A
- A's in aa: Affection (thoughtfulness); Attention (listening); Appreciation (gratitude)
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- If you are in the center of AA, you won't fall off the edge.
- Directions to AA: Just go straight to hell and make a U-turn.
- Move closer to AA and move closer to yourself.
- AA:It's Alcoholics Anonymo-us, not Anonymo-me
sent in by Alan of Sacramento, CA
- AA is not for people who want it or for people who need it....it is for people who do it!
sent in by Laura of Sacramento, CA
- AA: Being a part of something is more important than being the center of attention.
- AA is the only place whre you can walk into a room full of
strangers and reminisce.
- AA: We are not God's gift to AA; AA is " " to us.
- A.A. Romance......The odds are good......but the goods are odd.
sent in by Miles of Calgary , Alberta , Canada
- AA: Look for a way in, not for a way out.
- The AA paradoxes:
---from weakness(adversity) comes strength
---we forgive to be forgiven
---we give it away to keep it
---we suffer to get well
---we surrender to win
---we die to live
---from darkness comes light
---from dependence we found independence
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- AA: We are not reformed drunks–but informed alcoholics.
- AA has no fixed address--you can take it with you.
- AA: We're here for a reason–not for the season.
- AA: You will never have to drink again, and will you will never be alone again.
- AA Groups: An AA group will be judged by the worst behavior
of its members.
- AA Groups: When you clean up after your group, you leave the
signature of AA behind you.
- AA Laws:
- THE LAW OF OVERSELL:
When putting cheese in a mousetrap, always leave room for the mouse.
THE LAW OF REALITY:
Never get into fights with ugly people, they have nothing to lose.
THE LAW OF SELF SACRIFICE:
When you starve with a tiger, the tiger starves last.
THE LAW OF DRUNKENESS:
You can't fall off the floor.
sent in by Chuck of Oliver, BC Canada
- AA members: Frequently wrong, but rarely in doubt.
- ASAP: Always Say A Prayer
- Any two or three alcoholics gathered together in sobriety may call
themselves an AA group.
- AA is a check-up from the neck up.
sent in by Stephanie of Fairield, CT
- AA is like a good parent: it will always be there for you, it will always love you, and no
matter where you've been or what you've done, it will welcome you back.
- AA is like a shifting spanner...It can be adjusted to fit
any nut. (from a copy of the Pathfinder, Queensland, Australia)
- A belly full of booze and a head full of AA don't mix.
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- Before I came into AA I was dead, but I did not know enough to lie down.
I don`t come to AA because I can`t drink I come to AA because I can drink.
sent in by Rusty of Albuquerque N.M.
- AA is not a sentence, it is a reprieve.
- A.A. is a self-help program but you can't do it by yourself.
- A.A. stands for Attitude Adjustment (or Altered Attitudes,
Acknowledge Acceptance or Avoid Anger.)
- The AA waltz: steps 1, 2, 3
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- AA won't keep you from going to hell nor is it a ticket to heaven
but it will keep you sober long enough for you to make up your mind
which way you want to go!
sent in by Anna of Whethersfield, CT
- AA won't open the gates of heaven to let you in, but it will
open the gates of hell to let you out.
- AA is a lifestyle, not a turnstyle.
sent in by Nick H. of New York, NY
- AA is not for people who want it or for people who need it....it is for people who do it!
sent in by Laura of Sacramento, CA
- We have everyone in AA, from Yale to jail.
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- In AA, there are no losers--just slow winners.
- I have become a pupil of A.A. rather than the teacher I thought
I was.
- Therefore our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are.
- Just accept, don't expect
- Therefore our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are.
- Acceptance is knowing the past will never get better.
- Acceptance: Experience is what you get when you don't get what
you want.
- Acceptance: Life is 10% what you make it and 90% how you take
it.
go to TOP
- Acceptance: Stop barking and start biting.
sent in by Rudolph D. of Paranaque City, Philippines
- Acceptance: They're just doing it, they're not doing it to
you.
- Acceptance: Turn it over.
- Acceptance: You can't change the wind, but you can adjust the
sails.
- It's easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of acting.
sent in Macca
of Scotland
- A. C. T. I. O. N.: Any Change To Improve Our Nature.
sent in by Janet L.
- Act As If.
sent in by Janet L.
- Action alleviates anxiety.
- Action: If you move a muscle you can change a thought.
sent in by Sunny Side Joe
of Fullerton, Calif
- Action: Lazy works twice.
- Action: Utilize, don't analyze
- Action: You have to act right in order to feel right (not the
other way around).
- Addiction: A pathological relationship to a mood altering event, experience or thing that has life damaging consequences.
- John Bradshaw WHO quote
Sent in by Ron M. of Campbell, CA
- Addiction: An alcoholic will steal your wallet. A drug addict
will steal your wallet and help you look for it.
- Adversity: If God takes you to, He'll take you through.
- Al-anon:I'm a Friend of Lois W.
sent in by Janet L.
- Remember Al-Anons: The quicker, the sicker, the sooner, the
better!!!
sent in by Joanne A. of Joliet, IL
- Al-anon: Known in Ireland as the Provisional Wing of AA.
- Alcohol gave me the wings of an eagle,
then it took away my sky.
sent in by Andrea, Philadelphia, PA
- Alcohol is like virginity, once you've given it up, you wonder
why you kept it as long as you did!
sent in by Dave of Huntersville, NC
- Alcoholic (as defined by self): A piece of crap the universe
revolves around.
- A person that is not an Alcoholic,doesn't lay awake at 4 am wondering if they are an Alcoholic.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Alcoholic: Someone who refuses to give up a life of failure without a fight.
- Alcoholic: A person who, when s/he goes to a wedding, wants to be the bride; when s/he goes to a funeral, wants to be the corpse.
- Alcoholic: An alcoholic is someone who wants to be held while
isolating.
- Alcoholic: I may not be much, but I'm all I think about.
- Alcoholic: I only drank on days beginning with "T"-Tuesdays,
Thursdays, Today, Tomorrow…
- Alcoholic: If it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, and
quacks like a duck, it must be a…duck.
- Alcoholic: If I could drink like a normal drinker, I’d drink all the
time!
- Alcoholic: If you drank enough to get to AA, you drank enough.
- Alcohol: It provokes the desire but takes away the performance.
- Only an alcoholic would believe that the solution to loneliness was isolation.
- Alcoholics burn their bridges in front of them.
- Alcohol: An alcoholic is someone who finds something that works
and then stops doing it.
- Alcohol: It's not what or how much you drank, it's what it
did to you.
- Alcohol: What you thought was the solution became the problem.
- Alcoholic: Terminal uniqueness!
- Alcoholic: They didn't make a glass big enough for me to have
one drink.
- How come if alcohol kills millions of brain cells, it never killed the ones that made me want to drink?
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Alcohol: You will be rich when you know you have enough.
- Alcoholic drinking's three stages: impulsive, compulsive, repulsive.
- Each and every alcoholic---sober or not---teaches us some valuable lessons about ourselves and recovery.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- An alcoholic alone is slumming.
- Alcoholic: If I could drink like a normal drinker, I'd drink all the
time!
- An alcoholic is not a guy who thinks he's had one too many.
He's usually the guy who thinks he's had one too few.
- Being a "little bit alcoholic" is like being a "little bit
pregnant."
- I would rather go through life sober thinking I'm an alcoholic than go through life drunk thinking I'm not.
- Every alcoholic's favorite brand: More!
- If you think you are an alcoholic, chances are, you are.
- Alcoholics heal from the outside in.........but feel from the insideout.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Alcoholic: A person who, when s/he goes to a wedding, wants to be the bride; when s/he goes to a funeral, wants to be the corpse.
- The destiny of every alcoholic is to be locked up, covered
up or sobered up.
- An alcoholic is a man with two feet firmly planted in mid-air.
- The puppy, unlike the alcoholic, stops whining once they're allowed back in the house.
sent in by Tom of Sacramento, CA
- You can carry the message, but not the alcoholic.
- Im allergic to alcohol--I break out in hand cuffs
sent in by Tim H. of Auburn, NE
- You're probably an alcoholic if: You think spilling beer is
alcohol abuse.
- Alcoholics are in a class by themselves. Everyone else has
graduated.
Michele D., AA Grapevine, March, 2001
- Alcoholics only have trouble with three things--success, failure and the obvious
- Alcoholics are life-long loners who cannot stand to be alone.
- Nonalcoholics change their behavior to meet their goals and alcoholics
change their goals to meet their behavior.
- We alcoholics either go to Yale or jail
sent in by Colleen of Elgin, IL
- Alcoholics burn their bridges before they get to them.
- Alcoholics aren't afraid to live. They're afraid to die.
- Alcoholism: Alcohol went from being my best friend to my worst
enemy.
- Alcoholics really only have problems with three things: success, failure, and the obvious.
- Alcoholism: An alcoholic can be in the gutter, yet still look
down on people.
- Alcoholism: Guilt of yesterday, fear of tomorrow, shame of
today.
