"And we have ceased fighting

[Tazman53]

anything or anyone, even alcohol."

This has been a true gift for me.

I used to fight everything and every one. I would make snide remarks that I really felt demonstrated my superior intellect. (What I was unaware of is I was showing how big of a smarta$$ I was)

I would curse people to thier face and behind thier back. (I see now that what I was really doing was demonstrating just how weak I was)

I would show up at places I was not welcome, just to "Show them"! (Now I know that I was just being an A-hole)

I would make snide remarks about things I really knew nothing about! (I know now it was due to me feeling inferior of those who did know something about what I was making the snide remarks about)

I used to make vieled negative comments about things that I had no experience at all about to others as though I actually had experience with it. (I did this because I did not want others to find success in what I was unwilling to do)

I would purposely not let people in front of me in traffic. (I was simply a jerk!)

If I disagreed with anything or anyone about something, I would say what ever it took to prove them wrong or to mislead them, even if it may have been just what that person needed. (I was the center of the universe and if someone was not doing it the way I was doing it, or they were having success doing what I was unable or unwilling to do, that had to be stopped or insulted.)

Life has become so much more peaceful and serene as I have learned that love and tolerance of others is the way to go. What my mother told me as a child has proven so very true, if I have nothing nice to say then it is best to say nothing at all! People around me are happier and I am as well.

By being loving, accepting and tolerant of others beliefs I have found I am welcome where ever I go, I no longer have to make apologies for being someplace or saying something.

[lizw]

I think for a long time in AA, I thought this statement meant I just had to accept what happened to me and in my life.

In the last few years I have come to believe this is not true and that this is more about attitude than it is about action.

If I am not happy with something, I can voice my concerns but in a non abusive way and without resentment, using a quite voice and then letting the out come go.

In someways it is harder for me to do this than just accept what happens because then it becomes obvious my communication skills are pretty crap and that I am a people pleaser, because I don't want to complain. I want everyone to like me!

[stone]

Wow, you were a PITA Taz! Me, I had/have no faults. j/k!