From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
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to display the full page from the Big Book1.
... lives.
12&12 p.34,
Step Three
Like all the remaining Steps, Step Three calls for affirmative action, for
it is only by action that we can cut away the self-will which has always blocked the entry of God -- or, if you like, a Higher Power -- into our lives.
2.
... lives.
12&12 p.34,
Step Three
3.
... lives.
12&12 p.42,
Step Four
Powerfully, blindly,
many times subtly, they drive us, dominate us, and insist upon ruling our lives.
4.
... lives.
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
So in a very complete and
literal way, all A.A.'s have "become entirely ready" to have God remove the mania for alcohol from their
lives.
5.
... lives.
12&12 p.80,
Step Eight
We can go far beyond those things which were superficially wrong
with us, to see those flaws which were basic, flaws which sometimes were
responsible for the whole pattern of our lives.
6.
... lives.
12&12 p.114,
Step Twelve
7.
... lives.
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
This mighty urge is the root of great human accomplishments, a creative energy that deeply influences our
lives.
8.
... lives.
BB p.29,
There Is A Solution
These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in
their lives.
9.
... lives.
BB p.60,
How It Works
10.
... lives.
BB p.64,
How It Works
11.
... lives.
BB p.65,
How It Works
12.
... lives.
BB p.67,
How It Works
13.
... lives.
BB p.72,
Into Action
14.
... lives.
BB p.89,
Working With Others
15.
... lives.
BB p.116,
To Wives
16.
... lives.
BB p.130,
The Family Afterward
This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness
of the power of God in our
lives.
17.
... lives.
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
In nearly all cases, their
ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves,
if they are to re-create their
lives.
18.
... lives and
grows.
12&12 p.15,
Foreword
They outline the means by
which A.A. maintains its unity and relates itself to the world about it, the way it lives and grows.
19.
... lives and
guarantee us success in the ...
12&12 p.37,
Step Three
We are certain that our intelligence, backed by
willpower, can rightly
control our inner lives and guarantee us success in the world we live in.
20.
... lives and
homes were threatened, and that ...
12&12 p.140,
Tradition Three
21.
... lives, and
is a free man.
BB p.26,
There Is A Solution
22.
... lives and
sanity.
12&12 p.151,
Tradition Five
For us, if we neglect those who are still sick, there is unremitting
danger to our own lives and sanity.
23.
... lives, and
strenuously trying to help the ...
12&12 p.96,
Step Eleven
We A.A.'s are active folk, enjoying the satisfactions of dealing with the realities of life, usually for the first time in our lives, and strenuously trying to help the next alcoholic who comes along.
24.
... lives, are
facts as old as man ...
BB p.55,
We Agnostics
For faith in a Power greater than ourselves,
and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
25.
... lives are
unmanageable.
12&12 p.25,
Step Two
26.
... lives, as
ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our ...
BB p.20,
There Is A Solution
Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we
may help meet their needs.
27.
... lives as
far as memory will reach, ...
12&12 p.81,
Step Eight
Then, as year by year we walk back through our lives as far as memory will reach, we shall be bound to construct a long list of people who have, to
some extent or other, been
affected.
28.
... lives as
though they were still children, ...
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
Where people had temporarily let us run their lives as though they were still children, we had felt very happy and secure ourselves.
29.
... lives came
when we sought for humility ...
12&12 p.75,
Step Seven
A great turning point in our lives came when we sought for humility as something we
really wanted, rather than as something
we must have.
30.
... lives could
have been saved, had it ...
BB p.103,
Working With Others
A spirit of intolerance might repel
alcoholics whose lives could have been saved, had it
not been for such stupidity.
31.
... lives for
the worse.
12&12 p.80,
Step Eight
At the time of these occurrences, they may actually have given our emotions violent twists which have since discolored our personalities and altered our lives for the worse.
32.
... lives, God
helping a little now and ...
12&12 p.75,
Step Seven
The notion that we would still live our own lives, God helping a little now and then, began to evaporate.
33.
... lives had
become unmanageable."
12&12 p.21,
Step One
34.
... lives had
become unmanageable.
BB p.59,
How It Works
35.
... lives have
become unmanageable, how could people ...
12&12 p.23,
Step One
Since Step One requires an admission
that our lives have become
unmanageable, how could people such as these take this Step?
36.
... lives have
been largely devoted to running ...
12&12 p.74,
Step Seven
37.
... lives in
a way which is indeed ...
BB p.25,
There Is A Solution
The central fact of our
lives today is the absolute certainty that
our Creator has entered
into our hearts and lives in
a way which is indeed miraculous.
38.
... lives in
order.
BB p.77,
Into Action
39.
... lives in
the first place, then He ...
12&12 p.59,
Step Five
If the Creator gave us our
lives in the first place, then He must know in every detail where we have since gone
wrong.
40.
... lives may
be built.
12&12 p.21,
Step One
Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally
turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.
41.
... lives, may
every one of us sense ...
12&12 p.125,
Step Twelve
With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more deeply the inner meaning of A.A.'s simple prayer:
42.
... lives of
a vastly greater variety of ...
BB xxiii,
Foreword to Fourth Edition
As the message of recovery has reached larger numbers of people, it has also touched the lives of a vastly greater variety of suffering alcoholics.
43.
... lives of
all spiritually centered and truly ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
It has been validated in every century, and it characterizes the lives
of all spiritually centered and truly religious people.
44.
... lives of
all to come, depend squarely ...
12&12 p.129,
Tradition One
45.
... lives of
blameless children, sad wives and ...
BB p.18,
There Is A Solution
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.