- Alcoholism: High bottoms have trap doors.
go to TOP
- Alcoholism: If the cure works, chances are, you have the disease.
- Alcoholism: If you drank long enough to get to an A.A. meeting,
you drank long enough.
- Alcoholism: Name it, Claim it, Tame it!!!
sent in by Peggy of Baton Rouge, LA
- Alcoholism: Once you are a pickle, you can't be a cucumber.
But once you are a pickle,
you can be a newcomer.
- Alcoholism is an equal opportunity destroyer.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Remember that alcoholism is ....incurable,progressive, and fatal.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Alcoholism: The three most dangerous words for an alcoholic-"I've
been thinking"
- Alcoholism: We are not bad people becoming good, but sick people
becoming well.
- Alcoholism: Your bottom just may be six feet under.
- Alcohol-ISM: I seek misery.
- Alcohol-ISM: I sponsor myself.
- Alcoholism: Your disease progresses even when you are not drinking.
- Active alcoholism is like an elevator; you can get off at any
floor.
- An addict alone is in bad company.
sent in by Karen G. of Baltimore
- Alcoholism doesn't come in bottles; it comes in people.
- Alcoholism is a self-diagnosed disease.
- Alcoholism is a physical compulsion coupled with a mental obsession.
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- Some people think alcoholism is a two-fold disease--more and
right now.
sent in to the AA Grapevine by Duke D., attributed
to Donna B.
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change
- the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
- It's not alcoholwasm; it's alcoholism.
-
go to TOP
-
- ALE: Alibis, Lies, Excuses-A killer before and after sobriety.
sent in by Frank of Leighton, PA
- Anger: I can go from grateful to hateful in a second.
- Anger: The clenched fist never receives.
- Anger: If I don't "pause when agitated", I might use my "paws
when agitated" (play the tape all the way through!).
sent in by Joanne A. of Joliet, IL
- Anger is fear in a party dress.
sent in by Raymond of New York
- If you meet anger with love, you render yourself invulnerable to attack.
sent in by Lisa C. of Fredericton, NB
- Anger: We are only as big as the smallest thing that makes
us angry.
- Anger is but a mask for fear.
- Justifiable anger is best left to those able to handle it.
- Those who anger you, conquer you.
- Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired (H.A.L.T.)
- I don't say things to make you angry, I say things that make
you angry.
sent in by Stephen of Mesa, AZ
- Anonymity: The second A in AA is precious; it is the word in
our name that sets us apart
from all other alcoholics.
- Anonymity: Who you see here, what you hear here, let it stay
here.
- A.S.A.P- Always Say A Prayer
sent in by Donna
- A T T I T U D E 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5=100%
sent in by Anonymous of Buckner, MO
- Attitude: You can wake up and say "Good morning, God" or "Good
God, it's morning!"
- Attitude: It is sometimes easier to give up the wine than it is to give up the whine.
sent in by Miles of Calgary , Alberta , Canada
- Attitude: You get what you expect in life.
- Your Attitude almost always determines your Altitude in life.
sent in by Jeff D. of Canada
- Attitude in life is everything!
sent in by RAH of Leander, TX
- Keep an attitude of gratitude.
- To attract the right person, become the right person.
go to TOP
B
- Juggling is not balancing.
- BTB -back to basics.
sent in by Kirk of NYC
- If I don't forget the basics, I won't ever have to go back to them.
- "Be."
- BE: a human being not a human doing.
sent in by Mara of Dokki, Egypt.
- Be better than you were!
sent in by Carol
- Don't forget to be where you are.
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- Be here now.
- Be where your feet are.
sent in by John H. of St. Louis, MO
- Don't know-be.
- If It's To Be, It's Up To Me!
sent in by Sheri G. of Belton. S.C.
- Be a team member
sent in by Katie M. of Amarillo, TX
- What will be...will appear.
- You are still becoming.
- There are no endings, only new beginnings.
- Beginnings are always exciting, but not always clearly perceived at the time.
- Being humble means being teachable.
- We came, we came to, we came to believe.
- The liar's punishment is not that he/she is not believed, but that
he/she can believe no one else.
- To belittle is to be little.
- WARNING LABEL ( on big book):
Sobriety and reading of the Big Book may cause EXCESSIVE HAPPINESS
sent in by rv-344
- Getting better doesn't always feel better.
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- B.I.G. B.O.O.K.: Believing in God Beats Our Old Knowledge.
sent in by Janet L.
- If you want to hide something from an AA member, put it in the Big
Book.
- Read your Big Book every day, but try reading only the black
parts.
Big Book: You don't need the latest self-improvement bestseller.
You have the classic in your hands.
- The Big Book: One of those rare books that gets smarter every
time I read it.
- Think BIG!
sent in by Becky of the Philippines
- When you re-read the Big Book, you do not see more than you
did before. You see more in you than was there before
Adapted from a quote by Clifton Fadiman.
sent in by Chuck of Oliver, BC, Canada
- You may be the only copy of the Big Book some people ever see.
- The reason I keep going to meetings is because the Big Book
Has no pictures in it...
sent in by Tal ET E. of Hod Hasharon, Israel
- Some blackouts are better left forgotten.
- Blackouts: Maybe they are not such a bad thing--the stuff we
remember is bad enough!
- Blame, character defects: You spot it, you got it.
sent in by Hans M., Stuttgart, Germany
- Blame: Don't point a finger; point the whole hand (reach out).
- Blame: When you point a finger at someone, there are three
pointing back at you.
-
I'm too blessed to be stressed.
sent in by Amy of Lenoir, NC
- May you be blessed with a slow recovery.
Bottom: I woke up one morning and realized that I had a great future behind me.
- Bottom: No one comes to AA on a good day.
- Bottom: When the last thing you lose or the next thing you
are about to lose is more important to you than booze.
- Bottom: When things get worse faster than you can lower your
standards.
- My bottom is where I put my shovel down.
- The longer I'm in the program, the lower my bottom seems to
get.
- Program bumperstickers belong on the dashboard, not the bumper.
- Daily meditation for about 20 minutes is recommended for all in recovery;
unless, of course,
you're very busy-then you should meditate for an hour.
- If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy.
- Busy: Don't Just Do Something Sit There.
sent in by Janet L.
- Buttons: When someone's pushing your buttons, hit the "MUTE"
on your remote.
sent in by Joanne A. of Joliet, IL
go to TOP
C
- People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you
care!
sent in by Mike of Coolidge, AZ
- Take care of your body. If you don't, where else are you going
to live?
- When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.
sent in by Mac E. of Oakland Park, FL
- Change: "We must become the change we want to see"...Ghandi
sent in by Ken of Burlington, KY
- Change: A suggestion is a subtle command.
- Change: Everything after "but" is BS.
- Change: On the pity pot? Change a thought, move a muscle.
- Change: If you always do what you always did, you'll always
get what you always got.
sent in by Heidi of Chicago, IL
- Change:If the path your on has no obstacles, then it probably
doesn't lead anywhere.
sent in by Bonnie S. of Cincinnati, OH
- Change: If you don't change, you'll be begging for change.
sent in by Susan H. of New York, NY
- Change: If you are eating a shit sandwich, chances are, you
ordered it.
- Change: If you have God in one hand and the fellowship
in the other hand, you can't get drunk today.
- Change: If you keep doing the same thing over and over, you'll
keep getting the same thing over and over.
- Change: If you stole horses when you were drinking, and you
expect to get sober,
you not only quit drinking, but you quit stealing horses.
- Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes.
Cassaundra from San Jose, California, U.S.A
- Change: If you want to keep feeling how you're feeling, then
keep doing what you are doing.
- Change: If you want what you never had, you have to do what
you've never done.
- Change: Life begins right outside your comfort zone.
- Change: I'm not what I should be,I'm not what I want to be,I'm not what I will be,But thank GOD I'm not what I used to be!!!
sent in by Steve of Lexington, KY
- Change: Make no major changes in the first year.
- Change: Put down the weapons, pick up the tools.
- Change is inevitable, Growth is optional
sent in by Paul of Thermal, CA
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
- How many alcoholics does it take to change a light bulb? Change?
What do you mean, change?
- If you don't change, nothing changes.
- AA: The only place where you get change for a dollar (or two).
- If you fail to change the person you were when you came in,
that person will take you out.
- Learn to change, change to learn.
- There are only two things an alcoholic doesn't like-the way things
are, and change.
- Change: If I don't change my sobriety date will.
sent in By Glynn H. of Raymond, MS
- Change: When one door shuts, another opens.
- Give a damn; be a channel.
- If Nothing Changes, nothing changes.
sent in by Cindy of Cleveland, TN
sent in by Dyanne of Fort Smith, AR
- Real change starts from within and works its way outward.
- You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
sent in by Judy of Shelby, NC
- Change: I'm not what I should be, I'm not what I want to be, I'm not what I
will be, But thank GOD I'm not what I used to be!!!
sent in by Steve of Lexington, KY
go to TOP
- Chapter Five is called "How It Works," not "Why Me?"
