Spirituality is essential to our sobriety.
By: J.W. | New York, New York In these days of rapid growth and broader public enlightenment, a fair proportion of newcomers enter Alcoholics Anonymous unsponsored. This is especially true of the large cities, where a member is often lucky to know the man sitting next to him, let alone some suffering cave-dweller two miles … Read more
By: L. E. M. | Royal Oak, Michigan “Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one rascal less in the world.” These words were said by Thomas Carlyle, English essayist, historian, biographer and philosopher. As I look back, I had been honest, but I had been honest only to … Read more
WHEN I FIRST CAME into Alcoholics Anonymous, I was confused to hear speakers refer to alcoholism as a disease. My whole background offered only one summary for uncontrolled drinking. And that was the moral conclusion that drunkenness was a sin of gluttony. A thousand things could explain why I got drunk, but nothing could excuse … Read more
August 1947 “Continued to take moral inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.” Notice that the word “continued” is a past participle. We take it to mean that this Step is an unvarying and unceasing thing. It is a part of the program that must be repeated day by day. It is also … Read more
September 1948 The question of persons, who after two, three, even five or more years of continued sobriety in A.A., “having trouble,” came up in a discussion meeting recently. How to avoid the “trouble” is an important question. It seems to boil down to something like Jack Dempsey’s reply to a questioner, after Gene Tunney … Read more
August 1945 Jim sank into a comfortable chair at the Club House. He had come all the way over, across town, to eat lunch here because he knew, instinctively, that today he needed to be surrounded by A.A. and the gang, but, now that he was here, he wondered why he had come. He was … Read more
January 2023 I was 20 years old when I walked back into an AA meeting after a two-year absence. Before I went to that meeting, I had to call a person I had known during the few months I first attended AA meetings in 1972 but didn’t stay sober. Back then, when I cried for … Read more
By: Richard D. | Shreveport, Louisiana August, 2012 Uncovering all the harm he caused in his drinking days restored his compassion for others STEP EIGHT: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. Looking back, it is probably safe to say that I harmed many … Read more
By: Ronald H. | Santa Ysabel, California August, 1999 We all take things for granted sometimes, loved ones in particular. My mother passed away one morning in April 1990. Since then, the feeling of loss is always with me whether I think about it or not. Being a single parent with five kids, Mom had … Read more
Step Eight – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. By: B. B. | Longview, Washington August 1993 Almost three years ago I moved from a relatively large urban area to a smaller town. At the time, I had just celebrated my second AA … Read more
By: H. V. | Kodiak, Alaska July 1984 THE SEVENTH is the shortest Step. It should be so simple to practice it and be granted true relief, leading to serenity. However, I have found this Step to be extremely painful and frightening. If I want a shortcoming removed, what price am I willing to pay … Read more
By: Dan J. | Maryknoll, New York July 1991 Fresh from a Fifth Step session with my sponsor, I turned to the Sixth Step. Gradually, very gradually, I became ready to have God remove my character defects–and God knows there were a lot of them! That evening, I got home from a meeting and was … Read more