hawkgazer

I know some people get really tired of the big book quotes...but this one saves me. My sponsor suggested I type it up and put it somewhere in the house where I see it all the time. It's on my kitchen cabinet. I figured while I had it typed, I might as well cut&paste, and share the wealth! And it's just as easy to print it out...

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could no stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and my attitudes.

NoMoBeer

Thanks for that -- I love that.

If you get a chance, get hold of some of Dr. Paul's speeches -- great stuff. Acceptance IS the key to everything, especially my emotional and mental sobriety.

Ken

Mogqua

Of course, the irony is that AA's, unable to ACCEPT the word "Addict" in the title, waited for Dr. Paul to die and then change the title to "Acceptance" in the Fourth Edition.

I think he was saying that addict/alcoholics were here too and that the "pure grapes" needed to accept that and shut up, because they only show their character defects when they don't! (attitudes of intolerance)

MootPoint

Thankyou Hawkgazer. I've been full of unacceptance of a certain problem yesterday and today.

Music

Thanks Hawk,
I just can't help but think about the people out there who will read that and be "put off" by the many appearances of the "G" word, which in turn will test their threshold of pain because they'll refuse to accept the idea of a Higher Power which many of us just choose to call.....shhhhhhh.....God.

Music

Just curious! Is the above quote a truism that you can document or are you just a little overly sensitive? Unless my memory fails me, there were some drug users in that first one hundred folks that wrote the book. Are you saying that they wouldn't be allowed by some of those "AAs" who can't accept the word addict?

nutz

Chapter 16.

ME ?....An alcholic of sort.
Good god...I thought I had a drug problem.LMAO
A pill for every ill.
I can relate to trying manage my buzz
Not pick up alcholol was easy after a while, but given the pills
was another story.

co-dependent
Working the 12 steps under my own roof.
The car in the garage ATTACH to the house.
The more I try to work with her, the sicker she got.
When the bar door closed..it was Max(wife) that went home instead.lol
Trying to run the bussiness from behind lock doors (control freak)
focus on her goods and not her bads. (Attitude adjustment)
lower my expectations.
I'm powerless over her and my life had become unmanageable
Treat her like a newcomer (live and let live)

Patsyd1

Hi Hawkgazer,

I love page 449, its the simple truth.

I would like to suggest another book of Dr. Paul O.

"There is more to not drinking, then just not drinking" by Dr. Paul O.

This book is a powerful powerful message on how to change the person we brought through those doors of Alcoholics Anonymous, one day at a time.

Patsy

ted

ted HERE,I'M WHAT THE BIG BLUE BOOK DESCRIBES ON PAGE 31 4TH EDITION,
REAL ALCOHOLIC.
I MUST REMIND MYSELF STEP 1 EVERYDAY.
ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY TO RECOVERY!!!
.................................................. ..........................ted :rambo:

Little Missy

Thank you Hawkgazer!! I needed that today!! (and everyday)

Mogqua

It was fought over in many grapevines for years and at the conferences. So documentation can be easily found if you wish to search Grapevine and Conference Reports. I think it's just comical, so I wouldn't consider myself to be over-sensitive about it and it's usually the over-sensitive that get riled by my amusement by it.

The new title in the Fourth Edition is "acceptance" and there really was no reason to change it. BTW: the new page of that is 417. I would suggest to all that they read the whole story, since it can be twisted out of context very easily. Even Dr. Paul was heard to say he didn't mean the things that everyone had turned it into to. In fact, he said he really wasn't sure what he meant when he wrote it and was rather amused at what everyone thought it was and how they argued about it.

All in all, it's a good story. One of my favorites too.

Gr8ful1

Thanks Hawk. That is now hanging on my wall right above my desk. I WILL read it every day.

Dunitall

Hey Mogqua and Music

Time out Guys!! This isn't a battle of intellect. No points to be scored here!!

Perhaps we can agree to differ on our interpretations of "ACCEPTANCE".

Instead, let's look at HUMILITY. Please?

Humility is found in a vast ocean of still waters which run very deep. At the bottom lies self-esteem. At first, going within the ocean is like journeying into an unknown area of immense darkness. But, just as exploration can lead to buried treasures, one searching his or her inner world can find jewels buried in the depths. And the jewel buried deepest - which shines the brightest and gives the most light - is humility. At the darkest moments, its rays penetrate. It removes fear and insecurity and opens up the self to universal truths.

