how many words are in the first 164 pages of the big book

Why could they not see that drink meant ruin to them? Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. There are, however, additional promises in the Big Book. He was ambitious to succeed in business, but saw that he would get nowhere if he drank at all. It is possible to have a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink. We alcoholics are sensitive people. Had not people said God had reserved this privilege to the birds? He said he was perfectly willing to go to jail if she insisted. Having a better time. As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally. Many of us have felt, for the first time, the Presence and Power of God within its walls. The spiritual life is not a theory. His human will had failed. The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by spiritual principles. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. Pg. Go along with your husband if you possibly can. Sorting and rendering passages in the proprietary format of the 164 and More concordance does not in any way imply affiliation with or endorsement by either This page was created to provide a place where these others can be collected. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. Welcome to 164pages.com! Bills Story. Unless he took some drinks, he might not have the courage to scrape an acquaintance and would have a lonely week-end. Why not bring him into contact with some of our alcoholic crowd? He clings to the notion that he will yet find a way to do so. The great boom of the late twenties was seething and swelling. Little by little, mother and children will see they ask too much, and father will see he gives too little. That often makes the difference between failure and success. Sometimes it is wise to wait till he goes on a binge. Sometimes he will be so interested that he becomes really neglectful. But for every man who drinks others are involved-the wife who trembles in fear of the next debauch; the mother and father who see their son wasting away. Some of the contemporaries of Columbus thought a round earth preposterous. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame. Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his situation without reserve. Successful readjustment means the opposite. He may have come to the point where he desperately wants to stop but cannot. As you type, words are displayed which match your keystrokes. So we had to get down to causes and conditions. But be sure you are on solid spiritual ground before you start and that your motive in going is thoroughly good. I simply didnt know. Maybe he is beginning to lose his friends. It is dependent upon his relationship with God. As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is no doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. To me these occurrences are phenomena. Your husband may come to appreciate your reasonableness and patience. His income is good, he has a fine home, is happily married and the father of promising children of college age. When ready, we say something like this: My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. Beginning with such complaints, a barrier arises. Thanks for the information.. When you discover a prospect for Alcoholics Anonymous, find out all you can about him. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self- delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. As we shall see, he now means a great deal to his community, and the major liabilities of thirty years of hard drinking have been repaired in four. We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. I had discharged him for drinking six weeks before. His faults are not discussed. In one form or another we had been living by faith and little else. You might suggest that you both take an interest in them. Here they are, the 82 occurrences of the word Must found In Alcoholics Anonymous 4th edition THE DOCTORS OPINION 1) PAGE xxiii: After 21 years of sobriety and about 14 devoted to the program in the book I have found out a simple fact. The age of miracles is still with us. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one. The family must decide these things. We shall bring to the task our combined experience and knowledge. There are such unfortunates. It was so baffling, so heartbreaking. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. Hence, we saw that reason isnt everything. How much did these feelings, these loves, these worships, have to do with pure reason? Think of what you can bring to it. We first saw Fred about a year ago in a hospital where he had gone to recover from a bad case of jitters. I had had some success at speculation, so we had a little money, but we once worked on a farm for a month to avoid drawing on our small capital. It should continue for our lifetime. Our experience shows that you need not be disconcerted. Others came near putting Galileo to death for his astronomical heresies. If you think he will be shy of a spiritual remedy, ask him to look at the chapter on alcoholism. If, on the other hand, they took nothing, their self-pity made them killjoys. To give up resistance: He finally capitulated and agreed to do the job my way. Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true with many of our men, it is by no means a bad thing in some cases. The 164 and More web site. Show him, from your own experience, how the queer mental condition surrounding that first drink prevents normal functioning of the will power. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. I discovered many more reasons later on. But drinking does complicate sex relations in the home. In this book you will read the experience of a man who thought he was an atheist. If you have a number three husband, you may be in luck. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferers. In no time I was beating on the bar asking myself how it happened. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Even though your protg may not have entirely admitted his condition, he has become very curious to know how you got well. Todays life is measured against that of other years and, when it falls short, the family may be unhappy. In 2017 the book A Secular Sobriety was published. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. Perhaps he is having a secret and exciting affair with the girl who understands. In fairness we must say that she may understand, but what are we going to do about a thing like that? Music and gay chatter still floated to him from the bar. This happened soon after they wholeheartedly met a few simple requirements. The opposite may happen should the family condemn and criticize. But he had found God-and in finding God had found himself. A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven more. Nevertheless, he was drunk in a short time. Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. If you concede that your employee is ill, can he be forgiven for what he has done in the past? Commentary: It's difficult to articulate my feelings about the original Chapter 4. As you type, words are displayed which match your keystrokes. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. There were 134 "Musts" in the first and second editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is of little use to argue and only makes the impasse worse. Usually the family should not try to tell your story. And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof? (Click here to read them). I was always in a ward before., Said one of the visitors, Were giving you a treatment for alcoholism., Hopelessness was written large on the mans face as he replied, Oh, but thats no use. But somehow, we couldnt quite step ashore. Then let his family or a friend ask him if he wants to quit for good and if he would go to any extreme to do so. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time! This combination soon landed me on the rocks. He has been placed in one institution after another. My schoolmate visited me, and I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies. To this man, the revelation was sudden. We stood at the turning point. Yet we do go to great extremes to provide each other with these very things, when such action is warranted. That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured-these are the conditions we have found most effective. If he gets drunk, dont blame yourself. The checking account melted like snow in June. 1. He knows the alcoholic as the employer sees him. So, for one reason or another, they cover these men, hoping matters will take a turn for the better. They have a new attitude, and they have been saved from a living death. One morning he took the bull by the horns and set out to tell those he feared what his trouble had been. Potential female alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone beyond recall in a few years. I was staring at an inch of the tape which bore the inscription XYZ-32. Keep his attention focused mainly on your personal experience. We told him what we knew about alcoholism. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body. If you have been successful in solving your own domestic problems, tell the newcomers family how that was accomplished. The experiment of quitting for a period of time will be helpful, but we think we can render an even greater service to alcoholic sufferers and perhaps to the medical fraternity. You say, Yes, Im willing. He has begun to try, with or without your cooperation, various means of moderating or staying dry. This may take patient waiting, but it will be worth it. They run to extremes. Show any longshoreman a Sunday supplement describing a proposal to explore the moon by means of a rocket and he will say I bet they do it maybe not so long either. Is not our age characterized by the ease with which we discard old ideas for new, by the complete readiness with which we throw away the theory or gadget which does not work for something new which does? Whether your employee likes it or not, he will learn the grim truth about alcoholism. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. He soon indicated he was anxious to see us. Available spacing options: single spaced, 1.5, double spaced. But it was not, for the frightful day came when I drank once more. I had a few words with the boss, but nothing serious. He got in touch with a prominent psychiatrist who had undertaken certain responsibilities for the mental health of the community. This was the finish, the curtain, it seemed to me. Some day we hope that Alcoholics Anonymous will help the public to a better realization of the gravity of the alcoholic problem, but we shall be of little use if our attitude is one of bitterness or hostility. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading 164 and More - I have written a book with somewhere in the range of 30,000+ words, and I find it quite embarrassing to call it a book. I was not an atheist. He too, has become a respected and useful member of his community. Is he not usually brilliant, fast-thinking, imaginative and likeable? A blog dedicated to the discussion of the anonymous alcoholics program, as found in the twelve and twelve and first 164 pages of the great anonymous alcoholic book. Without that, nothing could have happened. Now we need more action, without which we find that Faith without works is dead. Lets look at Steps Eight and Nine. He is unable to focus on anything else. And even though he continues to drink, the family will find life more bearable. He thought all alcoholics should constantly have chocolate available for its quick energy value at times of fatigue. Your man may be trusted. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. In the prize ring, this would be called leading with the chin. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Was I crazy? Tell him enough about your drinking habits, symptoms, and experiences to encourage him to speak of himself. My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. I fancied myself a leader, for had not the men of my battery given me a special token of appreciation? My weary and despairing wife was informed that it would all end with heart failure during delirium tremens, or I would develop a wet brain, perhaps within a year. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, are astonished at their inability to stop. Jundia, Amparo, Atibaia, Why does he behave like this? Fear gripped him. Lets talk about it later. If your husband is trying to live on a spiritual basis, he will also be doing everything in his power to avoid disagreement or contention. These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric. If you have been saved from a living death finding God had reserved this privilege to the birds year! See he gives too little the time form or another we had get... 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