In actual practice, we usually find a solitary self-appraisal insufficient.
To the outer world he presents his stage character.
We must be entirely honest with somebody if we expect to live long or happily in this world.
We search our acquaintance for a closed-mouthed, understanding friend.
Once we have taken this step…We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease.
We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.
Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.
Most alcoholics owe money. We do not dodge our creditors.
Perhaps we are mixed up with women in a fashion we wouldn't care to have advertised.
After a few years with an alcoholic a wife gets worn out, resentful and uncommunicative. How could she be anything else?
The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead.
We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough.
So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindness and love.
The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it.
Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear.
Love and tolerance of others is our code.
...the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us...That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
...on this matter of prayer. Better men than we are using it constantly.
...were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?
Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle.
We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done "
It works-it really does.