46.
... lives of
others.
BB p.82,
Into Action
47.
... lives of
their families and communities.
BB p.15,
Bill's Story
I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities.
48.
... lives of
these men are suddenly cast ...
BB p.27,
There Is A Solution
Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once
the guiding forces of the
lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them.
49.
... lives of
your children?
BB p.108,
To Wives
50.
... lives on
a give-and-take basis; we would ...
12&12 p.116,
Step Twelve
It became clear that if we
ever were to feel emotionally secure among grown-up people, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or
brotherhood with all those around us.
51.
... lives over
to a Higher Power.
12&12 p.38,
Step Three
So it is by circumstance rather than by any virtue that we have been driven to A.A., have admitted defeat, have acquired the rudiments
of faith, and now want to make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to a Higher Power.
52.
... lives over
to the care of God ...
12&12 p.34,
Step Three
53.
... lives over
to the care of God ...
12&12 p.35,
Step Three
In fact, the effectiveness of the whole A.A. program will rest upon how well and earnestly we have
tried to come to "a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."
54.
... lives over
to the care of God ...
12&12 p.107,
Step Twelve
Consequently, in Step
Three we turned our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
55.
... lives over
to the care of God ...
BB p.59,
How It Works
56.
... lives, produced
another bad result.
12&12 p.72,
Step Seven
This lack of anchorage to
any permanent values, this blindness to
the true purpose of our
lives, produced another bad result.
57.
... lives quickly
fill with new purpose and ...
12&12 p.110,
Step Twelve
To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, to see whole families reassembled,
to see the alcoholic outcast received back into his community in
full citizenship, and
above all to watch these people awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives -- these things are the substance
of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message to the next alcoholic.
58.
... lives should
be lived from hour to ...
12&12 p.81,
Step Eight
What happens when we try to
dominate the whole family, either by a rule of iron or by a constant outpouring of
minute directions for
just how their lives should be
lived from hour to hour?
59.
... lives so
that we and those about ...
12&12 p.106,
Step Twelve
Here we begin to practice all Twelve Steps of the program in our
daily lives so that we and those about us may find emotional sobriety.
60.
... lives stood
among people who seemed to ...
12&12 p.57,
Step Five
When we reached A.A., and for
the first time in our lives stood among people who seemed to understand, the
sense of belonging was
tremendously exciting.
61.
... lives that
we bring to our A.A. ...
12&12 p.112,
Step Twelve
Can we bring the same spirit of love and tolerance into our sometimes deranged family lives that we bring to our A.A. group?
62.
... lives, the
lives of all to come, ...
12&12 p.129,
Tradition One
63.
... lives, then
pride steps in to justify ...
12&12 p.49,
Step Four
When the satisfaction of our instincts for sex, security, and society becomes the sole object of our lives, then pride steps in to justify our excesses.
64.
... lives --
these things are the substance of ...
12&12 p.110,
Step Twelve
To watch the eyes of men and women open with wonder as they move from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose and meaning, to see whole families reassembled,
to see the alcoholic outcast received back into his community in
full citizenship, and
above all to watch these people awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives -- these things are the substance
of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message to the next alcoholic.
65.
... lives, they
commit a most unnatural act.
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
When men and women pour so much alcohol into themselves
that they destroy their lives, they commit a most unnatural act.
66.
... lives, they
present a powerful reason why ...
BB p.51,
We Agnostics
When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith.
67.
... lives to
just about the extent that ...
12&12 p.104,
Step Eleven
We discover that we do receive guidance for our
lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on
our terms.
68.
... lives today
is the absolute certainty that ...
BB p.25,
There Is A Solution
The central fact of our
lives today is the absolute certainty that
our Creator has entered
into our hearts and lives in
a way which is indeed miraculous.
69.
... lives touch
the sufferer's.
BB p.18,
There Is A Solution
70.
... lives unaccountably
transformed, they came to believe ...
12&12 p.28,
Step Two
Relieved of the alcohol
obsession, their lives unaccountably transformed, they came to
believe in a Higher Power, and most of them began
to talk of God."
71.
... lives, we
began to see the desirability ...
BB p.116,
To Wives
As our husbands began to
apply spiritual principles in their lives,
we began to see the desirability of doing so
too.
72.
... lives we
had more or less fooled ...
12&12 p.59,
Step Five
If all our lives we had more
or less fooled ourselves, how could we now
be so sure that we weren't
still self-deceived?
73.
... lives we
happen to be miserly, irresponsible, ...
12&12 p.81,
Step Eight
74.
... lives we
thought we led before the ...
12&12 p.45,
Step Four
No doubt we shall point with pride to the good lives we thought we led before the bottle cut us down.
75.
... lives were
constructed?
BB p.54,
We Agnostics
76.
... lives were
we able to move closer ...
12&12 p.101,
Step Eleven
It ought to be followed
by a good look at where we stand now, and a further look at what might happen in our lives were we able to move closer to the ideal we have
been trying to glimpse.
77.
... lives which
were the direct result of ...
12&12 p.97,
Step Eleven
What about all those unhappy lives which were the
direct result of unfortunate birth and uncontrollable circumstances?
78.
... lives will
be fuller for doing so.
BB p.120,
To Wives
79.
... lives with
a woman alcoholic -- whether she ...
BB p.104,
To Wives (Note)
But many of the suggestions given here may be adapted to help the person who lives with a woman alcoholic -- whether she
is still drinking or is
recovering in A.A.
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.
Copyright © 2005-2012, Recovery Press LLC; All Rights Reserved.