April 21 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 4 "Inventory" | Alcoholics Anonymous Today's AA daily reflection: "cultivating faith…" I know my faith was severely challenged over the years and so it is one of my shortcomings, simply a lack of faith. My other shortcomings in particular were; courage to change and self-esteem, the confidence to try do the next right thing on daily basis…
I do believe that faith can be cultivated, it just depends on your particular faith and some of us start from scratch when we get to recovery. It can be simple faith in building a new life and having the courage to change and letting our self confidence grow naturally. The matter of faith when it comes to religion, believer, a person who believes in God, agnostic, a person who doesn't know and atheist, someone who does not believe in God. Personal faith in religious terms need be a free choice. The good news in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, building faith in one's own abilities, courage to change and self-confidence is entirely possible with the twelve steps and the twelve traditions to help us find our path one day at a time…
"Spiritual experiences" are talked about frequently when we find our path of sobriety. Spirituality for me is very clear, it is the ability to utilise all our senses to the best we can and see reality, reality being the good and the bad and the ugly of life just as it is in the moment of now. Coping with reality is the best spiritual experience and developing our confidence, our courage and faith to live well as we can one day at a time…
"Tolerance and love" are absolutely key in living spiritually. If we are religious, if we are atheist and if we are agnostic, we need to be tolerant and loving around our personal choices and equally tolerant and loving with our fellows and their choices. We stop judging ourselves and our choices as being better than the choices of everyone around us, faith and belief are part of our personal development in life, living in unity in the community, one day at a time…
Chatting with new friends, in a different and completely separate connection. Three out of four of us turned out to be in recovery, from a fifth year to a 35th year veteran! Seeing a person at 35 years sober, a comfortable individual who really knows themselves one day at a time, I can see the beauty of tolerance and love. Unity service and recovery are all part of what makes fellowship work one day at a time. In truth, we as individuals are as sober as we may be today and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous remains as good at it gets, good bad and ugly one day at a time…
DonInLondon 2005-2011
How we respond to the truth of now helps define us and helps us make best choices ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it" -/- Truth, love and wisdom of others, constant companions if we choose, with our eyes open..
Living In Reality, the purpose of the 12 steps: We learn powerless over alcohol and our unmanageability, being restored to sanity with help, how to let go and let in good choices and then our inventory of “back then”, so we may progress and “live in the now,” as our attitudes and behaviours change to responding to truth and needs rather than wants and fantasy..
-/-
AA Daily Reflection: Daily Reflections ~ CULTIVATING FAITH... “I don’t think we can do anything very well in this world unless we practice it. And I don’t believe we do A.A. too well unless we practice it. . . . We should practice . . . acquiring the spirit of service. We should attempt to acquire some faith, which isn’t easily done, especially for the person who has always been very materialistic, following the standards of society today. But I think faith can be acquired; it can be acquired slowly; it has to be cultivated. That was not easy for me, and I assume that it is difficult for everyone else… ” Doctor Bob and the Good Oldtimers, page 307-308
Fear is often the force that prevents me from acquiring and cultivating the power of faith. Fear blocks my appreciation of beauty, tolerance, forgiveness, service, and serenity. A.A., and God, are teaching me how to care about others.
-/-
As Bill Sees It ~ Beneath the Surface... Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with.
Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of selfjustification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery. TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 53-54
As Bill Sees It ~ 319 Two Authorities Many people wonder how A.A. can function under a seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign. There is God, our Father, who very simply says, "I am waiting for you to do my will." The other authority is named John Barlicorn, and he says, "You had better do God's will or I will kill you."
-/-
Step 4 "Fearless Inventory" Reading Video Link:
Step 4 "Fearless Inventory" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ZjNH5tlb8
"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves"
-/-
The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that these life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love. 1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 105
-/-
I do not speak for Alcoholics Anonymous I speak for myself. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of unique and authentic people who speak for themselves where they will to share experience, strength and hope about recovery on a daily basis. Anonymity affords sanctuary to find how to live sober and be open, honest and willing to learn life day by day. For me "truth," "love" and "wisdom" offer the best spiritual experience by living reality today. 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.
