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Day 15 - Stools & Bottles
Fifteenth Daily Reminder - At times our vitality is low. Being restless and jittery, we have the urge to drink. Irritable, unhappy and self-centered, we work back into our favorite spot -- the driver's seat. Resentment, worry and intolerance cloud our thinking. It is hard to pray. We miss meetings and neglect helping others. Daily Inventory - How do we account for our rundown and jittery feelings? Why these urges to drink? Why is it so hard to pray? What can we do about it? Suggested Meditation - A run-down physical condition makes an alcoholic jittery and creates an urge to drink. Overwork, lack of rest and wrong diet foster resentful attitudes of self-pity and intolerance. Such attitudes insulate us from God. They kill our peace of mind and end in drunkenness. We must recognize these symptoms and remove their causes. To eat, work, rest, play and pray intelligently helps to attain this end. Spiritual Condition - Our Father, teach us the meaning of "first things first." Endow us with sufficient common sense to maintain a healthy physical body. Daily Physical Audit - The road to recovery for our members is beset with pitfalls, some of which are physical. Alcoholism often depletes our nervous energy. Members who continue to overtax their nervous systems are courting trouble. Our minds cannot function apart form our bodies -- nor can they function soundly in sick bodies. Obviously, it is to our best interest to rebuild physically. |
Day 16 - Stools & Bottles
Sixteenth Daily Reminder - Remember the old saying, "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link?" Alcoholism is the weak link in our chain of life and most confusing, too, for it embraces three weak links in one. They are the physical, mental and spiritual illness of alcoholism from which AA offers the best chance of recovery. Daily Inventory - Good? Better? Best? Plain sobriety or contented sobriety? Which shall it be? Shall we kill or improve our AA opportunities? Suggested Meditation - We joined AA to end the insanity of alcoholism and to live happy, sober lives. We admitted our illness and agree to get well--not to get half well, Lack of self-preservation in AA seems like a new sort of insanity. Having made fair progress with our physical and mental health, we should not refuse to grow up emotionally and spiritually. Recognizing this fact we should work for greater AA maturity. Spiritual Contact - Our Father, keep us aware of the fatal nature of our illness and the insanity of alcoholism. Help us mend the weak links in our personality chain. Daily physical Audits - Budget your energy. Plan you activities for the day. Avoid emotional excitement. Set up daily periods for relaxation. Remember that your recovery should be physical as well as mental and spiritual recovery. Physical fitness aids mental and spiritual recovery. We need to conserve our energy by heeding the feelings of fatigue which signal that our activities have become excessive. The result is a saving in energy which makes for better health. |
Day 17 - Stools & Bottles
Seventeenth Daily Reminder - An old member got drunk but stopped drinking before any serious trouble developed. His group was none the wiser so he never told them of his relapse. He rationalized it as a minor slip and brazenly resumed old relations with his group. Uncertainty and fear dominated his progress, causing future relapses. Daily Inventory - How serious is a relapse? Should he have confided with the members of his group? What made him drink? Does AA forgive the slipper? Suggested Meditation - All slips are serious--some are fatal. Those called minor are unfinished drunks. They will be completed later. Dishonesty in some form is the basis of a slip. This member should have confessed to his group. As AA patients, our minds are still alcoholic. We think in terms of drinking if we cannot be honest with ourselves. Slippers are ill. AA cannot forgive the illness, but it can help sick members to get well. Spiritual Contact - Our Father, we pray for help to become strictly honest with You and with ourselves. Free us from fear, dishonesty and relapses. Daily Physical Audit - Is there an aspect of dishonesty in abusing the body which God has entrusted to our care? Are we honest with Him, ourselves, our group, and the alcoholic "who still suffers" if from tension, overwork and physical neglect we are too ill or exhausted to contribute to the welfare of our group, or "carry the message" to the alcoholic who needs our help? Think it over. Perhaps this obligation has not occurred to you. |
Day 18 – Stools & Bottles
Eighteenth Daily Reminder –Vindictiveness is a stumbling block to recovery for many members. They go to meetings and talk the program but reserve the right to suspect and hate–also the privilege of revenge. They are the advocates of justified resentments. They miss contented sobriety and wonder why AA fails to work for them. Daily Inventory –Why is revenge so disturbing to an alcoholic’s peace of mind? Is resentment justified? Do hatred and revenge bar our chances for contented sobriety? Suggested Meditation –Our revengeful attitudes are indicative of reservations to the AA program. They oppose a great fundamental principle which requires us to forgive before we can be forgiven. Resentment and vindictiveness are forms of mental drunkenness which AA never justifies. Revengeful alcoholics are of their 12 Step base. Prayer puts them back on again. We should try praying for those we hate. It pays well. Spiritual Contact –Our Father, alert us to the future drunkenness which lies in attitudes of hatred and revenge. Help us to overcome them by praying for those we hate. Daily Physical Audit –How often do we meditate upon the value of a healthy body to help arrest our alcoholism? Not enough, to be sure. What a shame to wait until some illness disables us before we realize the positive necessity of good health to our recovery. We need observe only a few simple rules to keep well. Systematic living habits which give us adequate exercise, fresh air, sunlight, food and rest are essential to a healthy body. |
