Yep I must,you must and they must. If not we have no AA to. I must do AA merting because if not I will drink again and die.
So if you are an alcoholic like me,you must :}
The 82 "Musts" Found In
Alcoholics Anonymous 3rd. Edition.
THE DOCTOR'S OPINION
1. As part of his rehabilitation he commenced to present conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing on them that they must do likewise with still others. (p. xxiii)
2. In this statement he confirms what we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe -- that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind. (p. xxiv)
3. The message, which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. (p. xxvi)
4. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater then themselves, if they are to re-create their lives. (p.xxvi)
5. I must stop, but I cannot! (p. xxvii)
6. You must help me! (p. xxvii)
7. Faced with this problem, if a doctor is honest with himself, he must sometimes feel his own inadequacy. (p. xxvii)
8. Though the aggregate of recoveries resulting from psychiatric effort is considerable, we physicians mustadmit we have made little impression upon the problem as a whole. (p. xxvii)
CHAPTER 1, BILL'S STORY
9. I could almost hear the sound of the preacher's voice as I sat, on still Sundays, way over there on the hillside; there was that proffered temperance pledge I never signed; my grandfather's good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their own music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen; his fearlessness as he spoke of these things just before he died; these recollections welled up from the past. (p. 10)
10. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all. (p. 14)
CHAPTER 2, THERE IS A SOLUTION
11. "His will power must be weak." (p. 20)
12. Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes I am one of them too; I must have this thing." (p. 29)
CHAPTER 3, MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM
13. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. (p. 33)
14. His defense must come from a Higher Power. (p. 43)
CHAPTER 4, WE AGNOSTICS
15. But after a while we had to face the fact that we mustfind a spiritual basis of life -- or else. (p. 44)
CHAPTER 5, HOW IT WORKS
16. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. (p. 62)
17. We must, or it kills us! (p. 62)
18. We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? (p. 66)
19. Whatever our ideal turns out to be, we must be willing to grow toward it. (p. 69)
20. We must be willing to make amends where we have done harm, provided that we do not bring about still more harm in so doing. (p. 69)
CHAPTER 6, INTO ACTION
21. We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world. (p. 73)
22. Those of us who belong to a religious denomination, which requires confession must, and of course, will want to go to the properly appointed authority whose duty is to receive it. (p. 74)
23. The rule is we must be hard on ourselves, but always considerate of others. (p. 74)
24. But we must not use this as a mere excuse to postpone. (p. 75)
25. 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. (p. 78)
26. We must not shrink at anything. (p. 79)
27. If we obtained permission, have consulted with others, asked God to help and the drastic step is indicated wemust not shrink. (p.80)
28. In fairness we must say that she may understand, but what are we going to do about a thing like that? (p. 81)
29. Certainly he must keep sober, for there will be no home if he doesn't. (p. 82)
30. We must take the lead. (p. 83)
31. We must remember that ten or twenty years of drunkenness would make a skeptic out of anyone. (p. 83)
32. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will
into all of our activities. (p. 85)
33. These are the thoughts, which must go with us constantly. (p. 85)
34. But we must go further and that means more action. (p. 85)
35. But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. (p. 86)
CHAPTER 7, WORKING WITH OTHERS
36. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch
loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends -- this is an experience you mustnot miss. (p. 89)
37. The family must decide these things. (p. 90)
38. To be vital faith must be accompanied by self-sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action. (p. 93)
39. After doing that, he must decide for himself whether he wants to go on. (p. 95)
40. If he is to find God, the desire must come from within him. (p. 95)
41. In many homes this is a difficult thing to do, but it mustbe done if any results are to be expected. (p. 99
42. But we must try to repair the damage immediately lest we pay the penalty by a spree. (p. 99
43. If their old relationship is to be resumed it must be on a better basis, since the former did not work. (p. 99)
44. Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. (p. 100)
45. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; [continued] (p.101)
46. we must not have it in our homes; [continued] (p. 101)
47. we must shun our friends who drink; [continued] (p. 101)
48. we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; [continued] (p. 101)
49. we must not go into bars; [continued] (p. 101)
50. our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; [continued] (p. 101)
51. we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all. (p. 101)
CHAPTER 8, TO WIVES
52. Our next thought is that you should never tell him what he must do about his drinking. (p. 111)
53. Wait until repeated stumbling convinces him he mustact, for the more you hurry him the longer his recovery will be delayed. (p. 113)
54. But sometimes you must start life anew. (p. 114)
55. But you must be on guard not to embarrass of harm your husband. (p. 115)
56. You will no longer be self-conscious or feel that youmust apologize as though your husband were a weak character. (p. 115)
57. Often you must carry the burden of avoiding them or keeping them under control. (p. 117)
