Problems

The temptation is to become rather possessive of newcomers. Perhaps we try to give them advice about their affairs which we aren't really competent to give or ought not give at all. Then we are hurt and confused when the advice is rejected, or when it is accepted and brings still greater confusion.

"You can't make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is to crazy to know what he does want. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it is and why, and leave him alone. "If people really want to get drunk, there is, so far as I know, no way of stopping this -- so leave them alone and let them get drunk. But don't exclude them from the water pail, either." -/-

AA Daily Reflection: AND NO MORE RESERVATIONS We have seen the truth again and again: “Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.”. . .

If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. . . . To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 33 -/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJM_JUs0fM "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him" -/-

March 22 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 22 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "no more struggle…" Battling, fighting and winning or overcoming something… Never my favourite concepts and when I started to understand the twelve steps are always about well-being and interdependence and equality I was able to breathe a deep sigh of relief…



In my early years of work experience and life experience, it was never about being top dog or competing against the next man or woman. I feel it was always about being the best I could be on any given day. And the fall into alcoholism was a natural consequence of my striving and determination and subsequent disappointment and heartbreak with life. As time has passed in recovery, I can strive and live the best and the worst of life and see the balance as each day unfolds…



On any given day my mood and attitude will adjust to what is going on and life is unpredictable. To try and impose emotions on a situation does not work, at the same time though if I can think a solution my feelings and emotions will improve. And if I cannot think of a solution without help, I let go and ask the help from any source, inside and out. We are not at war with life, more often at war with our expectations and what we think we deserve or what society suggests we should have today…



In the United Kingdom we have just had the annual budget statement from the government. Taxation in our country falls into two categories, direct tax on income and indirect taxes on commodities we buy. Every single person in the United Kingdom is a taxpayer, directly or indirectly. Actually taxation these days is mostly based on your lifestyle choices, taxed being single, taxed being married, taxed having children, taxed for buying a house, taxed on luxury goods, taxed alcohol, taxed for cigarettes, taxed for going abroad by air, taxed on your utilities, taxed for having a car, taxed for saving money, taxed for pension, and taxed for living longer and overcharged whenever possible by big business. Life can be very taxing! Thank God for recovery…



So going back to the question; "no more struggle?" Probably I am pragmatic person, it is a question of mental attitude and what we can and cannot do on a daily basis. Today I can cope with my daily routines and know my limits and how far I might be able to push them. When it comes to issues of government and wider society, I will not be bound by my old attitudes and loyalties. I will look at what is good for family community and society overall and not what is good for a minority who take advantage and manipulate to their own ends…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



Powerless over alcohol, people, places and things and my choices are manageable, good conscience keeps me sober and sane today, less self interest and more interest in the common good. I am responsible when anyone anywhere, and reminding myself what I can do and cannot do and when needed, seeking guidance and wisdom today...



We learn our feelings every moment, as life experience offers ~ Dale Carnegie "Happiness doesn't depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude." -/- Change is not only possible, change is always happening as we engage in living..



Solitary endeavour is quite different to isolation ~ Eric Hoffer "A man by himself is in bad company." -/- Life is always about balance..



Sharing experience strength and hope of how it was and how it is today ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes "Beware how we take away hope from another human being." -/- That was then and this is now, in the now new possibilities open for us, real and just for a day? Today is always..



Spitiual and emotional well being, contingent on our sobriety and now ~ D. H. Lawrence "One realm we have never conquered: the pure present." -/- Open honest and willing, we keep open the door to new experiences whatever they may be, and we change as a consequence..



The mind can assert anything, and pretend it has proved it. My beliefs I test on my body, on my intuitional consciousness, and when I get a response there, then I accept.- D. H. Lawrence



Into the fabric of recovery from alcoholism are woven the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions, steps to be open honest and willing to learn, traditions to live unity service and recovery.

