The Any Length Retreat uses the Twelve Steps of recovery for our 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day addiction recovery center programs. We utilize these steps and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous because they have helped millions of men and women find recovery and recreate their lives. All of our retreats are geared to help men recreate their lives permanently if they are willing to follow our guidance and remain willing, honest, and open-minded. The Any Length Retreat addiction recovery center utilizes the Twelve Steps in our 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day retreats is because they have given our guests a way of life that gets infinitely better as time passes.
Here are nearly 250 promises out of the Big Book… can you find more? Are you experiencing ALL of them in your life? Thank God for AA’s clear-cut directions and design for living that works, because before AA most of us only had a program of action for dying!
53 First Step Promises:
- 1. How many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism. (Title page).
- 2. Who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. (foreword 1st edition xiii)
- 3. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. (foreword 1st edition xiii)
- 4. We are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all. (foreword 1st edition xiii)
- 5. Our earliest printing voiced the hope -that every alcoholic who journeys will find the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his
- 6. It also indicated that strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery (xvii)
- 7. A.A.’s had to hang together or die separately. We had to unify our Fellowship or pass off the scene.(xix)
- 8. Today the remarkable unity of A.A. is one of the greatest assets that our Society has.(xix)
- 9. It is our great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us
on the high road to a new freedom. (xxi) - 10. …recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope. (xxii)
- 11. We who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind (xxiv)
- 12. We are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. (xxiv)
- 13. We work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane. (xxiv)
- 14. Once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving
them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules. (xxvii) - 15. There are many situations which arise out of the phenomenon of craving which cause men to make the supreme sacrifice rather than continue to fight. (xxviii)
- 16. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in away of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes. (8:2)
- 17. I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems.Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. (13:5)
- 18. For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain
trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead
indeed. With us it is just like that. (14:6) - 19. It is a design for living that works in rough going. (15:1)
- 20. The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty. (15:2)
- 21. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. (15:2)
- 22. I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations
righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their
families and communities. Business and professional men have regained their standing. (15:2) - 23. There is, however, a vast amount of fun about it all. I suppose some would be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity. But just
underneath there is deadly earnestness. Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. (16:2) - 24. Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen
multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men. (16:3) - 25. …there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. (17:2)
- 26. Our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. (17:2)
- 27. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us… The tremendous fact for every one
of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in
brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism. (17:2) - 28. An illness of this sort-and we have come to believe it an illness-involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. (18:1)
- 29. For with it (the alcoholic illness) there goes annihilation of all the things worthwhile in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer’s.
It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad
wives and parents-anyone can increase the list. (18:1) - 30. Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people’s shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet
their needs. (19:4) - 31. The alcoholic reacts differently from normal people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. We
cannot answer the riddle. We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like
other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and
mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. (22:3) - 32. The main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. (23:1)
- 33. At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely
no avail. (24:0) - 34. The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes
practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering
and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. (24:1) - 35. There is a solution. (25:1)
- 36. We saw that it really worked in others. (25:1)
- 37. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. (25:1)
- 38. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed
miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves. (25:2) - 39. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living” that really works. (28:2)
- 40. All of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and
understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. (28:3) - 41. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. (30:1)
- 42. We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control.
All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, but such intervals-usually brief-were inevitably followed by still less control, which
led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a
progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better. (30:3) - 43. To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have. This is particularly true
of women. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. (33:3) - 44. The actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. (39:1)
- 45. That if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come-I would drink again. (41:2)
- 46. I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. (42:0)
- 47. The program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic (42:0)
- 48. Most alcoholics have to be pretty badly mangled before they really commence to solve their problems. (43:1)
- 49. The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other
human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power. (43:3) - 50. If he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy
alternatives to face. (44:2) - 51. We had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life -or else. (44:3)
- 52. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. (45:0)
- 53. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than
ourselves.(45:1)
10 Second Step Promises:
- 1. We did not need to consider another’s conception of God. (46:2)
- 2. God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. (46:2)
- 3. We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves,
we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God. (46:1) - 4. The Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all
men. (46:2) - 5. As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been
repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.* (47:2) - 6. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness,
and sense of direction flowed into them. (50:4) - 7. When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God.
Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. (52:3) - 8. Deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of
other things, but in some form or other it is there. (55:2) - 9. If our testimony helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to search diligently within yourself, then, if
you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway. With this attitude you cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come to
you. (55:4) - 10. He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us! (57:3)
23 Third Step Promises:
1. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. (64:0)
2. Our liquor was but a symptom. (64:0)
3. Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we
have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. (64:3)
4. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. (64:3)
5. Nothing counted but thoroughness and honesty. (65:3)
6. But the more we fought and tried to have our own way, the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of
triumph were short-lived. (66:0)
7. It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these
(resentments), do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. (66:1)
8. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it (resentment) is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity
of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. (66:1)
9. If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. (66:2)
10. We turned back to the list, for it held the key to the future. (66:3)
11. We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that state, the wrong-doing of others, fancied or real, had power to
actually kill. (66:3)
12. This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick.
13. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. (66:4)
14. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. (67:4)
15. “Fear” This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune. (67:3)
16. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity. (68:2)
17. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear. (68:3)
18. If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. (70:1)
19. If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. (70:1)
20. If we have been through about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. (70:3)
21. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. (70:3)
22. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. (70:3)
23. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. (70:3)
24. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people. (70:3)
25. We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can. (70:3)
25 Fourth Step Promises:
1. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. (64:0)
2. Our liquor was but a symptom. (64:0)
3. Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we
have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. (64:3)
4. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. (64:3)
5. Nothing counted but thoroughness and honesty. (65:3)
6. But the more we fought and tried to have our own way, the worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of
triumph were short-lived. (66:0)
7. It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these
(resentments), do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. (66:1)
8. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it (resentment) is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity
of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. (66:1)
9. If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. (66:2)
10. We turned back to the list, for it held the key to the future. (66:3)
11. We began to see that the world and its people really dominated us. In that state, the wrongdoing of others, fancied or real, had power to
actually kill. (66:3)
12. This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick.
13. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. (66:4)
14. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. (67:4)
15. “Fear” This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune. (67:3)
16. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity. (68:2)
17. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear. (68:3)
18. If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. (70:1)
19. If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. (70:1)
20. If we have been through about our personal inventory, we have written down a lot. (70:3)
21. We have listed and analyzed our resentments. (70:3)
22. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. (70:3)
23. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. (70:3)
24. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people. (70:3)
25. We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can. (70:3)
12 Fifth Step Promises:
1. In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient. (72:2)
2. If we skip this vital step, we may not overcome drinking. (72:2)
3. They took inventory all right, but hung on to some of the worst items in stock. They only thought they had lost their egoism and fear; they only thought they had humbled themselves. But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else all their life story. (73:0)
4. We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world. (73:4)
5. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. (75:2)
6. We can look the world in the eye. (75:2)
7. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. (75:2)
8. Our fears fall from us. (75:2)
9. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. (75:2)
10. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. (75:2)
11. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. (75:2)
12. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe. (75:2)
1 Eighth Step Promises:
1. Now we need more action, without which we find that “Faith without works is dead.” (76:3)
20 Ninth Step Promises:
1. We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while can be accomplished until we do so, never trying to tell him what he should do. (77:2)
2. If our manner is calm, frank, and open, we will be gratified with the result. (78:0)
3. In nine cases out of ten the unexpected happens. (78:1)
4. Rarely do we fail to make satisfactory progress. (78:1)
5. We must lose our fear of creditors no matter how far we have to go, for we are liable to drink if we are afraid to face them. (78:2)
6. Perhaps there are some cases where the utmost frankness is demanded. No outsider can appraise such an intimate situation. (82:1)
7. Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling that we are sorry won’t fill the bill at all. (83:1)
8. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. (83:4)
9. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. (83:4)
10. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. (83:4)
11. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. (83:4)
12. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. (84:0)
13. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. (84:0)
14. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. (84:0)
15. Self-seeking will slip away. (84:0)
16. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. (84:0)
17. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. (84:0)
18. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. (84:0)
19. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. (84:0)
20. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us-sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them. (84:1)
23 Tenth Step Promises:
1. We continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. (84:2)
2. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. (84:2)
3. We have entered the world of the Spirit. (84:2)
4. Love and tolerance of others is our code. (84:2)
5. We have ceased fighting anything or anyone even alcohol. (84:3)
6. For by this time sanity will have returned. (84:3)
7. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. (84:3)
8. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. (85:0)
9. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. (85:0)
10. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. (85:0)
11. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality-safe and protected. (85:0)
12. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. (85:0)
13. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. (85:0)
14. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition. (85:0)
15. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. (85:1)
16. We are not cured of alcoholism. (85:1)
17. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. (85:1)
18. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. (85:1)
19. “How can I best serve Thee-Thy will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. (85:1)
20. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (85:1)
21. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. (85:2)
22. To some extent we have become God-conscious. (85:2)
23. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action. (85:2)
12 Eleventh Step Promises:
1. We shouldn’t be shy on this matter of prayer. Better men than we are using it constantly. It works, if we have the proper attitude and work at it. (85:3)
2. We ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. (86:2)
3. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives. (86:2)
4. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. (86:3)
5. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. (87:0)
6. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it. (87:0)
7. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn’t work. (87:1)
8. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. (87:3)
9. We become much more efficient. (88:0)
10. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves. (88:0)
11. It works-it really does. (88:1)
12. “Faith without works is dead.” (88:3)
28 Twelfth Step Promises:
1. Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. (89:1)
2. Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. (89:1)
3. You can secure their confidence when others fail. (89:1)
4. Life will take on new meaning. (89:2)
5. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. (89:2)
6. Unfortunately a lot of prejudice exists. You will be handicapped if you arouse it. (89:3)
7. Ministers and doctors are competent and you can learn much from them if you wish, but it happens that because of your own drinking experience you can be uniquely useful to other alcoholics. (89:3)
8. To be vital, faith must be accompanied by self sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action. (93:2)
9. You should not be offended if he wants to call it off, for he has helped you more than you have helped him. (94:1)
10. You will be most successful with alcoholics if you do not exhibit any passion for crusade or reform. (95:1)
11. We have no monopoly on God; we merely have an approach that worked with us. (95:4)
12. Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery. (97:1)
13. A kindly act once in a while isn’t enough. You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be. (97:1)
14. The men who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track. (98:0)
15. Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: job or no job-wife or no wife-we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God. (98:1)
16. Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house. (98:2)
17. Remind the prospect that his recovery is not dependent upon people. It is dependent upon his relationship with God. (99:3)
18. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. (100:1)
19. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. (100:1)
20. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present
circumstances! (100:1)
21. Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. (100:4)
22. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. (101:1)
23. In our belief any scheme of combating alcoholism which proposes to shield the sick man from temptation is doomed to failure. (101:2)
24. At a proper time and place explain to all your friends why alcohol disagrees with you. If you do this thoroughly, few people will ask you to drink. (102:1)
25. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed. (102:2)
26. We would not even do the cause of temperate drinking any good, for not one drinker in a thousand likes to be told anything about alcohol by one who hates it. (103:1)
27. After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol. (103:3)
28. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We have to! (103:3)
31 Miscellaneous Promises:
1. The power of God goes deep! (114:1)
2. If God can solve the age-old riddle of alcoholism, He can solve your problems too. (116:2)
3. You will lose the old life to find one much better. (120:0)
4. All problems will not be solved at once. Seed has started to sprout in a new soil, but growth has only begun. In spite of your new-found happiness, there will be ups and downs. Many of the old problems will still be with you. This is as it should be. (117:1)
5. The faith and sincerity of both you and your husband will be put to the test. These work-outs should be regarded as part of your education, for thus you will be learning to live. You will make mistakes, but if you are in earnest they will not drag you down. Instead, you will capitalize them. A
better way of life will emerge when they are overcome. (117:2)
6. You and your husband will find that you can dispose of serious problems easier than you can the trivial ones. (118:1)
7. Patience, tolerance, understanding and love are the watchwords. Show him these things in yourself and they will be reflected back to you
from him. (118:2)
8. Live and let live is the rule. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other. (118:2)
9. Both of you will awaken to a new sense of responsibility for others. (119:2)
10. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic’s past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one! (124:1)
11. Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have-the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them. (124:2)
12. We alcoholics are sensitive people. It takes some of us a long time to outgrow that serious handicap. (125:2)
13. But we aren’t a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn’t want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying
life. We try not to indulge in cynicism over the state of the nations, nor do we carry the world’s troubles on our shoulders. (132:1)
14. We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others. (132:2)
15. We have three little mottoes which are apropos. Here they are: First Things First, Live and Let Live, Easy Does It.(135:4)
16. The greatest enemies of us alcoholics are resentment, jealousy, envy, frustration, and fear. (145:3)
17. As a class, alcoholics are energetic people. They work hard and they play hard. (146:1)
18. Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. (152:2)
19. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. (152:2)
20. Your imagination will be fired. (152:2)
21. Life will mean something at last. (152:2)
22. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you. (152:2)
23. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. (152:4)
24. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. (153:0)
25. You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” (153:0)
26. The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that! (153:1)
27. He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave. (164:1)
28. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. (164:2)
29. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. (164:2)
30. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for
us. (164:2)
31. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. (164:3)
