Red Road Meditations Full year

January 1

"All living creatures and all plants derive their life from the sun. If it were not for the sun, there would be darkness and nothing could grow, the earth would be

without life." Okute Teton Sioux

I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all. Big Book pg. 14

Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. We all need the light of God's reality, the nourishment of His strength, and the atmosphere of His grace.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pgs. 97 & 98 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

As though lying upon a sunlit beach, let us relax and breathe deeply of the spiritual atmosphere with which the grace of this prayer surrounds us. Let us become willing to partake and be strengthened and lifted up by the sheer spiritual power, beauty, and love of which these magnificent words are the carriers. Let us look upon the sea and ponder what its mystery is; and let us lift our eyes to the far horizon, beyond which we shall seek all those wonders still unseen.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 100 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Thank you Creator, for the sunlight of life.

January 2

"Think only about what is holy. Empty your mind." Archie Fire Lame Deer Lakota

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. Now and then we may be granted a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom. And we will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will of our own creator... The actual experience of meditation and prayer across the centuries is, of course, immense. The world's libraries and places of worship are a treasure trove for all seekers. It is hoped that every A.A. who has a religious connection which emphasizes meditation will return to the practice of that devotion as never before.


Grandfather clear our minds, keep us on the spiritual path.

January 3

Since we listen to the voice of the Great Spirit we are happy. Tenskwatawa Shawnee

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.


Great Mystery, I am happy when I listen to your voice in all things.

January 4

"Dead -- I Say? There is not death. Only a change of worlds." Chief Seattle Dwamish

He humbly offered himself to his maker--then he knew. Big Book pg. 57


The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Big Book pg. 83


We have entered the world of the Spirit. Big Book pg. 84


Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us.

Big Book pg. 85 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit show me that there are two worlds, the physical realm and

the spiritual realm. Thank you, Grandfather.

January 5

"There are many things to be shared with the four colors of man in our common

destiny as one family upon our Mother the Earth." Traditional Circle of Elders Northern Cheyenne

We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.


Creator help me to understand that we are all your children.

January 6

Fire-water courage ends in trembling fear. Chief Joseph Nez Perce

For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom, and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt--and one more failure. The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became citizens of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did--then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!


Great Mystery I will not try to find power in a bottle of alcohol.

January 7

Serenity Prayer

To fully understand it, one needs to meditate on it, and apply each idea to one's life. To understand the power in the Serenity Prayer, one must be living it. So it would be a wish I have for all people that we all could live the Serenity Prayer.

Rich Santee Lakota

God, Grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change. COURAGE to change the things I can. and WISDOM to know the difference.

Reprinted with permission A. A. Grapevine

January 8

Let us seek goodwill, honor the Great Mystery, our forefathers, our parents and our dead. Inspire us when we are in doubt and in sorrow. Lend us strength when we are in danger and when we falter. Temper our anger and envy, endow us

with forbearance and guide us in abiding your vision. Ojibway

Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: "God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always. We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready: that we could at last abandon ourselves to Him.


January 9

Then we offered tobacco to the Spirits and prayed for help--I took out the sacred objects and practiced the power bestowed upon men.

Walks-in-the-Rain Winnebago

Then it is explained that the other Steps of the A.A. program can be practiced with success only when Step Three is given a determined and persistent trial. This statement may surprise newcomers who have experienced nothing but constant deflation and a growing conviction that human will is of no value whatever. They have become persuaded, and rightly so, that many problems besides alcohol will not yield to a headlong assault powered by the individual alone. But now it appears that there are certain things which only the individual can do. All by himself, and in the light of his own circumstances, he needs to develop the quality of willingness. When he acquires willingness, he is the only one who can make the decision to exert himself. All of the Twelve Steps require sustained and personal exertion to conform to their principals and so, we trust, to God's will. It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a most wonderful revelation. Our whole trouble had been the misuse of willpower. We had tried to bombard our problems with it instead of attempting to bring it into agreement with God's intention for us. To make this increasingly possible is the purpose of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, and Step Three opens the door.


Grandfather give us power to do your will.

January 10

Every good thought you create, every good feeling you have, every good word you speak and every good action you perform, every virtue you manifest, builds

for you the path. Hiawatha Iroquois

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path...Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps... Here are the steps we took which are suggested as a program of recovery...Many of us exclaimed. "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principals. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principals we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection...


It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.


Great Spirit help us. Show us the good path.

January 11

Even the trees have spirits - everything has a spirit. Mary Hayes Clayoquot

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?


"It has often been said of A.A. that we are interested only in alcoholism. That is not true. We have to get over drinking to stay alive. But anyone who knows the alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking without undergoing a profound personality change."

"As Bill Sees It" pg. 1 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator help us to see your spirit in everything.

January 12

A good day has been set upon my forehead as I stand before you, and this brings me closer to you, O Wakan-Tanka. It is your light which comes with the

dawn of day, and which passes through the heavens. I am standing with my feet upon your sacred earth, be merciful to me, Oh Great Spirit, that my people may

live. Waskn Mani

Often, I sense the deep meaning of the phenomenon of Alcoholics Anonymous, but I cannot begin to fathom it. Why, for instance, at this particular point in history has God chosen to communicate his healing grace to so many of us? Who can say what this communication actually is--so mysterious and yet so practical? We can only partly realize what we have received and what it has meant to each of us. It occurs to me that every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is communication. There has been a lifegiving communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God.

Bill W. "Language of the Heart" pg. 243 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

January 13

The dances are prayers. Pop Chalee Taos Pueblo

Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.


To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open to all men.


In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself.


Grandfather teach us to dance, teach us to pray.

January 14

The elders placed four gifts into the hoop: the gift of healing, the gift of hope, the gift of unity and the power to forgive the unforgivable.

Sacred Hoop

We commenced to make many fast friends and a fellowship has grown up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part. The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty. I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities. Business and professional men have regained their standing. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. In one western city and its environs there are one thousand of us and our families. We meet frequently so that newcomers may find the fellowship they seek.

Big Book pgs. 15 & 16 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let us share the power of the four gifts.

January 15

Love is something you can leave behind when you die. It’s that powerful. John (Fire) Lame Deer Lakota Sioux

Words of truth and love are strong medicine. Tall Man die five years ago, a sober, peaceful, happy man. Maine Newsletter (Boomerang) say: "With tireless devotion and humility, this venerable Indian gentleman traveled thousands of miles humbly pleading for sobriety. He planted many seeds, and it will be many moons before another rises to walk in his shoes."

Big Book Third Edition pg. 476 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

It was December 13, 1953. The occasion was the first anniversary of the opening of Rosary Hall, the newly remodeled alcoholic ward at Cleveland's famed St. Vincent's Charity Hospital. It had been a great AA meeting. The small auditorium was crammed with alcoholics and their friends. So was the balcony. One thousand people rose to their feet, clapping wildly. The slight figure of a nun in a gray habit reluctantly approached the lectern's microphone. The uproar redoubled, then suddenly subsided as the little nun commenced to give her thanks. She was embarrassed, too. For had not the program she'd helped write for the occasion definitely stated that "The Sisters of Charity and the members of Alcoholics Anonymous who have assisted, decline all individual credit...." Through Sister Ignatia and Bob, God had wrought a divine conspiracy of medicine, religion, and Alcoholics Anonymous which was to bring sobriety within reach of more than 5,000 alcoholics who were to pass through the alcoholic ward of St. Thomas up to the time of Dr. Bob's death in 1950. But when that first customer was shaking it out in the flower room way back there in 1939, the trustees of the hospital little guessed that St. Thomas had become the first religious institution ever to open its doors to AA...

"Language of the Heart" pg. 202 Reprinted with permission A.A. Grapevine

Great Mystery give us something we can leave behind.

January 16

I started going to sweats. I started burning sweet grass and I started believing...I think spiritual now. As I go through the day I try to be a spiritual

person. I don't make decisions based on selfishness and self-will. It's a bit of AA philosophy and Indian philosophy.

Cree 1993

Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.


Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying on God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns us. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.


Grandfather show me the way to a spiritual life.

January 17

The sunshine's bright today, the day is clear, so let your hearts be. The Great Spirit will guide you. Cocooche Seminole

True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.


What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How best can I serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of will.


With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more deeply the inner meaning of A.A.'s simple prayer:

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, And wisdom to know the difference.


Great Spirit let us walk humbly in the day you have given us.

January 18

Do not meddle with anything that does not belong to you, but mind your own business.

Tenskwatawa Shawnee

Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened? Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man's.


Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonably upon others, unhappiness follows. If the pursuit of wealth tramples upon people who happen to be in the way, then anger, jealousy, and revenge are likely to be aroused. If sex runs riot, there is a similar uproar. Demands made upon other people for too much attention, protection, and love can only invite domination or revulsion in the protectors themselves--two emotions quite as unhealthy as the demands which evoked them. When an individual's desire for prestige becomes uncontrollable, whether in the sewing circle or at the international conference table, other people suffer and often revolt. This collision of instincts can produce anything from a cold snub to a blazing revolution. In these ways we are set in conflict not only with ourselves, but with other people who have instincts, too.


Creator help me to keep my feet on my path.

January 19

I am here by the will of the Great Spirit. Cochise Apache

Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to A.A., and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing as the dying can. We stand ready to do anything which will lift the merciless obsession from us.


When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not defiance. In A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol's final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.


Great Spirit may I remember I am here by your will.

January 20

But they know what love means and what truth means. They see the Spirit Father in everything. Tocmetone Paiute

The very practical approach to his problems, the absence of intolerance of any kind, the informality, the genuine democracy, the uncanny understanding which these people had were irresistible. He and his wife would leave elated by the thought of what they could now do for some stricken acquaintance and his family. They knew they had a host of new friends; it seemed they had known these strangers always. They had seen miracles, and one was to come to them. They had visioned the Great Reality--their loving and All Powerful Creator.


Some day we hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find a Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. To some extent this is already true. Some of us are salesmen and go about. Little clusters of twos and threes and fives of us have sprung up in other communities, through contact with our two large centers. Those of us who travel drop in as often as we can. This practice enables us to lend a hand, at the same time avoiding certain alluring distractions of the road, about which any traveling man can inform you.


Grandfather teach me your truth, that I may see it in everything.

January 21

Teach us the road to travel and we will not part from it forever. Satank Kiowa

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recovery are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program... ...Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the start. Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely...


Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of the past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Grandfather show me how to keep my steps upon your path.

January 22

You call the Great Spirit, Jesus, in your language; we call him in the Crow language, E-So-We-Wat-Se. I am going to light the pipe and talk to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit has made the red man and the white man, and sees all before Him today. Have pity on us. See that our hearts are true. We ask Thee to

see that we do that which is good for us and our children. We smoke this together before Thee, O Great Spirit. So may our hearts go together to Thee and

be made good and right. Blackfoot Crow

We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies. There is no friction among us over such matters. We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals. This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for himself in the light of past associations, or his present choice. Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.


Great Spirit make our hearts true whatever path we walk.

January 23

The divine plan of life in this land was laid out for us by our Great Spirit. The Hopi life is all set according to the fundamental principals of life of this divine

plan. We cannot do otherwise but to follow this plan. What the Great Spirit made and planned no power on earth can change it.

Delegation Spokesperson Hopi

Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. That means we have written a book which we believe to be spiritual as well as moral. And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God. Here difficulty arises with agnostics. Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.


Those of us who have spent much time in the world of spiritual make-believe have eventually seen the childishness of it. This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.


Creator help us. Help us to embrace your plan and your power.

January 24

O Great Spirit! We come to you for guidance. Mother Earth we honor you (turning to the four directions) to you who reside and dwell to the North-give us foresight in our deliberations this day. West-give us the knowledge to understand the matters that we are to consider this day. South-help us use good judgment.

East-give us the will and the strength to fulfill our decision no matter how difficult it may be.

Great Blue Heron Ojibway

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.


Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action.


January 25

"But we have to stick by the wisdom of our ancestors..." Paula Weasel Head Blood

"Two members of Alcoholics Anonymous came to see me. They grinned, which I didn't like so much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were licked this time. I had to concede both propositions. They piled on me heaps of evidence to the effect that an alcoholic mentality, such as I had exhibited in Washington, was a hopeless condition. They cited cases out of their own experience by the dozen. This process snuffed out the last flicker of conviction that I could do the job myself. "Then they outlined the spiritual answer and program of action which a hundred of them had followed successfully..."


Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program.

Big Book pg. 58 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S

Creator may I listen to the voices of those who walked the path before me.

January 26

The Great Spirit is now looking at us, and hears all we say and promise, and he knows it is from the heart. James St. Louis Delaware

May I suggest a few thoughts on the three words of our assignment: "God", "we," and "understand." And if you will listen with your hearts, as I know you have during this whole meeting, rather than with just your ears, I think God will bless us.

Father Ed Dowling "AA Comes of Age" pg. 254 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

But Ebby went on to say that when he had attempted prayer, even experimentally, the result had been immediate: Not only had he been released from his desire to drink--something very different from being on the water wagon--he had also found peace of mind and happiness of a kind he had not known for years.

"Pass It On" pg. 115 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather hear me, I pray from the heart.

January 27

God has now opened our eyes, and we desire to be heard, it is God's own will that our hearts are altered. It was God's will you had such fine weather to come to us. It is God's will also there should be peace and tranquility over the face of

the earth and of the waters. Chief Wasson Ojibway

In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

Big Book pg. xxii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. Each day my friend's simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.