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: ~ NO MORE STRUGGLE… And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone- even alcohol. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.84



When AA found me I thought I was in for a struggle, and that AA might provide me the strength I needed to beat alcohol. Victorious in that fight, who knows what other battles I could win. I would need to be strong, though. All my previous expirence with life proved that. Today I do not have to struggle or exert my will. If I take those Twelve Steps and let my Higher Power do the real work, my alcohol problem disappears all by itself. My living problems also cease to be struggles. I just have to ask whether acceptance-or change-is required. It is not my will, but his, that needs doing

-/-

As Bill sees it "Personality Change ~ "It has often been said of A.A. that we are interested only on alcoholism. That is not true. We have to get over drinking in order to stay alive. But anyone who knows the alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking permanently without undergoing a profound personality change. We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we couldn't do so to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics. It never ocurred to us that we needed to change ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.





Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 21 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 21 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "material and spiritual well-being." Speaking for myself, spiritual well-being is the ability to cope with life as it is now, where my feelings fit reality, and I can cope with what is going on. If I can cope, my needs met then material wants are less likely to create havoc. Needs met, wanting stops getting in the way of living life in the moment…



I know I used to be driven to distraction by trying to prove myself not to me, but to the people around me and I had some worthy qualities. I was worn down showing my worthiness through work and material gain. Toward the end of my drinking days, a one trick pony, work work and more work. And then because there was nothing else, I was measured by my work and my material possessions. And that led to a psychotic break and a new way of living, it just took a few years to get there…



And spiritual well-being is not about being happy or sad or trying to maintain happiness. Spiritual well-being for me is when my feelings work and seem to be fitting my reality. When my feelings fit with what is going on, sometimes good, bad or indifferent, when they reflect my true situation that is as good as it gets…



Material well-being is when my needs are met, and whatever I used to think I wanted does not seem particularly important any more. I know sometimes that it is difficult to see, "less is more." Maybe when I say, "the less I have materially today, the more I appreciate good choices made to cover my needs and let go the trappings of materialism." After all when life is done, all we have to cherish is our memories…



DonInLondon 2005-2011



Brilliant meeting last night, reminded me of: the problem, all about fear, putting on a brave face and a thin veneer of ego. The solution, all about courage, faith and confidence. That we have consequences. If we ask, the steps will work today, needs met, wants forgotten...



Spiritual needs met, material wants in proportion usually in the moment as we make progress ~ Douglas Horton "Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss." Our focus and priorities become clear, we never forget our material needs, or stop striving, this is living in reality..



Henry Ward Beecher "Interest works night and day in fair weather and in foul. It gnaws at a man's substance with invisible teeth."



Living life, open honest and willing, keeps it simple for complicated humans ~ Henry David Thoreau "A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone." -/- Rich in sobriety one day long, we let go and let good be our guide..



Gottfried Reinhardt "Money is good for bribing yourself through the inconveniences of life."

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING Fear… of economic insecurity will leave us. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84



Having fear reduced or eliminated and having economic circumstances improve, are two different things. When I was new in A.A., I had those two ideas confused. I thought fear would leave me only when I started making money. However, another line from the Big Book jumped off the page one day when I was chewing on my financial difficulties: “For us, material well-being always followed spiritual progress; it never preceded.”(p. 127). I suddenly understood that this promise was a guarantee. I saw that it put priorities in the correct order, that spiritual progress would diminish that terrible fear of being destitute, just as it diminished many other fears. Today I try to use the talents God gave me to benefit others. I’ve found that is what others valued all along. I try to remember that I no longer work for myself. I only get the use of the wealth God created, I never have “owned” it. My life’s purpose is much clearer when I just work to help, not to possess.



