WHILE in Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous, 12 Steps and 12 Traditions

From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)

whether

which

whichever

WHILE occurs 62 times (Definition from Merriam-Webster Online)

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whirl

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... while. BB p.40, More About Alcoholism

We heard no more of Fred for a while.

... while. BB p.66, How It Works

To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while.

... while. BB p.86, Into Action

We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.

... while. BB p.109, To Wives

Of those who keep on, a good number will become true alcoholics after a while.

... while. BB p.140, To Employers

If this presents difficulty, re-reading chapters two and three, where the alcoholic sickness is discussed at length might be worth while.

... while. BB p.146, To Employers

You may need to encourage him to play once in a while.

... while acutely depressed, realization of his condition ... BB p.144, To Employers

If the book is read the moment the patient is able, while acutely depressed, realization of his condition may come to him.

... while, alcoholics have had what are called ... BB p.27, There Is A Solution

Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences.

... while alcoholics would spend lavishly on Twelfth ... 12&12 p.160, Tradition Seven

It was soon apparent that while alcoholics would spend lavishly on Twelfth Step cases, they had a terrific aversion to dropping money into a meeting-place hat for group purposes.

10.

While an A.A. group may cooperate with ... 12&12 p.190, Tradition Six (Long)

While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never to go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied.

11.

While an A.A. group may cooperate with ... BB p.564(566), Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition

While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied.

12.

... while can be accomplished until we do ... BB p.77, 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.

13.

... while drinking. BB p.21, There Is A Solution

He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking.

14.

... while drinking. 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.

15.

While drinking, he accepted a sum of ... BB p.80, Into Action

While drinking, he accepted a sum of money from a bitterly-hated business rival, giving him no receipt for it.

16.

... while drinking resembles his normal nature but ... BB p.21, There Is A Solution

His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little.

17.

While grateful that he drinks no more, ... BB p.128, The Family Afterward

While grateful that he drinks no more, they may not like the idea that God has accomplished the miracle where they failed.

18.

... while he is still jittery. BB p.91, Working With Others

Call on him while he is still jittery.

19.

... while he may tell the truth. BB p.23, There Is A Solution

Once in a while he may tell the truth.

20.

... while he was drinking. BB p.134, The Family Afterward

Their young minds were impressionable while he was drinking.

21.

... while here he acquired some ideas which ... BB xxvii(xxv), The Doctor's Opinion

Many years ago one of the leading contributors to this book came under our care in this hospital and while here he acquired some ideas which he put into practical application at once.

22.

... while his religious convictions were very good, ... BB p.27, There Is A Solution

This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.

23.

... while hoping, always hoping. BB p.105, To Wives

Our friends have counseled chucking the men and we have done so with finality, only to be back in a little while hoping, always hoping.

24.

While I lay in the hospital the ... BB p.14, Bill's Story

While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me.

25.

... while I started out to overtake Walter ... BB p.3, Bill's Story

We went at once to the country, my wife to applaud while I started out to overtake Walter Hagen.

26.

... while I tried to show him that ... 12&12 p.153, Tradition Five

But as he calmed down, he began to listen while I tried to show him that humility was the main key to sobriety.

27.

... while in life. BB p.18, There Is A Solution

But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life.

28.

... while isn't enough. BB p.97, Working With Others

A kindly act once in a while isn't enough.

29.

... while its individual members waxed prosperous. 12&12 p.161, Tradition Seven

So A.A., the movement, started and stayed broke, while its individual members waxed prosperous.

30.

... while later, Ed got a sales job ... 12&12 p.144, Tradition Three

Quite a while later, Ed got a sales job which took him out of town.

31.

... while, making several trips to the hospital ... BB p.32, More About Alcoholism

He tried to regulate his drinking for a while, making several trips to the hospital meantime.

32.

... while on the firing line, see the ... BB xxviii(xxvi), The Doctor's Opinion

If any feel that as psychiatrists directing a hospital for alcoholics we appear somewhat sentimental, let them stand with us a while on the firing line, see the tragedies, the despairing wives, the little children; let the solving of these problems become a part of their daily work, and even of their sleeping moments, and the most cynical will not wonder that we have accepted and encouraged this movement.

33.

While on the subject of confidence, can ... BB p.143, To Employers

While on the subject of confidence, can you adopt the attitude that so far as you are concerned this will be a strictly personal matter, that his alcoholic derelictions, the treatment about to be undertaken, will never be discussed without his consent?

