I wanted to start a chat on the book I find key to my sobriety. The twelve and twelve was written 15 years after the big book when Bill was more enlightened on the issues of longterm sobriety.
Here is my quote of the day
Step 10 page 91
“Justifiable Anger”
It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed,
no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with
us. If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the
wrong also. But are there no exceptions to this rule? What
about “justifi able” anger? If somebody cheats us, aren’t we
entitled to be mad? Can’t we be properly angry with self-
righteous folk? For us of A.A. these are dangerous excep-
tions. We have found that justifi ed anger ought to be left to
those better qualifi ed to handle it.
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Love the 12 and 12. Great quote!
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I have this and the big book both on my wishlist on Amazon. Is there one, over the other that I should get first?
You need to get and read the Big Book first preferably with your sponsor. Or you can read it with Joe and Charlie on Youtube. Then get the 12x12 to help with the steps. https://youtu.be/n5IfACf5BWM
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Yeah, its so hard sometimes just to see the deep meaning in the simple stuff. My mind attaches so many judgements on a subconscious level even without my approval.
I just have to remeber to breathe.
It can be so easy and I make it so difficult.
Here is my passage from today
Step 4 page 53
But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends,
and society at large that many of us have suffered the most.
We have been especially stupid and stubborn about them.
The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total in-
ability to form a true partnership with another human be-
ing. Our egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls. Either we
insist upon dominating the people we know, or we depend
upon them far too much. If we lean too heavily on people,
they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human, too,
and cannot possibly meet our incessant demands. In this
way our insecurity grows and festers. When we habitually
try to manipulate others to our own willful desires, they re-
volt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop hurt feelings, a
sense of persecution, and a desire to retaliate. As we redou-
ble our efforts at control, and continue to fail, our suffer-
ing becomes acute and constant. We have not once sought
to be one in a family, to be a friend among friends, to be a
worker among workers, to be a useful member of society.
Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap, or to
hide underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a
partnership relation with any one of those about us. Of
true brotherhood we had small comprehension.
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Today’s Quote
Step 4 page 44
Alcoholics especially should be able to see that instinct
run wild in themselves is the underlying cause of their de-
structive drinking. We have drunk to drown feelings of
fear, frustration, and depression. We have drunk to escape
the guilt of passions, and then have drunk again to make
more passions possible. We have drunk for vainglory—
that we might the more enjoy foolish dreams of pomp and
power. This perverse soul-sickness is not pleasant to look
upon. Instincts on rampage balk at investigation. The
minute we make a serious attempt to probe them, we are liable to suffer severe reactions.