As Bill Sees It ~ Pain and Progress "Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I commiserate only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not understand the purpose and ultimate utility of pain." Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and emotional turmoil before serenity.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 20 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 20 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "love and tolerance…" I've often heard it said that words can be cheap and indeed actions speak louder than words. Love and tolerance need start with ourselves and it is an action in recovery, starting with sober one day at a time…



Understanding how step one, powerless and unmanageable, step two, being restored to sanity on a daily basis and step three letting go and making room for new knowledge, skills and actions. When anyone says, "let go and move on," letting go the self harm and shame and guilt is an on-going action. We do not simply let go and move on, we need to work at it and letting go self prejudice opens the door to forgiveness for being a human being with an ailment. At the same time there are consequences for how we have behaved. Love and tolerance is part of letting go and accepting new living...



Forgiveness, tolerance and love are all part of the journey in life. The more people have been hurt by us or by others, the more difficult the road because people who've been hurt am more able to hurt other people back. Letting go old behaviour, the fear, shame and guilt associated with how we were, needs to be understood first by ourselves and then through expression and contrition by making amends when possible and not doing further harm. Our past experiences then become part of the toolkit to a better life, being included and useful in recovery…



Expectations are resentments under construction according to many I have heard and I feel like I can completely agree that no one deserves anything more than another person be it good or bad fortune. Usually fear is behind the emotions we feel for a whole variety of reasons. I never expected other chronic conditions in recovery, but I appreciate that I'm alive long enough to get them. Real life can bite deeply and nobody is immune to nature or the harsher side of life including health. For today I have gratitude to have been alive long enough to see much of the world as it really is. A consequence and not always a benefit…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



As Bill sees it... 276 A Higher Power for Atheists "I have had many experiences with atheists, mostly good. Everybody in A.A. has the right to his own opinion. It is much better to maintain an open and tolerant society than it is to suppress any small disturbances their opinions might occasion. Actually, I don't know anybody who went off and died of alcoholism because some atheist's opinions on the cosmos.



"But I do always entreat these folks to look to a `Higher Power' -- namely, their own group. When they come in, most of their A.A. group is sober, and they are drunk. Therefore, the group is a `Higher Power'. That's a good enough start, and most of them do progress from there. I know how they feel, because I was once that way myself." Bill W

-/-



We need find forgiveness for our human condition, always fallible, always learning, imperfectly perfect.. ~ Hannah More "Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits" -/- tolerance and love helps let go the heartbreak of self harm and harm we did to others



Gerald Jampolsky "Forgiveness means letting go of the past" -/-



Jessica Lange "Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons" -/-



Bruce Springsteen "Certainly tolerance and acceptance were at the forefront of my music" -/-



When we realise reality offers the best connection to spiritual we understand ~ Kurt Cobain "Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy your memory and your self-respect and everything that goes along with your self esteem" -/- So similar, living one day at a time as life is, joyful or sad, unique and authentic in our experience...

-/-



AA Daily Reflection: LOVE AND TOLERANCE Love and tolerance of others in our code. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 84



I have found that I have to forgive others in all situations to maintain any real spiritual progress. The vital importance of forgiving may not be obvious to me at first sight, but my studies tell me that every great spiritual teacher has insisted strongly upon it. I must forgive injuries, not just in words, or as a matter of form, but in my heart. I do this not for the other persons’ sake, but for my own sake. Resentment, anger, or a desire to see someone punished, are things that rot my soul. Such things fasten my troubles to me with chains. They tie me to other problems that have nothing to do with my original problem.

-/-



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 19 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 19 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "prayer and meditation works…" We may not be in the company of others, at the same time we are never alone. We have an inner voice which is continually sharing what is going on, how we feel about it and what we can do. That inner voice is prayer and meditation for me, it can be random and unfocused, or through practice a way of looking at what we are giving to the world and our part in it…



In my final drinking days, night and day had merged and all the voice inside me said, "where is my next drink and when will this end?" Today the inner voice wakes up with me and starts with immediate clarity on how I am feeling. I can feel good or bad, joyful or sad and as I collect my "self" I can become more focused on what is good for me in the moment and just for now. I try remind myself briefly of steps one, two and three and the serenity prayer. Concluding on what I can and cannot do today…