34.

While our literature has preserved the integrity ... BB xxiv, Foreword to Fourth Edition

Display entire Foreword to Fourth Edition

While our literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A. message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are reflected in new customs and practices within the Fellowship.

35.

... while ours are not. 12&12 p.49, Step Four

Unreasonable fear that our instincts will not be satisfied drives us to covet the possessions of others, to lust for sex and power, to become angry when our instinctive demands are threatened, to be envious when the ambitions of others seem to be realized while ours are not.

36.

While pondering the answer he felt as ... BB p.56, We Agnostics

While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell.

37.

... while practicing evasion. 12&12 p.85, Step Nine

Let's not talk prudence while practicing evasion.

38.

... while staying within conventional bounds, many people ... 12&12 p.67, Step Six

And even while staying within conventional bounds, many people have to admit that their imaginary sex excursions are apt to be all dressed up as dreams of romance.

39.

... while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, ... BB p.22, There Is A Solution

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men.

40.

While the comment or advice of others ... 12&12 p.60, Step Five

While the comment or advice of others may be by no means infallible, it is likely to be far more specific than any direct guidance we may receive while we are still so inexperienced in establishing contact with a Power greater than ourselves.

41.

While the internal difficulties of our adolescent ... BB xix, Foreword to Second Edition

Display entire Foreword to Second Edition

While the internal difficulties of our adolescent period were being ironed out, public acceptance of A.A. grew by leaps and bounds.

42.

... while the newcomer's fate hung in the ... 12&12 p.142, Tradition Three

So went the discussion while the newcomer's fate hung in the balance.

43.

While the purpose of making restitution to ... 12&12 p.80, Step Eight

While the purpose of making restitution to others is paramount, it is equally necessary that we extricate from an examination of our personal relations every bit of information about ourselves and our fundamental difficulties that we can.

44.

... while there is yet time. BB p.32, More About Alcoholism

But the difficulty is that few alcoholics have enough desire to stop while there is yet time.

45.

... while there is yet time. BB p.128, The Family Afterward

He may tell mother, who has been religious all her life, that she doesn't know what it's all about, and that she had better get his brand of spirituality while there is yet time.

46.

... while they admit it is injurious, they ... BB xxviii(xxvi), The Doctor's Opinion

The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false.

47.

... while they would be their old sweet ... BB p.107, To Wives

For a while they would be their old sweet selves, only to dash the new structure of affection to pieces once more.

48.

... while this was a humiliating experience, it ... 12&12 p.58, Step Five

But while this was a humiliating experience, it didn't necessarily mean that we had yet acquired much actual humility.

49.

... while three drunks looked hungrily on from ... 12&12 p.137, Tradition Two

Arriving home, I found Lois cooking as usual, while three drunks looked hungrily on from the kitchen door.

50.

... while to us now. BB p.124, The Family Afterward

Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now.

51.

... while trying to enforce upon the rest ... 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.

52.

... while, turn the talk to some phase ... BB p.91, Working With Others

After a while, turn the talk to some phase of drinking.

53.

... while we are still so inexperienced in ... 12&12 p.60, Step Five

54.

... while we blamed others for them. 12&12 p.59, Step Five

Or anger and hurt pride might be the smoke screen under which we were hiding some of our defects while we blamed others for them.

55.

... while we had to face the fact ... BB p.44, We Agnostics

But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life -- or else.

56.

While we may be quite willing to ... 12&12 p.84, Step Nine

While we may be quite willing to reveal the very worst, we must be sure to remember that we cannot buy our own peace of mind at the expense of others.

57.

... while we still had some flaws of ... 12&12 p.108, Step Twelve

So we decided that while we still had some flaws of character that we could not yet relinquish, we ought nevertheless to quit our stubborn, rebellious hanging on to them.

58.

... while we were intolerant ourselves. BB p.50, We Agnostics

We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves.

59.

... while we weren't alone any more in ... 12&12 p.57, Step Five

But we soon discovered that while we weren't alone any more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old pangs of anxious apartness.

60.

... while working on this Step with our ... 12&12 p.58, Step Five

Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us.

61.

While you need not discuss your husband ... BB p.115, To Wives

While you need not discuss your husband at length, you can quietly let your friends know the nature of his illness.

62.

While you were drinking, you were withdrawing ... BB p.102, Working With Others

While you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little.

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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