-/-
I do believe that faith can be cultivated, it just depends on your particular faith and some of us start from scratch when we get to recovery. It can be simple faith in building a new life and having the courage to change and letting our self confidence grow naturally. The matter of faith when it comes to religion, believer, a person who believes in God, agnostic, a person who doesn't know and atheist, someone who does not believe in God. Personal faith in religious terms need be a free choice. The good news in the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, building faith in one's own abilities, courage to change and self-confidence is entirely possible with the twelve steps and the twelve traditions to help us find our path one day at a time…
"Spiritual experiences" are talked about frequently when we find our path of sobriety. Spirituality for me is very clear, it is the ability to utilise all our senses to the best we can and see reality, reality being the good and the bad and the ugly of life just as it is in the moment of now. Coping with reality is the best spiritual experience and developing our confidence, our courage and faith to live well as we can one day at a time…
"Tolerance and love" are absolutely key in living spiritually. If we are religious, if we are atheist and if we are agnostic, we need to be tolerant and loving around our personal choices and equally tolerant and loving with our fellows and their choices. We stop judging ourselves and our choices as being better than the choices of everyone around us, faith and belief are part of our personal development in life, living in unity in the community, one day at a time…
Chatting with new friends, in a different and completely separate connection. Three out of four of us turned out to be in recovery, from a fifth year to a 35th year veteran! Seeing a person at 35 years sober, a comfortable individual who really knows themselves one day at a time, I can see the beauty of tolerance and love. Unity service and recovery are all part of what makes fellowship work one day at a time. In truth, we as individuals are as sober as we may be today and the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous remains as good at it gets, good bad and ugly one day at a time…
DonInLondon 2005-2011
How we respond to the truth of now helps define us and helps us make best choices ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it" -/- Truth, love and wisdom of others, constant companions if we choose, with our eyes open..
Living In Reality, the purpose of the 12 steps: We learn powerless over alcohol and our unmanageability, being restored to sanity with help, how to let go and let in good choices and then our inventory of “back then”, so we may progress and “live in the now,” as our attitudes and behaviours change to responding to truth and needs rather than wants and fantasy..
-/-
AA Daily Reflection: Daily Reflections ~ CULTIVATING FAITH... “I don’t think we can do anything very well in this world unless we practice it. And I don’t believe we do A.A. too well unless we practice it. . . . We should practice . . . acquiring the spirit of service. We should attempt to acquire some faith, which isn’t easily done, especially for the person who has always been very materialistic, following the standards of society today. But I think faith can be acquired; it can be acquired slowly; it has to be cultivated. That was not easy for me, and I assume that it is difficult for everyone else… ” Doctor Bob and the Good Oldtimers, page 307-308
Fear is often the force that prevents me from acquiring and cultivating the power of faith. Fear blocks my appreciation of beauty, tolerance, forgiveness, service, and serenity. A.A., and God, are teaching me how to care about others.
-/-
As Bill Sees It ~ Beneath the Surface... Some will object to many of the questions that should be answered in a moral inventory, because they think their own character defects have not been so glaring. To these, it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned with.
Because our surface record hasn't looked too bad, we have frequently been abashed to find that this is so simply because we have buried these selfsame defects deep down in us under thick layers of selfjustification. Those were the defects that finally ambushed us into alcoholism and misery. TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 53-54
As Bill Sees It ~ 319 Two Authorities Many people wonder how A.A. can function under a seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign. There is God, our Father, who very simply says, "I am waiting for you to do my will." The other authority is named John Barlicorn, and he says, "You had better do God's will or I will kill you."
-/-
Step 4 "Fearless Inventory" Reading Video Link:
Step 4 "Fearless Inventory" Reading Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6ZjNH5tlb8
"Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves"
-/-
The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that these life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love. 1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 105
-/-
I do not speak for Alcoholics Anonymous I speak for myself. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of unique and authentic people who speak for themselves where they will to share experience, strength and hope about recovery on a daily basis. Anonymity affords sanctuary to find how to live sober and be open, honest and willing to learn life day by day. For me "truth," "love" and "wisdom" offer the best spiritual experience by living reality today. 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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