Slogans and Cliches'

[jimhere]

Along the lines of a similiar thread, I thought I'd share my experience with a few of the more popular slogans.

I know that those slogans have a deep meaning. But I didn't know that until after I had awakened spiritually.

"One Day At A Time" These days you hear it being passed off as "don't drink one day at a time, no matter what." I could not grasp this concept because I drank no matter what. And it is impossible to live in the here and now when I have not cleared away the wreckage of the past. The wreckage of the past is the wreckage of right now if it isn't cleaned up. Until I cleared away that wreckage, right now was too painful too live in and I had to drink. Plus I was terrified on the future. The first nine steps get me to now, the last three help me to stay in the now. I was asked if I wanted to stop drinking for good and for all so that I could live one day at a time.

"This too shall pass" At about six months away from my last drink, I was reaching that place where life was becoming untenable sober. All that wreckage you know, and I didn't know what to do with it. I would go to meetings and talk about how I was doing. If one more well meaning individual had said to me "this too shall pass," I was going to grab them by the throat. Because it wasn't passing. Untreated alcoholism doesn't pass, except into active alcoholism or suicide. I need a real answer, not slogans or Page 449 about acceptance being the answer. People that don't have an answer throw the slogans around so much that they've lost their meaning.

I hear people a long time away from a drink say "I know it works, but I don't know how it works." It is my responsibility to know how it works. I'm rather useless in Alcoholics Anonymous if I don't know how it works.

You see frothy emotional appeal doesn't suffice for alcoholics like me. Frothy means shallow and unsubstantial. Like I said I need a real answer. I encountered some men in whom the problem had been solved. They were properly armed with the facts about themselves as alcoholics. They knew what they were talking about. They said they an answer for me if I cared to have it and that they could show me precisely how they had recovered. They said that their lives made sense to them and their lives demonstrated that. I wanted that.

Today my life makes sense to me. I know what it is about. I can show another alcoholic precisely how I've recovered.
Jim

Big Book quotes from Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition

[Rob B]

Thanks Jim, Here's a link that really goes into it: That Ain't in the Book

[1963comet]

Let go and let God was the key for me because I was sick and tired.

When I got on my knees and with my WHOLE heart give up and asked for help I started my recovery.

I had done that before with half a heart and it did not work.

[barb dwyer]

I grin every time I hear a Newcomer say

"and I don't want anyone to say a bunch of stuff to me"

because ... and I'm only eighteen months in ... something I've learned - those very sayings I hated so much ... are the very ones ... I most needed .. to learn from.

Then are the very words that have brought me the most peace and understanding day to day in the present.

SO every time I watch them 'rage against the machine.'
I smile.
I know I can just sit back and wait.
all I have to do
is watch.
and it begins to happen for them as well.
It always does.
I don't have to pound it.
I don't have to push.
*I* don't have to do anything.
It just always happens.

yet another AA miracle.

IMO.

Thanks Jim!

[1cor13]

Great Thread Jim,

I can relate to the slogans, one day at a time, and how it works. I didn’t really understand them fully until I had a spiritual experience. That came with working the steps and although the steps were not an overnight matter it was much faster than I had ever dreamed.

I’m very happy to hear your life makes sense to you and that you know what it is about. The encounter with those men whom the problem had been solved was indeed divine intervention. I am extremely happy for you its nice to hear a success story. When I lead others to the well I normally pull up a bucket for myself first that way they see how its done.

[barb dwyer]

I mean really - how else WOULD you eat an elephant?

[jimhere]

Originally Posted by 1963comet

Let go and let God was the key for me because I was sick and tired.

When I got on my knees and with my WHOLE heart give up and asked for help I started my recovery.

I had done that before with half a heart and it did not work.

I used to wonder about that one too. I would hear people say that and I would wonder "How the hell do you do that?"