- When God builds character, he takes time.
-
- Character is how we act when we think no one is watching.
- My sponsor says I am a defect in search of a character.
- Fear is the mother of all character defects.
- If you want to find out what your character defects are,
fall in love.
- Take care of your character and your reputation will take care
of itself.
- We AAs don't all have unhappy childhoods--but we all have very long ones.
- Choices: There is the right way to do the wrong thing.
sent in by Mary of Wilmington, NC
- Today, we have a choice.
- If you're coasting, your going down hill.
sent in by Fred of Costa Mesa, CA
- The definition of codependency is;
you're drowning and somebody else's life flashes in front of your eyes.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Coincidences are God's way of staying anonymous.
- There are no coincidences.
- Comfort: The willingness to be uncomfortable leads to being
comfortable.
- We drink to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
- Just keep coming.
sent in by Michael B., Long Island, NY
- Keep coming back, it works!
- Keep coming back, it works…don't go away; it works even better!
- Identify, don't compare.
- Are you comparing your insides to someone else's outsides?
- Complacency kills.
- Complacency: A feeling of well-being when surrounded by extreme danger.
- Compulsion will leave you when the love of one drunk for another takes its place.
- Confidence is unattainable without some humility.
- Your conscience is the still small voice that can make you feel still
smaller.
- A clear conscience makes a soft pillow.
- If you have to control your drinking, it must be out of control.
- If you have to control your drinking, what's the point of drinking?
-
The most dangerous tool in your kitchen is the corkscrew.
Courage is Fear that has said Its Prayers.
sent in by Janet L.
- When you see "CRAZY" coming, hurry up and cross the street!
sent in by Gina of Suffern, NY
- Criticize: Walk a mile in another's shoes before you criticize
(this way, you will be a mile away.
when you do so and you will have their shoes!)
- ...the courage to change the things I can...
- Courage is fear that has said its prayers.
- Cursing is for conversational cripples.
go to TOP
D
- Daily meditation for about 20 minutes is recommended for all
in recovery; unless, of course,
you're very busy–then you should meditate for an hour.
- When you dance with a gorilla, it's the gorilla who decides
when to stop.
- Dating is pouring Miracle Gro on my character defects.
contributed by Russell, Long Island, NY
- Live each day the best that you can.
sent in by Dana of Denton, TX
- New Day, New way
sent in by Donia G.C. of Delaware City, DE
- One day at a time.
- One day takes time.
sent in by Stacy of Louisville, KY
- Decisions: When you don't know what to do, don't do anything.
- Denial: My worst day as a resistor far surpases my best day
as a captive.
sent in by Bill K. of Fleetwood, PA
- Denial: It is what it is.
sent in by Tracie of Baton Rouge, LA
- Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
- D.E.N.I.A.L: Don't Even kNow I Am Lying.
- DETACH: Don't Even Try And Change Him (Her)--sent in by
Emily M., Rye Brook, NY
- We push denial out the door and it sneaks back in the window.
sent in by Greg of West Australia
- The difference between us and God is that God knows the end
of the story.
- Make a difference, don't make a mess!
sent in by Snow of Boca Raton
- We are not different from others, God just made us special.
sent in by Kathy of Manito, IL
- Difficulties: It's a cinch by the inch; it's hard by the yard.
- Difficulties: Reached the end of your rope? Tie the knot and
hang on.
- We can disagree without being disagreeable, we can argue without
being difficult.
sent in by Rudolph of Paranaque City, Philippines
- Negativity is my disease asking me to come out and play.
- When you do good, you never know how much good you do.
- When you don't know what to do, do nothing.
- There are two kinds of people in this world— the doers
and the done tos.
sent in by Sally of Titusville
- If I keep doing what I always did... I'll keep getting what
I always got
sent in by Mark of East Liverpool, OH
- Doormat: Don't ever be someone's slogan because you are poetry.
sent in by Sonia of Maybrook, NY
- We came to these rooms not because we drank a lot, but because
we drank too much.
- Drugs vs. alcohol: It doesn't matter which side of the Titanic
you're on.
- Trying is what got me drunk; doing is what keeps me sober.
- Drugs vs. alcohol: The only difference is the kind of bullet.
- Doormats: Nobody gives me a bad day without my permission.
- Doormats-arrogant and exploding are two kinds we know.
- When in doubt, act as if.
- When in doubt, DON'T.
sent in by Catherine H. of Carlisle, IA
go to TOP
- I drank to stimulate thought and blacked out; I drank to make
conversation and tied my tongue;
- I drank for warmth and lost my cool; I drank to forget and became
haunted;
- I drank for freedom and became a slave; I drank for power and became
powerless;
- I drank to erase problems and saw them multiply; I drank to cope with
life and invited death...
or worse; I drank because I had the right and everything turned out
wrong.
- The drink is the end of a slip.
- A drink is only an arm's-length away.
- A free drink is often the most expensive.
- Don't drink and go to meetings.
- Nothing is so bad that a drink won't make it worse.
- One reason I don't drink anymore is that I want to know when
I am having a good time.
- The person takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, the drink
takes the person.
- Pick up the telephone before you pick up a drink.
- Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink.
- Sitting in a bar and asking yourself not to drink is like trying
to sneak sun-up past a rooster.
- The ultimate defense against the first drink is a spiritual
one.
- We don't want to drink like gentlemen; we want to drink like
pigs and be treated like gentlemen.
- When God is holding your right hand and AA is holding your left, you
have no hands with which to pick up a drink.
- Sure I had a drinking problem, but I looked at it more as a drinking opportunity.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- You'll never stop drinking as long as you're drinking.
sent in by Bev of Morrisville, PA
- Drinking: Drinking didn't drown my problems, it irrigated them.
- Drinking: I didn't get in trouble every time I drank, but
every time I got in trouble, I was drunk.
- Drinking: Why settle for relief when what you really want is freedom?
- Drinking: I'd rather have a frontal lobotomy, than to have
to have a bottle in front of me.
- Drinking: This Bud's NOT for me!
sent in by R.M. of Miami, FL
- I came for my drinking and stayed for my thinking.
- If drinking were our only problem, rehabs would turn out winners.
- If you have to control your drinking, it must be out of control.
- If you have to control your drinking, what's the point of drinking?
- If you think you have a drinking problem, chances are, you
do.
- Drinking: Do without one today and enjoy life twice as much
tommorrow.
sent in by Albert of Timmonsville, SC
- If you come into an AA meeting looking for recovery, you will find
exactly that. If you come looking for a reason to continue drinking,
you'll eventually find that, too.
- Drinking: Waking up in strange places with strange faces.
- Drinking situations: I'd rather be awkward than drunk.
- Get out of the driver's seat.
- Driving drunk: Drive hammered, get nailed.
- Give drugs an inch, and they will become your ruler.
sent in by Charles M. of Norfolk
- Anything you did drunk, you can do better sober.
- A drunk alone...is in poor company.
sent in by Ellen P. of Edwardsville, IL
- If you want to see who the drunk is, look for who's shouting
for the manager.
- The first drink gets you drunk.
- Dinking: When I was young, they called me "half pint," but
I grew up to be a full quart.
- My worst day sober was better than my best day drunk.
Do you have my P.H.D.? Poor Helpless Drunk
sent in by Ellyn of Edwardsville, IL
- Some say if you can't remember your last drunk, you may not
have had it.
- Walking around drunk is like walking around with your fly open.
Everyone sees it except you.
go to TOP
E
- Easy does it.
- Easy does it: When all else fails, try following directions.
- Easy does it (but do it).
- Educate!!! Don't Obituate
sent in by Baba A.
of Wilmington, DE
- E.G.O.: Easing God Out.
- Ego: The highest I can go in AA is sober.
- Ego: I may not be much, but I'm all I think about.
- EGO: It's not how good you think of yourself or how badly you think of yourself; it's how often you think of yourself.
sent in by Leo of Gold River, CA
- Ego: It's not that you think too well of yourself, but that
you think only of yourself.
- Ego: The sum total of false ideas about myself.
- Ego: At the end of the game, the Queen and the Pawn go into
the same box.
sent in by Lisa C. of Fredericton, NB
- Ego: We are all important, but not for the reasons we think.
- Ego is our separation from God and others.
- I don't want my ego to be the first thing people see when I
walk onto a room.
- Egoism isn't necessarily thinking a lot of yourself—just
thinking of yourself a lot.
- The good news is that we get our emotions back. The bad news is the same.
- Keeping in motion keeps your emotion above the ordinary.
sent in by Rita C.
- Enabler: The only thing I can do to help my loved one is to
let him help himself.
sent in by Mupton of Union Mills, NC
- Remember to give and receive ES&H: Encouragement, Strength,
and Hope
sent in by Emily M., Rye Brook, NY
- If you manage to escape from behind enemy lines...don't go back for your hat.
sent in by Dean of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
- A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool does from his friends.
- I am enough; there is enough.
