From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
BEST occurs
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1.
... best.
12&12 p.30,
Step Two
2.
... best?
12&12 p.138,
Tradition Two
'
Bill, haven't you often said
right here in this
meeting
that sometimes the
good is the
enemy of the
best?
3.
... best.
12&12 p.191,
Tradition Nine (Long)
4.
... best.
BB p.102,
Working With Others
Go or
stay away,
whichever seems best.
5.
... best.
BB p.565(567),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
6.
... best advocate.
12&12 p.24,
Step One
7.
... best answer
this by relating one of ...
BB xxxi(xxix),
The Doctor's Opinion
Perhaps I can
best answer
this by
relating one of my
experiences.
8.
... best answers
that our experience has yet ...
BB p.561(563),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
The "
12 Traditions" of
Alcoholics Anonymous
are, we
A.A.'s
believe, the
best answers that our
experience has
yet given to those ever-
urgent questions, "How can
A.A. best function?" and, "How can
A.A. best stay whole and so
survive?"
9.
... best bet.
12&12 p.61,
Step Five
For some of us, a
complete stranger may
prove the
best bet.
10.
... best boss
he ever had, and that ...
BB p.136,
To Employers
He
left us a
note saying you
were the
best boss he ever
had, and that you were not to
blame in any way."
11.
... best course.
BB p.142,
To Employers
This may
seem severe, but it
is usually the
best course.
12.
... best course
to take.
BB p.81,
Into Action
Though there may be
justifiable exceptions, and though we
wish to
lay down no
rule of any
sort, we have often
found this the
best course to take.
13.
... best customers
away from you.
BB p.145,
To Employers
He may, for
example,
reveal that he has
padded his
expense account or that
he has
planned to take your
best customers away from you.
14.
... best deal
we can we let these ...
BB p.78,
Into Action
Arranging the
best deal we can we let these people
know we are
sorry.
15.
... best efforts
of family, friends, doctors, and ...
12&12 p.63,
Step Six
16.
... best, fall
far short of such achievements ...
12&12 p.112,
Step Twelve
Of
course all
A.A.'s, even the
best,
fall far
short of such
achievements as a
consistent thing.
17.
... best friend,
or spiritual adviser.
BB p.63,
How It Works
18.
... best friends
of the very character defects ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
They will tell how they
tried to
carry the
load alone; how much
they
suffered of
irritability,
anxiety,
remorse, and
depression; and how,
unconsciously seeking
relief, they would sometimes
accuse even their
best friends of the very
character defects they
themselves were
trying to
conceal.
19.
... best friends
to a snapping point, and ...
12&12 p.78,
Step Eight
We've
repeatedly strained the
patience of
our
best friends to a
snapping point, and have
brought out the very
worst in those who didn't
think much of us to
begin with.
20.
... best function?"
and, "How can A.A. best ...
BB p.561(563),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
The "
12 Traditions" of
Alcoholics Anonymous
are, we
A.A.'s
believe, the
best answers that our
experience has
yet given to those ever-
urgent questions, "How can
A.A. best function?" and, "How can
A.A. best stay whole and so
survive?"
21.
... best he
had ever known!
BB p.11,
Bill's Story
Then he had, in
effect, been
raised from the
dead,
suddenly taken from the
scrap heap to a
level of
life better than the
best he had
ever
known!
22.
... best-intentioned of
us can fall for the ...
12&12 p.113,
Step Twelve
The
best-
intentioned of
us can
fall for the "
two-
step"
illusion.
23.
... best interests
of all concerned that a ...
BB p.99,
Working With Others
Sometimes it is to the
best interests of all
concerned that a
couple remain apart.
24.
... best judgment
of what has been right ...
12&12 p.50,
Step Four
Using his
best judgment of what has been
right and what has been
wrong,
he might make a
rough survey of his
conduct with
respect to his
primary
instincts for
sex,
security, and
society.
25.
... best known
American psychiatrists.
BB p.26,
There Is A Solution
26.
... best mathematical
minds had proved man could ...
BB p.51,
We Agnostics
Was it not
true that the
best
mathematical minds
had
proved man could
never fly?
27.
... best minds.
BB p.55,
We Agnostics
Neither is
reason, as most of us use it,
entirely dependable,
though it
emanate from our
best minds.
28.
... best moments,
a producer of confusion rather ...
BB p.61,
How It Works
Is he not, even in his
best moments, a
producer of
confusion rather than
harmony?
29.
... best moments
for the worst I have ...
BB p.43,
More About Alcoholism
My
old manner of
life was by no
means a
bad one, but I would not
exchange its best moments for the
worst I have now.
30.
... best not
to take sides in any ...
BB p.115,
To Wives
Unless they
actually need protection from their
father, it is
best not to
take
sides in any
argument he has with them while
drinking.
31.
Best of
all, I met a kind ...
BB p.7,
Bill's Story
32.
... best of
employers, can scarcely blame them ...
BB p.138,
To Employers
And we, who have
imposed on the
best of
employers, can
scarcely blame them if they
have been
short with us.
33.
... best of
his ability our suggested Twelve ...
12&12 p.174,
Tradition Nine
34.
... best of
intentions, he tends to force ...
12&12 p.104,
Step Eleven
35.
... best of
them will sometimes let us ...
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
We had
refused to
learn
the very
hard lesson that
overdependence upon people is
unsuccessful because all people are
fallible, and even the
best
of them will sometimes let us down,
especially
when our
demands for
attention become unreasonable.
36.
... best of
today.
BB p.51,
We Agnostics
Students of
ancient history tell us that the
intellect of
men in those
days was
equal to the
best of
today.
