Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book) A review
Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book)
Although the first 164 pages of this book were written over 85 years ago, it has been able to help countless millions of people. The issue is that we need to translate some of the old-timey white men speech, to a newer generation. One born in this century. It is quite literally older than boomers. This is one of the many ways a good sponsor comes into play. “Hey Sponsor, what do they mean when they say whoopie club? And why does it only talk about men and not women?” Having a sponsor who lives this stuff can help someone understand where they are coming from and what the intent of the suggests are instead of taking them word for word or feeling like they can’t connect with it. You can, it just takes some translating. And when you do it can be life changing.
Every edition of The Big Book comes out with new stories of others who suffered from addictive behaviors. What they went through, how it changed, and what it’s like for them now. So not everything is relegated to old-timey white men.
The book takes you through the 12 steps of A.A., the founding steps of most if not all, 12-step programs. It describes the lives of people who were suffering, the changes that they made, and what their lives are like after their dependence on Alcohol. It is a guide on how to do each of the steps. But that’s not all that’s in there.
I use this book to accomplish a lot more than just recovering from addictive behaviors. The information in this book helps me identify how certain ways of thinking cause me to get all messed up in the head and miserable. It teaches me how to process the world better, clean up my own messes from my past, deal with new issues that I haven’t run into yet, and stay on track years beyond my issues with addiction.
Even as an atheist, this book has information that helps me tremendously. I just have to translate what certain things mean for someone who doesn’t have a higher power.
We are leaving two links here. AA Grapevine is a non-profit. The money goes to AA. PLEASE buy this book directly from AA or your local AA meeting. If you must… we are providing an affiliate link to Amazon. Amazon always takes a huge cut from all products. If you use our affiliate link then Amazon gives a small amount back to Recovery RAWKstars, but we always prefer that the entire retail cut go directly to SMART by buying it from them directly.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
