Alcoholics Anonymous | Feb 8 2014 | DonInLondon | Step 2 "Sanity"

Don DonInLondon says

February 8, 2014 at 2:54 am

Alcoholics Anonymous Blog & Video | Feb 8 2004 – 2014 | DonInLondon | Step
2 “Sanity”

February 8 Video
Alcoholics Anonymous | Feb 8 2014 | DonInLondon | Step 2 “Sanity”

DonInLondon February 8, 2014: step two month: “came to believe that a power
greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” In recovery, on any
given day, the current conditions may be good bad or ugly. Dealing with the
good, bad and ugly of life with our emotional and spiritual outlook is
about surrendering to the absolute truth of now. I don’t know the truth of
now until I check it out, by asking myself to challenge my own beliefs and
opinions, and challenge my own beliefs and opinions with the help of people
with wisdom and experience of similar events in their lives. Working with
others, means I get a better perspective of what the truth can be today.

Imperfectly perfect in the ever present moment of now. We all make progress
towards truth, love and wisdom in the moment. When I try work things out on
my own, I am simply utilising my own experience strength and hope. When I
work things out with everyone who is involved, the combined experience
strength and hope is far bigger than my perspective. Step two: restoring
myself to sanity on a daily basis often means I let go whatever notions and
imagination has put in my head since waking up this morning.

A friend of mine called me early, things going on which are unacceptable in
any society today. And sometimes we are challenged by situations which are
way above our levels of authority to sort out. When we are challenged by
other people who are doing bad things, in recovery we are often trying to
make up for lost time and try to resolve all the issues we face, because
that is what we feel we must do. One of the most powerful parts of learning
for me in recovery is that I cannot sort out everything, even if I know the
answer? Indeed, the answer is that it is not my job, even though it is my
concern and I am weighed down by an issue, it still is not my
responsibility to put things right. Even when those who are responsible to
put things right, do nothing, my part in matters is to express what I know
to the right people in the right place, and hopefully able to do the right
thing. So it is not a battle of wills, it is trying to find the truth and
what is right to do next. And often what is right, is what is possible just
for today.

Having found myself in conflict and quite angry over the last few days, I
don’t like it, I don’t like the feelings which seemed to be evoked, pride,
ego and fear. Prideful and egotistical, because I’m not being listened to
and fear of doing harm to myself and other people. Doing harm to other
people is not my way. And actually it was never my way to inflict harm on
others feelings. At the same time I know that anger and resentment, caused
by my feelings being hurt, made me hurtful with words and behaviour alien
and unfamiliar in how I would have wished to have conducted myself over the
years. Self-justification, self-righteousness does no good, we just make
matters more conflicted and eventually more harm done. Forgive everything,
including ourselves, try start afresh each morning and the likelihood is we
will do less harm to ourselves and other people, even if we are right in
our argument, there is no pleasure and no happiness in being self-righteous
or right. And forgiveness is really important, or conflict is never
resolved, and a greater harm is done in the world.

Nobody said recovery was easy, they may have said “easy does it “in order
that I could make time for myself to heal and find forgiveness for becoming
unwell. Anyone who believes that alcoholism and addiction is a choice,
fails to understand the nature of human beings. If everybody were logical
and adapted in a logical way to their circumstances, and behaved logically
and ethically as a consequence, I don’t know how much progress we would
have made, evolution would have been quite dull and unproductive. We are
highly developed emotionally or rather we have the potential to develop
into emotional and spiritual beings from the moment we are born, and
somehow the immense risk in all of this? The risk is all part of evolution
in a lifetime, and evolution as a civilisation.

In various parts of the United Kingdom, stormy weather has caused great
hardship. At first, there seem to be sympathy and understanding, then alarm
as matters got out of hand. Local government, and government and
individuals have been embroiled and vilified for their lack of foresight
and planning. The stormy weather has been uncharacteristically bad, and the
reaction to it, characteristically predictable. Denial by government that
they were not remiss in their foresight over the last few years, and angry
people hurt over and over again by the language of spin and denial. When
government says: “we did plan and there is more money coming to overcome
the crisis,” how does that play out in the head of someone seeing their
house being washed away? We could observe the plan and money and work ill
spent, and the blame starts, and the outcome will be as insane and useless
as the last time someone attempted to hold back the waves of nature. Step
two helps me gain perspective only in my life, not in the lives of other
people and those with power to take action.

