Alcoholics Anonymous Videos | DonInLondon

Alcoholics Anonymous | March 25 2013 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" "in the old life, fear, pride and ego meant we couldn't let go of self will, willpower would let us down, and we were powerless over alcohol and life became unmanageable." In our new life, letting go and asking for help, surrendering and stopping the battle of something bigger than we were, addiction, meant we could embrace courage to change, faith in doing the next right thing and the confidence that we would be free and independent in our choices one day at a time…

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Alcoholics Anonymous DonInLondon "Helping One Another"

When we are on the "other side" of our addiction, which complicated everything and meant we were completely dependent, we can see the difference in the way we live today. Letting go the old life of fear, pride and ego, and especially willpower which isolated everything we did, and now seeing that it was okay to change, with courage and faith and confidence opened the door to new living. On any given day, if we are uncomfortable in our own skin, we can ask for help, not only in fellowship, we can ask for help from anyone anywhere at any time if they have the knowledge, skill and the willingness to help us. Willingness to help from other people is only possible if we have the humility to ask. If we demand, if we feel entitled if we expect help "just because" we are unlikely to receive any help at all. Being open to what the problem is, being honest with people and being willing to tell the truth, most often opens the door to help. Humility is not grovelling, it is a two way street of giving and receiving today…

We live in a difficult world, and if we accept it is a difficult world, it ceases to be the issue. We accept people, the way they are right now. And sometimes they will be helpful and at other times they will have no time and no inclination to take account of anything we might ask. Ask yourself, when was the last time you actively helped another person in recovery. If you have to give yourself time to seek out when you last helped the newcomer, ask yourself why does it take me so long to remember the last newcomer I encountered or helped. Freely given, and freely received, the AA pledge, "I am responsible when anyone anywhere reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to be there and for that I'm responsible…"

The AA pledge: "I'm responsible when anyone anywhere reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to be there and for that I'm responsible." Sometimes I might be the right person to be helpful to another. And sometimes I am the wrong person completely to be helpful to a new person trying to find recovery. And sometimes, meetings of the fellowship and well-established groups can be really unhelpful to the newcomer, because nobody approaches the newcomer and nobody offers them help. Unity, service and recovery, and a reminder to oneself about what to do when a newcomer asks… Maybe we can find a way to be more helpful today…

Millions of people live close to me, and there are hundreds of fellowship meetings every week. So many different types of meeting a newcomer might wonder what on earth is going on. There are newcomer meetings, there are step meetings, there are tradition meetings, there are meetings with particular titles and it can be very confusing when the new person encounters the edifice of Alcoholics Anonymous. It can seem very mysterious to have all these different things going on in fellowship and trying to understand anything when we are shivering denizens is easy to forget as we get time in recovery. And something which happens quite often is the twelve steps are used to judge newcomers, rather than help newcomers. I must admit myself, I have not read through the newcomers pack in the last twelve months. I have a newcomers pack in a box behind me, it ought to be on my person just in case a meeting does not have one, when the newcomer walks through the door…

How am I feeling? This morning, listening to the world news, Cyprus has the opportunity for a banking bailout from the EU. A politician returns to Pakistan. Farmers predict poor crops this year. Stock markets up. Our Mayor of London is made to look foolish and is accused of a barefaced lie. I am powerless over all this. And although it is interesting, what can I do today? Remind myself of steps 1 to 3, which help me gain perspective of why I am still alive. Remind myself of step six and seven, step six the old life of fear, pride and ego. And step seven the new life of courage, faith and confidence growing, or not, depending how the day is going. And steps 10 to 12, always a chance for a spot check inventory, some prayer, meditation, or simple reflection and my responsibility to be helpful if I may and if opportunity happens today. With all that in mind, there is a good chance that I will have freedom to choose, freedom to be happy and freedom to be helpful today…

And yes, you might say, "it's easy for you to say that, you don't have the life I have right now…" Very true, because I don't know your circumstances. And you don't know my circumstances. Humility is the key to all the steps and asking for help, always means we have to try and find the right person at the right time and in the right place. Sometimes we are the person who is in the right place at the right time and can be helpful if we are equipped, and if we are open, honest and willing to try. And if we realise we might not be the right person, do we know someone who can or could be right to help? I need to look at all my contacts in my telephone and remind myself not only how lucky I am to have these contacts, that "chance" might offer another person, we have in mind, because we are in fellowship… This week, maybe it's time I made sure I go to a newcomers meeting, I have made myself aware what to do if anybody asks for help, I hope I am ready and able, or I know someone who can today… And when it comes to newcomers, face to face is always the best way forward. If we can, we do…

Alcoholics Anonymous | March 25 2012 | Steps In Action | Step 3 "Your Higher Power" 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."

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2009 - 2012

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 wherever 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.”

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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 attitude 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 from the drink obsession provided we follow the A.A. program." LETTER, 1949

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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