From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
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... trying.
12&12 p.68,
Step Six
2.
... trying and
the certain penalties of failing ...
12&12 p.74,
Step Seven
3.
... trying on
our own power.
BB p.62,
How It Works
4.
... trying to
arrange life to suit ourselves.
BB p.88,
Into Action
We do not tire so easily,
for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did
when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.
5.
... trying to
arrange the family show to ...
BB p.122,
The Family Afterward
6.
... trying to
arrange the lights, the ballet, ...
BB p.60,
How It Works
Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the
rest of the players in his
own way.
7.
Trying to
avoid this humbling experience, they ...
BB p.72,
Into Action
8.
... trying to
be a number one man, ...
12&12 p.122,
Step Twelve
In later life he finds that real happiness is not to be found in just trying to be a number one man, or even a first-rater in the heartbreaking struggle for money, romance, or self-importance.
9.
... trying to
be kind?
BB p.61,
How It Works
10.
... trying to
be, rather than for what ...
BB p.123,
The Family Afterward
But the wise family will admire him for what he is
trying to be, rather than
for what he is trying to get.
11.
... trying to
carry A.A.'s message to the ...
12&12 p.24,
Step One
12.
... trying to
conceal.
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.
13.
... trying to
conceal a number of scrapes, ...
BB p.140,
To Employers
14.
... trying to
convert a newcomer who sat ...
12&12 p.163,
Tradition Seven
15.
... trying to
deal rightly with God by ...
12&12 p.59,
Step Five
16.
... trying to
do.
12&12 p.84,
Step Nine
17.
... trying to
do.
12&12 p.185,
Tradition Twelve
18.
... trying to
do something about all these ...
12&12 p.112,
Step Twelve
19.
Trying to
do this is an act ...
12&12 p.40,
Step Three
20.
... trying to
do up to this point:
12&12 p.107,
Step Twelve
21.
... trying to
do, we make no bones ...
BB p.78,
Into Action
Telling them what we are trying to do, we make no bones about our drinking; they usually know it anyway, whether we think so or not.
22.
... trying to
employ, that is to say ...
BB p.180,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
But this was a man who had experienced many years of frightful drinking, who had had most all the drunkard's experiences
known to man, but who had been
cured by the very means I had been trying to employ, that is to say the spiritual approach.
23.
... trying to
enforce upon the rest of ...
12&12 p.176,
Tradition Ten
Others fell apart because of sheer self-righteousness while
trying to enforce upon the rest of mankind some millennium
of their own specification.
24.
... trying to
fight this booze racket alone."
BB p.158,
A Vision For You
25.
... trying to
find emotional security by being ...
12&12 p.116,
Step Twelve
26.
... trying to
find how different we were ...
12&12 p.123,
Step Twelve
The doctors weren't
trying to find how different we were from one another; they sought to find whatever personality traits, if
any, this group of alcoholics had in common.
27.
... trying to
form groups in other cities.
BB xvii,
Foreword to Second Edition
Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics
who had picked up the basic ideas in Akron or New York who were trying to form groups in other cities.
28.
... trying to
get.
BB p.123,
The Family Afterward
But the wise family will admire him for what he is
trying to be, rather than
for what he is trying to get.
29.
... trying to
get a new attitude, a ...
BB p.72,
Into Action
We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our
Creator, and to discover the obstacles
in our path.
30.
... trying to
glimpse.
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.
31.
... trying to
grow in the image and ...
12&12 p.63,
Step Six
He goes on to explain that
any person capable of enough willingness and honesty
to try repeatedly Step Six on all his faults -- without any reservations whatever -- has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be
called a man who is sincerely trying to grow in the image and likeness of his own Creator.
32.
... trying to
help one another.
12&12 p.178,
Tradition Ten
33.
... trying to
help serious drinkers who should ...
BB p.147,
To Employers
They often jeopardize
their own positions by
trying to help serious drinkers who
should have been fired long
ago, or else given an opportunity to
get well.
34.
... trying to
help the next alcoholic who ...
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.
35.
... trying to
help those we criticize; we ...
12&12 p.67,
Step Six
36.
... trying to
hold their faces up to ...
12&12 p.141,
Tradition Three
In that time nothing could
be seen but two struggling, nameless groups of alcoholics
trying to hold their faces up to the light.
37.
... trying to
impose upon you for money, ...
BB p.96,
Working With Others
Be certain he will be welcomed by your family,
and that he is not trying to impose upon you for money, connections, or shelter.
38.
... trying to
live.
BB p.130,
The Family Afterward
One more suggestion: Whether the
family has spiritual convictions or not, they may do well to examine the principles by which the alcoholic member is trying to live.
39.
... trying to
live by this formula than ...
12&12 p.71,
Step Seven
But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics.
40.
... trying to
live on a spiritual basis, ...
BB p.118,
To Wives
If your husband is trying
to live on a spiritual basis, he will also be doing everything in his power to
avoid disagreement or
contention.
41.
... trying to
make these arrangements our actor ...
BB p.61,
How It Works
42.
... trying to
persuade him.
BB p.90,
Working With Others
43.
... trying to
play God ourselves.
12&12 p.72,
Step Seven
We could actually have earnest religious beliefs which remained barren because we were still trying to play God ourselves.
44.
... trying to
practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
12&12 p.112,
Step Twelve
We know this because we see monotony, pain, and even calamity turned to good use by those who keep on trying to practice A.A.'s Twelve Steps.
45.
... trying to
proclaim our own righteousness.
12&12 p.67,
Step Six
46.
... trying to
produce some such emotional rearrangement ...
BB p.27,
There Is A Solution
47.
... trying to
pull us down.
BB p.145,
To Employers
48.
... trying to
put our lives in order.
BB p.77,
Into Action
49.
... trying to
recover, he will tell you ...
BB p.146,
To Employers
If he is, and is still trying
to recover, he will tell you about it even if it means the loss of his job.
50.
... trying to
run his life so he ...
BB p.147,
To Employers
He will appreciate knowing you are not bothering your head about
him, that you are not suspicious nor are you trying to run his life so he will be shielded from temptation to drink.
51.
... trying to
see what he can take ...
BB p.122,
The Family Afterward
52.
... trying to
stay sober, it can be ...
12&12 p.160,
Tradition Seven
When you add to this the habitual supposition
that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money.
53.
... trying to
take in the deep meaning ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
As beginners in meditation, we might now reread this prayer several times very slowly, savoring every word and trying to take in the deep meaning of each phrase and idea.
54.
... trying to
tell him what he should ...
BB p.78,
Into Action
We are there to sweep off our side of the street, realizing that nothing worth while can be accomplished until we do
so, never trying to tell him what he should do.
55.
... trying to
turn everybody -- friends, wives, husbands, ...
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
We had failed to see that though adult in years we were still behaving childishly,
trying to turn everybody -- friends, wives, husbands, even the world itself -- into protective
parents.
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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