All the steps work in the current conditions of the day. How I respond to
the current conditions depends upon my emotional and spiritual well-being,
which can be undermined by current events. And we are all human, I hope
this is so. And everybody’s limited by their own level of experience
strength and hope, so we are all going to be making mistakes, and we are
all going to be making progress one way or another. In which direction the
progress goes, can be influenced by our own actions. And sometimes I know
my actions need a little bit of help, or they go in the wrong direction,
rather than the right direction towards progress and not perfection. The
first casualty of conflict is truth.

DonInLondon 2004 – 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 8 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2
“Sanity” | “Lest We Forget…” One of my favourite meetings in my area is
called, “lest we forget.” A turbulent and difficult meeting on a Sunday
night, where we get every type of personality you can imagine, from all
over the world because its London, and they know the meeting is called lest
we forget. And because local people are forgetful, most of the locals who
go to the meeting, have forgotten the name of the meeting, if you ask them
what the name is, and even the secretary will have forgotten. Some of the
time we are forgetful of what will happen in the insanity which can happen
on the way to drink…

Years ago, I was offered a place in a rehab, St Luke’s mission, in
Kennington, it has been closed for years, some people liked it, and other
people hated it, like me. A recycled building with many past uses:
including a morgue where I used to do relaxation therapy as part of my
internment. Somehow it lost its way. Dealing with people in recovery, the
way it was managed and the therapeutic processes were very unclear, both
management and councillors were at odds with each other, and their
disruptive behaviour and attitudes did more to scar the inmates than help
them. When I was there for a few months, it was shocking from the start,
and then just got worse, each day a lesson in incremental torture. It
seemed to me to be the opposite of fellowship, where fellowship is about
love, rehab was about hate. I endured the madness of rehab to my term, and
then was told I needed to stay longer to get better. If ever there were a
regime designed to encourage relapse by the inmates, St Luke’s mission
achieved the job with alarming success…

Lest I forget! St Luke’s mission: a rehab, which encouraged hate and
confrontation versus the fellowship of AA, which encourages love and
inclusion. At all costs: When I was in the rehab, I went to meetings of AA,
meetings of NA, Coda, anything which was about recovery, love and
inclusion. The more I went to fellowship, the more I saw the terrible
difference and wounding of people in St Luke’s. If St Luke’s was designed
to ego puncture, and encourage humility, the twisted therapists and
counsellors harmed the already insane inmates. One day at a time…

I self-discharged from the rehab, St Luke’s mission, and went straight to a
market and bought the only thing which would bring me oblivion from the
pain, alcohol. I have never been a person of hate, and I could not comply.
And the good news in all of this, even though I relapsed, which was very
common and expected was made worse by the steady stream of newcomers always
available. And they were always in hell. And then for me, homeless and
without a voice, a long time, hiding and isolating until that fateful
meeting with the Prof of psychiatry, who said he couldn’t help and I ought
to go to AA. It made me angry, but I hadn’t forgotten just how helpful all
the people in fellowship were and they had love in their hearts, well maybe
love most of the time…

Lest I forget, the insanity of doing the same old same old: a definition of
insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result.” I was so traumatised by rehab, I needed respite from the
cure they offered, I needed oblivion, and then an opportunist moment of
clarity by the professor reminded me, I had become homeless person, and
needed, simple nurturing one day at a time. Would I have made it, if I had
stayed in the rehab? By all accounts, and by the reckoning of medical minds
far superior to me, I would have perished. I don’t forget those ugly times
of horror. And with the kindness of people in the homeless unit in my local
area, they eventually found me a roof over my head and I hit the meetings
as often as possible, simply to be in the company of people in recovery,
who loved me enough and accepted me enough to be back on the road of
recovery, always one day at a time…

