Excellent post, Billy. What a great read to start the day!

speaking of 'intellectual power' I used to have much faith in my own. I was self reliant inside, even though I was actually very dependent on some people. I left AA due to paranoia, and thought 'I know I shouldn't drink, that should be enough.'
I held out a long time, the old mental state not too good. Then finally, my best thinking got me drunk. that's a pride leveller!
But it wasn't till I was 12 months sober this time, that self reliance deserted me. It was the best thing to have happened, even though I was in a suicidal pit for 3 weeks. I just did lots of meetings, and prayed, and ended up having a spiritual experience.
Speaking of which, I like what my therapist says. That is, that a truly spiritual person understands they're just ordinary.

We read that at our morning meeting today. This really spoke to me. I've got a very succesful career. At the peak of my career, earning the most I ever had, and more than i ever thought I would in 10 years all in 1, I was at the peak of my misery and for me the bottom (hopefully with the grace of my HP) of my drinking pit. I had "everything" I wanted, except absolutely no spiritual connections. Thank GOD for AA and for getting me to drop my flipping pride enough to walk into a meeting.
I love this passage. And I'm learning to love my life as well:)

G'Day Billy

A lot of years ago I was at our Australian AA Convention it is held yearly in different states that year it was at Monash University Melbourne.

One day i heard a conversation between a woman and one of the students at the University he was asking her why can't i get this Sobriety I have degrees in this and degrees in that but I can't stay sober and it's starting to affect my plans i have had to repeat a year.

And she simply said that you can't be to dumb to get this (Sobriety) but you can be to smart. And when it comes to degrees she said a thermometer also has degrees and you know where they put them.She was talking about when it come to sobriety.

I am lucky I didn't analyze the program I utilized it when my sponsor said i want you to do this i done it i may not have like it but I done it. When he said i want you to say the Serenity Prayer daily and i said but i am not sure i believe in God he said i don't care if you believe in God or not I just want to to say the Serenity prayer so I did. It was the best bit of advise I was given but I didn't know it then.

And as I grew spiritually I started to get physically well I am still waiting to grow mentally but who knows that may happen if I keep Spiritually well. progress not perfection ..

Thanks for the post .

God Bless...

Lionel

Uncle Baldy.... I sure miss ur face!!
When U coming to visit??

I like this one too..... Hmm......pg. 64.... of the BB..... Step 4..... resentments, personal house cleaning.... being rid of those things that blocked us,...... Blocked us from what?.......OH! blocked us from our new Power Greater than ourselves.... So I am blocked of from this Power Greater than myself, which can help me stay away from the drink and who can guide my life in a new direction... away from the resentments and into a Happy, Joyous and Free kind of living.

So I only have made a beginning with step 3 and though it is a vital and crucial step, if I don't take step 4,.....then step 3 will have little permanent effect unless at once (immediately, right away, quickly) followed by a strenuous effort to face, and be rid of, the things in ourselves, ( inside myself my emotional and psychological/mental reactions to the experiences I have had with people places and things....my response to life was resentful.)

.....Our liquor( my drinking) was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions. ( Causes & conditions of the things inside myself which are blocking me from my Power Greater than myself ... {God}) So these resentments are causing me to have a spiritual disease. I need to take step 4 and find the causes and conditions... the exact Nature of them and be rid of them promptly and without regret.

They are not working anymore... they are causing me to be unhappy from the depth of my spirit and so I need to throw these old ideas out for a new set of ideas and a new response to my life experiences.

To do this I take step 4.... write down a whole lifetime ..till now... of anger, an hurt, and throw away without regret all of it. Sounds like a ticket to freedom to me.

I know it seemed too big to me to have to think about and write down all of this for my 4th step, but once I began to do it it brought me a huge sense of relief.

I felt even better when I gave it all away with God and my sponsor with me in step 5. Then I felt an even bigger sense of relief and sense of freedom.... because I had always made everyone else responsible for how I felt and they always hurt me in one way or another.... when I took back responsibility for how I feel I got a secure relief feeling.
And now that this Power Greater than me is going to direct me through my life,
No one outside myself has the power to hurt me anymore.

I have much more to say but I cannot sit here any longer... it hurts. So I guess I would say.... don't be afraid of step 4-or-5.. They are such wonderful experiences you don't want to miss them!!!
It is a fact finding process not a immoral inventory.... a moral inventory.

In Love Light Truth & Service
'Stubborn' TerrieAnn
ralop