AA Grapevine - March 2014

[MajestyJo]

March 16

"Life in contented sobriety seems to be a matter of looking at the reality of myself in my attitudes, actions, and character rather than trying to run away from it."

Tasmania, Australia, September 2008
"The Reality of Myself"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 17

"Surrender has nothing to do with giving up. It means to stop fighting."

Carrollton, Texas, February 1993
"The Gift of Sobriety"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 18

"Pain is one of our greatest teachers. Though I still find it difficult to accept today's pain and anxiety with any degree of serenity -- as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do -- I can, if I try hard, give thanks for present pain nevertheless."

AA Co-Founder, Bill W., March 1962
"What Is Acceptance?"
The Language of the Heart

[MajestyJo]

March 19

"New people are the lifeblood of AA. I am eternally grateful to them. By extension I am, therefore, grateful to Tradition Three for making it possible for all who want what we have to come to AA."

Los Gatos, Calif., February 1993
"A Part of the Whole"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 20

"If you haven't been to a meeting for a while, come, and add to the mix ... we need you. Come for yourself, come for the Fellowship, come to celebrate sobriety, and come for the alcoholic who still suffers."

San Francisco, Calif., February 1993
"Torn Asunder"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 21

"We are losing all fear of those violent emotional storms which sometimes cross our alcoholic world; perhaps it bespeaks our confidence that every storm will be followed by a calm; a calm which is more understanding, more compassionate, more tolerant than any we ever knew before."

AA Co-Founder, Bill W., August 1946
"Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?"
The Language of the Heart

[MajestyJo]

March 22

"In AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without receiving, or receive without giving."

North Hollywood, Calif., February 1993
"The Gift of Sobriety"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 23

"I can't imagine anything that would make me so mad, glad, or sad that I would want to go back to what I was before AA."

Napa, Calif., February 1993
"The Meaning of Success"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 24

"My emotional bottom came in sobriety ... I actually had to sit and feel all those feelings I had worked so hard to drown out with alcohol."

Beginners' Book

New York, N.Y., January 2006
"Attitude Adjustment"
Beginner's Book: Getting and Staying Sober in AA

[MajestyJo]

March 25

"I'm better able to love people when the storm of my judgmental mind settles, when I understand and empathize rather than criticize and condemn."

September 2008
"The Fine Art of Listening"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 26

"As AA grows, it is impossible to know everyone, but if I try to relate myself with just one other person, something will happen, something remarkable."

Marietta, Ohio, April 1993
"The Guy at the End of the Bar"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 27

"When we early AAs got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we coined this expression: 'Don't try to get too damned good by Thursday!'"

Best of Bill

AA Co-Founder, Bill W., June 1961
"Humility for Today"
The Best of Bill

[MajestyJo]

March 28

"One of the first insights Dr. Bob and I shared was that all true communication must be founded on mutual need. Never could we talk down to anyone, certainly not to a fellow alcoholic. We saw that each sponsor would have to humbly admit his own needs as clearly as those of his prospect."

AA Co-Founder, Bill W., July 1960
"The Language of the Heart"
The Language of the Heart

[MajestyJo]

March 29

"Until I was at my complete bottom, alcohol wasn't even my problem. But thankfully, when I did hit bottom, AA was not hard to find."

November 2013
"Why Not Tell the World?"
AA Grapevine

[MajestyJo]

March 30

"It was at my home group that I learned to trust the experiences of the early groups with meetings. We have a Traditions meeting once a month and when I was new and heard the Traditions read out loud, the experiences of the early AA meetings gave me the first notion that real people -- drunks like me -- started this program."

New York, N.Y., February 1990
"Out of the Hat"
AA Grapevine