I remember early on They said "It was three fold Disease it affects the Alcoholic, mentally , Physically and Spiritually" then they would add 'If the spiritual malady is adressed( cleared Up) ....the mental and Physical would stay in Remission as long As I continued enlarging my spiritual life... Safe and Protected...Keeping my past green...Early Recovery , finding out how to Stay in the Solution, and continuing that Practice Yes!!!
Billy

What dawned on me yesterday is that there were so many simple slogans that I heard very early on in the 80s that I don't hear anymore. One of them is "Bring the body and the mind will follow." I think this is key for a lot of people who struggle with the "spiritual" part of the Program. To me, everything IS Spirit. When people keep coming and keep listening and use the tools, it comes. It really does.

The soul sickness runs so deep. That's why I have a hard time when folks start analyzing bottoms and feeling they haven't hit one because of the material things they have.

Lets face it. It's our inner core. Our souls. I never, ever want to feel as lonely and as desperate as I did when I finally surrendered. Going to meetings is a constant reminder for me.

Thanks for a nice post.

xo
~Chris

or "get to a meeting unless your ass falls off . and if your ass falls off , pick it up and take it to a meeting"

Ah! The Good old Days...'Easy Does It' ....But Do it.....

Damn, I just LOVE AA!!! Everything about it! Here is one joyful, grateful alcoholic today. Ha!

~Chris

There was no spiritual growth without a willingness to continue on the path that had been laid in front of me. Having had a spiritual awakening has become continually having spiritual awakenings. The more I learn the less I know comes to mind. As Chris said, "When people keep coming and keep listening and use the tools, it comes. It really does" I love "More shall be revealed". Isn't that the truth.

Wow, Coog! I was JUST having that exact conversation with a dear friend of mine. "MORE WILL BE REVEALED" Don't you just love that??? Dang!

Put one foot in front of the other, do the next right thing, keep going to meetings and it's as though there's no way you CAN'T get it. Spirit by osmosis. :)

AA fixed my osmosis... when I got here my osmosis was upsidedown and backward. I let the wrong things in and kept the right things out! I looked for the differences instead of the similarities. I didn't earn my seat in AA because my drinking was different from yours. My bottom wasn't the same and I didn't drink like you so I must not be an alcoholic. Finally when I was told by one of those older than I members that, Meeting makers don't really make it" I needed a sponsor to help me understand the book and how to take the steps out of the BB with a sponsor who took the steps out of the BB with a sponsor who took the steps out of the BB with........... well you see.. there really is no elevation of "bottoms" just a play on words and experienced... who's to say my experience was no more devastating than anyone else?? It you ever couldn't stop drinking when you truly wanted to then our bottoms are the same distance down. If you ever begged a God you didn't believe in to please answer the prayer of don't let me ever feel again and had it granted, then our bottoms are the same distance down. If you ever lost your self, your very soul, and didn't have a clue how it was lost nor where to look to find it, then we do have a common problem and AA has a common solution which has worked for innumerable alcoholics brought back from the gates of hell itself.

The simplest way I had the spirituality thing explained, so I could realize it myself, was,
"Religion is for those afraid to go to hell. Spirituality is for those of us who have already been there."

There's an old story out of San Fransisco's Central Office titled," Please don't tell me I'm not an Alcoholic."
If any of ya all know how to look it up I would love another copy. I lost mine after visiting out there years ago... wanted to see my old stompin grounds and did. It's got to be the best story about not perpetuating the myth that the door swings both ways, that I've ever read. Help me find it please?/
I sure love you guys. Thanks for the honesty and your experience strength and hope on a daily basis. I am stuck at home too much, but with you, and God willing, the internet and a computer to use.. I am not isolated unless I choose to be.
In Love, Light, Truth, & Service,
"Stubborn T"
ralop