THINGS I HEARD

1. Lend a helping hand, an encouraging word every time you have the opportunity to – remember someone did that much for you.

2. Speak well of you enemies – remember you made them.

3. Some minds are like concrete…all mixed up and permanently.

4. Folks who never do any more than they get rewarded for, never get rewarded for any more than they do.

5. It was Lincoln who said “you cannot help men by doing for them what they could do and should do for themselves.”

6. Always remember that if you got all that you prayed for, there would not be enough to go around.

7. If I expect God to forgive my mistakes, how can I be resentful of the actions of others? For, having forgiven my mistakes, who am I to say that he should not forgive the mistakes of his other children also.

8. How you use today determines how tomorrow will use you.

9. When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on – to AA.

10. Every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness.

11. A dog has many friends – he wags his tail instead of his tongue.

12. It is what we do, rather than what we say that counts.

13. Some people have thousands of reasons why they can’t quit alcohol, when all they need is one reason why they can.

14. As one gal member explained her start towards alcoholism – “I just followed the crowd and got into the wrong line.”

15. Overheard in a bar, “Your so drunk I can’t remember your name”.

16. Somehow the alcoholic must get enough objectivity about himself to abate his fear and collapse his false pride.

17. Some people think AA is an escalator…just sit on the first step and ride up.

18. Take it easy, but take it.

THINGS I HEARD CONT.

19. If you stay here, you will hear a lot about the fellowship. I want to share something with you and I almost died discovering this.

Alcoholics Anonymous is two distinct ideas that are often described as one and are confused and diluted in the process.

Idea one – It is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other.

Idea two – It is a program of recovery which is precisely described in the basic text titled Alcoholics Anonymous.

Think of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous as a hospital. It creates a sterile environment, it is nurturing, it is safe, it is informative and it is preparation for something much more important. Namely, an operation.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are the operation and the fellowship is the hospital.

20. Definition of will power – our willingness to use a Higher Power.

21. Time tells on a man – especially a good time.

22. Keep an open mind but be sure it isn’t open at both ends.

23. You may be hell bent but don’t insist on company.

24. It’s all right to drink like a fish if you drink what a fish drinks.

25. Some women behave like nags because their husbands behave like mules.

26. There is no happiness so perfect that a drink won’t fix it.

27. Did you every notice how a closed mind and a wide open mouth go together.

28. Alcoholics Anonymous takes a drunk apart and finds out what makes him hic.

29. You don’t have to admit you’re an alcoholic to come into AA. If your worried come on in anyhow and look around, first at others and then at yourself. Try it for three months. Then, if your not an alcoholic, just think of the party you can throw with the money you saved by not drinking for 90 days.

30. Let the program grow in you. You can’t grow corn by pulling on the stalks.

31. The program has given me Today. When I was drinking I never had Today. It was always last year or next month or some other time, never Today.

32. After you recover from alcoholism thru the program and the help of the members, not going to meetings is like trying to get something for nothing.

33.When an alcoholic sober up and gets on the program, his problem is no longer alcohol – his problem is living.

34. Try to take home at least one good thing from each meeting.

35. In one way, our illness is like any other misfortune – you either come out bitter or better.

36. The Slogans are visual aids to a state of mind.

37. One drink may not lead to an explosion but it sure lights the fuse.

38. The fellowship is an education without graduation.

39. This bit of advice proved to be my best resentment remover – “Don’t get mad at people for being what they can’t help being.”

40. I’m not afraid of alcohol – I’m just afraid to drink it.

41.Two things an alcoholic can’t stand – an empty glass or a full one.

42. I had to get into AA to find out that I was a wife beater. Before that I thought I was hitting her in self-defence!

43. It doesn’t cost a penny to join AA- not a penny. It just cost about a hundred thousand dollars to become eligible.

44. God has made man greater than any idea he can have and greater than anything that can happen to him.