From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
UNDERSTAND occurs
49 times
(
Definition from Merriam-Webster Online)
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1.
... understand.
12&12 p.57,
Step Five
There was always that
mysterious barrier we could neither
surmount nor
understand.
2.
... understand.
12&12 p.94,
Step Ten
In most
cases our
motives
won't be
hard to see and
understand.
3.
... understand.
12&12 p.106,
Step Twelve
And these things which they have in
common are not
too
hard to
understand.
4.
... understand.
BB p.14,
Bill's Story
Finally he
shook his
head
saying, "Something has
happened to you I don't
understand.
5.
... understand.
BB p.112,
To Wives
Show him that as
alcoholics, the
writers
of the book
understand.
6.
... understand.
BB p.138,
To Employers
I
wanted to
throw up my
hands in
discouragement, for I saw that I had
failed to
help my
banker friend understand.
7.
... understand!
BB p.151,
A Vision For You
Unhappy drinkers who
read this
page will
understand!
8.
... understand alcoholics.
BB p.74,
Into Action
Of
course, we sometimes
encounter people who do not
understand alcoholics.
9.
... understand alcoholism
as I do now.
BB p.137,
To Employers
Here were
three exceptional men lost to this
world because I did
not
understand alcoholism as I do now.
10.
... understand and
approve what we are driving ...
BB p.74,
Into Action
It is
important that he be able to
keep a
confidence; that he
fully understand and
approve what we are
driving
at; that he will not
try to
change our
plan.
11.
... understand and
help, some men will try ...
BB p.141,
To Employers
Seeing your
attempt to
understand and
help, some
men will
try to take
advantage of your
kindness.
12.
... understand and
help them.
12&12 p.93,
Step Ten
With those we
dislike we can
begin to
practice justice and
courtesy,
perhaps
going out of our way to
understand and
help them.
13.
... understand and
sympathize.
12&12 p.96,
Step Eleven
Those of us who once
felt this way can
certainly understand and
sympathize.
14.
... understand, and
that you avoid these unnecessary ...
BB p.121,
To Wives
That is why we are
anxious that you
understand, and that you
avoid
these
unnecessary difficulties.(*)
15.
... understand and
will not be upset by ...
BB p.144,
To Employers
If he
feels free to
discuss his
problems with
you, if he
knows you
understand and will not be
upset by
anything he
wishes to say, he will
probably be off to a
fast start.
16.
... understand as
perhaps few can.
BB p.104,
To Wives
As
wives of
Alcoholics
Anonymous, we would like you to
feel that we
understand as
perhaps few can.
17.
... understand, but
what are we going to ...
BB p.81,
Into Action
In
fairness we
must say
that she may
understand, but what are we
going to do about a thing like that?
18.
... understand God.
BB p.164,
A Vision For You
Abandon yourself to
God as you
understand God.
19.
Understand he
was once a well-known lawyer ...
BB p.156,
A Vision For You
Understand he was once a well-
known lawyer in
town, but just now we've got him
strapped down
tight.(*)
20.
... understand Him.
12&12 p.102,
Step Eleven
With it we can
broaden and
deepen the
channel between
ourselves and
God as we
understand Him.
21.
... understand Him.
12&12 p.109,
Step Twelve
The
persistent use of
meditation and
prayer, we
found, did
open the
channel so that where there had been a
trickle, there now was a
river which
led to
sure power and
safe guidance from
God as we were
increasingly better
able to
understand Him.
22.
... understand Him,
handle them as well and ...
12&12 p.113,
Step Twelve
Can we now, with the
help of
God as we
understand Him,
handle them as well and as
bravely as our
nonalcoholic friends
often do?
23.
... understand Him'
tell us where we are ...
12&12 p.59,
Step Five
We said, "Why can't '
God as we
understand Him' tell us where we are
astray?
24.
... understand him,
when in actuality our true ...
12&12 p.94,
Step Ten
Or, the
person concerned not being
present, we
thought we were
helping others to
understand him, when in
actuality our
true motive was to
feel superior by
pulling him
down.
25.
... understand his
new way of life.
BB p.99,
Working With Others
The
wife should
fully understand his new way of
life.
26.
... understand how
such a seemingly above-board chap ...
BB p.140,
To Employers
You may be at a
loss to
understand how such a
seemingly
above-
board chap could be so
involved.
27.
... understand it.
12&12 p.174,
Tradition Nine
The
man in the
street says,
"I don't
understand it.
28.
... understand it."
BB p.157,
A Vision For You
I can't understand it."
29.
... understand it,
then a chapter addressed to ...
BB p.28,
There Is A Solution
30.
... understand, meets
our simplest daily needs, and ...
12&12 p.36,
Step Three
31.
... understand --
once a psychic change has occurred, ...
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.
32.
... understand our
problem.
BB p.74,
Into Action
We often find such a
person quick to see and
understand our
problem.
33.
... understand our
refusal of all personal publicity.
12&12 p.182,
Tradition Eleven
In the
beginning, the
press could not
understand our
refusal of all
personal
publicity.
34.
... understand ourselves
so well after what you ...
BB p.38,
More About Alcoholism
We
admit we have some of these
symptoms, but we have not
gone to the
extremes you
fellows did, nor are we
likely to, for we
understand
ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot
happen again.
35.
... understand people
who said that a problem ...
BB p.42,
More About Alcoholism
I had
never been able to
understand people who said that a
problem had them
hopelessly defeated.
36.
... understand than
to be understood; better to ...
12&12 p.101,
Step Eleven
He
thought it
better to
give comfort than to
receive it;
better to
understand than to be
understood;
better to
forgive than to be
forgiven.
37.
... understand, than
to be understood -- to love, ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
Lord,
grant that I may
seek rather to
comfort than to
be
comforted -- to
understand, than to be
understood -- to
love, than
to be
loved.
38.
... understand than
to be understood, to love ...
12&12 p.103,
Step Eleven
At these
critical moments, if we
remind
ourselves that "it is
better to
comfort than to be
comforted, to
understand
than to be
understood, to
love than to be
loved," we will
be
following the
intent
of
Step Eleven.
39.
... understand that
emphatically.
BB p.142,
To Employers
He should
understand that
emphatically.
40.
... understand that
he must undergo a change ...
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.
41.
... understand the
aberrations of the alcoholic.
BB p.140,
To Employers
Normal drinkers are not
so
affected, nor can they
understand the
aberrations of
the
alcoholic.
42.
... understand the
alcoholic.
BB xiii,
Foreword to First Edition
43.
... understand the
difference between sane drinking and ...
12&12 p.33,
Step Two
They are
abetted in this
blindness by a
world which
does not
understand the
difference between
sane drinking and
alcoholism.
44.
... understand the
malady better, you may feel ...
BB p.139,
To Employers
Even when you
understand the
malady better, you may
feel this
feeling rising.
45.
... understand the
problem and will no longer ...
BB p.148,
To Employers
But at
least he will
understand the
problem and will
no
longer be
misled by
ordinary promises.
46.
... understand, the
sense of belonging was tremendously ...
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.
47.
... understand us;
we don't have to be ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
Through it we
begin to
learn
right relations with
people who
understand us; we don't have to be alone
any more.
48.
... understand, yet
be unaffected.
BB p.74,
Into Action
Such
parts of our
story we
tell to someone who will
understand,
yet be
unaffected.
49.
... understand you
at once.
BB p.92,
Working With Others
If he is
alcoholic, he will
understand you at once.
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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