Even when I focus, pray and meditate, that inner voice may still be confused, fearful and make me feel like isolating and hiding away. And I need to let go my feeling and thinking about doing this alone. And conscious contact with others helps me find balance in what I can and cannot do. This is not a defect of character. The defects of character are thinking I need to do it on my own and become a failure if I cannot show you I am free and independent because I am not. I am interdependent today…



Long ago in the organisation's I worked in, teamwork was an absolute necessity. And sometimes a person would be a leader, sometimes a doer and sometimes anything that need be required to get the job done. And life is like that in all that we do in family, community and society. Yet shame and guilt will lead us into the realms of endarkenment, rather than the enlightenment which comes as we share our truth of how life is today… Prayer and meditation are key in being open, honest and willing to live life on life's terms today…



We give away our experience strength and hope of recovery in order to keep it. It becomes an attitude of mind which impacts on all aspects of living inside fellowship, family and community, work and society. Prayer and meditation helped me see how I can be included day-to-day, my contribution and how it fits with others. We often hear when a person is rewarded with an honour, "I would like to thank the following people" and many include God in their gratitude. And why not? As God works through people in my understanding of a higher power, the honour and the award is always shared and never owned by a single individual… I am alive today with gratitude to every power who helps me share a message in the moment of now…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



I try emphasise always I speak for myself and not for AA. I may share how AA works in my life, not how AA works for anyone else. In AA what you see is what you get on any given day. You see and hear the experience, strength and hope of many and how sobriety is working just for today. People living sober today...



Open to life and new living, we stop hanging on to old fears, let go and open the door ~ Phillips Brooks "A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward." -/- As we come to believe it may be Godward and or Goodward. Courage, faith, prayer and meditation develops our choices and personal beliefs..



These days I know sober there is only one safe option from this list ~ Frank Sinatra ~ "Basically, I'm for anything that gets you through the night - be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels." -/- Prayer, we all pray, sometimes we don't know it, or realise how to focus, seems like it works with a good conscience and knowing life is always on life's terms..



Life on lifes terms, sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes the answer is no ~ Mary Baker Eddy "Experience teaches us that we do not always receive the blessings we ask for in prayer." Spiritual is being able to cope with reality, fixing we live in a world of our own, fantasy..



As we reflect on daily activities, life works whatever the outcome ~ Marianne Williamson "I deepen my experience of God through prayer, meditation, and forgiveness." -/- Our attitude and behaviour changes with wisdom, life always our teacher

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: PRAYER: IT WORKS It has been well said that “almost the only scoffers at prayer are those who never tried it enough.” TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 97



Having grown up in an agnostic household, I felt somewhat foolish when I first tried praying. I knew there was a Higher Power working in my life — how else was I staying sober? — but I certainly wasn’t convinced he/she/it wanted to hear my prayers. People who had what I wanted said prayer was an important part of practicing the program, so I persevered. With a commitment to daily prayer, I was amazed to find myself becoming more serene and comfortable with my place in the world. In other words, life became easier and less of a struggle. I’m still not sure who, or what, listens to my prayers, but I’d never stop saying them for the simple reason that they work.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 18 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 18 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "real independence." To let go old attitudes, and old behaviour associated with self harm and then led into harming others, is absolutely necessary in recovery. Let go and let good, learning how to be open honest and willing to change takes time, and patience as we progress. I don't know if it is about real independence or about how we as humans are equally interdependent in this complicated world. I prefer freedom of choice in this interdependent world…



I enjoy my recovery, even when the road gets a bit bumpy. I don't enjoy recovery when life is painful for whatever reason. So sometimes life is good, bad or indifferent? I guess it is when I realise and understand my feelings fit with my experience today. Feelings being right sized in the moment of now. I do enjoy living as independently as life affords, with freedom of choice to do what I can and cannot do today. And an understanding of my real circumstances and opportunities when I let go and let the world in…