Day 19 - Stools & Bottles
Nineteenth Daily Reminder - A sincere group of newcomers, discussing the various merits of the AA program, agreed that without surrender an alcoholic could not recover from his illness. There was one dissenter who flatly condemned surrender as a negative mental attitude, branding it, "the cowardly act of a defeatist." Daily Inventory - Who was right? Are we defeatists? Is surrender so vital to our recovery? What is it that we surrender? How do we go about it? Suggested Meditation - Foolhardy describes the behavior of a diabetic who, refusing insulin, gorges himself with sugar. Insane describes the behavior of an alcoholic who will not admit his illness and keeps on drinking. We do not ignore broken bones. We have them set. Alcoholism is like a broken bone for us. Asking God to set this alcoholic fracture is a mark of intelligence. Surrender, to be sure, but only to a constructive power. Spiritual Contact - Our Father, save us from intellectual folly. Elevate us above the hairsplitting of words. Show us the logic of surrendering our alcoholism to You. Daily Physical Audit - We cannot choose the body we start life with, but we are responsible for its daily care. There are members who do not seem to understand that God does not help us physically when we refuse to help ourselves. They vainly pray for help instead of calling upon a surgeon to remove an infected appendix, tooth or tonsil. We should not delay taking our health problems to capable doctors with whom God has so abundantly supplied us. |
Day 20 - Stools & Bottles
Twentieth Daily Reminder - The shortest route to a relapse in AA is to sober up without acquiring honesty, humility and a conscious contact with God. A good way to prevent this is suggested by Step Five. From it derive many essentials of recovery, such as: humility, freedom from fear, honesty and spiritual inspiration. Daily Inventory - Are we among those who have delayed taking Step Five? Is there a legitimate reason for holding off any longer? Why not arrange to take Step Five now? Suggested Meditation - Members frequently take their sobriety too much for granted. They forget that alcoholism is an incurable disease. They go to AA meetings, admit their weaker spots and mouth a few AA truths, yet cling tenaciously to some of their worst character defects. Their record of lip service is excellent, but their AA service is poor. Taking Step Five will uncover these facts. It keeps us humble and willing to serve. Spiritual Contact - Our Father, free us fro the doldrums of AA procrastination. Fill us with 12 Step enthusiasm. Give us the moral courage to take Step Five. Daily Physical Audit - Everyone has blood pressure. Some have it high. Some have it low. Some have it normal. High blood pressure damages the blood vessels and is the most common cause of heart disease for members. Its causes are unknown, but it is often associated with kidney disease, with functional disturbance of the nervous system, the endocrine glands and with overweight. We should watch our blood pressure closely and keep it within our normal range. |
Day 21 – Stools & Bottles
Twenty-First Daily Reminder – After a few months of unhappy sobriety, a disgruntled AA member left his group and resumed drinking. He openly left his group and resumed drinking. He openly opposed certain spiritual parts of our program, labeling them “opium for the masses” and rowed that AA could not run his life. He won his point but by drinking lost his job, wife and home. Daily Inventory – Could he have been rebelling against the provisions of Step Six and Seven? With regard to self-discipline, what are the functions of these steps? Suggested Meditation – The sign of outward depression in an alcoholic is only the shadow of the real oppression within. He is a very sick person ruled by a strong obsession which says, “I want to be free. I want to think and to drink as I please. I refuse to part with my character flaws — AA or no AA.” Such freedom only adds to our alcoholic bondage. Such spiritual rebellion is mental drunkenness–another slavery for us. Spiritual Contact – Our Father, illuminate our defects of character. Help us to enforce self-discipline. Grant us a willing desire to fully accept Steps 6 and 7. Daily Physical Audit – Modern medicine emphasizes diet as a powerful factor of healthful living. It claims we eat too much bread, fats and sugar at the expense of proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts and vitamins which support body growth and repair. Chemical reaction in the alcoholic’s body is impaired by lack of proper food. Our diet should be well balanced and fortified with ample vegetables, fruits and meat. |
Day 22 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Second Daily Reminder -- Having gained sobriety from living the AA program, it is easy to become overconfident about our future security. We often mistake recovery for cure and get off the AA beam. Satisfied with our progress and impressed by our evident maturity we become complacent and are ready to graduate from AA. Daily Inventory -- What is complacency? Is it a danger signal? Do we ever reach full maturity in AA? Are there specific graduation qualifications? Name them. Suggestion Meditation -- The Big Book gives the answers for all our drinking problems. It also gives an AA graduation test on page 42 in the old book, or page 31 second edition. "If anyone, who is showing inability to control his drinking, can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him." Complacency (self-satisfaction) is not for us. Our goal is serenity)the reward for daily AA living. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, we pray that we may realize our need for daily AA living. Manifest the dangers of complacency to us. Teach is the meaning of serenity. Daily Physical Audit -- Alcoholics are physically ill from toxic poisoning acquired by substituting alcohol for food and rest. We are impatient people who want to get well fast. It is not uncommon for newcomers to resort to the self-administration of drugs and antibiotics. This is a dangerous practice from which we suffer ill effects. Sedation is most harmful because it is habit forming. AA is ineffective for the willful users of self-administered drugs. |