...We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Creator open our eyes to your mercy and our hearts to your powers.

January 28

Let us not be discouraged. Let us cleanse our minds of delusion. Let us rid ourselves willingly of hate, and put love within ourselves and join together with renewed faith in our Creator...And not forget the future of our children and those

yet to come. David Monongye Hopi

Today we in A.A. are together, and we know we are going to stay together. We are at peace with each other and with the world around us. So many of our conflicts are resolved that our destiny seems secure. The problems of yesterday have produced the blessings of today. Ours is not the usual success story; rather it is the story of how, under God's grace, an unsuspected strength has arisen out of great weakness; of how, under threats of disunity and collapse, world-wide unity and brotherhood have been forged. In the course of this experience we have evolved a set of traditional principals by which we live and work together and relate ourselves as a fellowship to the world around us. These principals are called the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They represent the distilled experience of our past, and we rely on them to carry us in unity through the challenges and dangers which the future may bring.

"AA Comes of Age" pg. 79 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather help us to remember that the group is stronger than the individual. Let us remember the next generation.

January 29

It is our supreme duty to pass this religion, with its hidden sacred knowledge and its many forms of prayer on to our children, to our ancestors and to our own hearts and to God whom we know. Our religion is a true religion, and it is our

way of life. Pueblo Declaration

I am Responsible... When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there.

And for that I am responsible. AA's Responsibility Pledge


Creator teach us to pass on this vision.

January 30

“ Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit." Sitting Bull Teton Sioux

Another crowd of A.A.'s says: "We were plumb disgusted with religion and all its works. The Bible, we said, was full of nonsense; we could cite it chapter and verse, and we couldn't see the Beatitudes for the 'begats.' In spots its morality was impossibly good; in others it seemed impossibly bad. But it was the morality of the religionists themselves that really got us down. We gloated over the hypocrisy, bigotry, and crushing self-righteousness that clung to so many 'believers' even in their Sunday best. How we loved to shout the damaging fact that millions of the 'good men of religion' were still killing one another off in the name of God. This all meant, of course, that we had substituted negative for positive thinking. After we came to A.A., we had to recognize that trait had been an ego-feeding proposition. In belaboring the sins of some religious people, we could feel superior to all of them. Moreover, we could avoid looking at some of our own shortcomings. Self-righteousness, the very thing that we had contemptuously condemned in others, was our own besetting evil. This phony form of respectability was our undoing, so far as faith was concerned. But finally driven to A.A., we learned better.”


"You are an A.A. member if you say so. You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out. No matter who you are, no matter how low you've gone, no matter how grave your emotional complications--even your crimes--we still can't deny you A.A. We don't want to keep you out. We aren't a bit afraid you'll harm us, never mind how twisted or violent you may be. We just want to be sure that you get the same great chance for sobriety that we've had, So you're an A.A. member the minute you declare yourself."


Great Spirit help me honor all my relations.

January 31

"Men and women have an equal responsibility to restore the strength of the family, which is the foundation of all cultures."

Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders Use your energies to promote better understanding all around. Then that terrible tension which grips the home of every problem drinker will be lessened.


Both of you will awaken to a new sense of responsibility for others. You, as well as your husband, ought to think of what you can put into life instead of how much you can take out. Inevitably your lives will be fuller for doing so. You will lose the old life to find one much better.


Great Mystery show us how to work together, man and woman. Help us

to rebuild that which we have torn down.

February 1

When we do something that falls below our best behavior, we give power to our worst enemy and each time we overcome irritation and self pity, we draw near our best friend. Our worst enemy, the Cherokee calls adagagi, and our best friend, unalii are one. They live in us and everywhere we go, they go. They

speak to us, act through us, and vie for our attention. One is stronger than the other at times. But it is our decision which will rule and which one we nurture, because we are the life and the strength of each one. Our lives, our health, and

our prosperity are all evidence of what we let rule us. J.S. Hifler Cherokee

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help.


Yet we had been seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their problems. They said God made these things possible, and we only smiled. We had seen spiritual release, but we liked to tell ourselves it wasn't true. Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God.


Grandfather help me to understand both my sides, help me to nurture the good wolf.

February 2

He [The Great Spirit] only sketches out the path of life roughly for all the creatures on earth, shows them where to go, where to arrive at, but leaves them

to find their own way to get there. He wants them to act independently according to their nature, to the urges of each of them.

Lame Deer Lakota On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives. In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely on it.


Grandfather, thank you. Thank you for the trail. Thank you for giving me the choice of how to follow that path.

February 3

A day seldom passes with an elder Indian or others who are esteemed wise and good, in which a blessing is not asked or thanks returned to the Giver of Life. Sometimes audibly but most generally in the devotional language of the heart.

Tshut-che-nac Kansas

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.


Now, what about prayer? Prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God--and in this sense it includes meditation. How may we go about it? And how does it fit in with meditation? Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says, "...knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. A request for this fits in any part of our day.


Grandfather teach me to pray from the heart.

February 4

"You can't just sit down and talk about the truth. It doesn't work that way. You have to live it and be part of it and you might get to know it."

Rolling Thunder Cherokee Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling we are sorry won't fill the bill at all. We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but the chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love. The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Unless one's family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principals we think we ought not urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will convince them more than our words. We must remember that ten or twenty years of drunkenness would make a skeptic out of anyone.


Great Spirit let us live the road of truth.

February 5

“In sharing, in loving all and everything, one people naturally found a due portion of the thing they sought, while in fearing, the other found need of

conquest." Chief Luther Standing Bear Sioux

Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players his own way, If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased.


The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil.


…The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.


Great Spirit help us to understand the great circle. Help us seek that great love.

February 6

We sing our songs, say our prayers, because they have been transmitted to us by our ancestors, and they knew more than we what is good.

Hopi

We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves.


...We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing. In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself. On one proposition, however, these men and women are strikingly agreed. Every one of them has gained access to, and believes in, a Power greater than himself. This Power has in each case accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible.


Great Mystery may we see your beauty in the teachings of those who walked before us.

February 7

Man is a spirit, a spark from the cosmic fire who needs to burn toward God. God burns toward man and that union is the far off divine event. But there is no

union except in perfect freedom, never, except when the will and love in the free soul are traveling to bring the whole man, body and soul, and the whole society,

in freedom to the mystical cosmic alter. Las Casas

Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it?


When men and women pour so much alcohol into themselves that they destroy their lives, they commit a most unnatural act. Defying their instinctive desire for self-preservation, they seem bent upon self-destruction. They work against their own deepest instinct. As they are progressively humbled by the terrific beating administered by alcohol, the grace of God can enter them and expel their obsession. Here their powerful instinct to live can cooperate fully with their Creator's desire to give them new life. The central characteristic of the spiritual experience is that it gives the recipient a new and better motivation out of all proportion to any process of discipline, belief, or faith.


Creator allow me to experience that total freedom.

February 8

You must be prepared and know the reason why you dance. Thomas Yellowtail Crow

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path...


...Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

AA Preamble Reprinted with permission A. A. Grapevine

Great Spirit, grant that I be prepared to dance my purpose.

February 9

"Without a sacred center, no one knows right from wrong." Thomas Yellowtail Crow

...When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.


Your husband knows he owes you more than sobriety. He wants to make good. Yet you must not expect too much. His ways of thinking and doing are the habits of years. Patience, tolerance, understanding and love are the watchwords. Show him these things in yourself and they will be reflected back to you from him. Live and let live is the rule. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other.


Great Mystery help us to find our sacred center.

February 10

"When you go inside that power, there's no fear. It's so beautiful!! There's no fear there. There's no pain." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

The door opened and he stood there, fresh-skinned and glowing. There was something different in his eyes. He was inexplicably different. What had happened?


Here was something at work in a human heart which had done the impossible. My ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. Never mind the musty past; here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table. He shouted great tidings.


Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. At long last I saw, I felt, I believed. Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view.


Grandfather, Grandmother wash the scales of fear from our eyes.

February 11

"The Old People would gather words as they walked a sacred path across the Earth, leaving nothing behind but prayers and offerings."

Cleone Thunder Northern Arapahoe

To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.


Great Spirit remind us many paths lead to the top of the mountain.

February 12

"All the stones that are around here, each one has a language of its own. Even the earth has a song."

Wallace Black Elk Lakota

We missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of the trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.


We asked ourselves this: Are not some of us just as biased and unreasonable about the realm of the spirit as were the ancients about the realm of the material?


Grandfather teach me to listen to all my relations.

February 13

But the Great Spirit has provided you and me with an opportunity for study in nature's university, the forests, the rivers, the mountains, and the animals which

include us." Walking Buffalo Stoney

"I felt lifted up, as though the great wind of a mountain top blew through and through."


…Now and then we may be granted a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom. And we will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will of our Creator.


Let us look now upon the sea and ponder what its mystery is; and let us lift our eyes to the far horizon, beyond which we shall seek all those wonders still unseen. "Shucks!" says somebody. "This is nonsense. It isn't practical."


Great Spirit let me hear the lessons from nature.

February 14

"Prayer is the best answer to all of the trials that face us, because without

prayer, even if we succeed in accomplishing some great goal in the eyes of men, we have failed in our sacred responsibilities, and thus we have failed in what is

truly important." Thomas Yellowtail Crow

We A.A.'s are active folk, enjoying the satisfactions of dealing with the realities of life, usually for the first time in our lives, and strenuously trying to help the next alcoholic who comes along. So it isn't surprising that we often tend to slight serious meditation and prayer as something not really necessary. To be sure, we feel it is something that might help us to meet an occasional emergency, but at first many of us are apt to regard it as a somewhat mysterious skill of clergymen, from which we may hope to get a secondhand benefit. Or perhaps we don't believe in these things at all.


Now, what about prayer? Prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God--and in this sense it includes meditation.


Creator remind us of our sacred duties.

February 15

"We must have respect and understanding for women and all female life on this Earth which bears the sacred gift of life." Traditional Circle of Elders Ononodaga

" Alcoholics have a gift of picking out the world's finest women." Dr. Bob Big Book pg. 178


"My wife and I abandoned ourselves with enthusiasm to the idea of helping other alcoholics to a solution of their problems."

Bill W. Big Book pg. 15 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Note: Throughout AA history, women have played a major role in the development of AA. Bill speaks over and over about Lois's role in his struggles with alcoholism. Dr. Bob says he would have been dead long before if not for Ann. It was a woman, Henrietta Sieberling, who introduced Bill W. and Dr. Bob. Sister Ignatia helped Dr. Bob carry the message of recovery to 5000 alcoholics. Nurse Teddy worked with Bill W. and Dr. Silkworth in New York. Ruth Hock worked, with little or no payment in the first New York AA office for many years. She took the dictation for the Big Book and answered thousands of letters for alcoholics. Bill and Dr. Bob are known as the cofounders of AA. I wonder where AA would be if it had not been for the women who protected and nurtured these men?

Great Spirit, today, I will show respect.

February 16

“Bright days and dark days were both expressions of the Great Mystery, and the Indian reveled in being close to the Great Holiness."

Chief Luther Standing Bear Sioux

When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." We have then completed Step Seven.


...At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.


Grandfather, I offer you my good and my bad.

February 17

Our little children hovering round us weep, most starved to death, we've naught for them to eat. All this distress is justly on us, comes for the accrued use we

made of rum. Occom Mohegan

The painful past may be of infinite value to other families still struggling with their problem. We think each family which has been relieved owes something to those who have not, and when the occasion requires, each member of it should be only too willing to bring former mistakes, no matter how grievous, out of their hiding places. Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have--the key to life and happiness for others. With it you avert death and misery for them.


The head of the house ought to remember that he is mainly to blame for what befell his home. He can scarcely square the account in his lifetime...


Creator help me live free of alcohol and its destruction.

February 18

"Our true enemies, as well as our true sources of strength, lie within." Willaru Huayta Quechua Nation

So our troubles, we think are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so....


With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.


Grandfather everything is yours, your strength is inside of us and all around us.

February 19

It perverts the end of society and unfits us all those distinguishing and exquisite feelings which are the cordial of life and the noblest privileges of humanity. Ye

will cease to be a Nation; Ye will have neither heads to direct nor hands to protect. With this diabolical Juice undermining all the power of your bodies and

minds. Deadly Medicine Creek

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times we were regaining control, but such intervals--usually brief--were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.


The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did--then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!


Grandfather, free me, free me of that bondage I created with alcohol, let me experience the noble and exquisite feelings You have created

and given to me as part of your creation. The Power is yours, Grandfather, thank you Grandfather.

February 20

You may find graves upon graves along the lake, all of which misfortunes are occasions by selling rum to our brothers.

Iroquois "Traditional Teachings"

The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.


Creator free us from the destruction, free us from alcohol.

February 21

It is the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet here together this day. He orders all things and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his

garment from before the sun and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our eyes are open, that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank

the Great Spirit and only Him. Red Jacket Seneca

Often, I sense the deep meaning of the phenomenon of Alcoholics Anonymous, but I cannot begin to fathom it. Why, for instance, at this particular point in history has God chosen to communicate his healing grace to so many of us? Who can say what this communication actually is--so mysterious and yet so practical? We can only partly realize what we have received and what it has meant to each of us. It occurs to me that every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is communication. There has been a lifesaving communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God.

“Language of the Heart" pg. 243 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Great Mystery take the garment from the Sun, that I may see, open my ears that I may hear the Great Mystery.

February 22

We hold on to our otuhan, our give-aways, because they help us to remain Indians.

