https://www.thefix.com/10-best-lines-big-book
👆 “Those events that once made me feel ashamed and disgraced now allow me to share with others how to become a useful member
of the human race.” p.492
❤️ Our personal stories and how we recover can pass on the message that other people who are sick and suffering need to hear.
👆 This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it – this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how
great the necessity
or the wish.” p.34
❤️ Even if we are good people, we can’t drink
“normally,”
no matter
how hard we try.
👆 The sensation is so elusive that,while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one.” p.xxvii
❤️ Cunning, baffling, powerful. We all believe alcohol is fun to begin with, but it takes hold of us, so much so that we cannot
differentiate a true reality from our false reality.We believe our
alcoholic life is the only one
we want, deserve,
or need.
👆 The idea that somehow, someday he will control & enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker.” p.30
❤️ Tryingng to
control my drink- ing was what I had been
doing unsuccessfully for years.
I didn’t realize that other people did that, or that it made me an
abnormal drinker.
👆 “Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.” p.64
Alcohol was but a symptom for me. I can remember always feeling that anything I had in life was never good enough for me. I was always on the search for something – whether it was a party, a friendship, a man etc. Knowing this cause and the conditions surrounding
my drinking has been transformational
in my recovery.
no serenity until I accept
that person, place,
thing, or situation
as being exactly
the way it is supposed
to be at this moment.” p.417
If I want peace and serenity, I must accept everything as is, not wish it was different.
I listened to their stories and found so many areas where we overlapped – not all the
deeds, but the feelings of remorse and
hopelessness. I learned that alcoholism
isn’t a sin, it’s a disease.” p.344
I always assumed I would never be able to relate to another alcoholic. I held myself up, like I was better than “them.” But when I finally started listening, I could relate to at least one thing in every story I heard. I also learned that addiction is not a moral failing and that it can affect anyone.
We talked of intolerance, while
we were intolerant ourselves.
We missed the reality and the beauty
of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees.” p.50
I was extremely intolerant when I was drinking, yet I was the first to point out intolerance in others. The second part of this line is also loaded with significance. I think this is a world view a lot of us hold until we are able to see the bigger picture.
“Adversity truly introduces us to ourselves.” p.530
true - adversity allows us to learn
and grow into who we really are.
When I am willing to do the right thing I am rewarded with an inner peace no amount of liquor could ever provide. When I am unwilling to do the right thing, I become
restless, irritable, and discontent. It is
always my choice.” p.317
the things it promised. The beauty of
recovery is that we learn inner peace does not come from external sources,
it comes from within. The way we obtain it is through doing the right
thing, which is always our choice.
How lucky are we that in recovery we have choices?
The wisdom from the
Big Book isn’t limited to
10 quotes. Its words & interpretations are left up to the reader to use
as they choose. There is comfort
in knowing you aren’t alone,that what you’re feeling isn’t unusual,& that there is a solution. The Big Book has given me that comfort& the push to move
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