Much is made of the suggestion, "let go and let God." Step three and any of the steps work and become tailored to the individual as we explore life and live it. Letting go and letting the good of life happen opens the door to new living and ways of improving our adventure day by day. We may have desires, needs and wants and when we share with others, we improve the possibilities of where life may go. I never thought I would be alive today, and my usefulness changes as life changes and no longer hampered or driven to distraction by needing to be right or feeling wrong footed in any given moment…



Gone are the days where I feel I need to make a mark on this planet, or prove my worth or worthiness in some bright shiny way. Life is without conditions and learning how to love people and be loved back, and find usefulness in endeavour whatever it may be makes life worth living. Being a beginner upon waking and learning a little bit more or a lot more before retiring to bed, about who I am and who you are is always good enough for today…

-/-



DonInLondon 2005-2011



"my way or the highway?" for me has become "thy way is the highway" now I know I am right sized, no bigger or smaller than anyone. No guru's, simply truth, love and wisdom from others, in abundance each day. A broad and bigger highway today



All life experience includes good and less good interludes, each case taken on its merit ..~ Samuel Johnson "It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust" -/- Tempted by apples, we can always find a peachy one.. books and covers, judge less, investigate more!



Right sized and right relationships, independent and interdependent, life works for a day ~ Oliver Cromwell "Trust in God, and keep your powder dry." -/- And for some of us, "Trust in God and keep your brain box dry" let in truth, love and wisdom of others..



Often we share what is agreeable, and listen with a great deal of judgment ~ Henry David Thoreau "It takes two to speak the truth - one to speak, and another to hear" Truth is easier to speak with experience, listening to the truth difficult when we fear it, change is inevitable.. more stuck or more open..



Freedom of choice, smooth passage, potholes and puddles always on the road of destiny ~ Henry Van Dyke "In the progress of personality, first comes a declaration of independence, then a recognition of interdependence" -/- Learning how to be interdependent and trust without expectation helps us understand our own fallibility, and that we and everyone makes progress and is never perfect, the steps helps us resolve our conduct not that of others... Henry Van Dyke

-/-



AA Daily Reflection: REAL INDEPENDENCE The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 36



I start with a little willingness to trust God and He causes that willingness to grow. The more willingness I have, the more trust I gain, and the more trust I gain, the more willingness I have. My dependence on God grows as my trust in Him grows. Before I became willing, I depended on myself for all my needs and I was restricted by my incompleteness. Through my willingness to depend upon my Higher Power, whom I choose to call God, all my needs are provided for by Someone Who knows me better than I know myself – even the needs I may not realize, as well as the ones yet to come, bring me to be myself and to help me fill the need in someone else that only I am meant to fill. There never will be another exactly like me. And that is real independence.

-/-



Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:







Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJM_JUs0fM

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 17 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 17 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | [ daily blog link: http://donoddylondon.blogspot.com/ ] Today's AA daily reflection: "mysterious ways." There are many mysterious events in life, I hope for many more. Some mysteries become understandable and at the same time simply because we can explain the mystery it does not undermine the power of what is happening around us. Out of the dark, endarkenment and into the light, enlightenment…



I know there is no such word as endarkenment, but it fits well where I was back in the day. A friend of mine invented the word decades ago, "endarkenment." We were attending a leadership program, which in essence took away our emotional defences broke us down leaving us red raw emotionally. Drink led to endarkenment and like those who broke me I still detest what happened. Some things cannot be undone, with enlightenment though comes opportunity for new ways of living just for a day…



Our abilities to change come with life experience where we can develop new outlooks, new ways of life which can feel miraculous and mysterious. Like a Phoenix rising up from the ashes… The combined wisdom we can all access is always in the moment of now where we can develop our understanding of life, the truth of now, how to love and be loved back and useful in our endeavours. Nature and nurture in tandem working together just for today…



I have deep gratitude, from a very hurt person who could not cope with reality, to a person who can cope just enough with reality today. Self hurt, will often lead into hurting those around us who care. And self prejudice, will lead to a greater prejudice against ourselves and others who need to learn life all over again. Or indeed learn how to live life for the very first time, in the moment and just for today. Letting go self prejudice opens the door to truth, love and wisdom…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



boredom is the feeling we have as a result of an emotional and intelligent mind without purpose. Once we realise its a gift and not a burden, we find something to do with purpose. Not a quick fix, a life long journey, with plenty of hardship and good things too, one day at a time...