Day 23 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Third Daily Reminder -- The keys to AA success and service are found in the last eight words of Step 12, "to practice these principles in all our affairs." It takes a lot of constructive thought, effort and courage to arrest our alcoholism -- not the physical kind, but the moral courage to be honest with ourselves and live AA. Daily Inventory -- Is there more to Step 12 than just "carrying the message"? What about "a spiritual awakening"? What is meant by "these principles"? Suggested Meditation -- "These principles" cover all of the 12 Steps. "Carrying the message" to alcoholics is vital, indeed, but it is only a part of practicing "these principles in all our affairs." Without their practice there could be no recovery. Without it we could have no examples of contented sobriety--no message to carry--no sponsorship--no AA. Let us never forget the significance of the last eight words of Step 12. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, awaken us spiritually. Allow us to "carry the message" to alcoholics. Help us to stay sober and to live the 12 Steps 24 hours a day. Daily Physical Audit -- Medical science has long been interested in the relation of blood sugar to the physical condition of the alcoholic and his lack of craving after eating. Experience teaches is that compulsion to drink usually occurred when our stomachs were empty and our blood sugar low. We should remember this in AA and always try to maintain an adequate level of nutrition for defense against that first drink. |
Day 24 – Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Fourth Daily Reminder — An AA member with several years of sobriety and a record of active service moved to another city and attached himself to the local group. Working upon the basis of AA seniority, he tried to assume authority and rule the group. Failing in this, he broke their unity and later got drunk himself. Daily Inventory – Is AA run? Do our members rule? Where is AA’s authority? How is it expressed? Bo we rule by force or lead by example? Suggested Meditation — A fellowship of sick persons, who are recovering from the effects of alcoholism, cannot be legislated back to health. They should be led by understanding alcoholics who have arrested their illness by 12 Step living and are willing to share their experiences with others. Our only authority is God’s Will activation the conscience of our group–His voice speaking through AA to the alcoholics who still suffer. Spiritual Contact — Our Father, may our examples of serenity and happy sobriety attract to us the alcoholics who still suffer. Make us realize the value of service. Daily Physical Audit — Good health is our best safeguard against disease. Some people inherit it while others must fight to acquire it. The alcoholic, regardless of his former status, has placed himself in the second category. Recovery from alcoholism now confronts us with two real problems. The first one is to regain our health. The second is to maintain it. Willingness to admit and treat our illness and physical defects is an important asset to recovery. |
Day 25 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Fifth Daily Reminder -- Unity of purpose, thought and acts is vitally important to an AA group's success, Without unity we can only expect failure. You and I may stand or fall in accordance with the success of our group. We owe a unified stand on AA purpose to ourselves, to our group and to its future membership. Daily Inventory -- Does the welfare of the group come first? Does individual recovery depend upon group unity? Who is responsible for the unity of the group? Suggested Meditation -- Tradition One advises us that without unity an AA group cannot survive. Without a group many of us could not survive. Obviously, the preservation of group unity is the responsibility of every member. We must hang together or John Barleycorn will surely hang us separately. With this in mind, let us put our petty ambitions aside and band ourselves together with determination to support the principles of AA. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, we pray that our group may bne unified in its purpose to maintain individual sobriety and pass it on to alcoholics seeking our aid. Daily Physical Audit -- Although the heart is innocent of creating many pains and feelings of discomfort attributed to it, we act wisely to investigate the cause of unusual symptoms which may occur. A good way to prevent heart trouble is to see your doctor for a check-up every year and to consult him at the appearance of any symptom which may or may not have its source in the heart. Perhaps this may disclose organic illness in time for treatment and cure. |
