Think think think
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: TX
Posts: 481
Think think think
Of all the cliche sayings on the walls when I came in, this one sparked my curiosity the most. So when I asked an old timer what it meant and was told "oh, that's not for you right now", I was a little more than curious. I was determined to know.
The problem was, my thinking is precisely what was broken. So the meaning behind the slogan was pointless. Nevertheless, I set about my investigation and queried as many people as I could about the mysterious saying. Frustratingly, I seemed to get a different answer from every person. And kind of gave up.
With the gift of sobriety, my brain had dried out a bit. And I've actually come to have my own understanding and use of the three "thinks". The first Think is to recollect the past. What happened the last time I put alcohol into my body? Not what happened back when it was working for me 20 years ago. But the last drunk I had. Because that is the accurate portrayal of where my state of alcoholism is. There is no going backwards. The second Think is for me to think of all the things I presently have that would be lost in a matter of weeks, if not days, should I take that next drink. Vanished so quickly it would seem they were never there. The third Think has me project what it would look like five years from now were I to go back into active addiction. I'm no fortune teller, but I have a mountain of past evidence to reveal the future wreckage. All three of these are incredibly bleak. And typically these "thinks" have no trouble at all brushing aside the aberrant thought that a glass of wine might be nice. I've never had "a" glass of anything in my life!
In the beginning, my mind was too twisted up to utilize this handy tool. For as the book says, "We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago". I had to dry out first. Then "think think think".
I can't think my way into sober acting. I have to act my way into sober thinking.
The problem was, my thinking is precisely what was broken. So the meaning behind the slogan was pointless. Nevertheless, I set about my investigation and queried as many people as I could about the mysterious saying. Frustratingly, I seemed to get a different answer from every person. And kind of gave up.
With the gift of sobriety, my brain had dried out a bit. And I've actually come to have my own understanding and use of the three "thinks". The first Think is to recollect the past. What happened the last time I put alcohol into my body? Not what happened back when it was working for me 20 years ago. But the last drunk I had. Because that is the accurate portrayal of where my state of alcoholism is. There is no going backwards. The second Think is for me to think of all the things I presently have that would be lost in a matter of weeks, if not days, should I take that next drink. Vanished so quickly it would seem they were never there. The third Think has me project what it would look like five years from now were I to go back into active addiction. I'm no fortune teller, but I have a mountain of past evidence to reveal the future wreckage. All three of these are incredibly bleak. And typically these "thinks" have no trouble at all brushing aside the aberrant thought that a glass of wine might be nice. I've never had "a" glass of anything in my life!
In the beginning, my mind was too twisted up to utilize this handy tool. For as the book says, "We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago". I had to dry out first. Then "think think think".
I can't think my way into sober acting. I have to act my way into sober thinking.
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 2,775
Originally Posted by michaelg 
...The first Think is to recollect the past. What happened the last time I put alcohol into my body? Not what happened back when it was working for me 20 years ago. But the last drunk I had. Because that is the accurate portrayal of where my state of alcoholism is..
Because no matter how I might spin things at times. I can never get past the simple fact my life is much better today then when I first entered the rooms.
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: liverpool, england
Posts: 1,708
Originally Posted by michaelg
I can't think my way into sober acting. I have to act my way into sober thinking.
all i did was get to meetings day and night, thought nothing else other than get there and sit there and everyone of those meetings helped me in one way or another, just being around people like me it fed me with hope so i kept on going back for more
besides as i had no job and no one else at my flat with me it got me out of isolating gave me some sort of purpose to get up and start living a day
the program, the steps, and everything else really played no part at all in my early days and only became of use to me after 2 years when i finally had a go at it all
there is no doubt the program has helped me to change and grow in a different direction but i never babble on and on about it as i know what i had to do in my early days when i had nothing other than depair of how my life had ended up
to this day i am amazed i never just ended it all rather than just somehow carry on
but the people in aa lead me to believe that one day things in my life wouldnt always be like they were
just so long as i didnt pick up that first drink and kept on coming back, be around it all etc
so thats all i did like i said for the first 2 years and i grew despite myself
all i did was put in some action the rest came
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by michaelg
I set about my investigation and queried as many people as I could about the mysterious saying. Frustratingly, I seemed to get a different answer from every person. And kind of gave up.
"Think. Think. Think".
People started bringing them to meetings and hanging them up without GC approval.
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: TX
Posts: 481
Originally Posted by Boleo
One story that I have heard, more than once, was that IBM had a marketing campaign were it gave out thousands of signs with the words "Think. Think. Think". People started bringing them to meetings and hanging them up without GC approval.
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
As alcoholics, we are impulsive folks. Rash decisions lead many of us to the cusp of death.
Think, think, think - simply means this: If you now have a thought don't react initially to it - Think!
When it comes around again, do the same - don't react - Think!
If and when it comes around again, and it still seems like something we should do or say to another - Think one last time before it's done!