37.
... best of
us will discover to our ...
12&12 p.66,
Step Six
Even then the
best of us will
discover to our
dismay that
there is always a
sticking point, a
point at which we say,
"No, I can't
give this up
yet."
38.
... best organizers
I have ever known.
BB p.137,
To Employers
I had been
obliged to
discharge him for
drinking, though he was
brilliant,
alert, and one
of the
best organizers I
have ever
known.
39.
... best possible
attitude one can take in ...
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
So
Step Six -- "Were
entirely ready to have
God remove all these
defects of
character" --
is
A.A.'s way of
stating the
best possible attitude one can take in
order to make a
beginning
on this
lifetime job.
40.
... best possible
committees, corporate service directors, executives, ...
BB p.575,
Appendix VII, Twelve Concepts (Short Form)
41.
... best possible
medical attention, he should understand ...
BB p.143,
To Employers
Though you are
providing him with the
best possible medical attention, he
should
understand that he
must undergo a
change of
heart.
42.
... best possible
public relations policy for Alcoholics ...
12&12 p.180,
Tradition Eleven
43.
... best possible
relations with every human being ...
12&12 p.77,
Step Eight
First, we take a
look backward and
try to
discover where we have been at
fault;
next we make a
vigorous attempt to
repair the
damage we have
done; and
third, having thus
cleaned away the
debris of
the
past, we
consider how,
with our
newfound knowledge of ourselves, we may
develop the
best possible relations with
every
human being we
know.
44.
... best possible
source of emotional stability to ...
12&12 p.116,
Step Twelve
When we
developed still more, we
discovered the
best possible source of
emotional stability to
be
God Himself.
45.
... best press
agents.
12&12 p.181,
Tradition Eleven
46.
... best professionals,
whether medical or religious.
12&12 p.166,
Tradition Eight
Almost no
recovery from
alcoholism has ever been brought about by the
world's
best professionals, whether
medical or
religious.
47.
... best projects
when drunk; that the most ...
BB p.2,
Bill's Story
48.
... best reason
first: If we skip this ...
BB p.72,
Into Action
The
best reason first: If we
skip this
vital step, we may not
overcome drinking.
49.
... best results
can be had under their ...
BB p.569(571),
Appendix III, The Medical View on A.A.
Dr. G.
Kirby Collier,
psychiatrist:
"I have
felt that
A.A. is a
group unto themselves and their
best results can be had under
their
own guidance, as a
result of their
philosophy.
50.
... best salesmen
I ever had.
BB p.137,
To Employers
It was the
obituary of one of the
best salesmen I ever had.
51.
... best sense
of the word.
12&12 p.110,
Step Twelve
This is
Twelfth Step work in the very
best sense of the
word.
52.
... best serve
Thee -- Thy will (not mine) ...
BB p.85,
Into Action
"How can I
best serve Thee --
Thy will (not
mine) be done."
53.
... best she
knows how, but meanwhile the ...
12&12 p.118,
Step Twelve
The
wife usually
goes on doing
the
best she
knows how, but
meanwhile the
alcoholic alternately
loves and
hates her
maternal care.
54.
... best stay
whole and so survive?"
BB p.561(563),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
The "
12 Traditions" of
Alcoholics Anonymous
are, we
A.A.'s
believe, the
best answers that our
experience has
yet given to those ever-
urgent questions, "How can
A.A. best function?" and, "How can
A.A. best stay whole and so
survive?"
55.
... best that
no one tell him he ...
BB p.144,
To Employers
When the
man is
presented
with this
volume it is
best
that no one tell him he
must abide by
its suggestions.
56.
... best to
drop the subject, but after ...
BB p.112,
To Wives
If this
kind of
approach
does not
catch your
husband's
interest, it may
be
best to
drop the
subject, but after a
friendly talk your
husband will usually
revive
the
topic himself.
57.
... best to
live and work together as ...
12&12 p.130,
Tradition One
58.
... best understanding
of His will that we ...
12&12 p.102,
Step Eleven
We
ask simply that
throughout the
day God place in us the
best understanding of His will that we can have for
that
day, and that we be
given
the
grace by which we may
carry it out.
59.
... best way
of treating you to a ...
BB p.153,
A Vision For You
Perhaps the
best way of
treating you to a
glimpse
of your
future will be to
describe the
growth of the
fellowship among us.
60.
... best we
can do, with all the ...
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
The
best we can do, with all the
honesty that we can
summon,
is to
try to have it.
61.
... best we
can, we try to ask ...
12&12 p.102,
Step Eleven
Having
opened our
channel
as
best we can, we
try to
ask for those
right things of
which we and others are in the
greatest need.
62.
... best we
could; and the other, to ...
BB p.25,
There Is A Solution
We were in a
position where
life was
becoming impossible, and if we had
passed into the
region from
which there is no
return through
human aid, we had but
two alternatives: 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.
63.
... best we
know how to make progress ...
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
He
asks only that we
try as
best we
know how to make
progress in the
building
of
character.
64.
... best we
know or can learn.
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
The
key words "
entirely ready"
underline the
fact that we
want to
aim at the very
best we
know or can
learn.
65.
... best will
do!'
12&12 p.138,
Tradition Two
This is a
matter of
life and
death,
Bill, and
nothing but the very
best will
do!'
66.
... best work
grudgingly and under half steam.
12&12 p.49,
Step Four
Passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
are reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
The A.A. Preamble, copyright ©
The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., is reprinted with permission.
Permission to reprint does not in any way imply affiliation with or
endorsement by either Alcoholics Anonymous or The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
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