Lame Deer Lakota

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics!


You will be most successful with alcoholics if you do not exhibit any passion for crusade or reform. Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Tell him that if he wants to get well you will do anything to help.


Grandfather help us give it away.

February 23

He was a heavy drinker, one of the many victims of alcohol. On one occasion he was running about with no clothes on and carrying on as if he were insane.

Skanientariio Iroquois

Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warnings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideas of fun.

Big Book Pgs. 37 & 38 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk.


Great Spirit free us from the insanity.

February 24

The Great Father Above, who is the Good Spirit, and our Mother, the earth, were witnesses of what has passed today. The Great Spirit knows whether we are

sincere or of two hearts. Asad-a-wa Wichita

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps.


Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Grandfather, Grandmother, guide us, help us to do these things from a good heart.

February 25

Wakan-Tanka! Father Wakan-Tanka may we always know and do your will, may we never lose this relationship, may we cherish it and love it forever.

Wasn-mani Lakota

And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principal of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principals before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.


Great Spirit we honor you.

February 26

"The most important thing now is to reveal the inner temple of the soul with right thinking and right activity." Willaru Huayta Quechua Nation

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Each day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.


As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves. It works--it really does. We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined. But this is not all. There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead."


Great Mystery help us to live in a good way.

February 27

A noble, courageous man is recognizable by the patience he shows in adversity. Pachacutee Inca

Humility: Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.

From the Plaque Dr. Bob kept on his Desk

Great Spirit help us to have quietness in our hearts.

February 28

"All life is a circle." Rolling Thunder Cherokee



Grandfather help us to live in happiness, teach to us live in the circle.

February 29

The Old Man said, “You are both ugly and handsome and you must accept your ugliness as well as your handsomeness in order to really accept yourself."

Larry P. Aitken Chippewa

"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen."

Big Book pg. 76


Great Spirit help me not to judge, you made us complete, good and

bad.

March 1

No more get drunk here, now this two years. Seneca

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. 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. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks--drinks which they see others taking with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do, and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink again. This is repeated over and over, and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery. On the other--and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand--once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.

Big Book "The Doctor's Opinion" pgs. Xxvii & xxix Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator keep me free from alcohol.

March 2

Alas, many are fond of it and are too fond of it. So now all must now say "I will use it nevermore as long as I live as long as the number of my days is I will

never use it again, I now stop. Handsome Lake Iroquois

This phenomenon, as we have suggested, may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity. It has never been, by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently eradicated. The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence.

Big Book "The Doctor's Opinion" pg. xxx Reprinted with Permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather guide us, show us the path to a sober life.

March 3

I am happy to learn that you have been so far favored by the Divine Spirit as to be made sensible of the things which are hurtful to you and particularly that you

and they see the ruinous effects which the abuse of spirituous liquors have produced upon them. It has weakened their bodies, enslaved their minds,

exposed them to hunger, cold, nakedness and poverty, kept them in perpetual broils and reduced their population.

President Thomas Jefferson "Letter to Handsome Lake"

"What you say about the general hopelessness of the average alcoholic's plight is, in my opinion, correct. As to two of you men, whose stories I have heard, there is little doubt in my mind that you were 100% hopeless, apart from divine help. Had you offered yourselves as patients at this hospital, I would not have taken you, if I had been able to avoid it. People like you are too heartbreaking. Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours. For most cases, there is virtually no other solution." Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.


Manitou, thank you for the healing. Today we have the gift of sobriety.

March 4

"Heal yourself-your physical and spiritual bodies. Regenerate yourself with light, and then help those who have poverty of the soul. Return to the inner spirit,

which we have abandoned while looking elsewhere for happiness." Willaru Huayta Quechua Nation

Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Grandfather help us to heal with your light.

March 5

I believe there are no people of any color who do not believe in the Great Spirit, We worship Him, We love the Great Spirit. We acknowledge his supreme power, our peace, our health and our happiness depends on Him and our lives belong to

Him. Petalesharo Pawnee



We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.


Creator I know you are the source of all things.

March 6

"In the end I tell my children, there's no way I can tell you how to be an Acoma, how to be an Indian. You have to experience it."

Stanley Paytiamo Acoma Pueblo So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love. The spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it... ...We should be sensible, tactful, considerate and humble without being servile or scraping. As God's people we stand on our feet; we don't crawl before anyone. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through.


Creator help us experience who we are.

March 7

It is highly to the honor of Indian character that a council could exact so great authority where there was nothing to enforce it but the weight of moral power.

F. Parkman About the Iroquois Confederacy

1. Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare follows close afterward. 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority--a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.


I. Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship. II. The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in its world affairs.


Grandfather help us. Help us lead by example.

March 8

"Always listen to what the Elders say." Dona Josefa Medrano Huichol

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recovery are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. 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. Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.


Great Mystery keep me on the path the Elders walked.

March 9

We took an oath not to do any wrong to each other or to scheme against each other.

Geronimo Apache

A Declaration of Unity This we owe to A.A.'s future; to place our common welfare first; to keep our

Fellowship united. For on A.A. unity depends our lives, and the lives of those to come.

AA Service Manual Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we ought to and because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that those life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love.

A.A. Today pg. 11 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather help us to walk with our people.

March 10

I worked a strong spiritual program with the pipe and I worked a strong A.A. program...The drum connected me to my roots. A.A. was an important part of

my getting sober and I will admit the Twelve Steps kept me on track in discovering myself and the importance of the fellowship with sober people.

Jerome K. Lakota

We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals. This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for himself in the light of past associations, or his present choice. Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.


Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.


We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.


Great Mystery guide us, guide our footprints.

March 11

I decided to go to Bear Butte to fast and pray, I would pray for an end to the liquor problem.

Fools Crow Lakota

We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.


Great Spirit remove my desire to drink, free me from alcohol.

March 12

Spiritual values are an attitude. Leonard George Chief Councilor

If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.


This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick.


Creator teach us to live our spiritual values.

March 13

“The Natural Law is a spiritual law. Its powers are both light and dark."

Oren R. Lyons Spokesman Traditional Circle of Elders

Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic's past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one!... ...Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have--the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.


Grandfather help me to understand there are two sides to everything in your creation.

March 14

There is one great God and power that has written His laws in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love and help and do good to one

another and not to harm and mischief one another. That we may always live together as neighbors and friends.

Cornplanter Iroquois

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than to be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen.


March 15

Father of Light, we are weak, you are powerful. You know what we want better than we do ourselves. Do what is right, be good to us.

Crow

Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements. Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.


Grandfather, we ask in a good way, give us a clear mind and a warm heart so we may live as we should today. Thank you, Grandfather.

March 16

"It's time. If you are to walk the path of heart, then it is time..." Nippawanock Arapahoe

Many times I have gone to my old hospital in despair. On talking to a man there, I would be lifted up and set on my feet. It is a design for living that works in rough going.


Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing."


Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail.


Great Mystery help us to walk the path of heart.

March 17

When I saw the Great Spirit he told me to throw all our bad acts away...Everything belongs to the Great Spirit...I trust the Great Spirit.

Kanakuk Kickapoo

I don't believe I have any right to get cocky about getting sober. It's only through God's grace that I did it. I can feel very thankful that I was privileged to do it...If my strength comes from Him, who am I to get cocky about it.

Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers pg. 222 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather we know our strength comes from you.

March 18

"...Grandmother the Earth. That power is here all the time. It is continuous, and nobody controls it."


"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"


The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an all Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.


Thank you, Grandfather, Grandmother for the air we breathe and the

earth we sit upon.

March 19

"To be able to greet the sun with the sounds from all of Nature is a great blessing, and it helps us to remember Who is the real provider of all of our

benefits." Thomas Yellowtail Crow

When people presented us with spiritual approaches, how frequently did we say, “I wish I had what that man has. I’m sure it would work if I could only believe as he believes. But I cannot accept as surely true the many articles of faith which are so plain to him.” So it was comforting to learn that we could commence at a simpler level.


Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking.


Great Spirit, I am grateful for your gifts.

March 20

"...the sacred ceremonies given to us by the Creator are the Heart of our existence. These ceremonies are our first duty." Traditional Circle of Elders Northern Cheyenne

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.


…When we see a man sinking into the mire that is alcoholism, we give him first aid and place what we have at his disposal. For his sake, we do recount and almost relive the horrors of our past. But those of us who have tried to shoulder the entire burden and trouble of others find we are soon overcome by them. So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.


Creator let me carry the gift of sobriety to another suffering alcoholic.

March 21

You are full of the white man's devil water. You are like dogs in the hot moon when they run mad and snap at their own shadows...You are fools you cannot see the face of your chief; your eyes are full of smoke. You cannot hear his

voice; your ears are full of roaring water. Braves, you are little children--you are fools.

Little Crow Lakota

Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control his drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a gentleman, our hats are off to him. Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people!


In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy, or the like. But even in this type of beginning we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of what always happened. We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what the terrific consequences might be.


Grandfather help us. Thank you for our sobriety.

March 22

"The earth was created by the assistance of the sun, and it should be left as it was... The country was made without lines of demarcation, and it is no man's

business to divide it..." Chief Joseph Nez Perce

We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined.


Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.


Note: There are over two million members of Alcoholics Anonymous worldwide and about 100,800 groups in over 150 countries. Creator help me to remember the unity that binds us, keep me from

drawing lines in the dirt to separate us.

March 23

"In the life of the Indian there was only one inevitable duty, the duty of prayer, the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. His daily devotions were more

necessary to him than daily food." Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa) Santee Sioux

As we have seen, self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. It is a step in the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go much further. We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower and to grow. Most certainty we shall want bracing air and an abundance of food. But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our first step out into the sun. How, then, shall we meditate? The actual experience of meditation and prayer across the centuries is, of course, immense. The world's libraries and places of worship are a treasure trove for all seekers. It is hoped that every A.A. who has a religious connection which emphasizes meditation will return to the practice of that devotion as never before...


Grandfather help me to walk in both worlds, the spirit world and the

physical world.

March 24

He made us to have mercy on us. Red Cloud Lakota

We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.


Great Spirit open my heart that I may know your mercy.

March 25

I came in here because the Great Spirit told me so. He said it was good to be at

peace-so I came. Cochise Apache

Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena.


Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.


Grandfather bring us together in peace.

March 26

I asked the Great Spirit to take away my bad heart, and give me a good heart. The Great Spirit heard me and gave me a good heart.

Howling Wolf Arapaho

We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves... We have entered the world of the Spirit... Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them... Love and tolerance of others is our code.


Creator, I ask you for a good heart that I may know the world of the Spirit.

March 27

"One is not born a Tewa but rather one is made a Tewa... once made, one has to work hard continuously throughout one's life to remain a Tewa."

Alfonso Ortiz San Juan Pueblo

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.


Great Spirit hear me, help me walk the spirit path.

March 28

Great Mystery, we come to you for guidance, as you have been kind to us, let us not be any less kind to our brothers and sisters and strangers, in spirit and deed.

Ojibway

As we approach the actual taking of Step Seven, it might be well if we A.A.’s inquire once more just what our deeper objectives are. Each of us would like to live at peace with himself and with his fellows. We would like to be assured that the grace of God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We have seen that character defects based upon shortsighted or unworthy desires are the obstacles that block our path toward these objectives. We now clearly see that we have been making unreasonable demands upon ourselves, upon others, and upon God. The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear—primarily fear that we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a means of reducing these demands. The difference between a demand and a simple request is plain to anyone. The Seventh Step is where we make the change in our attitude which permits us, with humility as our guide, to move out from ourselves toward others and toward God.


March 29

I saw another building; this is the place where they sell onoka, the mind changer. Now the messenger said: true, this is what you saw. Alcohol will

destroy many of our people, it will cause splits among families and hardship for young children. It will take many lives before their time. Your people will come to

like alcohol and depend on it. For many, alcohol will rule them for the rest of their lives.

Skanientariio Six Nations

For most folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom and worry. It is joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good. But not so with us in those last days of heavy drinking. The old pleasures were gone. They were but memories. Never could we recapture the great moments of the past. There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it. There was always one more attempt--and one more failure. The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we become subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did--then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!


Great Mystery, help me to remember the destruction alcohol will cause

if I pick up a drink.

March 30

My son, when you grow up you should see that you are of some benefit to your fellowman...Blessings are not obtained through mere desire alone: They are not obtained without putting yourself time and again in proper mental condition...It is always good to act correctly and to do good, the old people used to say.

Winnebago

At the moment we are trying to put our lives in order. But this is not an end in itself. Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.


Outline the program of action, explaining how you made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past and why you are now endeavoring to be helpful to him. It is important for him to realize that your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your own recovery. Actually, he may be helping you more than you are helping him. Make it plain he is under no obligation to you, that you hope only that he will try to help other alcoholics when he escapes his own difficulties. Suggest how important it is that he place the welfare of other people ahead of his own.


Creator guide me to be of service to others.