When I look back at the roof over my head, it was in a squalid rundown
hotel, full of people like me. I had a bed, a fridge, and a wash basin, and
friendly mice for company. And the meetings all around me, the fellowship
of AA. Recovery is as hard as it gets without all the other stuff going on,
so I don’t forget where I came from and where I am today. Years of hiding
and isolating, years of pretending to the world that they couldn’t hurt me.
I had no idea who they might be, it turned out the “they” I referred to
were all the people who wanted to help me make it into recovery and they
did the best they could with what they had… And oddly, I am one of them
now… Free to make my own personal choices, live the life which is possible,
simply by being sober today…

And St Luke’s mission and in my opinion, the hateful people who ran it,
they mistook humiliation for humility. And even though I was so isolated
for long time, I learned in fellowship that if I were to stay alive I
needed to ask for help, and the help would be as good as it could be based
on reality, the cost of a roof over my head, even though it was squalid was
enough for me back then. And in fellowship, love and inclusion, a way
forward with enough just to keep going one day at a time. I saw many go
back to drink, and I lived with them for a long time, I kept sober with the
help of fellowship and like-minded souls. As I made friends in fellowship,
simply people on the same journey, same path, and same day… The insanity of
drink and not being able to stop is so lonely and dreadful and seeing it
sober all around me, I will never forget those times, and sadly those times
are still around me today…

That was years ago, and still I can recollect many moments of torture, not
about me drinking, simply not being able to help others in my predicament
on my own. In fellowship. It is the many voices of people who share their
experience, strength and hope, who make the difference today. Eventually,
by listening to everyone, and hearing the wisdom flying around me,
sometimes so profound, and then other times, so wrong! Wrong for me, and
yet right for others. And this is how it works, we find like-minded people
sharing experience, strength and hope which we understand in our own way.
And there will always be people we do not understand, and others who do. We
find out what works one day at a time. And then we work it, because we are
all worth it today…

It took me a while to realise that it was okay to be me. I had an
affliction or malady which led into me being an alcoholic. We don’t know we
are addicted until it is too late, and the impact? So many say how many
die, statistics are unreliable and recovery for each individual is as
reliable as it can be for one day. To experience new living, a new way of
coping with reality and being able to make choices freely to the good of
living. I never imagined I would ever be free and have the freedom to work
out what I can do, what I cannot do and keep on learning the wisdom and the
difference one day at a time…

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 8 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2
“Sanity” | Today’s AA daily reflection: “all about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”
We could also say, “Mr Wright and Mr Wrong, Ms Wright and Ms Wrong.” And
yet we know there is no right and wrong in recovery, simply endeavouring to
be open honest and willing to change. Dr Jekyll, the good in us, Mr Hyde
the bad in us. Mr Hyde with all natural instincts distorted and
confounding! Even those of us who are good have a little bit of bad
depending on the situation. And those who are bad have a little bit of good
depending on our situation…

When I understand I can be restored to sanity by higher power, I try to
keep it in the context of now and what is happening today. I can be
restored to sanity as my situation and circumstances allow and help me.
Contingent on asking for help at the beginning of the day, the process can
be less painful and less chaotic. Because in the moment when Mr Hyde comes
out to play, I can recognise it and ask the help, and in my case it is
usually a telephone call or face-to-face discussion or getting to a meeting
where I can share what is happening today…

And that inner voice which can be hostile to the outer world we live in.
When we are hurt, we can hurt people… Hurt people, hurt other people in
retaliation and upset. When we are not loved, we cannot feel love for other
people. When we are able to hate, we can hate other people. I need my
morning meditations, of checking how I feel, why and what to do. And always
remind myself of step one, powerless and unmanageable, step two that I can
be restored to sanity and step three, let go and let good into my life
today…

And when things are going well, be grateful because there will be times of
equal measure when things do not go my way. And unlike the past, where I
would say to myself “my way or the highway” I can respond looking at the
big picture, “where are my choices and why my freedoms right now?” There
are always choices to good outcomes when I look for them, and bad choices
when my expectations are far beyond reality…

“Expectations are resentments under construction”

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity”

DonInLondon 2005-2011

We are a complete package when we are born and we don’t have an instruction
book attached… If we can open up to learning without feelings of shame
and guilt and laugh at what we do not know, every day we have a chance to
let go and let in the good there is for today…

School of Hard Knocks becomes the University of Living Now ~ Pete Seeger
“Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is
when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.” /

And the Wisdom to know the difference? Just For Today!