As in all matters of wisdom, common and universal principles of action become clear as we let go, self will run riot ~ Matthew Green [poet 17th century ] "Experience join'd with common sense, To mortals is a providence" -/- Life, its a kinda magic..



Letting go and finding our path with truth, love, and wisdom of the many ~ Mohandas Gandhi "Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive." -/- And be open to choices as they manifest.. each and every day



From not knowing our need to change, to knowing and breaking our denial, to positive action ~ H. G. Wells "Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." -/- Acceptance of the truth learned through experience, change and being able to adapt returns as we see reality, as nature always intended, a day at a time..



Fellowship, sanctuary to be open honest and willing to share our experience strength and hope ~ Henry David Thoreau "Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around." -/- In fellowship we do not question another fellows belief, we develop our own...

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: ~ MYSTERIOUS WAYS out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does “move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.” TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 105



After losing my career, family and health, I remained unconvinced that my way of life needed a second look. My drinking and other drug use were killing me, but I had never met a recovering person or an A.A. member. I thought I was destined to die alone and that I deserved it. At the peak of my despair, my infant son became critically ill with a rare disease. Doctors’ efforts to help him proved useless. I redoubled my efforts to block my feelings, but now the alcohol had stopped working. I was left staring into God’s eyes, begging for help. My introduction to A.A. came within days, through an odd series of coincidences, and I have remained sober ever since. My son lived and his disease is in remission. The entire episode convinced me of my powerlessness and the unmanageability of my life. Today my son and I thank God for his intervention.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 16 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 16 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "your own understanding of God is what counts." Atheist, agnostic and believer come to understand the greater wisdom which resides in the progress human beings are making every day. For centuries nature evolves and humans evolve. Everything is adapting through nature and nurture every single day. The collective wisdom in recovery is always at hand if we ask the help or simply listen how others make progress and never perfect?



A universal databank of recovery available at any time of day. The universal databank or "bank of wisdom" is where deposits of knowledge and withdrawals of knowledge can work for everyone just for today. You cannot see it, or touch it but you can feel it happening in the moment of now. Our universal databank available contingent on the day we ask. The bank of "experience, strength and hope" available contingent on when we ask through our inner voice and what we know, face-to-face with another or in a meeting, or by phone, or by any other media we may access for wisdom to help ourselves. We are not alone today…



As in all matters recovery, as a Fellowship and as individuals we are making progress and we are not perfect. What does this mean? As a Fellowship we are evolving and coming to new understandings about what works in recovery and what hinders recovery. Evolution not revolution is the progress we humans make most of the time. Revolution is more difficult, some people call it "step change" in modern society. Over time I have learned the steps change me to be open and honest and willing to change, and extraordinary evolution into reality, progress as it can be today…



I need you to believe in the God of your understanding, no matter what that understanding is because it is yours. And I respect that completely your view of a higher power which works in your life. And that I need you to believe in the God of your understanding, I need to come to my own understanding of a power greater than me. Indeed and in reality there are many powers extraordinary and far greater than me. Being one of seven billion people on this tiny planet in the universe I need the experience, strength and hope which resides in you and always in the moment of now…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



A great privilege to hear a first chair last night. Similarities were so close and very happy to see how a common set of principles can keep us sober. As long as we do practice them! Other feelings come out as we listen, and also we get tuned into conflicts and potential disputes. Always alert these days, toes get trodden on and anger and resentments are but moments from expression, life is difficult... acceptance?