March 31

“When you remove love and try to replace it with monetary things, you've got nothing ... get him to understand that he has to love himself before he can love

anything else." John Peters (Slow Turtle) Wampanoag

Many alcoholics are enthusiasts. They run to extremes. At the beginning of recovery a man may take, as a rule one of two directions. He may either plunge into a frantic attempt to get on his feet in business, or he may be so enthralled by his new life that he talks or thinks of little else. In either case certain family problems will arise. With these we have experience galore. We think it dangerous if he rushes headlong at his economic problem. The family will be affected also, pleasantly at first, as they feel their money troubles are about to be solved, then not so pleasantly as they find themselves neglected. Dad may be tired at night and preoccupied by day. He may take small interest in the children and may show irritation when reproved for his delinquencies. If not irritable, he may seem dull and boring, not gay and affectionate as the family would like him to be. Mother may complain of inattention. They are all disappointed, and often let him feel it. Beginning with such complaints, a barrier arises. He is straining every nerve to make up for lost time. He is striving to recover fortune and reputation and feels like he is doing well. Sometimes mother and children don't think so. Having been neglected and misused in the past, they think father owes them more than they are getting. They want him to make a fuss over them. They expect him to give them the nice times they used to have before he drank so much, and to show his contrition for what they suffered. But dad doesn't give freely of himself. Resentment grows. He becomes still less communicative. Sometimes he explodes over a trifle. The family is mystified. They criticize, pointing out how he is falling down on his spiritual program.


Grandfather let me remember that my spiritual walk is right here in everyday life.

April 1

The possibility of success rests now with the Indians of the country. If they respond in sufficient numbers and with sufficient enthusiasm, success will almost

be assured. C. Montezuma Yavapai

A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.


Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work and the sharpest vigilance.

A.A. Comes of Age pg. 69 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit...teach me to grow from my struggles, that suffering is often the path to victory.

April 2

We do not worship the Creator as the white people do, but we believe the forms of worship are indifferent to the Creator. It is the homage of sincere hearts that

please Him, and we worship Him in that manner. Red Jacket Seneca

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.


Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another's conception of God... To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.


Great Mystery help me remember that your mystery lives in my heart.

April 3

"Each of us must know in our minds and believe in our hearts that even though we are different, you are like me and I am like you."

Larry P. Aitken Chippewa The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, "What a great thing A.A. might have been!"


Grandfather help me to remember I am but a small part of the great whole.

April 4

The Great Spirit is our father and he has always supplied us with all we need. Tenieya Miwok

But my friend sat before me, and he made the pointblank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known! Had this power originated in him? Obviously it had not. There had been no more power in him than there was in me at that minute; and this was none at all.


Creator...I know you are all things.

April 5

There is no better or worse only different. That difference has to be respected whether it's skin color, way of life, or ideas.

Kote Kotah Chumash

We believe there isn't a fellowship on earth which lavishes more devoted care upon its individual members; surely there is none which more jealously guards the individual's right to think, talk, and act as he wishes. No A.A. can compel another to do anything; nobody can be punished or expelled. Our Twelve Steps to recovery are suggestions; the Twelve Traditions which guarantee A.A.'s unity contain not a single "Don't." They repeatedly say "We ought..." but never "You must!"


Creator help me to respect all things.

April 6

The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing

that means anything happens quickly -- we only think it does. Joseph Bruchac Abenaki

It works--It really does.

We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we

have just outlined.

But this is not all. There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead." Big Book pg. 88


Great Mystery help me stay on the path, one day at a time.

April 7

We understand very well that the highest way of life can only be founded upon a spiritual basis.

David Monongye Hopi

We can only clear the ground a bit. If our testimony helps sweep away prejudice, enables you to think honestly, encourages you to search diligently within yourself, then, if you wish, you can join us on the Broad Highway. With this attitude you cannot fail. The consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you.


The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many forms.


Grandfather, help us remember that our lives are spiritual.

April 8

We will carry out therefore the object of our Father, the Great Spirit. Peau de Chat Ojibway

For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity. We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spiritually the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength.


Creator grant me strength that I may know my real reliance is upon you.

April 9

You have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it...You have to say it from the heart.

Wallace Black Elk Lakota Everybody nowadays, believes in scores of assumptions for which there is good evidence, but no perfect visual proof. And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof? It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all. To illustrate: The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.

Big Book pgs. 48 & 49


Great Spirit, today give me faith to live from the heart.

April 10

Do not mock him whom thou seest commit a fault and do not throw it in his face. Enter into thyself and fear lest that which offends thee in others may happen to

thyself. Aztec

An illness of this sort--and we have come to believe it an illness--involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it goes annihilation of all things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents--anyone can increase the list.


Great Mystery remind me that we are all equal.

April 11

But now with everything going wrong, we began to be whipped by weak foolishness.

Pretty Shield Crow

These allergic types can never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.

Big Book pg. xxvii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator give me strength.

April 12

“The manner with which we walk through life is each man's most important responsibility, and we should remember this with every new sunrise."

Thomas Yellowtail Crow

Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.

Big Book pg. 85


Creator remind us to walk well under this day's sunrise.

April 13

Neither anger nor fear shall find lodgment in your mind. Dekanawidah Iroquois

If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for alcoholics these things are poison.


Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse. Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying on God...


Grandfather show me how to walk free of fear and anger.

April 14

The color of the skin makes no difference, what is good and just for one is good and just for the other and the Great Spirit made all men brothers.

White Shield Arikara

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem... The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.


Great Mystery help me respect all my relations today.

April 15

"You have wandered away from your teachings. You must concentrate on your spiritual teachings...Don't be sidetracked."

Henry Quick Bear Lakota When we developed still more, we discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself. We found that dependence upon His perfect justice, forgiveness, and love was healthy, and that it would work where nothing else would. If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care. These were the new attitudes that finally brought many of us an inner strength and peace that could not be deeply shaken by the shortcomings of others or by calamity not of our own making.


Grandfather lead me on the good road.

April 16

Tadeoskund, King of the Delaware, greatest weakness was a fondness for strong drink. The temptation of which he could not easily resist and would sometimes drink to excess. This unfortunate propensity is supposed to have been the cause

of his cruel and untimely death. Delaware

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.


Great Spirit help us to remember the destruction that just one drink

will cause.

April 17

Some of these chiefs could not be prevailed upon to taste any spirituous liquors on any account as they look upon it as bad medicine.

Navdowessie (Lakota)

War fever ran high in the New England town to which we new, young officers from Plattsburg were assigned, and we were flattered when the first citizens took us to their homes, making us feel heroic. Here was love, applause, war; moments sublime with intervals hilarious. I was part of life at last, and in the midst of the excitement I discovered liquor. I forgot the strong warnings and prejudices of my people concerning drink. In time we sailed for "Over There." I was very lonely and again turned to alcohol.


Creator remind us to follow the wisdom of our elders.

April 18

The symbol of wholeness, represented by the medicine wheel, is still being used in D/Lakota ceremonies today. The center where the "X" crosses is considered the home of Tunkasila, Wakan-Tanka, God. I speculated, If this is the symbol of

wholeness, the symbol of the psyche, with Wakan-Tanka at the center, then Wakan-Tanka or God would be within you.

Dr. A.C. Ross (Ehanamani) Lakota Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself. We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.


Grandfather, for this day, let me remember that you are the center.

April 19

Service rests on the basic premise that the nature of life is sacred, that life is a holy mystery which has an unknown purpose. When we serve, we know that we belong to life and to that purpose. Fundamentally, helping, fixing and service are ways of seeing life. When you help you see life as weak, when you fix, you see

life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Rachael Naomi Remem Holistic Healer

Ours is not the usual success story; rather it is the story of how, under God's grace, an unsuspected strength has arisen out of great weakness; of how, under threats of disunity and collapse, world-wide unity and brotherhood have been forged. In the course of this experience we have evolved a set of traditional principals by which we live and work together and relate ourselves as a fellowship to the world around us. These principals are called the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They represent the distilled experience of our past, and we rely on them to carry us in unity through the challenges and dangers which the future may bring.

“AA Comes Of Age” pg. 79 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator show me life is whole and sacred.

April 20

We must look up to the Great Spirit that He may make us strong and not permit this chain to fall from our hands.

Turtle Heart Delaware

A.A.'s Twelfth Step, carrying the message, is the basic service that our fellowship gives; it is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. A.A. is more than a set of principals; it is a society of recovered alcoholics in action. We must carry A.A.'s message; otherwise we ourselves may fall into decay and those who have not yet been given the truth may die.

"AA Comes of Age" pg. 139 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Mystery show me that I am a link in the chain.

April 21

Thanks be to the Good Father in the Spirit-land. Sarah Winnemucca Paiute

The notion that we would still live our own lives, God helping a little now and then, began to evaporate. Many of us who had thought ourselves religious awoke to the limitations of this attitude. Refusing to place God first, we had deprived ourselves of His help. But now the words "Of myself I am nothing, the Father doeth the works" began to carry bright promise and meaning.


Creator help us remember where to find strength.

April 22

“Each creature has a medicine, so there are many medicines. Because they are so close to the Creator, they are to communicate that medicine. Then they bring

help and health." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with the facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.


Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing."


Grandfather teach us the medicine of recovery.

April 23

"To me, if you're Indian, you're Indian. You don't have to put on your buckskin, beads, and feathers, and stuff like that."

Cecilia Mitchell Mohawk

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor. To the outer world he presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. He wants to enjoy a certain reputation, but knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it.

Big Book pg.73 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator remind me to be the human being I am, with heart and spirit.

April 24

"...in Tunkashila, there is no time. Everything moves in the blink of an eye. It's as fast as thought. So there is no speed there. There is no time in between."


Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. Each day my friend's simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.


We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.


Great Spirit teach us. Everything is spiritual.

April 25

"If you listen close at night, you will hear the creatures of the dark, all of them sacred -- the owls, the crickets, the frogs, the night birds -- and you will hear beautiful songs, songs you have never heard before. Listen with your heart.

Never stop listening." Henry Quick Bear Lakota

What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.


Meditation is something which can always be further developed. It has no boundaries, either width or height. Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an individual adventure, something which each of us works out in his own way.


Thank you, Creator.

April 26

"The man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures and acknowledging unity with the universe

of things was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization." Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux

Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better.


Great Mystery help us to understand our place in your creation.

April 27

"If you don't know the language, you'll only see the surface of the culture...the language is the heart of the culture and you cannot separate it."

Elaine Ramos Tlingit In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

"Foreword to Third Edition" Big Book Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished. 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. After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again.


Great Spirit teach me to speak with the language of the heart.

April 28

"The land is a sacred trust held in common for the benefit of the future of our nations."

Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders

Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close behind.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 189 Tradition One-Long Form


Those of us who spent much time in the world of spiritual make-believe have eventually seen the childishness of it. This dream world has been replaced by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a growing consciousness of the power of God in our lives. We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.


Great Mystery help us to keep the sacred trust of sobriety.

April 29

Our hearts rejoice in the goodness of our Creator. John Ross Cherokee

With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more deeply the inner meaning of A.A.'s simple prayer: God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courage to change the things we can, And wisdom to know the difference.


Creator may our hearts rejoice in the goodness of your gifts.

April 30

"Power comes and goes. It can vanish in the twinkling of an eye, like smoke dissolving in the air."

Archie Fire Lame Deer Lakota

Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power.... .....Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored. We know how he feels. We have shared his honest doubt and prejudice.

Big Book pg.45 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather let me recognize power when it comes.

May 1

“And that, I guess, is what it all boils down to-do the right thing, everything goes fine; do the wrong thing, everything's a mess."

Robert Spott Yurok

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonestly, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone--even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality--safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.


Creator teach us how to do the right thing, help us stay on the good

road.

May 2

Silence is the absolute poise of balance of body, mind and spirit. What are the fruits of silence? They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience and

reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character. Ohiyesa Lakota

Returning home we find a place where we can be quiet for an hour, carefully reviewing what we have done. We thank God from the bottom of our heart that we know Him better. Taking this book down from our shelf we turn to the page which contains the twelve steps. Carefully reading the first five proposals we ask if we have omitted anything, for we are building an arch through which we shall walk a free man at last. Is our work solid so far? Are the stones properly in place? Have we skimped on the cement put into the foundation? Have we tried to make mortar without sand?


Grandfather help us to seek the silence.

May 3

My father smiled and passed away to the spirit land. Chute-pa-lu Nez Perce

I'll be gone in a short time to meet my Maker, I am not afraid.

Dr. Bob 1950 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Serenity is not the absence of chaos, it is the ability to cope. Dr. Bob


Forget me, but go you and do likewise. Securely add your link to our chain. With God's help, forge that chain well and truly.

Dr. Bob Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit show me humility, I am but a poor and pitiful human being.

May 4

“It seems that if Elders can feel that you are open to learning, they are more than generous with their teaching." Leonard George Chief Councilor

They came in and began to give me instruction in the program that later became known as Alcoholics Anonymous. There was not much of it at that time. I looked up and there were two great big fellows over six-foot tall, very likable looking. (I knew afterwards that the two who came in were Bill W. and Doctor Bob.) Before very long we began to relate some incidents of our drinking, and pretty soon I realized that both of them knew what they were talking about, because you can see things and smell things when you're drunk that you can't other times. If I had thought they didn't know what they were talking about, I wouldn't have been willing to talk to them at all. After a while, Bill said, "Well, now, you've been talking a good long time, let me talk a minute or two." So, after hearing some more of my story, he turned around and said to Doc--I don't think he knew I heard him, but I did--he said, "Well, I believe he's worth saving and working on." They said to me, "Do you want to quit drinking? It's none of our business about your drinking. We're not up here trying to take any of your rights or privileges away from you, but we have a program whereby we think we can stay sober. Part of that program is that we take it to someone else who needs it and wants it. Now, if you don't want it, we'll not take up your time, and we'll be going and looking for someone else."


Grandfather may I recognize the teachers.

May 5

All is God; the whole life-effort of man is to get his life into direct contact with the elemental life of the cosmos.