- Esteem: If you stop treating yourself poorly, it will become
unacceptable for others to do so.
- Esteem: My net worth is not myself worth.
- Everything in God's time.
- Everything is all right.
- Everything is as it should be.
- Everything is as it should be right now.
- Everything that is happening is God's plan for you today.
- The Higher the Expectation, the Deeper the Resentment. Both are an illusion created by you.
sent in by Mike of USA
- Expectation is premeditated resentment.
- Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
- Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills
go to TOP
F
- Thoroughly have we seen a person fail who has rarely followed our path.
sent in by Dave of Fairfield, CT
- F.A.I.T.H.: Finding Answers In The Higher Power
sent in by Mike K. of Wausau, WI
- F.A.I.T.H.: Fabulous Adventure In Trusting Him.
- Faith is hope in things unseen.
sent in by Sue of Louisville, TN
-
- Faith is seeing light with your heart, when all your eyes see
is the darkness ahead.
sent in by Renee of Indiana
- It is when you act on faith that you actually have it.
- Spiritual and emotional growth does not depend so much upon success
as it does upon failures and setbacks.
- F.E.A.R. doesn't have to mean Forget Everything And Run.
- F.E.A.R.: Forgetting Everything is All Right.
- F.E.A.R. is False Evidence Appearing Real.
- F.E.A.R. is Fornicate With Everything And Run.
- To overcome F.E.A.R. means to Face Everything And Recover.
- We are not failing as long as we are trying.
- Failure isn't fatal; success isn't permanent.
- Live each day with a little less fear and a little more faith.
- Faith can't be taught; it can only be caught.
- Faith conquers fear.
- FAITH: For All Is Through Him.
sent in by Laura of Hollywood, FL
- Faith: If you don't believe, than make believe.
- If I have faith in God, it doesn't make much difference if
I have faith in myself.
- Faith is hope in things unseen.
sent in by Sue of Louisville, TN
- Faith was the first medicine known to man
- Faith is our greatest gift; its sharing with others our greatest responsibility.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
sent in by Paul of Thermal, CA
- It is when you act on faith that you actually have it.
- Fake it 'til you make it.
- My mother/father knows how to push my buttons. She/he installed
them.
- Fear has no power unless I give it power.
- Fear is absence of faith.
- We were as afraid of success as we were of failure.
- Fear is what keeps you from God's plan for you.--sent in by
Emily M., Rye Brook, NY
- FEAR - Frantic Effort to Appear Recovered
sent in by Sheldon of Lubbock, TX
- Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered; there was no one
there.
- My arrogance is the measure of my fear.
- Procrastination is fear in five syllables.
- Turn fear into faith.
- If you want to feel better right away, ask God to help you
be of service.
go to TOP
- If you want to keep feeling how you are feeling, keep doing
what you are doing.
- Move your feet; the feelings will follow.
- Fellowship: If 2 million plus recovering alcoholics are wrong,
I'm screwed.
sent in by Mardella of Gig Harbor
- If you have one hand in the fellowship and one hand in God,
you can't get drunk today.
- What is the definition of FINE? answer... F'd Up... Insecure... Neurotic... and Emotional
sent in by Charlene of Canada
- First things first.
- First things first--Listen to God.
sent in by Kenny of Mentor, OH
- The first drink gets you drunk.
- The first drink is the one that will kill you. It is like a
train. The locamotive kills you, the other cars just help carry your
body down the track.
sent in by Cathleen of Lauderhill
- The first-time sober is a gift; why waste it?
- Breaking a bad habit is merely a matter of focus. So it is not about trying to stop what you've been doing, because then you are focusing on what you've been doing, and there you'll be running down the road trying to catch what you've been doing, so you can stop it. Do something different instead and you will change your focus.
sent in by George of Oakland, CA
- Keep the focus on yourself.
- Our focusi> determines our reality.
sent in By Big Mike of Hayward, CA
- Any fool can criticize, and many of them do.
- The person who forgets is doomed to repeat.
- T.G.I.F.: Thank God I'm Forgiven.
- Forgiveness of others is a gift to yourself.
- Forgiveness: The number one way to relieve pain is to forgive.
- Going to any length means forgiving the person who has injured
you the most.
- Free Beer: If it's free, it's not for me!
(Slogan refers to open bars, free beer at picnics, etc.)
sent in by Frank of Williamsburg, VA
- Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you!
sent in by Christina of Amy of Lenoir, NC
- Good friends are like angels, you don't have to see them to know they are there.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
--Arnold N. Glasgow
- If you look to others for fulfillment, you will never be fulfilled.
- No matter what your past, you have a spotless future.
go to TOP
G
- God led me to AA and AA led me to God.
- Geographics: Too often we change locations, jobs, even spouses, but not
often enough, ourselves.
- G.I.F.T.: God Is Forever There.
sent in by Mike K. of Wausau, WI
- Today is a gift; that's why it's called the present.
Don't Worry About Tomorrow, God Is Already There.
sent in by Linda of Pt. Jefferson, NY
- Gifts: You give things up, you get things.
- G.O.D. is Good Orderly Direction.
- G.O.D.: Group Of Drunks.
- God has three answers: Yes, No, and Not Yet.
sent in by Leandra of Grayson, KY
- AA's ABC's: "(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own
lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our
alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought."
- The only thing you can rely on
is that you can't rely on anyone
but God.
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- God: Do you believe in the existence of God, or in the existence
of God in your life?
- AA works for people who believe in God
AA works for people who don't believe in God
AA NEVER works for people who believe they ARE God.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- AA leads us to God, and God leads us to ourselves
contributed by Steve, Long Beach, New York.
- At first we thought the 'God thing' was a crutch. Turns out
to be stilts.
sent in to the AA Grapevine
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage
-
to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
- God has three answers to everything-yes, no, and if you insist.
- God help me! (Step 1, short form)
- God is my employer (and I never have trouble with money.)Sent
in by Heide H. from Cologne, Germany
- God has no grand kids.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- God is doing for us what we can not do for ourselves.
- When you are down to nothing, God is up to something.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- God is upstairs in church on Sunday morning, but at night he's
downstairs in the AA meeting.
- Instead of asking God to change the circumstances in your life why don't you try asking God to use the circumstances in your life to change you.
sent in by Pat of Lafayette
- God fills the holes in my heart if only I seek him.
- God won't fail you (people will).
- God's first language is silence.
- God's will: You can't do his will, your way.
- God's will: You can't sit in a closet and pray to God to bring
you a hot dog.
- God's will, not mine, be done.
- I can't, God can, why don't I let Him? (Steps 1-3, short form)
- If you want to make God laugh, tell him YOUR plans for the
day.
- The only thing you can rely on
is that you can't rely on anyone
but God.
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- If you're looking for God, you'll never see God more at work
than at an AA meeting.
- I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just
wish that He didn't trust me so much.
-Mother Teresa
sent in by Aideen of Singapore
- If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.
- If you don't think this will help you, TRY IT. If you don't think
God will help you, ASK HIM.
sent in by Paige of Shreveport, LA
- Is it odd, or is it God?
- Listen to your heart often, God lives there
sent in by Stephen J. S.
- M G M Meet GOD Mornings.
sent in by Paul of Dawson, MN
- There is only one thing you need to know about God, you are
not He/She/It.
Trust in God to help you trust yourself.
sent in by Karen B. of Crossett, AZ
- We are not different from others, God just made us special.
sent in by Kathy of Manito, IL
- What is God's will for me today?
- I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- When I ask for patience, God gives me a traffic jam.
- When God closes one door, He always opens another- but sometimes
He makes us wait out in the hallway for a while.
sent in by Steve of Mesa, AZ
Today is a day of opportunity. Any experiences that we have today--good or bad--can be seen as opportunities, opportunities to grow closer to God.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- When God made time, He made plenty of it.
- Without God I can't. Without me, He won't.
sent in by John of Pittsburgh, PA
go to TOP
- Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- It is easier to live your way into good feeling than to feel
your way into good living.
- To feel good, do good.
- There's only one thing worse to an alcoholic than bad fortune. . . and that's good fortune.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Grace: There is nothing we can do to make God love us more
than God already does. There nothing we can do wrong that will make
God love us any less.
sent in by De W. of Graton, CA
- God ALWAYS allows U-turns -- ANYTIME we see we're headed in the WRONG DIRECTION.
sent in by Mac E. of Oakland Park, FL
- Grace: Get off the throne and give it back to God.
- The grace of God will never take me where the grace of God
will not protect me.
- There but for the grace of God, go I.
- There is a God and I am not it.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- When you lay down, lay on your back and look up, for God
is there all the time.
sent in by Paula of Montmorenci, SC
- The Grapevine is the Swiss army knife of AA.
- It's hard to be Grateful when you're Hateful.
sent in by Agimath of Kathamandu, Nepal
- Grateful alcoholics don't drink, and drinking alcoholics aren't
grateful.
- Gratitude: I complained I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet.
sent in by Cindy of Utica, KY
- Gratitude: To be grate-ful is to be grace-filled.
