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Don G. is a 20-plus year sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and other Twelve Step recovery programs. An experienced writer and speaker, he has traveled the United States and the world carrying a message of recovery. His numerous articles have appeared in the Grapevine, AA’s international "meeting in print" magazine, and various recovery publications. He was a seminar presenter on the topic, "Humility: A Power Greater" at the worldwide AA International Convention in Minneapolis in 2000. A retired licensed M.S.W., he currently resides and writes with his wife, Cynthia, in Temple, Texas.
Over a twelve-year period, Don carried a notebook with him when he visited Alcoholic Anonymous and other twelve step meetings across the United States and around the world. He made it a point to listen in each meeting for something that had intense meaning to him and his experience -- something strong enough to make his head nod up and down. This would not happen in every meeting, but when it did, he wrote down his thoughts rather than trusting them to memory.
In this book he has collected over a thousand of the best of these pithy little sayings, sometimes laugh-provoking but always insightful. There are pieces of wisdom here both for beginners and for those who have been around for a while.
A small sampling
100. My definition of an alcoholic was someone who drank more than I did.
335. I was busted, disgusted, couldn’t be trusted, and sitting in a chair at an AA meeting.
375. When you’re laying flat on your face, trudging looks like moving at the speed of light.
376. An alcoholic drinks like a fish does…just because it’s in front of him.
389. All my life, I turned my will and my life over to the care of God as YOU understood him.
480. The outstanding characteristic of an alcoholic is defiance. 99% of my energy was negative.
509. I was convinced that I was better than all the people who were stepping over me.
556. If you hang out in front of a barber shop long enough, you’re gonna get a haircut.
592. For many years, I was a figment of my own imagination.
594. Alcohol gave me wings and took away my sky.
666. When we were drinking we thought everything was coming together when it was really falling apart. When we
got sober, we thought everything was falling apart when it was really coming together.
722. I woke up every morning and there at the foot of my bed was my disease saying, "Glad you’re up. I’ve been waiting for you."
750. I thought God was there to pick up the pieces after I’d screwed up. I didn’t know He was there to show me the way
to not screw up in the first place.
794. I thought I’d had all of my ducks in a row. But I found out that some of them were decoys, some were geese, and some of them were predators. While I was trying to figure out which was which, they all just wandered off.
1091. I used to think that balance was about rotating my obsessions.
251. When I first got here I was like a first timer at a nudist camp. I could compare, but I couldn’t relate.
346. One time I asked my sponsor if he was God. He said, "sometimes."
424. You have a right to kill yourself and I have a right to not watch.
435. These meeting rooms became like a communion cup…the one that everyone in church shares and drinks from.
439. Faith meant I had to do something when I didn’t know what was going to happen.
524. The first word of the 11th step…"sought…" meant I’d have to do some work.
733. I said I didn’t believe in God, but I knew I was scared of Him. How could I be scared of someone I didn’t believe in? That’s when I started to believe.
905. This program was about learning how to humble myself. If I can’t figure out how to do that, God would do for me what I couldn’t do for myself.
993. You taught me how to feel and touch in here. Today, I can touch with love…not just other people…but I can touch my God too.
1026. Even though I’ve got the monkey off my back, the circus is still in town.
25. I will bloom wherever I am planted.
252. Sometimes I can settle myself down enough to ask, "What would you do if you were not afraid?"
291. I still have insane thoughts. But it’s not those thoughts that make my life chaos, it’s my action on those thoughts. Today, I don’t translate my insane thoughts into insane actions.
443. Every day in prayer I ask God what would make Him happy. If I can find what makes God happy, I will be happy.
582. Around here, we don’t shoot our wounded.
679. Today, I have a core inside myself that is separated from the outside world. My true insides are not connected to everyday things out there.
701. Today, I am willing to be disappointed. It’s not one of my favorite things, but I am willing to do it.
746. I’ve been sober long enough now to where some of the committee members in my head are starting to get sober.
789. Today, I am present in my life.
871. God and I are gonna dance today.
937. When I have to wait, it bothers me because I’m afraid of the unknown. So now I pray when I have to wait…"yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the unknown…"
1023. Those of us who have remained here were chosen to be sober. Because of that, we no longer have the privilege to remain neutral. We’re charged with the responsibility to carry this message.
1099. It’s delicious to be sober. I know this because I can taste life for the first time in years.
1109. My heroes have changed.
1119. Since coming here the transformation of my life is so great that I can’t come in here anymore without feeling like Cinderella.
26. Laughter is the sound effect of recovery.
85. Arrogance is covering up shame. Feeling shame is one thing. Hiding it is another.
94. The purpose of grieving is acceptance.
135. We’re responsible for what is possible, and God is responsible for what is impossible.
142. There’s a difference between loving yourself in egoism and loving yourself in humility.
184. The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
288. If you tell me something, I’ll forget it. If you show me something, I’ll remember it. If you involve me in something, I’ll understand it.
364. God doesn’t love me because I’m good. God loves me because He’s good.
400. Don’t ever draw a line in the sand for God ... He will step over it.
428. When I leave here, the only thing I’m going to be allowed to take with me is my soul’s integrity.
484. You know it’s from God if it touches your heart and clears your mind.
602. In every situation and every problem, when I pray, I need to pray for all concerned, not just for me.
611. Life is not about being happy. Life is about being whole.
627. Expect Nothing…Blame No one…Do Something.
800. How cheaply am I willing to sell my serenity?
801. Anger is like a piece of red hot charcoal you pick up and throw at someone else. You may or may not hurt them, but you are certainly going to burn yourself.
804. Participating in a resentment is like drinking a glass of poison and then waiting for the other person to die.
819. There may only be just 3 prayers ... Help ... Thank you ... and Wow.
935. For me, there’s a God-self and a self-self. God uses me for His works, and if I’m in tune with that, my life goes well. My self-self will cause me to implode.
1033. I’d rather walk in the dark with a friend than in the light alone.
1116. We’re climbing a mountain that has no summit, which is better than sliding down a valley that has no bottom.
1154. People talk about heaven and hell. To me, heaven is here and hell is when I turn my back on my Higher Power.
1189. AA is the only place where they give you a medal for running out of a burning building.
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