Taos Pueblo



When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did.


Some of us had already walked far over the Bridge of Reason toward the desired shore of faith.


Creator help us to walk with that elemental life-force.

May 6

All those of you who have greater wisdom, greater power will demonstrate greater humility, render greater service and try to strengthen all others.

Hiawatha Iroquois Confederacy

We see that the sun never sets upon A.A.'s Fellowship; that more than three hundred and fifty thousand of us have now recovered from our malady; that we have everywhere begun to transcend the formidable barriers of race, creed, and nationality. This assurance that so many of us have been able to meet our responsibilities for sobriety and for growth and effectiveness in the troubled world where we live, will surely fill us with deepest joy and satisfaction. But, as a people who have nearly always learned the hard way, we shall certainly not congratulate ourselves. We shall perceive these assets to be God's gifts, which have been matched by an increasing willingness on our part to find and do His will for us.

Bill W. AA Grapevine July 1965 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Grandfather may our wisdom give strength to others.

May 7

"Lots of people hardly ever feel real soil under their feet, see plants grow except in flower pots, or get far enough beyond the street light to catch the

enchantment of a night sky studded with stars. When people live far from scenes of the Great Spirit's making, it's easy for them to forget His laws."

Tatanga Mani (Walking Buffalo) Stoney

As though lying upon a sunlit beach, let us relax and breathe deeply of the spiritual atmosphere with which the grace of this prayer surrounds us. Let us become willing to partake and be strengthened and lifted up by the sheer spiritual power, beauty, and love of which these magnificent words are the carriers. Let us look upon the sea, and ponder what its mystery is; and let us lift our eyes to the far horizon, beyond which we shall seek all those wonders still unseen.


...And who could comprehend a Supreme Being anyhow? Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, "Who then, made all this?" There was a feeling of awe and wonder...


And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower?


Great Spirit help me, help me to live close to your creation.

May 8

The Great Spirit looked down from heaven upon the suffering and wandering of his red children...He saw the ravages of firewater, He therefore raised up for

them a sacred instructor, who having lived and traveled among them for sixteen years was called from his labors to enjoy eternal felicity with the Great Spirit.

Soso-ho-wa Iroquois

Serenely remarking to his attendant, "I think this is it," Dr. Bob passed out of our sight and hearing November 16, 1950 at noonday... At the alcoholic ward in St. Thomas his friends did, however, erect this simple plaque. It reads: "In Gratitude: The friends of Dr. Bob and Anne Smith affectionately dedicate this memorial to the sisters and staff of St. Thomas Hospital. At Akron, birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous, St. Thomas Hospital became the first religious institution ever to open its doors to our society. May the loving devotion of those who labored here in our pioneering time be a bright and wondrous example of God's grace everlastingly set before us all."

"Language of the Heart" pg. 354 & 360 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Maine newsletter say: "With tireless devotion and humility, this venerable Indian gentlemen traveled thousands of miles humbly pleading for sobriety. He planted many seeds, and it will be many moons before another rises to walk in his shoes."

Big Book Third Edition pg. 476 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather may I walk with humility in both worlds.

May 9

Our lives are in the hands of the Great Spirit. Tecumseh Shawnee

Then like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else: Who are you to say there is no God.


Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.


Thank you Great Mystery. Thank you for your presence.

May 10

In 1825 a missionary said: I have not seen one of them drunk, by 1843 the agent reports: The Osage have drank more whiskey in the past year than they

have since they were a people. Osage

Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.


Who cares to admit defeat? Practically no one, of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our mind into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it from us. No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one. Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor, bleeds us of all self-sufficiency and will to resist its demands. Once this stark fact is accepted, our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete.


Grandfather free us from the bondage of alcohol.

May 11

"When you see a new trail, or a footprint that you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing."

Grandmother of Charles Eastman Santee Sioux Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves... If you have decided you want what we have are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps... Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely... Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.


Great Mystery lead me along that path I do not know.

May 12

Unity will be your leader. Your heart will be your leader, because in every true heart the Great Spirit is one.

Hiawatha Iroquois Confederacy

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.


Together we carry the message to Indian people on reservations all over the country.

"Listen to the Wind" Fourth Edition- Big Book pg. 468 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator may I walk with the people today.

May 13

"But first, let us join hands and pray." Starleaf Shinnecock

In A.A. we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capability. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances.


Creator teach us to pray in a good way.

May 14

He goes to the edge of the cliff and turns his face to the rising sun and scatters the sacred cornmeal. Then he prays that all the people may have healthy and long lives and be happy and good in the heart. He prays for everybody in the

whole world, everybody. Talaskwaptiwa Hopi

While our literature has preserved the integrity of the A.A. message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are reflected in new customs and practices within the Fellowship. Taking advantage of technological advances, for example, A.A. members with computers can participate in meetings online, sharing with fellow alcoholics across the country or around the world. Fundamentally, though, the difference between an electronic meeting and the home group around the corner is only one of format. In any meeting, anywhere, A.A.'s share experience, strength, and hope with each other, in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics. Modem-to-modem or face-to-face, A.A.'s speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.

From Original Foreword to Fourth Edition Big Book pg. xxiv Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Mystery teach me to pray for all people.

May 15

Crazy Horse was a warrior. I want to explain the concept of a warrior to you. The warrior assumes self-responsibility, then the warrior reaches out and helps other people become responsible, but never forgets humility. We are no better or no less than one another. He learns the power of giving, you learn to give respect for yourself so you will respect one another. A warrior takes responsibility, humility, the power of giving and centers that around his or her core of

spirituality. Billy Mills Lakota

We should be sensible, tactful, considerate and humble without being servile or scraping. As God's people we stand on our feet; we don't crawl before anyone.


We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.


Creator help me to be a spiritual warrior.

May 16

"We do not walk alone. Great Being walks beside us. Know this and be grateful." Polingaysi Q'yawayma Hopi

Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.


Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? Well, that's exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. That means we have written a book which we believe to be spiritual as well as moral. And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God. Here difficulty arises with agnostics. Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship, but his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.


Great Mystery, help me, that I may know your power.

May 17

I am never out of sight therefore I must tell the truth. I hold my words tight to my breast.

Torline Navajo

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor. To the outer world he presents his stage character. This is the one he likes his fellows to see. He wants to enjoy a certain reputation, but knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it.


Willingness, honesty and open-mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.


Great Spirit, grant me honesty, that I might be truthful with myself and others.

May 18

“Sometimes dreams are wiser then waking." Black Elk (Hehaka Sapa) Oglala

Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly. Yet it is our great hope that all those who have as yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom.

Big Book "Forward to the Second Edition" pg. xxi Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had so freely been given me. Perhaps I could help some of them. They in turn might work with others.


Creator show me the wisdom of my dreams.

May 19

I have nothing bad hidden in my breast at all, everything is all right there. When Indians get a little liquor they get drunk and fight sometimes, and sometimes

they whip me, but when they get sober they are all right. Satanta Kiowa

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social.


It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.


Grandfather help us to walk the road of freedom.

May 20

Our Grandfather, Wakan-Tanka, You are everything and yet above everything. You are first, You have always been, You are the truth. Help us to walk the Sacred Path of life without difficulties, with our minds and hearts continually

fixed on You. High Hollow Horn Lakota

When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith.


Yet we had been seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their problems. They said God made these things possible, and we only smiled.


Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. To this man, the revelation was sudden. Some of us grow into it more slowly. But He has come to all who have honestly sought Him. When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us!


May 21

For what is this fire-water good? It burns the throat and the stomach; it makes a man like a bear who has lost his senses. He bites, he growls, he scratches and he howls. He falls down as if he were dead, fire-water does nothing but harm.

We do not want it. Crow

But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened.


The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted...


The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. Big Book pg. 151


Great Mystery remove this obsession to drink, grant me sanity.

May 22

A reformed drunkard at the age of 45 became sober and received a vision giving a message to adhere to their traditional customs.

Papoonon Delaware 1755

While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me. Perhaps I could help some of them. They in turn might work with others.

Bill W. 1934 Big Book pg. 14


In 1990 Earl L., a Paiute Indian had a vision. Earl saw in the vision Indian Nations coming together in unity, celebrating sobriety and embracing their culture. He saw the helping hand of AA as being attractive within Indian Country. Earl’s vision saw our traditional ways as adding to the warmth and unconditional love of AA’s principals.

"History of the Native American Indian General Service Office"

Creator may we always believe in our visions.

May 23

When people come to trouble it is better for both parties to come together, to talk it over and find some peaceful way to settle.

Spotted Tail Lakota

Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling that we are sorry won't fill the bill at all. We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.


Creator give me heart to accept all my relations.

May 24

“When we're through with this earth and all these problems, we don't have to come back. But as long as we're here we have a job to do and a purpose to fulfill

and that means dealing with the circumstances around us." Rolling Thunder Cherokee

This is the how and the why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.

Big Book pgs. 6 2& 63 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather, Grandmother reveal my purpose and give me strength to do it.

May 25

"In some mysterious and wonderful way you are part of everything, Nephew. And in that same mysterious and wonderful way, everything is a part of you."

Nippawanock Arapahoe

Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it?


We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.


Great Spirit let us understand that all is connected.

May 26

But it was hard for me to leave that alcohol alone. I asked her how she did it and she said by going to hear the old Indian teachings...When I was sitting there and

heard those eagles say "Let go, let go of everything" I knew the Creator had forgiven me. Liz Odawa

What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink?


(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought.


Grandfather let me see the lessons you send on how to live.

May 27

Father, Creator of us all. Hear my prayer through this sacred pipe. Help my people to walk the good road of life. May they forget their differences and

remember their likenesses. May they dwell in peace and harmony with all living creatures "you" have made. May goodness and happiness follow them until the coming of those sacred red and blue days in a holy manner. May it be so. AHO.

Clifton Charles Mojave

And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principal of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us that we are to place principals before personalities; that we are actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.


May 28

"Conciliation is the key to survival. Peace is the goal." Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders

Cessation of drinking is but the first step away from a highly strained, abnormal condition. A doctor said to us, "Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The entire family is, to some extent, ill." Let families realize, as they start their journey, that all will not be fair weather. Each in his turn may be footsore and may straggle. There will be alluring shortcuts and by-paths down which they may wonder and lose their way.


Creator show us our place in the circle.

May 29

"The old people came literally to love the soil and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power...The soil was

soothing, strengthening, cleansing and healing..." Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux

Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn over the last ounce of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at our release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.


We have come to believe He would like us to keep heads in the clouds with Him, but our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.


Great Mystery help us remember where our work is and to stay

connected.

May 30

No matter how much we know, we still know very little. We are walking in a world of darkness but we will soon come to the world of light. Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirit of all

things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from this world.

John F Bryde Lakota

Logic is great stuff. We liked it. We still like it. It is not by chance we were given the power to reason, to examine the evidence of our senses, and to draw conclusions. That is one of man's magnificent attributes. We agnostically inclined would not feel satisfied with a proposal which does not lend itself to reasonable approach and interpretation. Hence we are at pains to tell why we think our present faith is reasonable, why we think it more sane and logical to believe than not to believe, why we say our former thinking was soft and mushy when we threw up our hands in doubt and said, "We don't know."


Grandfather help me to see that this world is just a shadow of the spirit world.

May 31

"Sell a country? Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?"

Tecumseh Shawnee

"I give away things I own because if I keep them they start to own me." “Eye of the Hurricane"

Reprinted with permission A.A. Grapevine

Great Mystery everything is yours.

June 1

One thing I am sure of, the smarter the man is the more he needs God to protect him from thinking he knows everything.

George Webb Pima

It relieved me somewhat to learn that in alcoholics the will is amazingly weakened when it comes to combating liquor, though it often remains strong in other respects. My incredible behavior in the face of a desperate desire to stop was explained. Understanding myself now, I fared forth in high hope. For three or four months the goose hung high. I went to town regularly and even made a little money. Surely this was the answer--self-knowledge. But it was not, for the frightful day came when I drank once more.


He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk!


But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.


Great Mystery help us to remember we need your guidance.

June 2

I can't stop, I have one drink and then when it's finished, I have to pour another one.

Itgag Yupik

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed. We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times we were regaining control, but such intervals--usually brief--were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to a man that alcoholics of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, never better.


No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master... How dark it is before the dawn! In reality that was the beginning of my last debauch. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.


Great Spirit help us, all power comes from you.

June 3

We must always follow the direction of the Great Spirit and we must listen to Him, as it was He that made us.

Tenkswataya Shawnee

We had to have God's help. This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are his agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.


Grandfather open my eyes that I may see, open my ears that I may hear!

June 4

Follow the Old Ones' advice. Tom Porter Mohawk

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program... Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. Remember that we deal with alcohol--cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power--that One is God. May you find Him now! Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery... …Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principals. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principals we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.

Big Book pg. 58 & 59 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit help us to follow the ones who have walked before us.

June 5

Indians ought not buy whiskey, it is hot in his heart for a little while, then it is gone. The Indian is cold, his head is sore, and he does not remember what he

did when the poison was in him. Decori Winnebago

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He uses his gifts to build a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before.


The almost certain consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defense that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove.


Grandfather remove our insanity.

June 6

Nan ho-o! Grandfather, of ourselves we could never have succeeded. Walks in the Rain Winnebago



Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously.


Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:



June 7

We love it, so we cannot refuse it, it makes us wild; we do not know what we are doing; we abuse one another; we throw one another into the fire.