- Gratitude: Can't sleep? Try counting your blessing.
- If your heart is full of gratitude, there is no room for resentment.
- Keep an attitude of gratitude.
- Show up to grow up.
- Growth: A ship that stays in the dock is safe, but that's not
what ships are for.
- Growth: Don't commit suicide during the first five years sober
(you'll be killing the wrong person.)
- Growth: Esteem-able acts build self-esteem.
- Growth: If small things make you angry-how big are you?
- Growth: It's not so important why you are an alcoholic-but
rather what are you going to do about it?
- Growth: Just be on the side of the angels, it doesn't matter
what rank you are.
- Growth: Pain is mandatory, suffering is optional.
- Growth: Sometimes the good is the enemy of the best.
- Growth: The opposite of joy is not sorrow, the opposite of
joy is cynicism.
- Growth: When the pain of where I am is worse than the discomfort
of where I am going, then I'll move.
- Growth demands a temporary surrender of security.
- There are only two sins: To stand in the way of someone else's growth,
or to stand in the way of your own.
- Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving
sent in by Macca of Scotland
go to TOP
H
- Habits are like cork or lead--they tend to keep you up or hold you down.
- H.A.L.T.: Happy, Appreciative, Lovable, Teachable.
sent in by Julie W.
- HALF MEASURES is saying it is safer to have a gun with 3 bullets than a gun with 6 bullets pointed at you.
sent in Rey N.
of Cebu, Philippines
- This isn't happening to you, it's happening
for you.
sent in by Shelly Bowman
- Happiness & Serenity are an inside job.
sent in by Janet L.
- H.O.W.: Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- H.P.=Holy Presence.
- HP is not against me because of my addiction. HP is for me
and against my addiction (co-dep).
sent in by Debra of Fritch, TX
- Higher Power, Thy Will, Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else.
sent in by Marsha R. of Baton Rouge, LA
- H.P.: If Our Higher Power Is For Us Who Can Be Against Us??
sent in by Brenda G. of Rice Lake, WI
- Make it happen.
sent in by Frank of Lucedale, MS
- Happiness isn't getting everything you want. It's wanting what
you've already got.
sent in by Tammy B. of Naoma, WV
- Happiness is an inside job.
sent in by Stephen J. S.D.
- Happiness is appreciating what you have, not getting what you
want.
- Happiness is not a long-range objective.
- True happiness is found in service.
- If you are not happy with what you have, what makes you think
you would be happy with more?
- If you aren't happy today, what are you waiting for?
- Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be (attributed
to Abe Lincoln).
- Would you rather be right, or happy?
- The surest way to lose your health is to keep drinking to other people’s.
- Help: We are not here to see through one another. We are here to see one another through.
sent in by Richard of Portland, ME
- Asking for help is NOT a bad thing.
sent in by Karen of North Waterboro, ME
- If you're going through Hell, then keep on going!
sent in by Carolyn K. of Ashland, OR
- Hitting bottom is when your life goes to pieces faster than you can lower your standards.
sent in by Kenny, South Carolina
- If you don't have a home group, your are homeless.
contributed by Beartrice of New York City
- Honesty, Vulnerability, and Intimacy are the keys to my recovery.
sent in by Tats of Redmond, WA
- If you pray for honesty, the chances of your lying go 'way
up.
- H.O.P.E.: Hang On, Peace Exists.
- Hope: When one door closes, another door opens. It's being
in the hallway that's hell.
- How it works: Half gallons availed us nothing.
- How high you bounce is more important than how hard you fall.
sent in by Richard S. of Columbus, IN
- Higher power: One difference between me and God is that God doesn't wake up in the morning thinking He's me.
- Do I have peace of mind?
Higher Power, the plan is up to you; the decision is up to me.
sent in my Macca of Scotland
- Our higher power is our new employer. The pay isn't great but the fringe benefits are unbelievable.
- You know you've hit bottom when your quality of life is falling faster than you can lower your standards.
- Hitting bottom: The disease gets bigger and bigger and my life gets smaller and smaller.
- Worry is an ironic form of hope.
- Hitting bottom: I lost everything I had, but I found myself.
- Being humble means being teachable.
- Get humble, or be made humble.
- When you feel it's your job to humble others, you may in for
a ... stumble, fumble, or crumble.
sent in by Ron H.
- Humility: Try not to make yourself appear taller by standing on other people's heads.
- Humility is like venereal disease. If you have it, you don't
talk about it
- Humility is when I stop fighting reality.
- Humility: Before you become too proud to be a member of AA,
make sure AA
is proud to have you as a member.
go to TOP
- HUMILITY IS HUMAN, ARE YOU?
- True humility is realism.
sent in by Mike of CA
- Humility: Egotism is not thinking well of yourself; it's thinking
only of yourself.
- Humility: Halos can turn into nooses.
- Humility: If you are having trouble getting down on your knees
to pray in the morning,
put your shoes under the middle of the bed the night before.
- Humility: It doesn't matter so much who is right, but what
is right.
- Humility: Remember Rule 62 (don't take yourself so darn seriously)!
- Humility: The bigger my head, the easier the target.
- Humility which is denied usually ends up being humiliation. Today I will remember where I came from because I know I am ONE STEP away from a spiritual U-TURN.
Big Mike of Hayward, Calfornia,USA
- Humility: You can't save your face and your ass at the same
time.
- Humility is the soil in which all other virtues grow.
- Humility is humanity.
- Humility is not humiliation.
- Humility is that virtue which reduces a man to the proper size
without degrading him, thereby increasing him in statue without inflating
him. Unless one attains some degree of humility, one is condemned
to drink again.
- Humility is when I stop fighting reality. Pride is when I keep fighting
reality.
- Humility is the behavior of knowing that I have what I don't deserve. Everything I have is a gift from God.
sent in by April of Texas
- Humility is the soil in which all other virtues grow.
- If it weren't for a small deficit in my humility, I'd be perfect.
- Just when you think you have humility, you've lost it.
- Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired (H.A.L.T.)
- If it's hysterical, it's historical.
go to TOP
I
- Too much Vitamin "I" was my problem.
sent in by Joe N. of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
- I.S.M.: Incredible Spiritual Moment.
- Identify, don't compare.
- If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a very merry Christmas.
sent in by Kim of Apalachin, NY
- Intimacy: Into-me-I-see.
- Don't just take an inventory; let it take you.
- Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting
different results.
- Insanity is the seeming inability to learn from past mistakes.
sent in by Martin of Lilleen, TX
- Intimacy: Into-me-I-see.
- Taking others' inventory: You spot it, you got it.
- When you're taking someone else's inventory, who's taking yours?
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- The trouble with staying home and isolating is you get a lot
of bad advice.
- ISOLATION: It's the darkroom where I develop my negatives.
sent in by Joanne A. of Joliet, IL
go to TOP
- Just because you have issues, don't expect the world to walk around on eggshells.
sent in by Fannie of upstate New York
J
K
- Keep coming back it works if you work it.
sent in by Nate of Dover
- Keep it simple: Stick with the basics and you won't have to go back.
- Keep it simple and remember to thank yourself.
sent in by Tricia of Prescott, WI
- K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
- K.I.S.S.: Keep It Serenely Simple.
- Keep the memory green.
- Kind is better than right.
sent in by Paul N. of Santa Maria, CA
- Knowing why is the booby prize of life.
- Knowledge: It isn't what I don't know that gets me in trouble;
it's what I absolutely do know—and just isn't so!
- Knowledge: If you know so darn much, what are you doing here?
sent in by George of Kennett Square, PA USA
go to TOP
L
- As teenagers we think we know it all; In middleage we know we've been
through it all; And in old age we've been and seen it all! Let that
be a lesson to us all.
sent in by De of Grover City, CA
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You don't live long enough to make them all yourself.
- Learn to listen, listen to learn.
- The things we teach, are the things we most need to learn.
sent in by Steve M. of Scottsdale, AZ
- You cannot get ahead until you learn to be here.
- You won't learn much from people who agree with you.
- When I struggle, I sink. When I let go, I float.
- Let go: Anything an alcoholic lets go of has claw marks all over it.
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- You can either let go or be dragged...
sent in by Shelly M.
- If You Turn it Over and don't Let Go, you end up upside down.
sent in by Shelly M.
- Life does not begin at any particular age, but only when you
decide to live it.
- Life is never fair/life is always unfair.
sent in by JC of dinalupihan bataan philppines
- Life is fragile; handle with prayer.
- Life is only temporary, relax and enjoy it!
sent in by Heather of Myrtle Beach, SC
- Life on life's terms.
sent in by Niel R., Scottsdale, AZ
- Lifestyle: If the drugs don't kill you, the lifestyle
will.
sent in by Dave of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Lifestyle: I'm 27, look 17, and feel about 47 when I drink.
sent in by Adrian of Westbank, BC
- Listen : God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason.
- Listen : Take the cotton out of your ears and put it in your
mouth.