Day 26 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Sixth Daily Reminder -- A dirty middle-aged alcoholic lay dying on an old couch in the slums of a Midwestern city. Sick, helpless and broke he called upon AA for help. Sympathetic members responded, placed him in a hospital. He recovered and later joined AA where he stayed and served with credit to his group. Daily Inventory -- What are the requirements for AA membership? Are we interested in both low and high bottom drunks? How do we handle those who refuse to believe in God? Suggested Meditation -- "The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking." It is not within our province to refuse AA to an alcoholic who asks for help. God has a way of handling those who do not believe in Him. AA does not demand belief in God, yet the newcomer soon learns that contented sobriety demands it. There can be no satisfactory personality change in a member who refuses spiritual help. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, prevent us from passing judgment upon anyone. Grant us wisdom to discern between tolerance and indulgence. Let us live and give AA. Daily Physical Audit -- Common sense governs the rules of healthful living. Good health does not result from a single act but is the result of many daily practices which eventually becomes habits of self-preservation. They keep us from "digging our grave with our own teeth." There are detours to be observed on the road of Wellville which circumvent fast eating, overeating, gulping food down with liquids and eating when overfatigued. |
Day 27 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Seventh Daily Reminder -- An AA veteran, the main speaker at an anniversary meeting, sat waiting for almost two hours while other speakers dramatized many subjects -- some of them foreign to AA. Finally he was introduced. He spoke for thirty minutes, inspiring us with the humble virtues of AA. His subject? Love and service. Daily Inventory -- Have we ever visualized the power of true humility? Do we seek contented sobriety or AA recognition? Are our efforts inspired by love and service? Suggested Meditation -- The truly great members of AA are all humble members. They give freely of their talent but seek no praise. The publicity seeker is different. He lacks humility but never seems to feel small about it. We can be either great or small about in AA, but as we sacrifice our vanities upon the alter of AA service we will rise and grow in stature and gain recognition without seeking it. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, knowing the weakness of our vanity, we pray for the strength of humility. Reveal our need for love and service. Makes us worthy AA servants. Daily Physical Audit -- Alcohol does not contribute to diabetes, but diabetes can contribute to relapses. We find verification of this fact in the lives of our diabetics who, suffering from complications of their primary illness, go on a mental spree and end up drunk. AA diabetics have two incurable diseases to arrest. They should adhere strictly to their diet. Undue physical and mental effort must be avoided. Infection and neglect may lead to gangrene, blindness and death. |
Day 28 - Stools & Bottles
Twenty-Eighth Daily Reminder A few AA members and their wives were assembled at the home of another member for a weekly AA meeting. The host arrived too late to hold his meeting. When questioned about his absence he shouted, "What in h--l is all this bellyaching about -- I'm here and sober, isn't that enough?" Daily Inventory -- Is sullen and surly sobriety enough? How far off the beam dare we get? Is it possible to benefit from aor add to AA meetings in an angry, sullen mood? Suggested Meditation -- It is remarkable that a few months of sobriety will allow us to forget the mental binge always precedes the physical drunk. Members who are physically dry and mentally wet do not stay that way. We must either improve our sobriety or vainly try to suppress our alcoholism. Suppression is not our answer. It only leads to drinking. It lets us drift back, like washed pigs, to wallow in the alcoholic mire. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, help us to stay put with our group. Fill us with enthusiasm for the AA program. We pray for willingness to improve upon our sobriety. Daily Physical Audit -- Relaxation and sleep are not only good health practices, they are vital essentials of life itself. We cannot miss them for any great length of time and live healthy lives. Nature's rules for the upkeep of the body are definite and exacting. Alcoholics require systematic daily rest periods to relieve mental fatigue. Our body tissues need sleep to overcome the chemical changes caused by work during the day. |
Stools & Bottles Day Twenty-Nine
Twenty-Ninth Daily Reminder -- An older AA member killed himself today, bringing sorrow and grave concern to the members of his group. Despite their knowledge of infidelity with his family, self-sedation and his refusal to consider alcoholism a disease, some members wondered why he resumed drinking and then took his own life. Daily Inventory -- The reasons for this man's troubles are well defined in Chapter Five in the Big Book. Honesty pays big dividends in AA. Let's work it 24 hours daily. Suggested Meditation -- All drinking alcoholics are potential suicides. Contented sobriety and AA are not compatible with suicide, nor with dishonesty in business and home dealings, nor in sneaking that first drink. Alcoholism is more than sin--it is sickness also. If it were just a sinful act we could recover by asking forgiveness and keep right on drinking. That's what we did before AA. That's what killed our old friend. Spiritual Contact -- Our Father, we know our great need for Your help and wisdom. Grant them to us. Enable us to arrest the dishonest and fatality of alcoholism. Daily Physical Audit -- Medical doctors have not recognized alcohol as the cause of gastric ulcer. Alcohol, smoking and spicy foods, however, do aggravate conditions where ulcers exist. Members with known ulcers are advised to follow prescribed medication and diet. Persons with high-up abdominal pains, bloating, pains in the back, nausea after eating and black or bloody stools may be developing ulcers and should get a physical checkup. |
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