I missed a meeting yesterday and today waking up, I felt alone. Morning meditations helped me. And then contact with another human being by phone helped me feel more myself. If I know how I am feeling, and why I can make conscious contact and speak with another person... Steps 1 2 3 and serenity prayer, now feel good enough for today...



Diverse, unique and authentic, with clear similarities, in the moment of now ~ Maya Angelou "While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone else and everything else are also God's creation." -/-



We need find our own path, understand the truth of now and find how to cherish living ~ Thomas Jefferson "Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." -/- Fear, a brave face, ego closes us down, faith courage and confidence opens us to every possibility life affords..



In recovery it is often suggested we find our own conception of God ~ Thomas Jefferson "It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no God." To God as you understand this day, and to thine own self, be true..

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: AS WE UNDERSTAND HIM MARCH 16 My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea . . . “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?” That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 12



I remember the times I looked up into the sky and reflected on who started it all, and how. When I came to A.A., an understanding of some description of the spiritual dimension became a necessary adjunct to a stable sobriety. After reading a variety of versions, including the scientific, of a great explosion, I went for simplicity and made the God of my understanding the Great Power that made the explosion possible. With the vastness of the universe under His command, He would, no doubt, be able to guide my thinking and actions if I was prepared to accept His guidance. But I could not expect help if I turned my back on that help and went my own way. I became willing to believe and I have had 26 years of stable and satisfying sobriety.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 15 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 15 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "spirit of the universe…" I can relate to the spirit of the universe, nature is what we are given from birth and evolution, nurture the ever changing reality shaping our world and everything around us… I can always ask the help which comes from nature and nurture in its most profound and understandable manifestation; the wisdom which comes from others around me…



We are surrounded by wisdom and what works in recovery on a daily basis. Sometimes we cannot see it because we have become closed down for whatever reason and we cannot cope with reality. Self-indulgence leading to self harm and a disease for which there is no cure impacts on countless millions and often remains a hidden killer. And yet we can live more secure lives as we recover and remain in recovery. Wisdom from those who know, replacing the old ideas, attitudes and behaviour which stole away the good and being restored simply one day at a time…



Alcohol was my way of coping with life and its difficulties for many years. I know now how dependent I was on covering up horrible times and not just trudging the road of life, running roughshod over many of my own preferred ways of living. Empty of alcohol and letting go old ideas, attitudes and behaviour has made room for me to become the real person I can be today. Open, honest and willing to learn what I can do, and know I need support and advice and help which is available at any time and it works just for a day…



Fixing myself taking the edge off my feelings and reality is what I did. A way to compromise and try let go the darker side of life. Taking the edge of me meant I did not have to deal with problems of my own making and other people's making. It did not stop me from being an excellent problem solver and decision maker on behalf of other people, I could always help others. I just could not help myself and letting go these days offers and opens the door to being ready and willing to receive help and ask for it…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



Spiritual is outward reality, truth, love, cherished and included in an infinite universe, timeless and now..Driven to extremes of any attitude or behaviour, EGO [EGO Edging God or & Good Out] ~ Don Dokken [Poison] "Drugs, alcohol and ego. They are a bad mix" -/- When we are fixing, tripping, skimming the surface, superficial and indifferent, consumed in an inner world rich in nothing but ourselves...



In my Ivory Tower, drink served its purpose to protect me from reality, not knowing truth, isolated and entrapped in my own deep chaos ~ Sammy Davis Jr "Alcohol gives you infinite patience for stupidity" -/- Each day sober more is revealed, about living, inclusion, choices and love..



Who am I, where was I? Who are you, where are we? ~ Marguerite Duras "Alcohol is barren. The words a man speaks in the night of drunkenness fade like the darkness itself at the coming of day" -/- Lost and forgotten..



We do not know until it is too late, ignorance, then denial and hooked ~ Finley Peter Dunne "Alcohol is necessary for a man so that he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed be the facts" -/- Once we know the facts, we make choices, find help, let go self obsession, live free to good choices..



