Helpful Hints
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Helpful Hints
What I’ve found helpful:
Slogans: Although AA has been criticized for over reliance on “slogans”, I have found some of them particularly helpful. They may be “obvious” or “boring” but they still embody ideas that have been wisdom for centuries in all parts of the world:
Easy does it: That is “Go with the Flow”. Very Buddhist actually, particularly Taoist.
One Step at a Time: Very Chinese. “A journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single step”
Don’t Try to Change Stuff You Can’t Change: Again, very characteristic of Eastern wisdom such as Buddhism.
Keep It Simple. This one’s a bit tricky. If it, and others like it (e.g. “Don’t Intellectualise”) mean that I should turn my brain off and goose step to the demands of a dogmatic sponsor, that just doesn’t work for me. Yet, I admire folks who have some humility and believe in moderation, admit that they don’t have all the answers, because, who does? Again, moderation was highly thought of by the Greeks, particularly Aristotle, and humility, less focus on “me”, the “self”, etc. has been particularly stressed by the Buddhists
Steps: I guess I haven’t followed the steps literally. Never had a sponsor although it would have been great if I had found one who wasn’t too literal and who wanted to be helpful and suggestive instead of insisting on stuff.
Nonetheless, I’ve found a lot of insight in Step One. That may have been the most difficult one for me. Step One for me was miles high.
Regardless of controversy over a “Higher Power” it has seemed very helpful for me to finally realize that I needed help from outside. That I might be able to do it alone, or even with counseling, but that the best help I might seek would be the advice and concern of other recovering alcoholics.
Rational Recovery: I’ve found that a focus on the “Beast” within and the AV has been particularly helpful but do not subscribe to the thesis that these concepts are completely incompatible with AA, except perhaps if by AA we mean a literal acceptance of all the original AA dogma, steps and traditions. This “Beast” concept has very respectable roots in hard science pertaining to the more primitive parts the brain. The value of being aware of what’s “within” has been known since the Greeks, where the motto at Delphi was “Know Thyself”.
So I’ve been an eclectic. Although advisers in my early recovery days stressed that I should not try to “write my own program” (and for folks in very early recovery there may be a lot of wisdom in that) I’ve found it possible to benefit from the best parts of AA, Rational Recovery, and traditions and beliefs in other parts of the world, particularly India and China.
W.
Slogans: Although AA has been criticized for over reliance on “slogans”, I have found some of them particularly helpful. They may be “obvious” or “boring” but they still embody ideas that have been wisdom for centuries in all parts of the world:
Easy does it: That is “Go with the Flow”. Very Buddhist actually, particularly Taoist.
One Step at a Time: Very Chinese. “A journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single step”
Don’t Try to Change Stuff You Can’t Change: Again, very characteristic of Eastern wisdom such as Buddhism.
Keep It Simple. This one’s a bit tricky. If it, and others like it (e.g. “Don’t Intellectualise”) mean that I should turn my brain off and goose step to the demands of a dogmatic sponsor, that just doesn’t work for me. Yet, I admire folks who have some humility and believe in moderation, admit that they don’t have all the answers, because, who does? Again, moderation was highly thought of by the Greeks, particularly Aristotle, and humility, less focus on “me”, the “self”, etc. has been particularly stressed by the Buddhists
Steps: I guess I haven’t followed the steps literally. Never had a sponsor although it would have been great if I had found one who wasn’t too literal and who wanted to be helpful and suggestive instead of insisting on stuff.
Nonetheless, I’ve found a lot of insight in Step One. That may have been the most difficult one for me. Step One for me was miles high.
Regardless of controversy over a “Higher Power” it has seemed very helpful for me to finally realize that I needed help from outside. That I might be able to do it alone, or even with counseling, but that the best help I might seek would be the advice and concern of other recovering alcoholics.
Rational Recovery: I’ve found that a focus on the “Beast” within and the AV has been particularly helpful but do not subscribe to the thesis that these concepts are completely incompatible with AA, except perhaps if by AA we mean a literal acceptance of all the original AA dogma, steps and traditions. This “Beast” concept has very respectable roots in hard science pertaining to the more primitive parts the brain. The value of being aware of what’s “within” has been known since the Greeks, where the motto at Delphi was “Know Thyself”.
So I’ve been an eclectic. Although advisers in my early recovery days stressed that I should not try to “write my own program” (and for folks in very early recovery there may be a lot of wisdom in that) I’ve found it possible to benefit from the best parts of AA, Rational Recovery, and traditions and beliefs in other parts of the world, particularly India and China.
W.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: C.C. Ma.
Posts: 3,697
Very good points.
One I needed since plugging the jug is “If it works – Don’t fix it!”
Particularly one with those darn perfection genes called perfection. After a lot of years working on them they act like ones AV and keep jumping out of step 4 recognition package.
BE WELL
One I needed since plugging the jug is “If it works – Don’t fix it!”
Particularly one with those darn perfection genes called perfection. After a lot of years working on them they act like ones AV and keep jumping out of step 4 recognition package.
BE WELL
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Originally Posted by IOAA2 
Very good points.
One I needed since plugging the jug is “If it works – Don’t fix it!”
Particularly one with those darn perfection genes called perfection. After a lot of years working on them they act like ones AV and keep jumping out of step 4 recognition package.
BE WELL
One I needed since plugging the jug is “If it works – Don’t fix it!”
Particularly one with those darn perfection genes called perfection. After a lot of years working on them they act like ones AV and keep jumping out of step 4 recognition package.
BE WELL
W.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: C.C. Ma.
Posts: 3,697
With me perfection was installed by fear and progressed over time. In the late 40s we lived inside the Boston line and before the rotary lawn mower was introduced the way I cut the grass was with a reel mower. I would be verbally scolded if there were a few blades of grass uncut or in the garden a couple weeds had been overlooked. Mainly because of “what will people think?” I was around 10-12 at the time and my parents had not received the manual on child rearing so they copied their parents etc. Compared to many I was well treated with no intention of mental or physical pain.
Gratefully my children never was exposed to that as I’m fortunate they were -4 when I sobered up.
BE WELL
Gratefully my children never was exposed to that as I’m fortunate they were -4 when I sobered up.
BE WELL
Member
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
The slogans do kind of help. They're a shorthand, an easy to mnemonic to remind of us of complicated truths in a simple way. The admonishment to accept what you can't change and change what you can is an especially potent one in my opinion.
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