AA Daily: CONVINCING “MR. HYDE” ~ FEBRUARY 8, Even then, as we hew away,
peace and joy will still elude us. That’s the place so many of us A.A.
oldsters have come to. And it’s a hell of a spot, literally. How shall our
unconscious-from which so many of our fears, compulsions and phony
aspirations still stream-be brought into line with what we actually
believe, know and want! How to convince our dumb, raging and hidden “Mr
Hyde” becomes our main task. THE BEST OF BILL, pp. 42-43

Regular attendance at meetings, service and helping others is the recipe
that many have tried and found to be successful. Whenever I stray from
these basic principles, my old habits resurface and my old self also comes
back with all its fears and defects. The ultimate goal of each A.A. member
is permanent sobriety, achieved One Day at a Time.

Step Two Video 12 And 12
Alcoholics Anonymous | Step 2 Reading 12 & 12 | DonInLondon |

Step One Video 12 And 12
Alcoholics Anonymous | Step 1 Reading 12 & 12 | DonInLondon

Alcoholics Anonymous Videos, AA is for Alcoholics, AA 12 Steps, Addiction
And Recovery, DonInLondon, Don Oddy,

Comments

joelarama says

February 8, 2013 at 9:01 pm

Thanks for making your videos. They are truly appreciated especially this
one as I am on my step two!
Jay Bird says

February 9, 2013 at 4:47 am

thanks don.
Don DonInLondon says

February 9, 2013 at 5:12 am

grateful you are there Joel
Don DonInLondon says

February 8, 2014 at 2:54 am

Alcoholics Anonymous Blog & Video | Feb 8 2004 – 2014 | DonInLondon | Step
2 “Sanity”

February 8 Video
Alcoholics Anonymous | Feb 8 2014 | DonInLondon | Step 2 “Sanity”

DonInLondon February 8, 2014: step two month: “came to believe that a power
greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” In recovery, on any
given day, the current conditions may be good bad or ugly. Dealing with the
good, bad and ugly of life with our emotional and spiritual outlook is
about surrendering to the absolute truth of now. I don’t know the truth of
now until I check it out, by asking myself to challenge my own beliefs and
opinions, and challenge my own beliefs and opinions with the help of people
with wisdom and experience of similar events in their lives. Working with
others, means I get a better perspective of what the truth can be today.

Imperfectly perfect in the ever present moment of now. We all make progress
towards truth, love and wisdom in the moment. When I try work things out on
my own, I am simply utilising my own experience strength and hope. When I
work things out with everyone who is involved, the combined experience
strength and hope is far bigger than my perspective. Step two: restoring
myself to sanity on a daily basis often means I let go whatever notions and
imagination has put in my head since waking up this morning.

A friend of mine called me early, things going on which are unacceptable in
any society today. And sometimes we are challenged by situations which are
way above our levels of authority to sort out. When we are challenged by
other people who are doing bad things, in recovery we are often trying to
make up for lost time and try to resolve all the issues we face, because
that is what we feel we must do. One of the most powerful parts of learning
for me in recovery is that I cannot sort out everything, even if I know the
answer? Indeed, the answer is that it is not my job, even though it is my
concern and I am weighed down by an issue, it still is not my
responsibility to put things right. Even when those who are responsible to
put things right, do nothing, my part in matters is to express what I know
to the right people in the right place, and hopefully able to do the right
thing. So it is not a battle of wills, it is trying to find the truth and
what is right to do next. And often what is right, is what is possible just
for today.

