Alcoholics Anonymous
Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Miracles In Progress 12 Step Recovery Forums -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> MIPBB Study: There Is A Solution
Post Info TOPIC: MIPBB Study: There Is A Solution
Stepchild


MIP Old Timer

Status: Offline
Posts: 2731
Date:
MIPBB Study: There Is A Solution
Permalink  
 

 http://anonpress.org/bb/Page_17.htm

We, of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem.

Page 17

Having seen myself so clearly in Bill's Story...I continued to see myself in this chapter. But the idea that people had recovered...And seeing that in person in my early meetings...Gave me hope that I hadn't had any of for years. There was actually something that worked...Not just for thousands..As was the case when this book was released....But millions. I could do this.

This paragraph really hit home for me...

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. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while 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.

Page 18

I was staring to get the picture I wasn't so alone with this. I was two or three days out of rehab...maybe 20 days dry...I think it was my sixth meeting outside rehab and I asked a guy with 8 years sobriety after the meeting if he'd take me through the steps. He said he'd be honored and asked me if I had time to go get some breakfast...I had nothing but time...And I was still shaking and baking...And scared out of my wits. We went to an IHOP and I had a soda...I couldn't eat...He had breakfast and proceeded to share his story with me...Blew my mind....I trusted this guy more than anyone in the world and I had just met him...This.

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.

That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured - these are the conditions we have found most effective. After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again.

Page 18 - 19

This was the start of a journey that would change my life...I started writing inventory that day. I had discussed the first three steps with him....I thanked God for giving me the courage to ask him...And for putting him in my life...And I got busy.

P.S...I gotta call him. Later.

 



-- Edited by Stepchild on Monday 13th of May 2013 02:42:50 PM

__________________

When all else fails...Follow the directions.
gonee


MIP Old Timer

Status: Offline
Posts: 1503
Date:
Permalink  
 

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.


For the 1st time in my entire life , I was told that I had an illness. I had been to doctors, psychiatrists and hospitals, but no one told me that alcoholism was an illness. The reason I cannot drink alcohol today is because I have an illness, not because I am maladjusted in life. One psychiatrist even told me to drink socially, which I was not capable of because of the allergy.

Today AA has taught me that there is a solution to my problem, if only I am willing to work it.

When I meet a newcomer today, I tell him 2 things; one is that he has an illness and two that there is a solution.



__________________
But for the grace of God.
Stepchild


MIP Old Timer

Status: Offline
Posts: 2731
Date:
Permalink  
 

So true gonee...I imagine Bill felt the same way...Learning the cause from the doctor...And the solution from his friend. This man was in the exact right place at the exact right time...Thank God for that.

The first 22 pages of the book deal a lot with the physical allergy of alcohol...The phenomenon of craving. On Page 23 we are told our main problem as alcoholics...Centers in the mind...The obsession....I didn't think I'd ever shake that...That was the miracle for me.


These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on that last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic's drinking bout creates. They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself on the head with a hammer so that he can't feel the ache. If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of an alcoholic, he will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk.

Once in a while he may tell the truth. And the truth, strange to say, is usually that he has no more idea why he took that first drink than you have. Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count.

Page 23



__________________

When all else fails...Follow the directions.
RubyTues


MIP Old Timer

Status: Offline
Posts: 891
Date:
Permalink  
 

Oh man, the bit on p 21 where they talk about the "real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" gave me chills the first time I read it. I have that whole paragraph highlighted. A real THAT'S ME moment.

For me, this chapter was very important in busting through my denial, or in realizing that most alcoholics share that denial at first. E.g. "Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it."

I also like: "One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help." In other words, get busy living, or get busy dying.

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Miracles In Progress 12 Step Recovery Forums -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> Alcoholics Anonymous -> MIPBB Study: There Is A Solution