I’ve heard that there are two things which alcoholics can’t stand. One is things as they are and the other is change. Either we’re bored and frustrated or we’re fearful about what’s going to happen next. And both can makes us angry.
There is an answer to all of this, but so often I find that I can find myself in a state of inertia and am just too lazy to do anything about these things. But, that’s where the measure of my spiritual condition comes in. There’s nothing mysterious about this. Nor is there a need for any extraordinary exertion on my part, other than getting off my backside and putting the principles of this program back into action.
I went back to the beginning of the BB, where the Doctor’s Opinion introduces us to the start of this program. He talks about the solution offered by those first members of AA to so many desperate and sick alcoholics and the psychic change which for the first time helped these men to live a sober life. Then he says, “…the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules”. The practice of the 12 Steps.
What I really liked was at the end of that chapter, which speaks directly to the condition mentioned above. He tells us how, when he felt down and discouraged, he would go back and think about the inspiring stories of two men who were seemingly hopeless, but with the help of those early members, had their lives turned around and got sober.
What a formula! When I’m like that, stuck and in a rut, all I have to do is go back and remember my own story. My rescue from the hopelessness of the alcoholic insanity I suffered from and my need to be grateful for that. That gratitude has so often inspired me to turn my attention to words of thanks and then into the action necessary to once again think of others and my higher power.
Anyway, I was thinking about this today and becoming willing “to follow a few simple rules”.