Having found myself in conflict and quite angry over the last few days, I
don’t like it, I don’t like the feelings which seemed to be evoked, pride,
ego and fear. Prideful and egotistical, because I’m not being listened to
and fear of doing harm to myself and other people. Doing harm to other
people is not my way. And actually it was never my way to inflict harm on
others feelings. At the same time I know that anger and resentment, caused
by my feelings being hurt, made me hurtful with words and behaviour alien
and unfamiliar in how I would have wished to have conducted myself over the
years. Self-justification, self-righteousness does no good, we just make
matters more conflicted and eventually more harm done. Forgive everything,
including ourselves, try start afresh each morning and the likelihood is we
will do less harm to ourselves and other people, even if we are right in
our argument, there is no pleasure and no happiness in being self-righteous
or right. And forgiveness is really important, or conflict is never
resolved, and a greater harm is done in the world.

Nobody said recovery was easy, they may have said “easy does it “in order
that I could make time for myself to heal and find forgiveness for becoming
unwell. Anyone who believes that alcoholism and addiction is a choice,
fails to understand the nature of human beings. If everybody were logical
and adapted in a logical way to their circumstances, and behaved logically
and ethically as a consequence, I don’t know how much progress we would
have made, evolution would have been quite dull and unproductive. We are
highly developed emotionally or rather we have the potential to develop
into emotional and spiritual beings from the moment we are born, and
somehow the immense risk in all of this? The risk is all part of evolution
in a lifetime, and evolution as a civilisation.

In various parts of the United Kingdom, stormy weather has caused great
hardship. At first, there seem to be sympathy and understanding, then alarm
as matters got out of hand. Local government, and government and
individuals have been embroiled and vilified for their lack of foresight
and planning. The stormy weather has been uncharacteristically bad, and the
reaction to it, characteristically predictable. Denial by government that
they were not remiss in their foresight over the last few years, and angry
people hurt over and over again by the language of spin and denial. When
government says: “we did plan and there is more money coming to overcome
the crisis,” how does that play out in the head of someone seeing their
house being washed away? We could observe the plan and money and work ill
spent, and the blame starts, and the outcome will be as insane and useless
as the last time someone attempted to hold back the waves of nature. Step
two helps me gain perspective only in my life, not in the lives of other
people and those with power to take action.

All the steps work in the current conditions of the day. How I respond to
the current conditions depends upon my emotional and spiritual well-being,
which can be undermined by current events. And we are all human, I hope
this is so. And everybody’s limited by their own level of experience
strength and hope, so we are all going to be making mistakes, and we are
all going to be making progress one way or another. In which direction the
progress goes, can be influenced by our own actions. And sometimes I know
my actions need a little bit of help, or they go in the wrong direction,
rather than the right direction towards progress and not perfection. The
first casualty of conflict is truth.

DonInLondon 2004 – 2013

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 8 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2
“Sanity” | “Lest We Forget…” One of my favourite meetings in my area is
called, “lest we forget.” A turbulent and difficult meeting on a Sunday
night, where we get every type of personality you can imagine, from all
over the world because its London, and they know the meeting is called lest
we forget. And because local people are forgetful, most of the locals who
go to the meeting, have forgotten the name of the meeting, if you ask them
what the name is, and even the secretary will have forgotten. Some of the
time we are forgetful of what will happen in the insanity which can happen
on the way to drink…

Years ago, I was offered a place in a rehab, St Luke’s mission, in
Kennington, it has been closed for years, some people liked it, and other
people hated it, like me. A recycled building with many past uses:
including a morgue where I used to do relaxation therapy as part of my
internment. Somehow it lost its way. Dealing with people in recovery, the
way it was managed and the therapeutic processes were very unclear, both
management and councillors were at odds with each other, and their
disruptive behaviour and attitudes did more to scar the inmates than help
them. When I was there for a few months, it was shocking from the start,
and then just got worse, each day a lesson in incremental torture. It
seemed to me to be the opposite of fellowship, where fellowship is about
love, rehab was about hate. I endured the madness of rehab to my term, and
then was told I needed to stay longer to get better. If ever there were a
regime designed to encourage relapse by the inmates, St Luke’s mission
achieved the job with alarming success…

