aa Spoken Here Community Group
Fellowship Where you can share your thoughts, feelings, stories and get support to gain and continue sobriety.
AA tells us that we must be honest about our problems if we hope to overcome them. Some people seem quite willing to do this. But an honest admission alone does not solve our problems. We have to go beyond honesty by taking needed action to correct what's wrong in our lives.
For example, we would not believe that anything had been corrected simply because a doctor diagnosed a physical problem. We know that such diagnosis is only a preliminary step that must lead to treatment to be effective. In the same way, an honest admission of our alcoholism does not lead to sobriety unless we take further action to address the problem.
We should also be careful about becoming prideful in announcing our shortcomings. If we are recovering from alcoholism but excuse a bad temper as one of our "alcoholic defects," are we attempting to correct our behavior? The more prideful we are about any fault, the more difficult it will be to change it.
Having become honest about my shortcomings, I'll look for opportunities today to make needed corrections in my behavior. If I find myself using my "alcoholic nature" as an excuse for unacceptable behavior, I'll take action to do something about it.
For example, we would not believe that anything had been corrected simply because a doctor diagnosed a physical problem. We know that such diagnosis is only a preliminary step that must lead to treatment to be effective. In the same way, an honest admission of our alcoholism does not lead to sobriety unless we take further action to address the problem.
We should also be careful about becoming prideful in announcing our shortcomings. If we are recovering from alcoholism but excuse a bad temper as one of our "alcoholic defects," are we attempting to correct our behavior? The more prideful we are about any fault, the more difficult it will be to change it.
Having become honest about my shortcomings, I'll look for opportunities today to make needed corrections in my behavior. If I find myself using my "alcoholic nature" as an excuse for unacceptable behavior, I'll take action to do something about it.
I have seen this from both sides both by my own experience and watching others. I see people who believe that the solution to their problems is just to share them in a meeting, they then come back week after week with the same problem because sharing may have provided some relief but they have not taken action to change that will provide release. I have also seen people who also have problems but apply solutions and how different their life becomes. I have tried both approaches during my recovery and I know which kind of life I want to have.
" When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer, the problem went away. From that moment on, I have not had a single compulsion to drink.
And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
You can add Appraisal and Amends to that A list.
Step 5 --- Admit our character defects to God, ourselves and another.
Step 6 --- Accept our character defects as they are.
Step 7 --- Action upon our defects of character/shortcomings by humbly going before our God/HP in prayer.