How It Works

[bluidkiti]

http://silkworth.net/bb/howitworks.html

[bluidkiti]

~ How It Works ~

Utter confusion, misery, and pain,
Humiliation, remorseful, ashamed.
Dreading to face the light of each day,
Not wanting to hear what people would say.


Like, "Where is your power? Where is your pride?"
They don't understand that deep down inside
I wish that I knew the answers to give,
Or how to find the courage to live.


I had taken pills... they told me I should.
I tried all the cures, but they did no good.
I made many promises and meant them, too.
But the compulsion to "use" is stronger than you.


One day a friend happened to say,
"I know the answer... I can show you the way.
All it takes is willingness to have an open mind.
Believe what you hear from one of your kind."


I went to a meeting; they read Chapter V.
The steps made some sense, and hope was revived.
I saw living proof of what faith can do.
It worked for them... why not for you?


One day at a time, they told me to live.
They said, "Easy Does It." And "Learn to Forgive."
"Be humble, be honest, and help when you can.
Pass on what you learn to any new man."


I heard them repeat the Serenity Prayer.
And soon realized all my answers were there.
Now, when someone asks, "Can miracles be?"
I always reply, "Take a look at me."

~ Author Unknown ~

[bluidkiti]

H.O.W.

In honesty, WE recover, The strength to face our fears,
In open-mindedness, WE recover, Our thoughts become clear,
In willingness, WE recover, All of our lost tears,
WE learn, WE laugh, WE live, WE love,

In accepting, WE recover, Those lost parts of ourselves,
In surrender, WE recover, Today as a reality,
In our sadness, WE recover, Those children who love unconditionally,
WE hug, WE smile, WE speak, WE are miracles,

In reflection, WE recover, The innocence we had forsaken,
In attending, WE recover, The courage that was shaken,
In prayer, WE recover, Ourselves as we awaken, To the now, and the H.O.W.
WE feel.

December 10, 1995 Rod A.
AKA: Exhead Poetry In The Key Of Pain

[MajestyJo]

Over the years, I have heard so many people say, "The program never worked for me." I found that the program works, if I work for it. It works, because I am still working it.

The program isn't a quick fix, it is a process, a healing process that allows me to live in today alcohol and drug free, no matter what the substance is I try to substitute to make it all go away.

If I am not drinking in my spiritual need, not drinking spirits to meet my needs, it doesn't work.

If I am picking up a drug to escape reality, hide and bury my feelings and shutting of my feelings, then there is no sobriety (soundness of mind), and the program doesn't work unless it is spiritual things instead of people, places, and things, that I choose to put before my God.

I had to make an amend to my God for my thoughts and actions that kept me from Him. My choice, not His. Every time I pick up, be it food, work, cigarettes, alcohol, or street and prescription drugs, I leave God behind and allow my disease to rule my life.

How it works. Honesty myself, with my God and others. Opening my mind to other concepts and ideas other than my own. Willingness to go to any length to stay clean and sober in today.

Something I always remember is that "Ahhhhhhhhh!" feeling when I picked something up and it hit bottom." The thing I had to remember, was that I search for that feeling all of my life. When I reach it, I could stay in that moment, I had to have more. It kept taking more and more to reach that place, and then I found I couldn't reach it any more.

It was the spiritual aspects of the programs in AA, NA, and Al-Anon that worked for me. I could stop, and stay stopped.

[MajestyJo]

From "How It Works:"

"Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to
the agnostic, and our personal adventures before
and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not
manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have
relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought."

c. 1976, Alcoholics Anonymous, page 60

What I call the 1, 2, 3 Waltz. I can't, my God can, just for today, I choose to let Him.

[MajestyJo]

Alcoholics Anonymous - How it works

RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided that you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought that we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.

Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power - that One is God. May you find him now.

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.

Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we were willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.

(c) That God could and would if He were sought.


How it works - Chapter 5, page 58-60 of the Book,
Alcoholics Anonymous
© Alcoholics Anonymous