Sobriety.........
"Sobriety is the leading cause of relapse."
A treatment center is where you go and pay $15,000
to find out that A.A. meetings are free.
"This is a One Day at a Time program. If you are sober today,
you are tied for first place in AA."
"If drinking is interfering with your work, you're probably a heavy
drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you're probably
an alcoholic."
"I often obsessively pursue feeling good ... no matter how bad
it makes me feel."
"When I was new, I didn't think I had any obsessions, until I
started thinking about it. Then it was all I could think about."
"How come if alcohol kills millions of brain cells, it never killed
the ones that made me want to drink?"
"It's not old behavior if I'm still doing it"
From a newcomer reading the 'Promises' for the first time:
"We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace."
"If God were small enough to understand,
He wouldn't be big enough to be God!"
"If you want to quit drinking, you are going to have to quit
drinking."
Newcomer: "How do I know how many meetings I should
attend each week?"
Old-timer: "Gradually cut back until you drink. Then you'll know."
"If you're looking to have an image in AA, look around at the
meetings you go to and take a look at who you're trying to impress."
"I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic,
than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself that I am not."
"The secret to the AA program is the first three words on
page 112."
"An alcoholic is a person who wants to be held
while he's isolating."
"Resentments are like stray cats: if you don't feed them,
they'll go away."
"A lot of members criticize newcomers for sharing in their first
thirty days; what scares me are those bleeding deacons
sharing in their last thirty days."
"The difference between a problem drinker and an Alcoholic
is that: (A.) When the alcohol is taken away from the problem
drinker, the problem goes away. When the alcohol is taken
away from the Alcoholic, the problem begins."
Sponsee "When will I get a good job?"
Sponsor "When you are ready."
Sponsee "How will I know I am ready?"
Sponsor "You'll have a good job."
"If I am not the problem, then there is no solution"
"Before I came into AA, I was dead, but I did not know
enough to lay down."
"It is the great obsession of every Al-Anon, that some day he
or she will learn to control and enjoy their drinker."
"I would rather be a sober ANYTHING, than a drunk Anything."
"I drank when I was happy. I drank when I was UN-happy.
Actually, I am a reason to drink."
"You don't have to be sick to want to get well.
But if you don't want to get well, you ARE sick."
"I can't do His will my way."
"Being single minded has one drawback: there's no room left for Him."
"In order to change the way we feel
we need to change the way we act."
"There is only one way to coast, and that is down hill."
"The good news is you get your emotions back;
The bad news is you get your emotions back ."
"All we ask is that you completely change your attitude
as soon as possible."
"Don't be a pigeon. If you tie a message to a pigeon's foot
and send him to Denver, the guy in Denver will get the
message... but the pigeon won't."
"Never put people in AA on a pedestal ... there's no room to dance
when one is on a pedestal."
"I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all;
but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."
"Without memory, there is no healing.
Without forgiveness, there is no future."
"Our business is doing God's business. As long as we do
God's business, whatever happens to us is none of our
business. That's God's business.
----- signature snipped for anonymity purposes... but signature statement
kept, because I like it.
Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous.
It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.