Humility is to let go and let be. The stone of conflict lies in the consciousness of "I" and "mine" and in possessiveness - over a role, an activity, an object, a person, even the physical body. Paradoxically, such a consciousness makes one lose that which he or she wants to hold onto - most significantly, the universal values which give worth and meaning to life. Humility eliminates possessiveness and narrow vision which create physical, intellectual, and emotional boundaries. Such limitations destroy self-esteem and build walls of arrogance and pride, which distance others. Humility gently works on the crevices to allow for breakthroughs.


BNice

Rich

Mogqua

No battle or competition here.

Still amused at it all.
Have fun.
Be Well!



"In AA, Control should be an olympic event." ~ Anonymous

Music

Hey Mogqua,
I really wasn't aware of the change, nor the discussion behind making the change. I don't know what Paul's reason was for saying what he said. I just know how reading it affects me and what it means to me.

I'd heard that there were some changes made in the fourth edition to reflect this rediculous move toward "political correctness" and I am one of those bangers that believes the Big Book is the AA bible and should be left alone. So far, try as they might, the first 164 pages haven't been changed. Just as recent as a day or two ago, someone on another post here mentioned something about the "real alcoholic" which was on page 21 in the third edition being on page 31 in the fourth. I looked it up. Phewww!! It's still on page 21. However, even if changes are made, they're being made at a much higher level than I, and it's really not up to me until I'm invited for my input. Until then, I'll get a little angry and then read page 449, or 417, whichever book I happen to have access to at the time, and make peace with the situation in my own way.

Thanks for the info.

Tommyh

I have this little big book program on my computer.Just for curiosity`s sake, I hit the search feature and looked for acceptance in the Big Book.
under accept,accepted or acceptance it turned up 13 times(lucky 13) in the first 164 pages.

So I got to thinking and I wanted the defination of it,just to clear things up in my mind.
Here`s what I found -to take or recieve-agree to-understand or recieve in a particuler sense.
Then I saw the word accept-ableness--the quality of being acceptable or agreement


so then my mind flashed back to the old drinking past when I wasn`t in agreement with almost anything but another drink.


my acceptable-ness has gotten better and seems to have flip flopped somewhat.Instead of resisting life,I find peace by accepting life and living on thru it- whatever comes my way today.
It`s easy for me, having been around a while to forget how unacceptable I was when I was new to the program.

so,if you are new here,your acceptableness will get better and you will find more peace as time goes on.It just don`t come in by the truckload all at once...

Patsyd1

Perhaps you may want to get it from the horses mouth Mogqua. Dr. Paul has several books out there that he himself wrote, and he states plainly that he did say that, and exactly what he meant by it.

Documentation from Dr. Paul O. himself........ what a concept

http://www.southbaybooks.com/moretoq.html

Sorry I had the name of the book incorrect.....

"There's More to Quitting Drinking
Than Quitting Drinking".....by Dr. Paul O.


Patsy

Dan

Thanks for the link Patsy.

My mind has a defective toggle switch. It indiscriminately turns itself off and on, thinks when it should be resting, rests when it should be thinking, and thinks about things it should ignore.

Gotta like how Dr. Paul writes...

3legacy

(((((((((SR A-Z #'s included, intellectual,ignorant or otherwise)))))))))
I'm grateful to have had some personal experience with the author of "Walk in my Moccasins" at an AA Group called Fresh Start in Bellevue, WA. ( I think that was the name of Paul's Story when he had his secretary write it out for him. Apparently GSO Literature Committee was given some measure of editorial authority in the process). I had a few conversations with Paul after a Winter Holiday speaking engagement he had done. Our conversations around a friends coffee table were often about UNITY in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Tradition One comes before Tradition Three for good reason. Paul never expressed much of what I see many addicts and/or alcoholic-addicts/addict-alcoholics trying to attribute to him. From what I've personally heard, read, or know from personal interactions with the man he was often misunderstood by folks with their own personal agendas. Many who never really wanted what he or AA has to offer in the first place. Hopefully someday they too will investigate the First Tradition before twisting other Traditions, or other peoples words for their own selfish ends.

I'll accept it but only for the moment, if it continues it then becomes my responsibility to act with courage and seek wisdom, chuckle at the ignorance and lovingly call my friend(if he happens to be one) on the ******** he is espousing. Many twist Paul's words quite often, and they can all they wish, but for me............. I like what he wrote in one of his Sponsees (a dear friend of mine) Big Book - "Thank God WE have Three parts to the Serenity Prayer & Unity in Alcoholics Anonymous."

((((((((SR A-Z #'s included)))))))))))
3Legs

Dan

God bless Dr. Paul for that sentence.
Bless him twice.