For those of us who are alcoholics, we are the problem and the solution, knowing is the key which opens the door to sobriety ~ Matt Groening ~ "Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of life's problems" Knowing what we can do and cannot do safely offers opportunity to find wisdom and live life on life's terms

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: THE GOD IDEA MARCH 15 When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 52

Like a blind man gradually being restored to sight, I slowly groped my way to the Third Step. Having realized that only a Power greater than myself could rescue me from the hopeless abyss I was in, I knew that this was a Power that I had to grasp, and that it would be my anchor in the midst of a sea of woes. Even though my faith at that time was minuscule, it was big enough to make me see that it was time for me to discard my reliance on my prideful ego and replace it with the steadying strength that could only come from a Power far greater than myself.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-

March 14 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 | 2012 | Alcoholics Anonymous

March 14 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 3 "Let Go" | 2012 | Today's AA daily reflection: "key-stones." The wedge-shaped piece at the crown of an arch that locks the other pieces in place. Twelve steps, twelve key-stones each interdependent and work in the moment, where each is relevant as long as we pause long enough to recognise what is real right now…



We are part of nature and in nature there is always purpose, and in recovery I have learned to live with acceptance of how life is today. Fellowship and nurture continually teaches me the nature of our lives is making the best possible choices which may be open to me today. Life on life's terms is facing reality, being open honest and willing to change and to not be afraid of asking the help. Yes, life is difficult and will always be difficult at the same time it is not a battle, it is an experience to be relished or detested sometimes…



I have heard it said by others, "there is no such thing as a bad day in recovery." Life is full of opposites, from good to bad experiences. We do learn from every experience if we are aware of what is happening. And most certainly we are more aware when life is very painful either emotionally or physically. I have had my fair share of "bad or difficult experiences," which has led me to understand the art and science of the possible, what can be done and what cannot be done and the wisdom to know the difference is life long learning day by day…



More words which suggest key-stones for me in recovery are: open, honest and willing (twelve steps) unity service and recovery (twelve traditions) and as I recall and remember these words, on a daily basis as part of my morning reflection, recovery is fresh and restored today, and that I am more able to keep on learning what life offers and what I offer to others in life…

-/-

DonInLondon 2005-2011



Inclusion in life, with choices and love is all we need to sustain emotional and spiritual connections ~ Eva Burrows "In family and "fellowship" life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony." Sober we find a path in living in the moment of now...



A moment of peace, a moment of turmoil, moment by moment, serenity in a heartbeat ~ Confucius "we must often change, we who would be constant in happiness or wisdom" -/- A breath of fresh air, and everything changes...



Courage restored daily? Anything is possible! ~ Miguel de Cervantes "He who loses wealth loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his courage loses all." -/- Faith courage and confidence, a part of daily living...



Learning how not to fix myself daily, or fix anything has been difficult. Now it is daily progress. I chatted with my 78 year old Mum earlier and asked about amends, if I had left anything unsaid which still rankles. “No, you are in recovery, you were unwell, you do what you can now.” I learn wisdom and acceptance every day..



A sign of rushing and being rushed, we add more and more to each day. I do when I forget to let something go, usually forgetting step one, powerless over people places and things, step two anything and everything can drive me insane and step three, let good prevail even when its not perfect as we might wish it so. Let go perfect, let life be a tangle...

-/-

AA Daily Reflection: THE KEYSTONE MARCH 14 He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 62



A keystone is the wedge-shaped piece at the highest part of an arch that locks the other pieces in place. The “other pieces” are Steps One, Two, and Four through Twelve. In one sense this sounds like Step Three is the most important Step, that the other eleven depend on the third for support. In reality however, Step Three is just one of twelve. It is the keystone, but without eleven other stones to build the base and the arms, keystone or not, there will be no arch. Through working of all Twelve Steps, I find that triumphant arch waiting for me to pass through to another day of freedom.

-/-

Step 3 "Let Go" Reading Video Link:



"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him"

-/-