There are quite a few, on the board...achieving stepping stones..one day at a time, in sobriety. You are miracles. Most of us are living on borrowed time. We shouldn't even be here, when one thinks about it...and where we have all come from. Thanks to a "Higher Power" of our individual understanding...We are.
There are many, that have come here, that have never made it....looking for easier softer ways. There are none. I guarantee you that. Ive tried em all. Some are back out there practicing, and trying to control it all...and have either passed on, or are living in a "HELL" of their own.
There are those that have come here and "Got IT" and others that are still trying to "Get It". I salute you!!
It took this kid a long time to "Get It" and there are still a lot of days...that I'm still looking for it..:) Its a matter of choice...and some of us can be our own worst enemies.
For some of us ...it comes easy....for some of us...it comes through pain...
We each have to go down our own path in sobriety...whatever that path may be...
However...."Its a WE THING"
We share our experience strength and hope..with each other...and we try to pass on...what others have passed on to us. We do that with love compassion and understanding.
Where at one point in time...there was no hope....Today there is.
Another day....Lets get atter...pitter patter...
Onward!!....and watch out for runaway turnip trucks..:)
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it- then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol- cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power- that one is God. May you find Him Now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1:
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2:
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3:
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4:
Made a fearless and thorough moral inventory of ourselves.
5:
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.
6:
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7:
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8:
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9:
Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10:
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11:
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12:
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all or affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
When one is hit by one of those "trucks" it is either an epiphany or one one is knocked flat on their rear. How many times one wants to step in front of the truck before it is epiphany is a choice. Personally the view has been MUCH better standing on the pavement than lying on it. Like you said Phil, for each it is a different pace.......and for some........well they never figure out how to "get up". Love you for all the support, humor, and compassion! Wanda
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguements and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
~Herbert Spencer
we'll see.
confused as always 