Okanicon Delaware

Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. 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.

"The Doctor's Opinion" Big Book pg. xxviii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened.


However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangely insane. It's strong language--but isn't it true?


Creator let us live free of the insanity of alcoholism.

June 8

Knowledge is a beautiful thing, but the using of knowledge in a good way is what makes for wisdom. Learning how to use knowledge in a sacred manner, that's

wisdom to me. And to me, that is what a true elder is. Sun Bear Chippewa

This brings us straight to the question, "Does A. A. have a real leadership? Most emphatically the answer is "Yes, notwithstanding the apparent lack of it." Let's turn again to the deposed founder and his friends. What becomes of them? As their grief and anxiety wear away, a subtle change begins. Ultimately, they divide into two classes known in A.A. slang as "elder statesmen" and "bleeding deacons." The elder statesman is the one who sees the wisdom of the group's decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgment, fortified by considerable experience, is sound, and who is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines patiently awaiting developments. The bleeding deacon is one who is just as surely convinced that the group cannot get along without him, who constantly connives for reelection to office, and who continues to be consumed with self-pity. A few hemorrhage so badly that-drained of all A.A. spirit and principal-they get drunk. At times the A.A. landscape seems to be littered with bleeding forms. Nearly every old timer in our Society has gone through this process in some degree. Happily, most of them survive and live to become elder statesmen. They become the real and permanent leadership in A.A. Theirs is the quiet opinion, the sure knowledge and humble example that resolve a crisis. When sorely perplexed, the group inevitably turns to them for advice. They become the voice of the group conscience; in fact, these are the true voice of Alcoholics Anonymous. They do not drive by mandate; they lead by example. This is the experience which has led us to the conclusion that our group conscience, well-advised by its elders, will be in the long run wiser than any single leader.


Grandfather give us wisdom to serve as elders.

June 9

"When that spirit comes, we don't ever ask questions. If I don't understand, I just hold onto it. Then later down the road, maybe in a couple of years, I

understand what that spirit meant." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

How often do we sit in A.A. meetings and hear the speaker declare, "But I haven't got the spiritual angle." Prior to this statement, he has described a miracle of transformation which has occurred in him - not only his release from alcohol, but a complete change in his whole attitude toward life and the living of it.

Bill W Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine July 1962

He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought on by himself alone. What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With few exceptions our members find they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.


Grandfather, Grandmother help us to understand Spirit.

June 10

“I think the spiritual values come first and everything else follows.” Leonard George Chief Councilor

When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.




Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist remarkable things will happen.


Great Spirit help us to focus on our spiritual selves.

June 11

Spiritual power is the power to do good. It's the power to pray, to talk to God, to listen to him, to follow his instructions. We don't have to do it; it's up to us.

Matthew King Lakota

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.


So we of A.A. do obey spiritual principals, first because we must, and ultimately because we love the kind of life such obedience brings.


We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition,


Great Spirit teach us to follow your ways.

June 12

Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start truly living the life the Creator intended for you.

Lelia Fisher HOH

The Spiritual life is not a theory. We have to live it. Big Book pg. 83


Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities.


God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And Wisdom to know the

difference.

June 13

Man in the Maze

The legend tells us that when we are born into this world, we also enter a maze of life. Entering at the top where Se-eh-ha (elder brother) is waiting to show us the way. During the course of our journey, we struggle to understand ideas and

perceptions which affect our physical, emotional and spiritual growth. Pima Legend

Still you may say: "But I will not have the benefit of contact with you who write this book." We cannot be sure. God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always on Him. He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave. Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the great fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Elder Brother show us the way, give us heart.

June 14

With endless patience, you shall carry out your duties. Iroquois Constitution

Sometimes we hear an alcoholic say that the only thing he needs is to keep sober. Certainly he must keep sober, for there will be no home if he doesn't. But he is yet a long way from making good to the wife or parents whom for years he has so shockingly treated.


We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime.


Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful.


Great Spirit lend me patience to serve as I should.

June 15

The Lost Navajo I lost my mother to alcohol…Alcohol was like water to me. It made me a

monster. I could not stop drinking. What did alcohol give me? Nothing. What has sobriety given me? Everything. Thank you, A.A.

Leonard F AA Grapevine July 2002 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.


Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Big Book pg. 84


It is a most wonderful blessing to be relieved of the terrible curse with which I was afflicted.


Great Spirit hear me. Thank you for my sobriety.

June 16

"Many religions have been brought to this land. And the way my religion is, they teach me, and they taught me, and told me to respect all religions. And I still do

that." Horace Axtell Nez Perce

Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another's conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.


When we drew near to Him He disclosed Himself to us! Big Book pg. 57


Great Mystery open our hearts to your wonders.

June 17

"But what I do know, the monitor within my breast taught me the will of the Great Spirit."

Senachwine Potawatomi

Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts old as man himself.


Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense.


Creator help my heart to listen to your voice.

June 18

"The most important thing you can do during the course of the day is to pray." Joe Coyhis Stockbridge-Munsee

Prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God--and in this sense it includes meditation. How may we go about it? And how does it fit in with meditation? Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: ". . . knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." A request for this fits in any part of our day. In the morning we think of the hours to come. Perhaps we think of our day's work and the chances it may afford us to be useful and helpful, or of some special problem that it may bring. Possibly today will see a continuation of a serious and as yet unresolved problem left over from yesterday. Our immediate temptation will be to ask for specific solutions to specific problems, and for the ability to help other people as we have already thought they should be helped. In that case, we are asking God to do it our way. Therefore, we ought to consider each request carefully to see what its real merit is. Even so, when making specific requests, it will be well to add to each one of them this qualification: ". . . if it be Thy will." We ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.


Great Spirit teach us how to pray and give us strength.

June 19

Every night and morning I raise my hands to the Great Spirit and pray to him to give us success.

Kanakuk Kickapoo

We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spiritually the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.


In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind.


Creator teach us to walk your path of success.

June 20

I think the Great Spirit had something to do with bringing you all here tonight. Little Raven Arapaho

For our group purpose there is but ultimate authority--a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.

Tradition Two (long form) Big Book pg. 563 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.


Tradition Twelve (long form) Big Book pgs. 565 & 566 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather! Thank you!

June 21

"All of us begin to rethink what is good about ourselves - put the past where it belongs - and get on with the possibilities of the present!"

Howard Rainer Taos Pueblo-Creek

Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity. We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.


Creator help us to embrace ourselves and be who we know we can be.

June 22

"The Creator told every one of us in our tribal beginnings to look after our ceremonies, and each other."

Barney Bush Shawnee

The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, “What a great thing A.A. might have been.”


Where does A.A. get its direction? Who runs it? This, too, is a puzzler for every friend and newcomer. When told that our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, no board of directors who can cast an erring member into outer darkness, when indeed no A.A. can give another a directive and enforce obedience, our friends gasp and exclaim, "This simply can't be. There must be an angle somewhere." These practical folk then read Tradition Two, and learn the sole authority in A.A. is a loving God as He may express Himself in the group conscience.


Great Mystery, thank you for giving us the ceremonies.

June 23

We will carry out therefore the object of our Father, the Great Spirit. Peau de Chat Ojibway

When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.


On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.


Great Spirit help us walk the path that you created for us.

June 24

"We are called hollow bones for our people and for anyone else we can help, and we are not supposed to seek power for our personal use and honor."

Fools Crow Lakota

When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove form me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen." We have now completed Step Seven.


Creator let me be a channel for your power today.

June 25

Unity is power, and power can destroy itself if unity is based on self interest or is partial...From now on we work as one spirit.

Hiawatha Iroquois

This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.


Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die.


AA's Declaration of Unity

This we owe to A.A.'s future; to place our common welfare first; to keep our Fellowship united. For on A.A. unity depend our lives, and the lives of those to come.


Creator give us strength to walk as one.

June 26

If I was ever going to gain quality sobriety, I had to rediscover my own native roots at the same time. I practiced letting go of all the hurt, the resentments, the

feelings of inadequacy. Through the practice of the Twelve Steps of AA, I addressed my own spirituality.

Al Cherokee

We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help.


It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the

hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is

the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die.


Grandfather, Grandmother guide our spiritual journey.

June 27

When we pray, it helps us lots in our hearts. We don't do good sometimes because our hearts are not right. We learn good while our prayer voice says "Do

good." Squ-sact-un Squaxin

"Shucks!" says somebody. "This is nonsense. It isn't practical." When such thoughts break in, we might recall, a little ruefully, how much store we used to set by imagination as it tried to create reality out of bottles. Yes, we reveled in that sort of thinking, didn't we? And though sober nowadays, don't we often try to do much the same thing? Perhaps our trouble was not that we used our imagination. Perhaps the real trouble was our almost total inability to point imagination toward right objectives. There's nothing the matter with constructive imagination; all sound achievement rests upon it. After all, no man can build a house until he envisions a plan for it. Well, meditation is like that, too; it helps envision our spiritual objective before we try to move toward it.


This much could be a fragment of what is called meditation, perhaps our very first attempt at a mood, a flier into the realm of spirit, if you like. It ought to be followed by a good look at where we stand now, and a further look at what might happen in our lives were we able to move closer to the ideal we have been trying to glimpse. Meditation is something which can always be further developed. It has no boundaries, either of width or height. Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an individual adventure, something which each of us works out in his own way. But its object is always the same: to improve our conscious contact with God, with His grace, wisdom, and love.


Great Mystery help us to pray. Help us to have good in our hearts.

June 28

I walk in and out of many worlds. Joy Harjo Creek-Cherokee

Finally he shook his head saying, "Something has happened to you I don't understand. But you had better hold on to it. Anything is better than the way you were.”


An alcoholic in his cups is an unlovely creature. Big Book pg. 16




For most normal folks, drinking means conviviality, companionship and colorful imagination. It means release from care, boredom and worry… ...I know I must get along without liquor, but how can I? Have you a sufficient substitute? Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry.


Grandfather help me to embrace all of myself and walk in faith.

June 29

He is the origin of all things...there is nothing outside or beyond Him, and with Him is the power of life, of death. The source of all thought, reflection, and

memories: There is nothing outside His jurisdiction, all things are His. The Great Spirit may be more than personal. He cannot be less.

To-Te-Pukenga Maori

One night, when confined in a hospital, he was approached by an alcoholic who had known a spiritual experience. Our friend's gorge rose as he bitterly cried out: "If there is a God, He certainly hasn't done anything for me!" But later, alone in his room, he asked himself this question: "Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?" While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else: "Who are you to say there is no God?" This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from the bridge to shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.


Creator let me see you in all things.

June 30

"You will only get back what you give out." Joe Coyhis Stockbridge-Munsee

Immediately I felt there was something different about Ebby. It was not only that he was sober. I could not put a finger on what it was. I offered him a drink and he refused. Then I asked him, "What's this all about? You say you aren't drinking. But you also say you aren't on the water wagon, either. What's up? "Well," said Ebby, “I’ve got religion.” What a crusher that was--Ebby and religion! Maybe his alcoholic insanity had become religious insanity. It was an awful letdown. I had been educated at a wonderful engineering college where somehow I had gathered the impression that man was God. But I had to be polite, so I said, "What brand of religion have you got, Ebby?" "Oh," he said, "I don't think it has got any special brand name. I just fell in with a group of people, the Oxford Groups. I don't go along with all their teachings by any means. But those folks have given me some wonderful ideas. I learned that I had to admit I was licked; I learned that I ought to take stock of myself and confess my defects to another person in confidence; I learned that I needed to make restitution for the harm I had done others. I was told that I ought to practice the kind of giving that has no price tag on it, the giving of yourself to somebody. Now," he added, "I know you are going to gag on this, but they taught me that I should try to pray to whatever God I thought there was for the power to carry out these simple precepts. And if I did not believe there was any God, then I had better try the experiment of praying to whatever God there might be. And you know, Bill, it's a queer thing, but even before I had done all this, just as soon as I decided that I would try with an open mind, it seemed to me that my drinking problem was lifted right out of me.

AA Comes Of Age pgs. 58 & 59 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Sprit open my heart to give.

July 1

"When we want to talk to Him we burn tobacco and it takes our prayers all the way up to the Sky World." Louis Farmer Onondaga

In meditation, debate has no place. We rest quietly with the thoughts or prayers of spiritually centered people who understand, so that we may experience and learn. This is the state of being that so often discovers and deepens a conscious contact with God.


In A.A., we have found that the actual good results of prayer are beyond question. They are matters of knowledge and experience. All those who have persisted have found strength not ordinarily their own. They have found wisdom beyond their usual capacity. And they have increasingly found a peace of mind which can stand firm in the face of difficult circumstances.


A man who persists in prayer finds himself in possession of great gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances, he finds he can face them. He can accept himself and the world around him.

Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine June 1950

Great Spirit teach us how to pray.

July 2

In the morning, give thanks to the Great Spirit for the return of day and the light of the sun; at night renew your thanks to him, that his ruling power has

preserved you from harm during the day and that night has again come in which you may rest your wearied bodies.

Handsome Lake Iroquois

On awakening let us think of the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use.


When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?


Creator, thanks. Thanks for the blessings of another day!

July 3

When life is too good, we think too highly of ourselves and our blessings. Then we decide we are the wisest and the favored ones, and we don’t think we need

Wakan-Tanka and the Helpers anymore. Fools Crow Lakota

Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, and grace to bear upon the dark and negative side of our natures. With it comes the development of that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive God's help. Yet it is only a step. We will want to go much further. We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower and grow. But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our step out into the sun.