Lest I forget! St Luke’s mission: a rehab, which encouraged hate and
confrontation versus the fellowship of AA, which encourages love and
inclusion. At all costs: When I was in the rehab, I went to meetings of AA,
meetings of NA, Coda, anything which was about recovery, love and
inclusion. The more I went to fellowship, the more I saw the terrible
difference and wounding of people in St Luke’s. If St Luke’s was designed
to ego puncture, and encourage humility, the twisted therapists and
counsellors harmed the already insane inmates. One day at a time…

I self-discharged from the rehab, St Luke’s mission, and went straight to a
market and bought the only thing which would bring me oblivion from the
pain, alcohol. I have never been a person of hate, and I could not comply.
And the good news in all of this, even though I relapsed, which was very
common and expected was made worse by the steady stream of newcomers always
available. And they were always in hell. And then for me, homeless and
without a voice, a long time, hiding and isolating until that fateful
meeting with the Prof of psychiatry, who said he couldn’t help and I ought
to go to AA. It made me angry, but I hadn’t forgotten just how helpful all
the people in fellowship were and they had love in their hearts, well maybe
love most of the time…

Lest I forget, the insanity of doing the same old same old: a definition of
insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result.” I was so traumatised by rehab, I needed respite from the
cure they offered, I needed oblivion, and then an opportunist moment of
clarity by the professor reminded me, I had become homeless person, and
needed, simple nurturing one day at a time. Would I have made it, if I had
stayed in the rehab? By all accounts, and by the reckoning of medical minds
far superior to me, I would have perished. I don’t forget those ugly times
of horror. And with the kindness of people in the homeless unit in my local
area, they eventually found me a roof over my head and I hit the meetings
as often as possible, simply to be in the company of people in recovery,
who loved me enough and accepted me enough to be back on the road of
recovery, always one day at a time…

When I look back at the roof over my head, it was in a squalid rundown
hotel, full of people like me. I had a bed, a fridge, and a wash basin, and
friendly mice for company. And the meetings all around me, the fellowship
of AA. Recovery is as hard as it gets without all the other stuff going on,
so I don’t forget where I came from and where I am today. Years of hiding
and isolating, years of pretending to the world that they couldn’t hurt me.
I had no idea who they might be, it turned out the “they” I referred to
were all the people who wanted to help me make it into recovery and they
did the best they could with what they had… And oddly, I am one of them
now… Free to make my own personal choices, live the life which is possible,
simply by being sober today…

And St Luke’s mission and in my opinion, the hateful people who ran it,
they mistook humiliation for humility. And even though I was so isolated
for long time, I learned in fellowship that if I were to stay alive I
needed to ask for help, and the help would be as good as it could be based
on reality, the cost of a roof over my head, even though it was squalid was
enough for me back then. And in fellowship, love and inclusion, a way
forward with enough just to keep going one day at a time. I saw many go
back to drink, and I lived with them for a long time, I kept sober with the
help of fellowship and like-minded souls. As I made friends in fellowship,
simply people on the same journey, same path, and same day… The insanity of
drink and not being able to stop is so lonely and dreadful and seeing it
sober all around me, I will never forget those times, and sadly those times
are still around me today…

That was years ago, and still I can recollect many moments of torture, not
about me drinking, simply not being able to help others in my predicament
on my own. In fellowship. It is the many voices of people who share their
experience, strength and hope, who make the difference today. Eventually,
by listening to everyone, and hearing the wisdom flying around me,
sometimes so profound, and then other times, so wrong! Wrong for me, and
yet right for others. And this is how it works, we find like-minded people
sharing experience, strength and hope which we understand in our own way.
And there will always be people we do not understand, and others who do. We
find out what works one day at a time. And then we work it, because we are
all worth it today…

It took me a while to realise that it was okay to be me. I had an
affliction or malady which led into me being an alcoholic. We don’t know we
are addicted until it is too late, and the impact? So many say how many
die, statistics are unreliable and recovery for each individual is as
reliable as it can be for one day. To experience new living, a new way of
coping with reality and being able to make choices freely to the good of
living. I never imagined I would ever be free and have the freedom to work
out what I can do, what I cannot do and keep on learning the wisdom and the
difference one day at a time…