58. Yet you must expect too much. (p. 118)
59. Your husband will see at once that he must redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive. (p. 120)
CHAPTER 9, THE FAMILY AFTERWARD
60. The family must realize that dad, though marvelously improved, is still convalescing. (p. 127)
61. But he must see the danger of over-concentration on financial success. (p. 127)
62. We know there are difficult wives and families, but the man who is getting over alcoholism must remember he did much to make them so. (p. 127)
63. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. (p. 130)
64. The others must be convinced of his new status beyond the shadow of a doubt. (p. 135)
CHAPTER 10, TO EMPLOYERS
65. State that you know about his drinking, and that itmust stop. (p. 141)
66. Though you are providing him with the best possible medical attention, he should understand that he mustundergo a change of heart. (p. 143)
67. When a man is presented with this volume it is best that no one tell him he must abide by its suggestions. (p. 144)
68. The man must decide for himself. (p. 144)
69. For he knows he must be honest if he would live at all. (p. 146)
CHAPTER 11, A VISION FOR YOU
70. "...I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I?..." (p. 152)
71. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and Hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out. (p. 153)
72. There must be many such in this town. (p. 154)
73. Both saw that they must keep spiritually active. (p. 156)
74. Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. (p. 159)
75. God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always upon Him. (p. 164)
APPENDIX I, THE A.A. TRADITION
76. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone. (p. 563)
THE TWELVE TRADITIONS (LONG FORM)
77. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. (p. 565)
APPENDIX II, SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
78. Yet it is true that our first printing gave many readers the impression that these personality changes, or religious experiences, must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. (p. 569)
79. Though it was not our intention to create such an impression alcoholics have nevertheless concluded that in order to recover they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming "God consciousness" followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook. (p. 569)
APPENDIX III...THE MEDICAL VIEW ON A.A.
80. "...I think our profession must take appreciative cognizance of this great therapeutic weapon. (p. 571)
81. Any therapeutic or philosophic procedure which can prove a recovery rate of 50% to 60% must merit our consideration." (p. 571)
82. They know that they must never drink. (p. 572)
I pray today that you inderstand what you ''must '' do :}
....." And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, or situation - some fact of my life - unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober ; unless I accept life on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."...
All I'm going to say is that the four letter word "must" is a very tall order for me to accept (I don't like it) ... a lot like someone telling me 'I have to do this' ... same thing ... As an alcoholic with all the old baggage that followed me into the rooms of AA, I ONLY continued to return to meetings because I was told that this was a program of "suggestions" ... I found it easy to listen to the suggestions, but when someone said that I 'had to' or 'must' do this or that, I turned them off ... then nothing got past my ears ... much later on, I accepted my dilemma and the very feeling I had that made me feel like I should be going to meetings changed into a feeling of, I want to go to meetings ...
The only point I am trying to make, is that there are some of us that are very 'hard-headed' and don't like being told we 'must' do this or that ... But if someone suggests we try this or that, then we drop our defenses and give it a try ... Does That make sense ???
A couple of my sponsees required me to put on the 'kid gloves' to help them with the steps ... My second sponsee told me on one step, 'I can not do this' ... Well, I said he didn't 'have to' but gave him enough examples of what happens when you don't, that he finally let up his guard enough to proceed with the steps (he's working on three years now) ... I know, everybody is different ... I'm simply sharing my experience, for what it's worth ... Take what you can use and leave the rest!!!
God Bless, Pappy
__________________
'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
Thanks Pappy for all you good words and I hear your share.
Today I know that I was told and it was suggested that that I must never pick up that first drink. I tell myself this every day. I also tell myself that I must get to meetings too. :}
I told myself I wanted the promises and that I must work for them :} I also told myself that I would suggest all this to others.
In the nicest possible way :}
THE PROMISES
The following is taken from pages 83 and 84 of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous - or what is commonly referred to as - "The Big Book". These are known as "The Promises". When I first read them, I didn't believe that they could ever come true for me, but they have. But Remember they are half way thru the 9th Step.
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through.
We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
We will not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it.
We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
Self-seeking will slip away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us.
We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
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.
Today with the help of my higher power and everyone in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous I must continue to tell myself what is good for me. That's me gone and told myself again today :} lol.
