Alcoholics Anonymous Videos | DonInLondon

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 14 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2 "Sanity" | "all the steps today…" One: I am powerless over alcohol and a drink won't help. Two: restored to sanity just for a day with powers greater than me. Three: work hard and do my part, and let go and ask for help and perspective. Four: my personal inventory of strengths and weaknesses. Five: open up and share with another human being. Everything! Six: Vices, knowing my extremes of behaviour can be there every day. Seven: working to the good of life, virtues are good. Eight: made a list of amends and willing to make them. Nine: making the amends without doing any harm to others. Ten: daily personal appraisal or in the moment, checking what I'm up to, my behaviour. Eleven: prayer and meditation, and how we do this is personal choice. Twelve: emotional and spiritual living in the moment of now and helping others... All about keeping my side of the Street clean, open with honesty and willingness to change…

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Alcoholics Anonymous DonInLondon "All Twelve Steps"

All the steps in one. The first six steps are recognising the old life, what happened and where we are today. Sweeping our side of the Street clean. The next six steps, all about the new life, making sure we know our personal values are to be open, honest and willing to change. That we can live life one day at a time, we can still have aspirations and live happily without alcohol, and most importantly, absolutely we find freedom to live life with the ability and experience of how to love people, how to be loved back by people, which is very difficult sometimes, and find useful endeavours which are appropriate and right for us and possible as we explore opportunities one day at a time. We become free to choose life sober, and then we have adventures today. We are not immune to the good, bad and ugly of life, we live it and feel it in the moment of now. At least that is my choice today...

And today as I remind myself all about the steps and what they do for me. My morning reflections as I woke up early, I have had enough sleep in one go. Which is great for me, sleeping for six hours in a row! And when I ask myself as part of my morning routine, how am I feeling? I feel okay, and I can be me today. I do not have to pretend anything or worry about what people think of me. How am I feeling? Why? And what to do. As life feels good, and I feel rested and not exhausted, I am open honest and willing this morning... This morning, a gentle reminder of step one is good, powerless over alcohol: and I don't wish to be powerful over anything, especially people, places and things. Experiencing life as it is and not trying to control it, or others, simply the journey of now. And step two, I don't feel the old insanities of addiction, trying to hang on to the remnants of the past. And letting go the notion that I must do everything and show the world, my capacity to be me without help. Step three, the higher power of your understanding, your personal beliefs are imperative, and I understand God in my life to be: truth, love and wisdom in the moment of now, and every experience that got me to where I am with the help of the universe. The power of God works through people, the right people, and there are plenty like me, still learning the wisdom of now, with help and asking for help, openly and truthfully today… I can ask for help and I am happy to do so, the more I learn and experience, I realise there is so much more I will never know, emotional and spiritual, able to cope in the moment of now. And when I cannot, I ask for help… It only takes a few moments to remind myself I am simply part of the big picture and the big picture is always bigger than me…

I know that I can keep on an even keel most of the time, even when life is difficult. Things happen and we wonder why is it always happening to me? The bad and the ugly bits! Simply the answer is we all get, the bad and ugly bits. And we learn and keep on learning as life goes on, and knowing that we can ask for help, it changes everything as we come to understand how step six is the old life of peril, where our behaviour becomes extreme and unhelpful, and step seven helps us to approach life differently, with courage, faith in the next right thing and confidence that the outcomes will be as good as they can be in the moment of now. Once we understand reality, everything is much easier because we realise what we can do and what we cannot do and the wisdom to know the difference. Every day we will find things difficult some of the time and absolutely wonderful some of the time… Reality, it really is the best place to be when our feelings or emotional connection is right and we are able to see the truth of our situation with people, places and things…

If these twelve steps did not work, developing me as a human being, to be able to experience the reality of now, feelings working in the moment and reality to be lived, I would not write, or share the experience, strength and hope that fellowship gives me today. Simply, human beings being human together, sharing the truth as best we can, and knowing even when people are at their very worst, they are the best they can be right now. I see newcomers coming into fellowship, confused beyond belief. And I do feel the pain when I was a newcomer, but it is not the same pain felt by new person shocked into reality one day at a time…