Alcoholics Anonymous | February 8 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 2
“Sanity” | Today’s AA daily reflection: “all about Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.”
We could also say, “Mr Wright and Mr Wrong, Ms Wright and Ms Wrong.” And
yet we know there is no right and wrong in recovery, simply endeavouring to
be open honest and willing to change. Dr Jekyll, the good in us, Mr Hyde
the bad in us. Mr Hyde with all natural instincts distorted and
confounding! Even those of us who are good have a little bit of bad
depending on the situation. And those who are bad have a little bit of good
depending on our situation…

When I understand I can be restored to sanity by higher power, I try to
keep it in the context of now and what is happening today. I can be
restored to sanity as my situation and circumstances allow and help me.
Contingent on asking for help at the beginning of the day, the process can
be less painful and less chaotic. Because in the moment when Mr Hyde comes
out to play, I can recognise it and ask the help, and in my case it is
usually a telephone call or face-to-face discussion or getting to a meeting
where I can share what is happening today…

And that inner voice which can be hostile to the outer world we live in.
When we are hurt, we can hurt people… Hurt people, hurt other people in
retaliation and upset. When we are not loved, we cannot feel love for other
people. When we are able to hate, we can hate other people. I need my
morning meditations, of checking how I feel, why and what to do. And always
remind myself of step one, powerless and unmanageable, step two that I can
be restored to sanity and step three, let go and let good into my life
today…

And when things are going well, be grateful because there will be times of
equal measure when things do not go my way. And unlike the past, where I
would say to myself “my way or the highway” I can respond looking at the
big picture, “where are my choices and why my freedoms right now?” There
are always choices to good outcomes when I look for them, and bad choices
when my expectations are far beyond reality…

“Expectations are resentments under construction”

“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity”

DonInLondon 2005-2011

We are a complete package when we are born and we don’t have an instruction
book attached… If we can open up to learning without feelings of shame
and guilt and laugh at what we do not know, every day we have a chance to
let go and let in the good there is for today…

School of Hard Knocks becomes the University of Living Now ~ Pete Seeger
“Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is
when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.” /

And the Wisdom to know the difference? Just For Today!

AA Daily: CONVINCING “MR. HYDE” ~ FEBRUARY 8, Even then, as we hew away,
peace and joy will still elude us. That’s the place so many of us A.A.
oldsters have come to. And it’s a hell of a spot, literally. How shall our
unconscious-from which so many of our fears, compulsions and phony
aspirations still stream-be brought into line with what we actually
believe, know and want! How to convince our dumb, raging and hidden “Mr
Hyde” becomes our main task. THE BEST OF BILL, pp. 42-43

Regular attendance at meetings, service and helping others is the recipe
that many have tried and found to be successful. Whenever I stray from
these basic principles, my old habits resurface and my old self also comes
back with all its fears and defects. The ultimate goal of each A.A. member
is permanent sobriety, achieved One Day at a Time.

Step Two Video 12 And 12
Alcoholics Anonymous | Step 2 Reading 12 & 12 | DonInLondon |

Step One Video 12 And 12
Alcoholics Anonymous | Step 1 Reading 12 & 12 | DonInLondon

AA Big Book Video | Chapter 1 | Bill’s Story |
AA Big Book Video | Chapter 1 Bill’s Story |

AA Big Book Video | Chapter 2 | There Is A Solution |
AA Big Book Video | Chapter 2 There Is A Solution |

AA Big Book Video | Chapter 3 | More About Alcoholism |
AA Big Book Video | Chapter 3 More About Alcoholism |

AA Big Book Video | Chapter 4 | We Agnostics |
AA Big Book Video | Chapter 4 We Agnostics |

AA Big Book Video | Chapter 5 | How It Works |
AA Big Book Video | Chapter 5 How It Works |

Alcoholics Anonymous Videos, AA is for Alcoholics, AA 12 Steps, Addiction
And Recovery, DonInLondon, Don Oddy,