*Topics 5/12/25* ❤️🩹
*1) THE PAST IS OVER*
A.A. experience has taught us we cannot live alone with our pressing problems and the character defects which cause or aggravate them. If Step Four has revealed in stark relief those experiences we’d rather not remember … then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever. We have to talk to somebody about them.
-TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 55
*2) Walk In Dry Places*
It’s been pointed out that the real meaning of resentment is to re-feel an old injury. This means that we let ourselves feel again the pain we had when we were previously wronged.
There’s a difference, however, between feeling strongly that something is wrong and being sullen and resentful about it. The first kind of feeling helps us remedy the problem; the second feeling
simply intensifies our hurt. Under no circumstances can we afford resentment.
*3) Keep It Simple*
You can observe a lot just by watching.
-Yogi Berra
When we watch others, we learn how to “act as if.” We watch a patient person, and then we “act as if we’re a patient person. The result? Over time, we’ll become patient. We watch how good listeners listen, and we “act as if” we know how to listen. Then one day, we realize we’re really listening! We watch people who have faith, and we “act as if” we have it. Then over time, we become spiritual people!
4) Twenty-Four Hours A Day
When we come into A.A., looking for a way out of drinking, we really need a lot more than that. We need fellowship. We need to get the things that are troubling us out into the open. We need a new outlet for our energies and we need a new strength beyond ourselves that will help us face life instead of running away from it. In A.A. we find these things that we need.
What greater treasures can you have than faith and courage and love? All these are stolen from you by doubt and fear and resentment. Face each day with peace and hope. They are results of true faith in God. Faith gives you a feeling of protection and safety that you can get in no other way.