We demanded more than our share of security, prestige, and romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in part, we drank for oblivion. In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap was our lack of humility. Never was there enough of what we thought we wanted. We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living.


Grandfather may we walk in your power.

July 4

Have always in view, not only the present but the coming generations. The unborn of the future nation. Dekanawidah Iroquois

We must however, as individuals and as a fellowship, always be concerned with the structure of service of AA which protects and expands our way of life. For we continue to owe to the generations yet unborn a solemn obligation to insure that this way of life is available to them, as it has been to us. We may not need a General Service Conference to insure our own recovery. But we need it to insure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness, seeking the light. We need it to insure the recovery of some unborn child, inexplicably destined to alcoholism. We need it to provide, in keeping with the Twelfth Step, a permanent haven for all alcoholics who in the ages ahead can find in A.A. that rebirth which brought its first members back to life.

Bernard Smith, Chairman AA General Service Board 1951-1956 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let us remember the next generation.

July 5

Hear me; a single twig breaks, but the bundle of sticks is strong. Tecumseh Shawnee

Every newcomer, every friend who looks at A.A. for the first time is greatly puzzled. They see liberty verging on license, yet they recognize at once that A.A. has an irresistible strength of purpose and action. "How," they ask, "can such a crowd of anarchists function at all?" How can they possibly place their common welfare first? What in Heaven's name holds them together?" Those who look closely soon have the key to this strange paradox. The A.A. member has to conform to the principals of recovery. His life actually depends upon obedience to spiritual principals. If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift; he sickens and dies. At first he goes along because he must, but later he discovers a way of life he really wants to live.


The life of each A.A. and of each group is built around our Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. We know that the penalty for extensive disobedience to these principals is death for the individual and dissolution for the group. But an even greater force for A.A.'s unity is our compelling love for our fellow members and for our principals.

Twelve Concepts pg. 11 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather teach us unity.

July 6

Within us is the secret of what we are to become. To find it we seek a sense of serenity. It is then we see the design for life. The ways of our life are the simple

and innocent, complicated by problems we create. Burgess Roye Ponca

Notice that the word "fear" is bracketed alongside the difficulties with Mr. Brown, Mrs. Jones, the employer, and the wife. This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our existence was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances which brought us misfortune we felt we didn't deserve. But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling? Sometimes we think fear ought to be classed with stealing. It seems to cause more trouble. We reviewed our fears thoroughly. We put them on paper, even though we had no resentment in connection with them. We asked ourselves why we had them. Wasn't it because self-reliance failed us? Self-reliance was good as far as it went, but it didn't go far enough. Some of us once had great self-confidence, but it didn't fully solve the fear problem, or any other. When it made us cocky, it was worse. Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying on God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.


Great Spirit, help us to look inside for the simple things of who we are.

July 7

"Growth is a painful process." Wilma Mankiller Cherokee

Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and emotional turmoil before serenity.


A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.

Bill W. Letter 1959 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see.

Bill W. Letter 1950 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator give us strength to see the good things of our suffering.

July 8

I realize we make no gain without the Great Spirit being in our lives. Neither I, nor anything I attempt to do, will work without the Creator...Each day, I will pray

and ask for guidance. From the Sixth Philosophy of the Gathering of Native American Men

The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way that is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.




What is this but a miracle of healing? Yet its elements are simple. Circumstances made him willing to believe. He humbly offered himself to his Maker--then he knew.


Grandfather I offer myself to you, guide me.

July 9

"We create that bad among ourselves. We create it; then we try to call it devil, Satan, or evil. But man creates it."


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. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us!


But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling? Big Book pg. 67


Creator help us understand that we create those negative energies.

July 10

Crisis changes people and turns ordinary people into wiser or more responsible ones.

Wilma Mankiller Cherokee

No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched in all directions. I had met my match. Alcohol was my master. Trembling, I stepped from the hospital a broken man. Fear sobered me for a bit. Then came the insidious insanity of that first drink, and on Armistice Day 1934, I was off again. Everybody became resigned to the certainty that I would have to be shut up somewhere, or would stumble along to a miserable end. How dark it is before the dawn! In reality that was the beginning of my last debauch. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.


When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else he is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?


Great Mystery make me strong that I may face my hardships.

July 11

Likewise I will forget what you have done to me, in order to think of nothing but good.

Pontiac Ottawa

We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. 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. Referring to our list again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes.


But in A.A. we slowly learned that something had to be done about our vengeful resentments, self-pity, and unwarranted pride. We had to see that every time we played the big shot, we turned people against us. We had to see that when we harbored grudges and planned revenge for such defeats, we were really beating ourselves with the club of anger we had intended to use on others. We learned that if we were seriously disturbed, our first need was to quiet that disturbance, regardless of who or what we thought caused it.


Creator open my heart, help me to think good things!

July 12

Fire-water will rob you of your vision. Sitting Bull Lakota

No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one. Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor, bleeds us of all self-sufficiency and all will to resist its demands. Once this stark fact is accepted, our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete.


The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us; first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process.... In A.A.'s pioneering time, none but the most desperate cases could swallow and digest this unpalatable truth.


Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to A.A., and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be. We stand ready to do anything which will lift the merciless obsession from us.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 24


Grandfather help us stay on our vision path.

July 13

Great Spirit! Hear me, not for myself but for my people. Great Spirit! Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop and find the good road.

Black Elk Lakota

Our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.

AA Preamble Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.


Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.


They had visioned the Great Reality--their loving and All Powerful Creator. Big Book pg. 161


July 14

They also learned, and perhaps this was the most important thing, how to look at things through the eyes of the Higher Powers.

Fools Crow Lakota

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows, and toward God’s universe.


Our whole attitude and outlook on life will change. Big Book pg. 84


Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all our activities.


Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worthwhile to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have--the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert misery and death for them.


Great Spirit grant us vision from the Higher Powers.

July 15

"God as we understood Him" slowly, it dawned on me that I could use my concepts of my traditional God, the Great Spirit, or in my Indian language, Kitchi

Munito. I became more aware of what I had previously missed in other A.A. involvement's.

AA Grapevine-July 1979 Saulteaux Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men. When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God.




Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has placed in our hands.

Bill W. AA Grapevine April 1961 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Creator grant that I understand my relationship to you.

July 16

Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children. Sitting Bull Lakota

My workshop stands on a hill back of our home. Looking over the valley, I see the village community house where our local group meets. Beyond the circle of my horizon lies the whole world of A.A.

AA Today "The Language of the Heart" (Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine)

Though many of us had to struggle for sobriety; never yet has this Fellowship had to struggle for lost unity. Consequently, we sometimes take this one gift for granted. We forget that, should we lose our unity, the millions of alcoholics who still "do not know" might never get their chance.

"As Bill Sees It" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather give us strength to preserve for the next generation.

July 17

"What does it matter how long I pray, so long as my prayers are answered?" Sitting Bull Hunkapapa Lakota

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge our His will for us and the power to carry that out.


Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. We all need the light of God's reality, the nourishment of His strength, and the atmosphere of His grace.


In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.


Creator, we are but simple people, hear our prayers.

July 18

Wakonda prevails over all; air, earth and sky and refers to something greater than is within the power of man to accomplish.

Osage

Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements.






Wakonda help us.

July 19

Great Spirit, hear me four quarters of the world-a relative I am. Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, give me the eyes to see and the strength to

understand that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds. Black Elk Lakota

We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize God is doing for us what we could not do ourselves.


We treasure our "Serenity Prayer" because it brings a new light to us that can dissipate our oldtime and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves. In the radiance of this prayer we see that defeat rightly accepted, need be no disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down.

Bill W Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine March 1962

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.

July 20

The knowledge of a spiritual life is part of the person twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Joe S. Jemez Pueblo

We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.




Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.


Great Mystery give us knowledge of the spiritual.

July 21

This day was appointed by the Great Spirit for us to see one another. It makes my heart as glad to enter your house as it does when I enter my own home.

Chief Lowrey Cherokee

Many people wonder how A.A. can function under seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authority whatever. We have two authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign. There is God, our Father, who very simply says, "I am waiting for you to do my will." The other authority is John Barleycorn, and he says, "You had better do God's will or I will kill you."

AA Comes of Age pg. 105 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you.


Grandfather make our hearts glad.

July 22

A wise man keeps on learning..... Iron Eyes Cody

This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for a lifetime. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.


Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.


Creator help us learn.

July 23

We have all smoked out of this pipe of peace. It is your children's pipe and as the war is all over and the Great Spirit and Giver of Life, who has made the earth and everything therein, has brought us all together this day for our mutual good

to promote the good works of peace. Pontiac Ottawa

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.




Grandfather keep the people together.

July 24

The Great Spirit does right, he knows what is best for his children. We are satisfied.

Cochise Apache

Song of Hiawatha

That the feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness, Touch God's right hand in the darkness and lifted up and strengthened, Listen to this simple story, To this song of Hiawatha...Listen to the words of wisdom, Listen to the words of warning from the lips of the Great Spirit From the Master of Life, who made you... All your strength is in your union, All your danger is in discord. Therefore be at peace hence forth forward and as brothers live together.

H. W. Longfellow

In the darkness of the hut, Frank opened his heart to his Creator. He prayed for all those who are dear to him, friend and family alike. As he whispered a final amen a voice in the darkness said, "Your prayer was totally unselfish. You have learned to pray."

Frank AA Grapevine August 1986 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Great Spirit hear us, we are satisfied in our hearts.

July 25

I want people to know that there is a cultural and spiritual revival underway in native communities and it is being inspired and led by sober people.

Brian Maracle Mohawk

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.


Of far more importance was the fact that he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience. In other words, he talked my language. He knew all the answers, and certainly not because he had picked them up in his reading.


Creator keep me sober.

July 26

"Power is not manifested in the human being. True power is in the Creator.” Oren Lyons Onondaga

To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.


When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God's will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not defiance.


Therefore, Step Two is the rallying point for all of us. Whether agnostic, atheist, or former believer, we can stand together on this Step. True humility and an open mind can lead us to faith, and every A.A. meeting is an assurance that God will restore us to sanity if we rightly relate ourselves to Him.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg.33 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather the power comes from you.

July 27

"So unbelievable things like that happen. But you have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it... You say it from the heart.”


Everybody nowadays, believes in scores of assumptions for which there is good evidence, but no perfect visual proof. And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof? It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all. To illustrate: The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn’t so.




Great Spirit give us strength to believe.

July 28

Have a good heart and all things will come to you. Believe and respect, follow your clan's leaders and listen to the elders. The other moons will follow.

Hopi

Still you may say: "But I will not have the benefit of contact with you who write this book." We cannot be sure. God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is always upon Him. He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave. Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.


Grandfather, Grandmother give us a good heart.

July 29

"The greater the faith, the greater the result."

Fools Crow Lakota

The door opened and he stood there, fresh-skinned and glowing. There was something about his eyes. He was inexplicably different. What had happened? I pushed a drink across the table. He refused it. Disappointed but curious, I wondered what had got into the fellow? He wasn’t himself. “Come, what’s this all about?” I queried. He looked straight at me. Simply, but smilingly, He said, “I’ve got religion.” I was aghast. So that was it--last summer an alcoholic crackpot; now, I suspected, a little cracked about religion. He had that starry-eyed look. Yes, the old boy was on fire all right. But bless his heart, let him rant! Besides, my gin would last longer his preaching. But he did no ranting. In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment. They told of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was self-evident. It worked! He had come to pass his experience along to me--if I cared to have it. I was shocked, but interested. Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless. He talked for hours. Childhood memories rose before me. I could almost hear the sound of the preacher's voice as I sat, on still Sundays, way over there on the hillside; there was the proffered temperance pledge I never signed; my grandfather's good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen; his fearlessness as he spoke of these things just before he died; these recollections welled up from the past. They made me swallow hard.


Creator show us how to believe.

July 30

Most men have strayed from the path shown us by the Great Spirit. Massau'u alone is great enough to portray the way back to Him.

Hopi

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought.


We will suddenly realize God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Big Book pg. 84


Great Mystery show us the path you made for us.

July 31

"Life is like a path...and we all have to walk the path...As we walk...we'll find experiences like little scraps of paper in front of us along the way. We must pick up those pieces of scrap paper and put them in our pocket... Then, one day, we will have enough scraps of papers to put together and see what they say... Read

the information and take it to heart." Uncle Frank Davis (quoting his mother) Pawnee

In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself.


Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path... Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it--then you are ready to take certain steps.


Creator help me see the little lessons each day.

August 1

“You have to have a lot of patience to hear those old people talk, because when they talk, they talk about motivation, the feeling, the unsound that is around the

universe. They explain everything to one understanding. They bring it all together, and when they finish, just one word comes out. Just one word. They

might talk all day, and just one word comes out." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

The elder statesmen is the one who sees the wisdom of the group's decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgment, fortified by considerable experience, is sound, and who is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines patiently awaiting developments.


"So spoke the group conscience. The group was right and I was wrong; the voice on the subway was not the voice of God. Here was the true voice, welling up out of my friends. I listened, and--thank God--I obeyed."

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg 138 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

"Let's not louse this thing up; let's keep it simple."

Dr. Bob “AA Comes of age” pg. 214 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let me listen to the elders.

August 2

"The Natural Law is the final and absolute authority governing E Te No Ha, the

earth we call our Mother." Traditional Circle of Elders

The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an all Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere. Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn't it?