I asked my sponsor about that and he said "Can you count four through twelve?"
Jim

[CAPTAINZING2000]

lol

I'm still a new commer

I still like, the only thing cured is ham the best

[CarolD]

In early recovery....my mind was incapable of exploring concepts.
All I could remember for awhile was the large sign above the podium.

Keep coming back, it works

I did and it has.

[BP44]

Good thread, Jim. There are a number of slogans that are thrown around in the rooms that are not my experience and have absolutely nothing to do with me recovering from a hopeless state of mind, body and spirit. MEETING MAKERS MAKE IT.....I was a meeting makers make it kind of guy for a long time. Hanging around AA and couldn't understand why I was so miserable. Cause I kept hearing....TAKE YOUR TIME TO WORK THE STEPS. Here I am dying of a progressive fatal disease which the book suggests to seek recovery like a drowning man. But, I can take my time to work the steps, or not work them at all. Meeting makers who don't work the steps slowly go insane usually to the point of suicide. THINK THROUGH THE DRINK.....This is an expression that refers to someone who doesn't drink like I did. The truth of the matter is that there are times , and I don't know what the time and day looks like I won't be able to rationally think through the drink. Will from which choice springs will not avail itself to me. Lack of power is my dilemma. If all I had to do was think through the drink, I could have gotten that message and gone on my merry way. PUT THE PLUG IN THE JUG......Again, as above, this refers to someone who doesn't drink like I did. My experience is that I take the plug out of the jug. YOU'RE POWERLESS OVER PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS.....This is just total horsecrap. The ONLY time the word powerless is mentioned is in the first step and in the context of alcohol. This business of being powerless over everything in the world comes straight form the treatment centers who want us to think we are always recovering, never recovered. Next time you think you are powerless over some other person's actions or beliefs, say, "May God bless you, go in peace", then use your feet to go somewhere else. Then let me know if you feel powerless over them. These are just a few that come to mind. Again, Jim, awesome thread. It was extremely important for me to understand my truth based on experience. And I had to see where a lot of these things could not be reconciled in the book. Next time someone is trying to be hip, slick, and cool with some chicken **** one liner, this thread will come in handy.

[Sheemie]

Well... I think meeting makers make it because if they go to meetings, they can eventually learn to work the steps. Even if a person is confused and hostile to change, if they keep coming back they have a better chance. I think its true that those who "make it" are those who attend meetings. My sponser tells me meeting makers make it, and I've never been given the impression that it's all I have to do. The importance of making it to meetings can't be stressed too much in my opinion. Yeah, I have a lot of problems with many of the silly inaccurate slogans, I wouldn't lump "meeting makers make it" into that category.

[Tazman53]

Sheemie you bring out a very good point, Meeting makers make it is very true for this old alkie. You see when I got out of detox I committed myself to doing at least 90 meetings in 90 days.

I rode on that Pink Cloud for 2 months then it started to evaporate!!!! I was getting eat up with the stinking thinking!!!! No matter how much I knew I should not drink, a drink kept seeming like an answer to what was eating at me!

At the end of every meeting we always say "Keep coming back, it works if you work it!" It also helped that my sponsor had told me "Take the cotton out of your ears and stick it in your mouth!" Well I was finally able to hear those people who had thier acts together say that the steps would set me free!

I got a new sponsor and worked the steps, I was doing the Work it, part of it works if you work it!.

In working the steps the miracle did happen for me, the promises have come true, the drink problem is gone and I am able to carry the message to others because I have worked it!

Meeting makers make it , but I found that for this alcoholic to really make it I had to do more then just go to meetings and do service work, I had to recover!!!!

[jimhere]

Meeting makers make as long as they go to meetings.

I don't depend on meetings. If I did I would be screwed. For the next month I am going to be very busy and doubt I will make any meetings at all. I do however plan to keep working with others, so I'll be fine.

Place dependance on God ahead of dependance on people.
Jim

[Zoobear]

Jim, I think working with others IS a meeting. LOL