- Listen well or your tongue will make you deaf.
- Listening: My Higher Power gave me one mouth that closes and two ears that don't.
- Don't let the littleness in others bring out the littleness
in you.
- Live and let live.
- Live in the moment.
- Live in the solution.
- Here and now: don't postpone living!
- Don't get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired (H.A.L.T.)
- An alcoholic is someone who treats loneliness with isolation.
- If you can't take it, leave it. If you can't leave it, love it.
sent in by Rudolph of Paranaque City, Philippines
- Loss : God only lends us people when we need them.
- Loss : When it costs you more than money
sent in by Simon of London, UK
- Love is showing others that you respect them just as much as you respect yourself.
- Love : Love is less a feeling than a thousand tiny acts of kindness.
- L.O.V.E. : Letting go Of Virtually Everything
sent in by Mike K. of Wausau, WI
- If love has conditions attached, it's not love, it's barter.
- Love is a verb.
- Love is an action.
- Love isn't love until you give it away.
- To open oneself up to love, is to open oneself up to loss.
go to TOP
M
- When we remove me from blame all thats left is bla. bla, bla....
sent in by Oakie of Parsippany, NJ
- It's a meeting or a beating.
sent in by Sunny Side Joe of Fullerton, CA
- Many meetings, many chances. A few meetings, a few chances. No meetings, no chance.
- Maturity: accepting the contradictions of life.
- It isn't "me" and "you" anymore; it's "we" and "us."
- No person can spend more on good works than s/he earns in meditation.
- (First) meetings: Bring your body, your mind will follow.
sent in by Hans M., Stuttgart, Germany
- Meetings: I keep coming back so I can keep coming back.
- Meetings: AA is like a raffle; you must be present to win.
- Meetings: If you're thinking about going to a meeting, go to
the meeting, and then think about it.
- Meetings: "Buts" belong in ashtrays or chairs of Alcoholics
Anonymous.
sent in by Barb of Canada
- Meetings: Meeting makers make it.
- Meetings: Suit up, show up, shut up, grow up!
sent in by Ann V.
- Meetings: It's better to suit up and show up
than to shoot up and throw up.
sent in by Adam of San Francisco, CA
- Meetings take the bastard out of me. Jack
- Meetings: Those who get around, stay around.
- Meetings: You start to skip, you start to slip.
- If you're feeling down, you need a meeting.
If you're feeling UP, the meeting needs YOU!
sent in by Mac E. of Oakland Park, FL
- A Day without a meeting is like a Day with out sunshine.
sent in by Janet L.
- A job is something that happens to you on the way to a meeting.
- I go to meetings to hear voices other than my own.
- A meeting a day keeps the detox away.
- A meeting lasts from preamble to prayer.
- After each meeting, clean up the wreckage of the present.
- It's easier to sit in a meeting and pretend your an alcoholic than it is to sit in a bar and pretend your not.
sent in by Dean of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, England
- All it takes to start a new meeting is a resentment and a coffeepot.
sent in by Chris of St. Petersburg, FL
- If you meet more than three assholes in one day, you need a meeting.
- If all you do is go to meetings and sit on your ass, all you're going to get is a sore ass.
sent in by Doug D. of Zillah, WA
- If you only need one meeting a week, you may have to go to
five of them in that time to find out which one it is.
- I've got nothing better to do so maybe I'll go to a meeting.
sent in by Jim of Newton, IA
go to TOP
- A meeting is like an orgy. When it is over, you feel better, but you're not sure who to thank.
- You may not need a meeting, but the meeting may need you.
- If you think you don't need a meeting, chances are, you do.
- If you're looking for God, you'll never see God more at work than
at an AA meeting.
- Get smart feet; go to meetings.
- Go to enough meetings and you still may not stop drinking;
your drinking, however, will be ruined.
- If you're not getting mad at meetings, you're not going to enough
meetings.
- If I don't go to meetings, everything is important.
- Token takers take it and meeting makers make it.
Sent in by Shelly M., Ruthville, VA
- Meetings are not enough.
- Meetings, meetings, meetings.
- If I want relief, I go to meetings.
- People who don't go to meetings don't find out what happens
to people who don't go to meetings.
- Seven days without a meeting makes one weak.
- If your ass falls off, bring it to a meeting. If you ass turns to gold, bring it to a meeting.
- We go to the meetings for all sorts of reasons, but we don't know
what they are, so we keep going to meetings.
- When you are in a meeting, your disease is outside doing push-ups.
- You only have to go to meetings until you want to go to meetings.
- Carry the message, not the mess.
- The message is under the ashtray.
- The message is up front.
- I am not allowed in my mind without an adult!
sent in by Kathy of Panorama City, CA
- Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- The mind can cure the mind.
- When you think you are overdue for a miracle in your life, just remember:
you are right in the middle of one.
- Focus+Courage+Willingness to Learn=Miracles.
sent in by Loretta T. of Giddings, TX
- Misery is optional.
- Life is painful. Misery is optional.
- The man that never made a mistake,never made anything.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- There is a big difference between being a mistake and making one.
- There is no mistake so great as that of always being right.
- A husband who doesn't admit to making any mistakes has a wife who has made one.
- Mistakes:There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
sent in by Mary of Wilmington, NC
- Money: It's not hard to meet expenses. They're everywhere.
- My mother/father knows how to push my buttons. She/he installed
them.
- Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, does not open his mouth to give evidence of it.
go to TOP
N
- Negativity is my disease asking me to come out and play.
- Be nice to newcomers .........one day they may be your sponsor.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Be good to the newcomer,
he may some day be your sponsor.
sent in by Dean of San Francisco
- Newcomers: Take the cotton out of one ear, put it in your mouth.
- Newcomers: Take the cotton out of one ear, put it in your mouth.
Leave the cotton in one ear, so what you hear won't whistle through
that empty cavity.
- Newcomers are like rum fruitcakes. You can take out the rum,
but you still have a fruitcake.
- You need newcomers to tell you where you came from; old-timers,
to tell you where you could go, and a sponsor to tell you where you
are at.
contributed by Howie of New York City
- Ninety Days: You don't run to the finish line. You run through it.
- What comes after ninety days? Ninety-one!
-
Ninety meetings in ninety days.
-
"No." is a complete sentence.
sent in by Dave of Fairfield, CT
- There is nothing noble about being superior to others. True nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
-
Nonalcoholic beer is for nonalcoholics.
-
Now: Live in the moment.
-
go to TOP
O
- OA Stands for Overeaters Anonymous BUT for me it stands for the ONLY
ANSWER.
sent in by Mary of Bethpage, NY
- When I was new, I didn't think I had any obsessions until I started thinking about it. Then it was all I could think about.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Is it odd, or is it God?
- Do not regret growing old; it is a privilege denied many.
- This is a 'One Day at a Time' program. If you are sober today, you are tied for first place in A. A.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- One day at a time.
- We do this one day at a time in a row.
sent in by Craig of Woodstock, IL
- One day at a time: I am grateful for this minute. My eternity may be in it.
- One day at a time: We don't just get somewhere, we go there one day at a time.
- One day at a time, remember: The mighty oak was once a little
nut that held its ground.
- Life sucks! (but in AA, life sucks one day at a time).
- One drink is too many, and a thousand isn't enough.
- Keep an open mind.
- H.O.W.: Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness.
- Those of the opposite sex may pat your rear end, but often
those of the same sex will save it.
- In sobriety, you are given permission to be ordinary.
go to TOP
P
- There are many paths up the mountain; the view from the top is the same.
- P> U> S> H> PRAY UNTILL SOMETHING HAPPENS !!!!!!
sent in by Paul of Dawson, MN
Just because you have pain, doesn't mean you have to be
one.
- PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens.
- Pain is the touchstone of spiritual growth.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- When I was drinking, "the name of the game was the pain of the shame."
- Pain: Beauty and truth are admired; pain is obeyed.
- A pain shared is a pain cut in half.
- Not facing pain can prolong it.
- Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
- Pain: If your ass falls off, put it in a wheelbarrow and take
it to a meeting.
- Pain: It's either suffering or service.
- The only avoidable pain is the pain we endure in the process
of trying to avoid pain.
- When the pain outweighs the pleasure, you'll try something different.
- Pass it on.
- This, too, shall pass.
- The past: It's okay to look back, just don't stare.
- Patience: God doesn't wear a watch.
- Patience is giving God space.
- Patience: Everything in God's time (and God doesn't wear a
watch.)
- God give me patience--now!
- When I ask for patience, God gives me a traffic jam.
- Patience often gets the credit that belongs to fatigue.
- People, places, and things.
- People, places and things: If you hang out in the barber shop,
sooner or later your gonna get a haircut.
sent in by Dennis of Lodi, NJ
- Persistence: Don't give up; Moses was once a basket case.
- Get off the pity pot.
sent in by Shelly M.
- A periodic is an alcoholic. Period.
- The only thing sitting on the pity pot will get you is a ring around your ass.
- Plan, but don't plan the outcome.