The point is to think things through thoroughly before our compulsive nature manifests in words or action something we will regret.
This is my understanding of the phrase, but like many AA slogans there are probably multiple meanings
I have seen another sign that read THINMK!
FlyN
Think, think, think - simply means this: If you now have a thought don't react initially to it - Think!
When it comes around again, do the same - don't react - Think!
If and when it comes around again, and it still seems like something we should do or say to another - Think one last time before it's done!
The point is to think things through thoroughly before our compulsive nature manifests in words or action something we will regret.
This is my understanding of the phrase, but like many AA slogans there are probably multiple meanings
I have seen another sign that read THINMK!
FlyN
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bklyn. NY
Posts: 1,859
Originally Posted by Boleo
One story that I have heard, more than once, was that IBM had a marketing campaign were it gave out thousands of signs with the words
"Think. Think. Think".
People started bringing them to meetings and hanging them up without GC approval.
"Think. Think. Think".
People started bringing them to meetings and hanging them up without GC approval.
.That's the one slogan I could never wrap my brain around, nor get on board with, and like the OP, any time I ever asked - I got a different answer. And more often than not the answer was one that evaded the question.
Anyone here ever hear anyone repeat that slogan while talking
????Didn't think so.
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: De
Posts: 1,333
I remember the first AA meeting in rehab I went to. On the wall was a small poster saying "think, think, think", and the speaker was saying 'don't think, don't drink, and get to a meeting. But, since I was in rehab. And not jail, I didn't care.
I to though all these slogans I heard early in AA were not only stupid, but pointless. It wasn't long before they impaled themselves into the crevasses of my brain and began to understand that all these slogans were simple tools to combat that thought of a drink that popped up into my head several thousand times of day early on. They worked too. I still use them today several decades later.
I to though all these slogans I heard early in AA were not only stupid, but pointless. It wasn't long before they impaled themselves into the crevasses of my brain and began to understand that all these slogans were simple tools to combat that thought of a drink that popped up into my head several thousand times of day early on. They worked too. I still use them today several decades later.
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
Originally Posted by michaelg
With the gift of sobriety, my brain had dried out a bit. And I've actually come to have my own understanding and use of the three "thinks". I can't think my way into sober acting. I have to act my way into sober thinking.
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Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Texas
Posts: 169
Thanks for your post. With my little bit of 50 days cobbeld together, including lots of AA meetings & readings, am realizing now that my drinking obsession have been removed (a miracle indeed), that what I really have now to tackle is a THINKING problem !!! God Bless and Merry Christmas ! MJM
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Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: WA
Posts: 891
Binge thinking can also lead to binge drinking. I take the slogan to remind me to be mindful of my thoughts and actions. It's lack of mindfulness that usually leads me astray and into problems of my own making.
Right motivation, right thought, right words, right conduct is a product of awareness.
I rarely planned to get drunk, it sort of just happened impulsively. I was a very impulsive person driven by minute to minute mindless gratification Much more disciplined in my reactivity and choices now due to mindfulness.
Step 10 and 11 is the steps I use here.
Right motivation, right thought, right words, right conduct is a product of awareness.
I rarely planned to get drunk, it sort of just happened impulsively. I was a very impulsive person driven by minute to minute mindless gratification Much more disciplined in my reactivity and choices now due to mindfulness.
Step 10 and 11 is the steps I use here.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bklyn. NY
Posts: 1,859
Originally Posted by Boleo
.Never liked it, and now I'm happy to know why. If I remember correctly I actually voted to keep that one out of my home group when the group just started, but was out voted.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by Joe Nerv
Never liked it, and now I'm happy to know why.
"Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. "
(page 84)
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
Originally Posted by Flynbuy
As alcoholics, we are impulsive folks. Rash decisions lead many of us to the cusp of death.
Think, think, think - simply means this: If you now have a thought don't react initially to it - Think!
When it comes around again, do the same - don't react - Think!
If and when it comes around again, and it still seems like something we should do or say to another - Think one last time before it's done!
The point is to think things through thoroughly before our compulsive nature manifests in words or action something we will regret.
This is my understanding of the phrase, but like many AA slogans there are probably multiple meanings
I have seen another sign that read THINMK!
FlyN
Think, think, think - simply means this: If you now have a thought don't react initially to it - Think!
When it comes around again, do the same - don't react - Think!
If and when it comes around again, and it still seems like something we should do or say to another - Think one last time before it's done!
The point is to think things through thoroughly before our compulsive nature manifests in words or action something we will regret.
This is my understanding of the phrase, but like many AA slogans there are probably multiple meanings
I have seen another sign that read THINMK!
FlyN
It is less useful, even misleading, if it is suggested as a defence against the first drink for the newcomer. To suggest we could think our way out of the fatal first drink shows a misunderstanding of what AA means by powerless. When the obsession is back, no amount of thinking will overcome it, in fact we'll be lucky if we think at all.
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