Pete55

I tried to copy/paste this from a word file,
anyway, it's some food for thought, helps my "noisy head" and indecisions at times.


4 ABSOLUTES of the OXFORD GROUP
Honest
Purity
Loving
Unselfish

And the A.A. FOUR STANDARDS
Dishonest
Resentment
Fear
Selfish




If I am not receiving thoughts when I listen, the fault is not God’s.
Usually it is because there is something I will not do:


Something wrong in my life I will not face
and make right

A habit or indulgence I will not give up

A person I will not forgive

A wrong relationship in my life I will not
give up

An amend I’m refusing to make

Resistive to following God’s guidance




Write down all thoughts received during meditation.

Test them with the 4 Absolutes.


4 ABSOLUTES

Honesty
Purity
Love
Unselfishness




1. Give them a piece of my mind - Is it honest, pure, loving, unselfish? - No

2. Be patient with others today - Is it honest, pure, loving, unselfish? - Yes

3. I need to avoid that person - Is it honest, pure, loving, unselfish? - No

4. Be kind to others today - Is it honest, pure, loving, unselfish? - Yes

5. Accept others as they are - Is it honest, pure, loving, unselfish? – Yes

As you can see, numbers 2, 4 & 5 are honest, pure, loving, and unselfish.

This indicates they are guidance from GOD and the others are from self.

Gottalife

Thanks Pete.

This kind of, thing is of enormous value to alcoholics like me especially when we are new. I had a lot of trouble understanding and interpreting the principles explained in the Big Book probably because my poor little brain was so knocked about.

Actual "how to" instruction on prayer, meditation, God's will, self will, sort out the difference etc was incredibly helpful, and I was lucky to find a sponsor to help me with this, as it wasn't the sort of thing that was discussed in the meetings when I came in.

Last year I was visiting another city where, out of curiosity, I attended a back to basics beginners group. Not just a quick look and judge. I went through the whole thing three times over twelve weeks before forming any views.

I was stunned when they handed me a printout, about half way through, about how to pray/listen to god. The same practical stuff you wrote about. I remember clearly asking in a meeting when just a few days sober "how do you pray?" I got answers like "oh, just let go and let God" or "just hand it over" that meant nothing.

Pete, that material would have helped me enormously, yet no one metioned it at all. And the funny thing is it is not new, it has been around since the forties. There must be a lot of gems back there

Pete55

There is heaps of stuff, some of it non AA literature, but early AA.

One of my favourites are 2 little books still available,

The Little Red Book
and
Stools and Bottles
by Hazeldon
Both books are dedicated the The 12 Steps and written back then in the early days.

Another one from AA literature is
Dr Bob and the Good Ol Timers

and another
How it Worked, The story of Clarence Snyder,
by Mitchell K
(One of Dr Bob's Sponsee)
he was" unofficially" one of the tri- founders of AA,
but never got on with some of the others so well,

Clarence S's story in the BB is
Home Brewmeister

NotYouAgain

All good stuff mentioned here.
My most common Step 11 exercise is to meditate on what fears do I still harbor today.

One of my favourite exercises is to meditate at least 30 minutes on a single word. On doing this, my mind naturally comes up with a few definitions of what the word means. Then it will say that there is nothing else to know about this word, and try and persuade me to give up. Or present stories about the word as a diversion. But the secret is to disregard all stories, and only look at its deeper meaning. Eventually deeper meaningful truths appear about these words. These truths become revelations and provide a very different point of view.

For instance, the word anger eventually revealed that it really is a fear of not having things go my way. Now I see all angry people as scared people. I deal with angry people as I would with scared people. I become patient, listening, gentle, reassuring, etc. It really puts out their fire. It sure beats getting angry back at angry people. In truth, it becomes a battle of who is scarier; and each trying to scare the other to back-down.

Step 11 meditations of this sort have shown me that most things are back-to-front to the truth of the matter.

Here are some interesting words I found to contemplate on, to find out what they are/is.

Unconditional love.
Compromise.
Beliefs.
Doubt.
Doubtlessness.
Faith.
Truth.
Conscience.
Denial.
Ego.