Telephones! Having been excited to upgrade my mobile phone into the enlightened age of connected to everything, it does not work very well. The reason being me, I need to read the instructions, set it up correctly and really study how to make it work. It is an endeavour which will take me more than one day, because I have other interests and other things to do. And as long as it works as a telephone which it does not yet seem to do, life will be restored to ordinary. In olden days, I would have been tearing out the little hair that I have! These days. Nothing is that urgent, unless it is about people and how to help. And that comes first always in my recovery today…

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 14 2012 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2 "Sanity" | Today's AA daily reflection: "expectations versus demands" and as is often said in Fellowship, "expectations are resentments under construction." This does not mean that we lose sight of aspirations and ambition, it simply means we are more realistic about what we can and cannot do. And we concentrate and live in the present moment, striving and trudging the happy or sad, loving and sometimes painful road of destiny…

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2009 - 2012

I met a friend yesterday as I was leaving hospital after some tests which needed to be done, routine tests and not worrying tests. An impromptu meeting of minds as we were both concerned about newcomers we have been supporting over the last few days. Both of us wanted to be the best we could be for the newcomer and both newcomers had somehow managed to escape us and our good deeds… We accepted the situation and left the door open to support and help if the newcomers chose and that was what they wanted…

A Fellowship meeting mid-morning, a newcomers meeting. A wonderful chair by someone I know sharing just how it was in the malady of drink and what it was like now in recovery some years on. The chair all about realistic living today and not about what they thought life ought to be and what they deserved. The expectation was life would be difficult sober and the experience of living reality must be cherished as people are to be cherished and not treated with superficiality and indifference…

I had a couple of "AA chips" in my pocket, just for today chips and gave them to two newcomers in the meeting. On one side of the chip it says "one day at a time" and on the other side, the serenity prayer. I can often forget just how valuable it was to receive a token and reminder in the form of an "AA chip" and what it meant to me. It meant I need simply be sober today and I would learn what I can do and what I cannot do just for this one day…

"Trust God and clean house" often made me feel that I was a second-class citizen, because I had no concept of God or higher power. It seemed like I could stumble on the first two steps of the twelve step program. When I looked at it in a slightly different way, "trust in the good and support I get from other people and learn what it means to clean house on a daily basis" I began a journey of progress and not perfection…

DonInLondon 2005-2011

Powerless over people places and things can drive us mad! Sigmund Freud Every normal person, in fact, is only normal on the average. His ego approximates to that of the psychotic in some part or other and to a greater or lesser extent. -/- Resentments and anger are dubious luxuries for everyone

Desiderata ~ "Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul." "Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house." ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98 ~ Dealing with expectations is a frequent topic at meetings! Expectations are resentments under construction. I have heard and said this many times. Every morning I set my expectations to zero, so I may feel okay by the progress I make today in any or every endeavour...

"Lest we forget" at Flood St. The reading was the "spiritual experience" followed by a great chair. What is spiritual? "A dose of reality," or "the ability to cope with today." It may involve faith, God, or as simple as seeing the truth right now. Spiritual is unique and authentic as life is, living the truth, coping with reality and finding serenity in the moment. We work with what works today...

AA Daily Reflection: AA Daily Reflection: EXPECTATIONS vs. DEMANDS FEBRUARY 14, Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98

Dealing with expectations is a frequent topic at meetings. It isn’t wrong to expect progress of myself, good things from life, or decent treatment from others. Where I get into trouble is when my expectations become demands. I will fall short of what I wish to be and situations will go in ways I do not like, because people will let me down sometimes. The only question is: “What am I going to about it?” Wallow in self-pity or anger; retaliate and make a bad situation worse; or will I trust in God’s power to bring blessings on the messes in which I find myself? Will I ask Him what I should be learning; do I keep on doing the right things I know how to do, no matter what; do I take the time to share my faith and blessings with others?

"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"

-/-

Just For Today, and every day cherish always...

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AA Official Online Site: Daily Reflections

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aareflections.cfm

AA Official Online Site: Big Book And Twelve And Twelve

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359

January 2013 | Step One Reading Video Link: