From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
DESIRE occurs
35 times
(
Definition from Merriam-Webster Online)
Click
to display the full page from the Big Book
1.
... desire again,
as so many do, and ...
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
After they have
succumbed to the
desire again, as so many do, and the
phenomenon of
craving develops, they
pass through
the well-
known stages of a
spree,
emerging remorseful, with a
firm resolution not to
drink
again.
2.
... desire ahead
of everything else.
12&12 p.43,
Step Four
3.
... desire for
a complete disclosure of the ...
12&12 p.86,
Step Nine
There can only be one
consideration which
should
qualify our
desire
for a
complete disclosure of the
damage
we have done.
4.
... desire for
alcohol, the only effort necessary ...
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
On the other
hand -- and
strange as this may
seem to
those who do not
understand -- once a
psychic change has
occurred, the very same
person who
seemed doomed, who had so many
problems he
despaired of
ever
solving them,
suddenly finds himself
easily able to
control his
desire for
alcohol, the
only
effort necessary
being that
required to
follow a few
simple rules.
5.
... desire for
prestige becomes uncontrollable, whether in ...
12&12 p.44,
Step Four
6.
... desire for
self-preservation, they seem bent upon ...
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
7.
... desire humility
more than ever.
12&12 p.75,
Step Seven
We
began to
fear pain less, and
desire humility more than ever.
8.
... desire must
come from within.
BB p.95,
Working With Others
If he is to find
God, the
desire must come from
within.
9.
... desire that
our husbands hold up their ...
BB p.105,
To Wives
Our
loyalty and the
desire
that our
husbands hold up
their
heads and be like other
men have
begotten all
sorts of
predicaments.
10.
... desire to
be helpful; that there are ...
BB p.18,
There Is A Solution
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.
11.
... desire to
convince anyone that there is ...
BB p.28,
There Is A Solution
We have no
desire to
convince anyone that there is only one way by which
faith can be
acquired.
12.
... desire to
do so.
BB p.32,
More About Alcoholism
We have
heard of a few
instances where people, who
showed definite signs of
alcoholism, were
able to
stop for a
long period because of an
overpowering desire to do
so.
13.
... desire to
find a mate of the ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
14.
... desire to
give them new life.
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
Here their
powerful instinct to
live can
cooperate fully with their
Creator's
desire to
give them new
life.
15.
... desire to
help and be helped.
12&12 p.166,
Tradition Eight
Almost from the
beginning, we have been
positive that
face-to-
face work with the
alcoholic who
suffers
could be
based only on the
desire to
help and be
helped.
16.
... desire to
help it might be well ...
BB p.139,
To Employers
If you
desire to
help it might
be well to
disregard your
own drinking, or
lack of it.
17.
... desire to
learn and grow by this ...
12&12 p.88,
Step Ten
A
continuous look at our
assets and
liabilities, and a
real
desire to
learn and
grow by this
means, are
necessities for us.
18.
... desire to
let God take us to ...
BB p.70,
How It Works
If we are
sorry for what we have done, and have the
honest desire to let
God take us to
better things, we
believe we will be
forgiven and will have
learned our
lesson.
19.
... desire to
live upon spiritual principles we ...
BB p.83,
Into Action
Unless one's
family expresses a
desire to
live upon
spiritual principles we
think we
ought not to
urge them.
20.
... desire to
live usefully and walk humbly ...
12&12 p.124,
Step Twelve
21.
... desire to
protect him should not cause ...
BB p.115,
To Wives
Your
desire to
protect him
should not
cause you to
lie to
people when they have a
right to
know where he is and what he is doing.
22.
... desire to
retaliate.
12&12 p.53,
Step Four
23.
... desire to
retaliate in kind.
12&12 p.80,
Step Eight
24.
... desire to
seek and do God's will, ...
12&12 p.72,
Step Seven
That
basic ingredient
of all
humility, a
desire
to
seek and do
God's will, was
missing.
25.
... desire to
set right the wrong.
BB p.77,
Into Action
But our
man is
sure to be
impressed with a
sincere
desire to
set right the
wrong.
26.
... desire to
stop, but saw no way ...
BB p.155,
A Vision For You
He had a
desperate desire
to
stop, but saw no way out, for he had
earnestly tried many
avenues of
escape.
27.
... desire to
stop drinking."
12&12 p.139,
Tradition Three
28.
... desire to
stop drinking."
12&12 p.144,
Tradition Three
29.
... desire to
stop drinking.
BB p.562(564),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
30.
... desire to
stop drinking.
BB xiv,
Foreword to First Edition
31.
... desire to
stop drinking.
Grapevine,
Preamble
32.
... desire to
stop drinking is of absolutely ...
BB p.24,
There Is A Solution
At a
certain point in the
drinking of every
alcoholic, he
passes into
a
state where the most
powerful desire to
stop drinking is of
absolutely no
avail.
33.
... desire to
stop was explained.
BB p.7,
Bill's Story
34.
... desire to
stop while there is yet ...
BB p.32,
More About Alcoholism
But the
difficulty is that few
alcoholics have
enough
desire to
stop while there is
yet time.
35.
... desire to
work sixteen hours a day.
BB p.146,
To Employers
You may have to
curb his
desire to
work sixteen hours a
day.
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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