- Plan, don't project.
- Plan Plans, Not Results.
sent in by Shelly M.
- Prior Planning Prevents Problems!
sent in by Lisa J. of Joliet, IL
- When you point a finger at someone, there are three pointing
back at you.
- What's it to be 'Poor Me Again or Pour Me Another'
sent in by Paul
of Colac, Victoria, Australia
- Poor Me and The Great I-Am are identical twins. They're both looking
for all the attention they can get.
- I am powerless but not helpless.
- Every morning I get up and pray to God to reset my negative to positive.
- Possessions: Everything we have is on loan from God.
- I went to powerlessness graduate school each time I relapsed.
sent in by Jacque of Arlington, TX
- Powerless over people, places and things; it's a two-way street.
- I am powerless but not helpless.
- Strength in powerlessness.
- If you pray for a Porsche and God sends you a jackass, ride it.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- Be careful what you pray for...you just might get it.
go to TOP
- If you pray, don't worry. If you worry, don't pray.
- If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy.
- If you are having trouble getting on your knees to pray in
the morning, put your shoes under the middle of the bed the night before.
- If you pray don't worry. If you worry don't pray.
- Pray as if everything depended on God; work as if everything
depends on ourselves.
- Prayer: Ask God not for things to enjoy life, but rather life
that you may enjoy all things.
- Prayer: If you pray for potatoes, better plant a garden.
- Prayer: If you're going to pray, why worry?
- Prayer: The healing is in the kneeling.
- Prayer: It's hard to stumble when you are down on your knees.
- Prayer: Tears are liquid prayers.
- A day without prayer is a day unfulfilled.
sent in by Anita of Tompkinsville, KY
- Hit him (her, it) with a prayer, not a chair.
- Prayer is not a device for getting my own way, but rather a
means to become what I should be.
- We don't pray to change things; we pray to change us.
- Prayer: God please protect me from what I want.
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- Prayer: The answers to all my problems are as far away as my knees are from the floor.
sent in by Amy of Lenoir, NC
- A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel.
- When you find yourself in a hurry Stop and Recall the real ASAP= Always
Say A Prayer. It helps!!
sent in by Brenda of Omaha, Neb.
-
Yesterday is history, tommorrow is a mystery, today is a gift,thats why they call it the present.
.
sent in by Joe N. of Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada
- Today is a gift; that's why it's called the present.
- There is no such thing as past or future, only memory and hope. The present is the future.
Sent in by Rusty of Bristol, Tennessee
- You can't get indigestion from swallowing your pride.
- Principles not realized daily may become personalities without realizing it.
sent in by Mike of USA
- We no longer have to drown our problems with alcohol we just
teach them how to swim.
sent in by Sunny Side Joe
of Fullerton, Calif
- Make the solution so big, the problem does not exist.
- I was a problem drinker; every time I drank, I had a problem.
- Any problem blesses us when we learn the lesson it teaches.
- Problems and calamity will begin to mean instruction, instead of destruction.
- Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday!
sent in by Jamila of Lafayette, LA
- Procrastination is fear in five syllables.
- Work the program easy, and life is hard. Work the program hard, and
life is easy.
- Program: Can't never could but with the right tools and a some
effort it would.
sent in by Cheryl of Nacogdoches, TX
- Program: A.A. has no musts but it has a lot of "have-to's".
- Don't worry, if you don't get the program right away, it will
get you.
- I came to the program and became focused instead of mocused.
If you're working The Program, no one else needs a program.
sent in by Renee M. of Cannelton, IN
- The longer I'm in the program, the lower my bottom seems to
get.
- The program is for those who want it.
- The program is like a submarine. It is much better to be in
it than around it.
- The program is like a swimming pool, and you can't learn to
swim until you get in the water.
- The program-it works if you work it.
- If I work my program hard, life is easy. If I work my program easy, life is hard.
- The longer we are in the program, the worse our stories get.
- Take the program seriously, not yourself.
- The program has taught me to think faster than my mouth.
- Work the program, not the problem.
- Work the program hard; life is easy. Work the program easy; life is hard.
- WORKING THE PROGRAM: If you go to the ocean with a cup; you only get a cup of water.
sent in by Leo of Gold River, CA
- Progress: There's only one way to coast, and that's downhill.
- Progress not perfection.
- Progression: Like Caesar-we came, we saw, we conquered (drinkie,
drankie, drunkie).
- Projection: Living in the wreckage of the future.
- Projection: Living in the wreckage of the future.
- Projection: You can plan plans, not results.
- Projection: Don't talk to people who aren't there.
- Projection: Don't write scripts unless you're going to publish
them.
- Projection: I have a lot of bad things happening in my life,
and some of them may actually happen.
- Projection: My expectations are inversely proportional to my
serenity.
- Projection: Some worry about the wreckage of the past, some
dwell in the wreckage of the future.
- Projection: You can plan plans, not results.
go to TOP
- PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens.
Q
R
- R.J.M.'ing: Rationalizing your way out of anything, Justifying yourself
about everything and Manipulating everyone.
sent in by Joanne A. of Joliet, IL
- Rationalization is simply mental masturbation.
sent in by Rich of Fremont, Nebraska
- Rationalization: My head has a contract on my ass.
sent in by Glen of Canada
- Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
sent in by Ron M. of Campbell, CA
- When you do not face reality, reality will face you.
sent in by Richard of Orlando, FL
- Always remember the three old-fashioned ABC's of early recovery: Ashtrays, Broomsticks, and Chairs.
- Another day, another recovery!
- RECOVERY = SURRENDERING TO ACCEPTANCE
sent in by Desiree of Baton Rouge, LA
- RECOVERY IS SIMPLE EAT,SLEEP,WORK THE STEPS
sent in by Lucinda of Cleveland Hts, Ohio
- Recovery: I have suffered...and gotten well. I give it all away...and find that I keep it. I've died...only to realize taht I'm living life anew.
- Recovery: Everything is ok in the end. If it's not ok, then
it's not the end.
sent in by Pat of Gainesville, GA
- Recovery: Never look back unless you intend to go that way.
sent in by Don of Lakeview, Arkansas
- Recovery: I may not be where I want to be, but I certainly
am not where I was.
- Recovery: The monkey is off your back, but the circus is still in town.
- Recovery: All you have to do to change your life is change
your mind.
- Recovery: God doesn't need much; whatever you have left is
enough.
- Recovery: I'm getting better. I try to save my best argument
for when someone else is in the room.
- Recovery: In A.A., there is a wrench for every nut.
- Recovery: In AA, we learn how to disagree without being disagreeable.
- Recovery: Discover yourself. Everything else has been done.
- Recovery: I am not yet the person I want to be, but I am certainly not the person I was.
- Recovery: It can only get better.
sent in by Alice M. of Tuckasegee
- Recovery: It's the second meeting that's the most important
one
- Recovery: The anesthesia has worn off; the surgery begins.
- Recovery: The further you are from your last drink, the closer
you are to the next one.
- Recovery: The process is perfect; let it work.
- Recovery: We take the steps, but it's funny where the steps
take us.
- Recovery: You can only be a newcomer one time.
- If you come into an AA meeting looking for recovery, you
will find exactly that. If you come looking for a reason to continue
drinking, you'll eventually find that, too.
- I may only have one recovery in me.
- May you be blessed with a slow recovery.
- Recovery is going up a down escalator.
sent in by Andy of Baltimore, MD
- Regrets: Here's to our used-to-be's and might-have-beens....
May they rest in sweet peace.
sent in by Anne of Charleston, SC
- Rejection is God's protection
sent in by Jack N. of Atlanta, GA
- I used to COMPLAIN that rose bushes had THORNS.....
Today, I REJOICE that THORN bushes have ROSES!
sent in by Mac E. of Oakland Park, FL
- Relapse: Call before you drink and I will help you stay sober.
Call after you drink and you will help me stay sober.
- If you're not sober you can't relapse. If you are sober and
go to meetings, read AA literature, talk to your sponsor and don't drink
or think, chances are you won't relapse.
sent in by Marcy of Libertyville, IL
- Relapse is not an event, it's a process.
- Relapse: Forbidden fruit creates many jams. Relapse
(prevention): Going to meetings keeps your elbow down.
- RELAPSE: Reliving Every Low And Pitiful Scene Exactly.
sent in by Stephen of Mesa, AZ
- Relapsing: See also slip.
- Rehabs are for quitters.
- Having a relationship in recovery is like putting Miracle Gro on your character defects.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Looking for a relationship in AA is like shopping for a car in a junkyard.
- Relationships: For true intimacy to take place, I must be a
whole person forming a partnership, not a broken person seeking another
to be whole.
- Relationships: It's not a question of finding the right person,
but becoming the right person.
- Alcoholics don't have relationships, they take hostages.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Relationships: Looking for the right person? Become the right
person.
- Relax-God is in charge.
- RELIGIONi> IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AFRAID OF GOING TO HELL & SPIRITUALITY IS FOR THOSE THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN THERE.
sent in By John of New Bedford, MA
- Remember: It's ok to look back but don't stare.
