NOV 28, 24 .. THANKSGIVING DAY.. GRATITUDE..

The word thanks has several synonyms.

One of them is gratitude.

On Thanksgiving Day, it fits to discuss gratitude.

At one time, it has been a few decades ago now, I used to get bored when the topic of a meeting was gratitude.

Then one day the following thought occurred to me.

Our brain can think about many things BUT it can only think about one thing at any given nanosecond.

Doctor William Duncan Silkworth wrote in the Doctors' Opinion the following words.

"Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by  alcohol."

Translation: We drink to change how we feel.

Enter gratitude.

IF we can focus our mind upon things we are grateful for, we don't need to take a drink to change how we are feeling.

Make sense?

It sure does to me!

We hope you enjoyed a very

HAPPY THANKSGIVING..

OCT 27, 24 .. THE TENTH STEP AND THE 12 AND 12..

Here we are, it's October the 10th month, when many meetings discuss Step 10.

If I had to name just one step that I personally feel is the most important to me, it would be Step 10.

Doctor Bob's last words to Bill W. were.. 

"Remember Bill, let's not louse this thing up. Let's keep it simple."

Some members may not know that, until the Big Book was written, beginning in 1938 and published on April 10th, 1939, there were no steps to be followed. 

The one and most important thing we share with the early members, is the magic of one alcoholic working with another alcoholic sharing their own experience.

Written by Bill W. and published in 1953, 18 years after Bill and Doctor Bob met and began what was to become AA, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (The 12 and 12) explains the 24 basic principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and their application.

Below, on page 92 of the 12 and 12, in my humble opinion, are some of the most important words in all of written recovery literature..

Finally, we begin to see that all people, including ourselves, are to some extent emotionally ill as well as frequently wrong, and then we approach true tolerance and see what real love for our fellows actually means. It will become more and more evident as we go forward that it is pointless to become angry, or to get hurt by people who, like us, are suffering from the pains of growing up.

So there you have it. October. Step 10. 

Your Ally .. S.W. in London (for anonymity)