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**BigSis** · 05-25-2007, 08:24 AM

AAA

Awareness
Acceptance
Action

I see you are fully through the "awareness" stage - Yay!! And I hear you still struggling with "Acceptance". Which I think is why you are having trouble with the "action" part.

For me, the part in 12-step that talks about being "powerless" is trying to help me with "acceptance".... millions and millions of Anons and Addicts and Alcoholics have already discovered that they cannot control - people, places and things. They are "powerless" over them.

It took, for me, having personal experiences in that area in order for me to truly accept the powerlessness I have over addiction.

And I had to work on my fear... the fuel for all my attempts to control.

Reading the Alanon literature on fear and control helps. My favorite daily readers are "Hope for Today" and "Courage to Change". You can buy them online or at any meeting. Each of the daily readers has an index in the back by keyword - you can actually look up "fear", "control", "anger".... very helpful.

The other thing that helps me is hanging out with others who are walking this path - here and at meetings. I need to SEE this in action in order to believe it makes a difference. Even more so, sometimes I need to see someone not taking an action to help me accept that it is ok for me to go forward, even when I am not quite certain I am doing the right thing.

I hope this helps (((Heather)))

05-25-2007, 08:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
BigSis On a tear Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Volcano Country! Posts: 3,237	AAA Awareness Acceptance Action I see you are fully through the "awareness" stage - Yay!! And I hear you still struggling with "Acceptance". Which I think is why you are having trouble with the "action" part. For me, the part in 12-step that talks about being "powerless" is trying to help me with "acceptance".... millions and millions of Anons and Addicts and Alcoholics have already discovered that they cannot control - people, places and things. They are "powerless" over them. It took, for me, having personal experiences in that area in order for me to truly accept the powerlessness I have over addiction. And I had to work on my fear... the fuel for all my attempts to control. Reading the Alanon literature on fear and control helps. My favorite daily readers are "Hope for Today" and "Courage to Change". You can buy them online or at any meeting. Each of the daily readers has an index in the back by keyword - you can actually look up "fear", "control", "anger".... very helpful. The other thing that helps me is hanging out with others who are walking this path - here and at meetings. I need to SEE this in action in order to believe it makes a difference. Even more so, sometimes I need to see someone not taking an action to help me accept that it is ok for me to go forward, even when I am not quite certain I am doing the right thing. I hope this helps (((Heather))) __________________ No matter how spoiled the past may be, our future is spotless.... BigSis