- Remember the 3 P's: Perfectionism (leads to) Procrastination
(leads to) Paralysis.
- Some say if you can't remember your last drunk, you may not
have had it.
- The purpose of resentment is judgment. When judging ceases, so does the resentment.
- Resentment is a cup of poison we pour for our enemy and drink
ourself.
sent in by Art of Cuddebackville, NY
- Resentment is like burning down your house to get rid of a
rat.
sent in by Vernon of Memphis, TN
- Resentment: When you are living inside someone's head, you
are out of your mind.
- Resentment is from the Latin, meaning to "feel again."
- Resentment is letting someone else live in your head rent-free.
- The road to disappointment (resentment) is paved with expectation.
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- The stem of resentment is the judging of others.
sent in by Chuck of Oliver, BC, Canada
- By releasing resentment, we set ourselves free.
- When I tighten the noose of resentment around someone's neck,
I choke myself.
- Respect is reserved for the respectable.
- Rest: When you burn the candle at both ends, you're likely
to end up with singed fingers.
- We don't get partial results from half-measures.
- If you want to bury someone with revenge, it is best to dig
two graves.
- You will be rich when you know you have enough.
- A.A. Romance: The odds are good......but the goods are odd.
sent in by Miles of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Romantic relationships in the first year: Two dead batteries can't start a car.
go to TOP
S
- Sanity: What we get when we quit hoping for a better past.
- Self: When you are your own best friend, everything else is
just a walk in the park.
sent in by Jess of Hudson, FL
- Self: If I'm okay with me, I don't have to make you wrong.
- Self: Never Stop Asking: "IS THIS WHO I AM?"
sent in by Amy of Bloomington, IN
- To thine own self be true!
- Left to my own devices I am self destructive.
sent in by Mary Jo R. of Chicago, IL
- Self-esteem: There is nothing noble about being superior to
other folks. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous
self.
- The difference between self-esteem and ego is that self-esteem
doesn't need an audience.
- Self esteem: Envision yourself as God envisions you.
- Self-esteem: The exploding doormat.
- Blessed are the Self-Esteemers for they shall see the beauty
of their own souls.
sent in by Judith of Bozeman, MT
- A.A. is a self-help program but you can't do it by yourself.
- Self-pity: For some alcoholics, a little whine is more than
we need and a lot more than we can handle.
- Self-pity: Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink.
- Self-will run riot.
- It's a selfish program.
- Serenity: Everything is as it should be.
- Serenity: The happiest moments in my life are those when
I'm not thinking about myself.
- Serenity is God's garden. The entrance is through our hearts.
- Serenity: When you realize there is nothing lacking, the
whole world belongs to you.
- A short version of the serenity prayer: Forget it!
- God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
- Don't take yourself too darn seriously.
- Serenity=peace of mind;
Humility=peace of heart.
- Serenity: There is a time to make things happen and a time
to let things happen.
- Serenity isn't freedom from the storm, it is peace within the
storm. (Author unknown)
sent in by Sharon of Charlotte, NC
- The price for serenity and sanity is self-sacrifice.
sent in Macca of Scotland
- Serenity is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to
cope with it.
- Serenity is God's garden. THe entrance is though our hearts.
Serenity: There is a time to make things happen and a time to
let things happen.
- Serenity: He who knows he has enough is rich.
- Take the program seriously, not yourself.
- Service: God has no hands but yours (attributed to Mother Theresa).
- Service: God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the
called.
- Service: Coffee makers make it.
- Service: Shut up, show up and say "yes."
- Service: Our leaders are but twisted servants.
- Service: Trust in God, clean house, and work with others.
- Service is gratitude in action.
- In fact, in the first year you can have as much sex as you want. After
the first year, you can start having it with someone else.
- Sharing: Be a channel, not a dam.
- Sharing is sometimes more demanding than giving.
- Sharing: Give to God and God will give to you.
- Sharing: I'd rather hear you share about the same thing a thousand
times in meetings than learn you were sharing it in a bar.
- Sharing: If you pass, it's your ass.
- Sharing: In order to keep it, you have to give it away.
- Sharing: Say what you mean, but don't say it mean.
go to TOP
- Sharing: Talk or die.
- Sharing: The opposite of listening is waiting to talk.
- Sharing: There is plenty to go around of what you give away.
sent in by Jeff
- Sharing: We must give away what we cannot keep so we might
receive what we cannot lose.
- Show up to grow up.
- Shut up, show up and say "yes."
- I didn't know how sick I was until I started getting better.
- When you hang out with sick people, you catch the cold.
- One sickie PLUS One sickie does not EQUAL a wellie.
sent in by Jodie of Aberdeen, SD
- God's first language is silence.
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it simple, smarty.
sent in by Dawna of Stafford, VA
- Keep it simple but enjoy life as well!!! Life is so short so
enjoy it while you can!!!
sent in by Robin of Toledo, OH
- There are only two sins: To stand in the way of someone else's
growth, or to stand in the way of your own.
- Slicker, sicker.
- To slip, work the Steps in reverse: Quit doing service (Step
12), let go of your spiritual life (Step 11), stop taking a daily inventory
(Step 10), making amends (Steps 8 and 9), asking for help on character
flaws (Steps 6 and 7), using a sponsor (Step 5), turning your life over
to the care of a higher power (Step 3), believing in a higher a power
(Step 2), and you will forget you are powerless over alcohol (Step 1).
- SLIP: Each time you come back, the tuition goes up.
- SLIP: Getting sober is a process; relapsing is a process, too.
- Slip: "I Only Had One"
sent in by Sharon of Shepherd, Montana
- SLIP: If you escaped the lion's den, why go back for your hat?
- SLIP: If you fail to change the person you were when you came
in, that person will take you out.
- SLIP: If you go out, your bottom will get lower.
- SLIP: It's only two steps from the sidewalk to the gutter.
sent in by Donald of Sydney, Australia
- SLIP: It's not the caboose that kills you it's the engine.
sent in by Sonia of Maybrook, NY
- SLIP: No one ever tripped over a mountain-but they sure could
slip and fall on a pebble.
- SLIP: No one who has ever had a slip said she went to too many
meetings.
- SLIP: People who don't go to meetings don't find out what happens
to people who don't go to meetings.
- SLIP: Seven days without a meeting makes one weak.
- SLIP: The time away from a drink is not equal to the distance
away from it.
sent in by Hesham of Giza, Eqypt
- There is a SLIP under every skirt (In those early days).
sent in by Tom of E. Sussex, England
- S.L.I.P.: Sobriety Loses Its Priority.
- SLIP: Something Lousy I Planned
sent in by Bob of Robesonia, PA
- SLIP : Stupid Little Idiotic Plan.
- SLIP: There are a million excuses to drink, but no good reason.
- SLIP: What AA gives back to me could take me out again.
- SLIP: When you dance with a gorilla, it's the gorilla who decides
when to stop.
- SLIP: When you go out and come back, the tuition goes up.
- Slips: The first thing you put before your sobriety is the
first thing you'll lose.
- Slippers in aa use the rdp---revolving door policy
sent in by Macca of Scotland
- SLIP: You start to skip, you start to slip.
- The slip occurs before you pick up.
- SLIPS: Get rid of slippery people, places, and things--they
lead to SLIPS.
- SLIPS: If you would not pour alcohol down the throat of another
alcoholic, why would you do it to yourself?
- SLIPS: The longer you stay away, the harder it is to come back.
- SLIPS in long-term sobriety: too many years and not enough
days.
- Slips: Show me an alcoholic whose Big Book is falling apart,
and I'll show you an alcoholic who isn't.
sent in to the AA Grapevine by Earl T.
- The AA slogans are like railings for the Steps.
- The slogans are Band-aids; The steps are the cure; your Higher
Power is the doctor.
go to TOP
- S-O-B-E-R: Son of a bitch, everything's real.
sent in by Wayne of Danbury, CT.
- Being sober doesn't keep you sober.
- A sober alcoholic is like a turtle on a fence post: You know
it had help.
- It’s the first drink that gets you drunk. It’s the last one that gets
you sober.
- Getting sober is a process; relapsing is a process, too.
- If you sober up a drunken horse thief, you have a sober horse
thief.
- It is easier to stay sober than it is to get sober.
sent in by Al of Neosho, MO
- My worst day sober was better than my best day drunk.
- The longer you stay sober, the narrower the path.
- The longer I'm sober, the drunker I was.
- Stark raving sober
sent in by Paul of San Francisco, CA
- Three keys to sobriety: get a sobriety date and don't change
it; get a sponsor; get a home group.
- Sobriety: Do you expect a reward for accepting the greatest
gift of your life?
- Sobriety: Don't say, "I can't drink"; say instead, "I CAN not
drink".
- Sobriety: From Alcoholics Obvious to Alcoholics Anonymous.
-
Sobriety: God didn't save you from drowning to beat you up
on the |
