TOPICS – 8 / 19 / 2025
1) A FRAME OF REFERENCE
Referring to our list [inventory] again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened?
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 67
2) KNOW WHEN TO COMPROMISE
Sometimes compromise is important. Sometimes compromise is dangerous. We need to guard against compromising our standards to gain the approval or love of someone else.
If it’s not harmful and you are ambivalent about a decision, then compromise. If it could lead to breaking your values, compromise isn’t a good idea. Know your limits, know your values, and be aware of the dangers that can come from compromising them.
3) HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK
“How does The Program work?” newcomers sometimes ask. The two answers I most often hear are “very well” and “slowly.” I’m appreciative of both answers, facetious as they may first sound, because my self-analyzing tends to be faulty. Sometimes I’ve failed to share my defects with the right people; other times, I’ve confessed their defects, rather than my own; at still other times, my sharing of defects has been more in the nature of shrill complaints about my problems. The fact is that none of us likes the self-searching, the levelling of our comings which The Steps require. But we eventually see that The Program really works.
4) DO WE AVOID PLACES?
So our rule is not to avoid a place where there is drinking, if we have a legitimate reason for being there. That includes bars, nightclubs, dances, receptions, weddings, even plain ordinary whoopee parties. To a person who has had experience with an alcoholic, this may seem like tempting Providence, but it isn’t.
BIG BOOK pg 101