Be-Attitudes for the Recovering Person

1. Blessed are the addicted persons who are Powerless, for they shall No Longer Support Their Habit.
   
   
2. Blessed are they who have Come To Believe, for they have Hope.
   
   
3. Blessed are they who Made a Decision, for they shall Find Recovery.
   
   
4. Blessed are they who Search within themselves, for they shall Taste Freedom.
   
   
5. Blessed are they who Admit their Wrongs, for they shall have the Miracle of Forgiveness.
   
   
6. Blessed are they who Ask God to Remove Their Defects, for they shall have Humility.
   
   
7. Blessed are they whose Shortcomings Have Been Removed, for they shall have New Life.
   
   
8. Blessed are they who Made a List of those they have harmed, for they shall have planted the Seeds of Change.
   
   
9. Blessed are they who will Make Amends whenever possible, for they shall Regain Their Integrity.
   
   
10. Blessed are they who Continue to Take Inventory and admit when they are wrong, for they shall Continue to Grow.
    
    
11. Blessed are they who Pray and Meditate, praying only for knowledge of God’s Will and the Power to carry it out, for they shall find Direction.
    
    
12. Blessed are they who Carry the Message of Rebirth, for they shall have Sobriety.
    
    

The Drunken Driver Has the Right Of Way

The Drunken Driver Has the Right Of Way
by Ethan Coen

The loudest have the final say,
The wanton win, the rash hold sway,
The realist's rules of order say
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The Kubla Khan can butt in line;
The biggest brute can take what's mine;
When heavyweights break wind, that's fine;
No matter what a judge might say,
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The guiltiest feel free of guilt;
Who care not, bloom; who worry, wilt;
Plans better laid are rarely built
For forethought seldom wins the day;
The drunken driver has the right of way.
The most attentive and unfailing
Carefulness is unavailing
Wheresoever fools are flailing;
Wisdom there is held at bay; The drunken driver has the right of way.
De jure is de facto's slave;
The most foolhardy beat the brave;
Brass routs restraint; low lies high's grave;
When conscience leads you, it's astray;
The drunken driver has the right of way.
It's only the naivest who'll
Deny this, that the reckless rule;
When facing an oncoming fool
The practiced and sagacious say
Watch out -- one side -- look sharp -- gang way.
However much you plan and pray,
Alas, alack, tant pis, oy vey,
Now -- heretofore -- til Judgment Day,
The drunken driver has the right of way.

Last lines suggested by Michael G.

Until that driver hits the gas;
Into a tree we see him crash.
That driving fool had self will galore;
Now he has the right of way no more!

Kindness

Great reading today in Courage to Change. The message was simple. To paraphrase, when I am distressed by someone's behavior, or conflicted, uncertain as to how to proceed, or when I do not know how to respond to a person, I can fall back on being kind. If nothing else, I can remember to practice courtesy and respect.

Not fighting with myself

It continues to surprise me that when I am at peace with Jack, that is, when I am not warring with myself, I can be at peace with others. If I don't feel stressed, chances are I won't make any one else feel stressed. If I am not beating myself up over something I did or said, I won't be so inclined to beat up others for something done or said. If I don't make unreasonable demands upon Jack, I won't be making unreasonable demands on people around me. And vice versa. If I am smiling, I can spread a little joy around. If I am laughing, I find others will laugh with me. If I am kind, others show me kindness.


This morning I asked God to lift the fears, anger, and intolerance from me and replace those character defects with tolerance, kindness, and love. I have to ask for help often if I want to stay on His track.

E-mail to my sponsor Ed: March 15, 1985

Dear Ed,

It seems like a long time since I last heard from you. How are you sir? Well, I hope. I am in the midst of readying the final draft of my BASIC manual. I have two 6-hour meetings with the developers coming up next week to go over their extensive comments on the second draft. In short, I have mucho to do and not much time to do it. I am trying not to get too stressed out about all of this. I'm going to meetings and asking for help. Being the guy that I am, I have a propensity to pop a few springs here and there, to short circuit occasionally as a result of overloaded circuits. I have to be careful and remember not to take any of this work business or myself too seriously, but take sobriety seriously.

I picked up a guide for doing my fourth step at a fourth step meeting the other night. The guide is thick and full of memory probing questions. It reminds me of the guides they used to hand out in graduate school for people wanting to write a dissertation.

So I'll be writing my "dissertation" soon. At least I want to make start. A lot of people believe the fourth step is not something to be taken lightly. I hope we can do our fifth step together, as you promised, when I get the fourth step done.

I learn a lot from the steps. Patience, love, listening, understanding... Life ain't so hard on me when I practice the principles. I'm less likely yank myself around then I live life according to the wisdom layed out in the 12+12 and Big Book. Oh don't get me wrong, I still get resentments, I still yell at my son on occasion, think about divorcing my wife everytime she doesn't do what I want her to, and I still have stinking thinking. But I'm beginning to realize that I can't go on living with the fears, the anxiety, and the crazy emotions, even if they only crop up at a tolerable frequency. I have to recover, if only to get on with the joy of living, right?

God bless Ed. Write soon.

-Jack