Grandfather, Grandmother help us to live in harmony with your natural

law.

August 3

IN THE BEGINNING were the Instructions... The Instructions was to live in a good way and be respectful to everybody and everything."

Vickie Downey Tewa/Tesuque Pueblo I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.


But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life--or else.


Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. It is seldom wise to approach an individual, who still smarts from our injustice to him, and announce that we have gone religious.


Great Spirit help me to live in a respectful way.

August 4

"Wakan Tanka never stops creating."


But my friend sat before me, and he made the pointblank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known!


Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.


Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them.


We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first like a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, "a design for living" that really works.


Grandfather, I pray for all those alcoholics who have not found sobriety.

August 5

"It is not through the great skill of the hunter himself that success is achieved, but through the hunter's awareness of his place in Creation and his relationship

to all things." Thomas Yellowtail Crow

On the other hand--and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand--once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.

"The Doctor's Opinion" Big Book pg. xxix


I woke up. This had to be stopped. I saw I could not take so much as one drink. I was through forever. Before then, I had written lots of sweet promises, but my wife happily observed that this time I meant business. And so I did. Shortly afterward I came home drunk. There had been no fight. Where had been my high resolve? I simply didn't know. It hadn't even come to mind. Someone had pushed a drink my way, and I had taken it. Was I crazy? I began to wonder, for such an appalling lack of perspective seemed near being just that.


My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honestly and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements.


Great Mystery teach me to watch and learn your ways.

August 6

"We need to save those Elders who cannot speak for themselves -- the trees." Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last. It was only a matter of being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. I saw that growth could start from that point. Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what I saw in my friend. Would I have it? Of course I would!


Creator teach me to understand that you are all things.

August 7

"If there is a shadow of a doubt someplace, that will cause a weakness." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

Foreword to Third Edition Big Book pg. xxii


I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.

William D. Silkworth Big Book pg. xxxii


Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. At long last I saw, I felt, I believed. Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view.


Grandfather feed our strength.

August 8

I've had lots of chances, but just when things start looking good I get that craving for whiskey and foul up.

Ira Hayes Pima

I do not hold with those who believe that alcoholism is entirely a problem of mental control. I have had many men who had, for example, worked for a period of months on some problem or business deal which was to be settled on a certain date, favorably to them. They took a drink a day or so prior to the date, and then the phenomenon of craving at once became paramount to all other interests so that the important appointment was not met. These men were not drinking to escape; they were drinking to overcome a craving beyond their mental control.

"The Doctor's Opinion"- Big Book pgs. xxix & xxx Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees.


Great Spirit help us to walk the path of right thinking.

August 9

"The Elders say that if you want something good, you have to suffer for it.” Chuck Ross Lakota

Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know that the pains of alcoholism had to come before sobriety, and emotional turmoil before serenity.


We did not always come closer to wisdom by reason of our virtues; our better understanding is often rooted in the pains of our former follies. Because this has been the essence of our individual experience, it is also the essence of our experience as a fellowship.

“As Bill Sees It” Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

When pain comes, we are expected to learn from it willingly, and help others to learn. When happiness comes, we accept it as a gift, and thank God for it.

Bill W Letter 1950 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Mystery help us understand that suffering is part of learning, that if we search we will find the lesson we need to understand.

August 10

May the Great Spirit bless you all and bestow upon you life, health, peace and prosperity and may you in turn, appreciate the great goodness. Naho.

Ga-ne-odi-yo Iroquois

Abandon yourselves to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principal of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds us to place principals before personalities; that we are actually to practice genuine humility. This to the end that our great blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.


August 11

"It is a paradox in the contemporary world that in our desire for peace we must willingly give ourselves to struggle."

Linda Hogan Chickasaw

Who cares to admit complete defeat? Practically no one, of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking that only an act of Providence can remove it. No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one. Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor, bleeds us of all self-sufficiency and all will to resist its demands. Once this stark fact is accepted, our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete. But upon entering A.A. we soon take quite another view of this absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives can be built.


Great Spirit guide us in our struggles.

August 12

My talk shall be short but true. Captains and Chiefs, listen to me the Great Spirit has given us a good day and we have listened to many good talks. We are all alike, all look alike and are one people. The Great Spirit, our Father, and our

Mother the earth see and hear all we say in council. Jose Maria Pacific Anadark

If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.


Why, at this particular point in history, has God chosen to communicate His healing grace to so many of us? Every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is "communication." There has been a life-saving communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God.

Bill W. "The Language of the Heart" Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

What I needed was the humility of self-forgetfulness and the kinship with another human being of my own kind.

AA Today pg. 10 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather, Grandmother, help us to live as one in your creation, we

are all part of that creation.

August 13

The beginning is purification, that's the first step. And purification means purification of body and mind. You don't purify the body without cleansing the

mind; that's the way it works. Rolling Thunder Cherokee

Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice A.A. program unless they hit bottom. For practicing A.A.’s remaining eleven Steps means adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dreams of taking. Who wishes to be rigorously honest and tolerant? Who wants to confess his faults to another and make restitution for harm done? Who cares anything about a Higher Power, let alone meditation and prayer? Who wants to sacrifice time and energy in trying to carry A.A.’s message to the next sufferer? No, the average alcoholic, self-centered in the extreme, doesn’t care for this prospect—unless he has to do these things in order to stay alive himself.


Great Mystery cleanse my mind, show me how to think good things,

help me be whole today.

August 14

Great Spirit, listen to the words of thy people here assembled. Give kind attention to our words; as they arise to Thee in the smoke. Give strength that we may not fail. Guide the mind of the people, that they may remember Thee in all

their actions. NA-HO!! Seneca Prayer

Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop up, we ask God at once to remove them.




August 15

“Peace comes within the souls of men, when they realize their oneness with the

universe, when they realize it is really inside of each one of us. Black Elk Lakota Medicine Man



...most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group. Realization dawns that he is but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for the preservation of the Fellowship… He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group. It becomes plain that the group must survive or the individual will not.


Grandfather help me realize my oneness with your universe.

August 16

"We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can't speak for themselves,

such as the birds, animals, fish and trees. Qwatsinas (Heredity Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

Why Do We Need a Conference?

"We may not need a General Service Conference to ensure our own recovery. We do need it to ensure the recovery of the alcoholic who still stumbles in the darkness one short block from this room. We need it to ensure the recovery of a child being born tonight, destined for alcoholism. We need it to provide, in keeping with our Twelfth Step, a permanent haven for all alcoholics who, in the ages ahead, can find in A.A. that rebirth that brought us back to life. We need it because we, more than all others, are conscious of the devastating effect of the human urge for power and prestige which we must ensure can never invade A.A. We need it to ensure A.A. against government, while insulating it against anarchy; we need it to protect A.A. against disintegration while preventing overintegration. We need it so that Alcoholics Anonymous, and Alcoholics Anonymous alone, is the ultimate repository of its Twelve Steps, its Twelve Traditions, and all of its services. We need it to ensure that changes within A.A. come only as a response to the needs and the wants of all A.A., and not of any few. We need it to ensure that the doors of the halls of A.A. never have locks on them, so that people for all time who have an alcohol problem may enter these halls unasked and feel welcome. We need it to ensure that Alcoholics Anonymous never asks anyone who needs us what his or her race is, what his or her creed is, what his or her social position is.”

Bernard B. Smith AA Service Manual 1954 General Service Conference Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit help us to keep the traditions alive for those who have not

yet come in the door.

August 17

Always remember you are Indian-do things to make your people proud. Joe Coyhis Stockbridge-Munsee

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends--this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.


Creator teach us who we are.

August 18

I know Great Spirit is looking down on me from above, and will hear what I say…

Sitting Bull Hunkpapa Sioux

Now, what of prayer? Prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God--and in this sense it includes meditation. How may we go about it? And how does it fit in with meditation? Prayer, as commonly understood, is a petition to God. Having opened our channel as best we can, we try to ask for those right things of which we and others are in the greatest need. And we think that the whole range of our needs is well defined by that part of Step Eleven which says: ". . .knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." A request for this fits in any part of our day.


We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.


Great Spirit, I know you sit above me. May I raise my heart and spirit

to you today. Hear me Grandfather as I pray to you that I may walk your path here.

August 19

"I am opening my heart to speak to you-open yours to receive my words." Como Potawatomi

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God.


How could a Supreme Being have anything to do with it all? And who could comprehend a Supreme Being anyhow? Yet in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, "Who, then, made all this? There was a feeling of awe and wonder but it was fleeting and soon lost.


Even so has God restored us all to our right minds. To this man, the revelation was sudden. Some of us grow into it more slowly. But He has come to all who have honestly sought Him.


Grandfather, walk with us, open our minds to the wonders and truths around us.

August 20

All I do is through the Great Spirit for the benefit of my people. Everything belongs to the Great Spirit, I trust to the Great Spirit.

Kanakuk Kickapoo

Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and those around us.


When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than we could have planned.


In my own case, the foundation stone of freedom from fear is that of faith; a faith that, despite all worldly appearances to the contrary, causes me to believe that I live in a universe that makes sense. To me, this means a belief in a Creator who is all power, justice, and love; a God who intends for me a purpose, a meaning, and a destiny to grow, however little and haltingly, toward His own likeness and image. Before the coming of faith I had lived as an alien in a cosmos that too often seemed hostile and cruel. In it there could be no inner security for me.

Bill W Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Creator, I come to you, guide me Grandfather, that my actions may carry your spirit.

August 21

These two rules are by which I grew up. Do not kill or injure your neighbor, for it

is not him you injure or kill, you injure yourself. Do not wrong or hate your neighbor, for it is not him that you wrong, you wrong yourself. Meneto, the Great

Mother, the Supreme Being, loves him also as She loves you. Alford Wilson Shawnee



We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we harmed other people. What kinds of "harm" do people do one another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people. If our tempers are consistently bad, we arouse anger in others. If we lie or cheat, we deprive others not only of their worldly goods, but of their emotional security and peace of mind.


Great Spirit free us from judging and hurting others.

August 22

"The cask must be sealed, it must be made fast: It must not leak by day nor

night, in the light, nor in the dark.” Okanicon Delaware

This phenomenon, as we have suggested, may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity. It has never been, by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently eradicated. The only relief is entire abstinence.

The Doctor's Opinion Big Book pg. xxx Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.

Big Book pgs. 22 & 23 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S

We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: "Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic." Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.


Great Spirit let me remember being sober must come first today, that I am no good if I am drunk.

August 23

"You are a big chief and I am a big chief, but whiskey is the biggest chief of all."

Chief Washakie Shoshone

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking.


The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we become subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did--then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen--Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!


Creator help us to live free of the chains of alcoholism, help us be free

Grandfather.

August 24

All classes of people know that when human power fails, they must look to a higher power for the fulfillment of their desires. There are many ways in which the request for help from the higher power can be made. No man can succeed in

life alone and he cannot get the help he wants from man. Lakota Wisdom

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:



Grandfather, Grandmother, remind me where the power comes from, so I may grow with that wisdom.

August 25

Spiritual power is the power to do good. It's the power to pray, to talk to God, to

listen to him, to follow his instructions. We don't have to do it; it's up to us. Matthew King Lakota



When a man or woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which he had hitherto denied himself.


Great Spirit help us to wake up our spiritual selves.

August 26

We look to the wisdom of the past to assist us in those decisions which determine the future of ourselves and our children. To follow another course would be untrue and would bring upon us those troubles which fall upon a

people who are not true to themselves and their beliefs. Elder of Shongopoui Hopi

Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life. That is true only if one is willing to turn the past to good account. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. The alcoholic's past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently it is almost the only one! This painful past may be of infinite value to other families still struggling with their problem. We think each family which has been relieved owes something to those who have not, and when the occasion requires, each member of it should be only too willing to bring former mistakes, no matter how grievous, out of their hiding places. Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now. Cling to the thought that, in God's hands, the dark past is the key to life and happiness for others. With it you can avert death and misery for them.


Grandfather remind us to share the wisdom learned from our past.

August 27

Grandfather, Great Spirit, you have been always and before You no one has been. There is no other one to pray to but You, You yourself,

everything that You see, everything has been made by You. You in the depths of the heavens, an eagle of power behold.

Black Elk Lakota

What they do know is that in their utter helplessness they were introduced to a power greater than themselves, in contact with whom they found a strong resource which made possible a victory that had seemed incredible.... For honest-to-goodness experiential evidence of God, His power personally appropriated and His reality indubitably assured, give me a good meeting of AA!!

Dr. Harry Fosdick AA Comes of Age pg. 324 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.



The Creator who I have come to understand is the same one who created the plants of this earth. The Creator is the same one who created water I need to survive, the air which brings oxygen to breathe. My Creator provides me with everything I need to stay alive.

Tony O. "AA for the Native North American" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

August 28

We all belong to one family. We are all children of the Great Spirit. We walk the same path, shake our thirst at the same spring. We are friends we must assist each other to bear our burdens... The Great Spirit made all things...We must be united...We must smoke the same pipe and more than all we must love the

Great Spirit, He is for us. Tecumseh Shawnee

My workshop stands on a hill back of our house. Looking over the valley, I see the village community house where our local group meets. Beyond the circle of

my horizon lies the whole world of A.A. AA Today pg. 7


The unity of A.A. is the most cherished quality our society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God.


We must think deeply of all those sick ones still to come to A.A. As they try to make their return to faith and to life, we want them to find everything in A.A. that we found, and yet more, if that is possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort to preserve A.A.'s constant effectiveness and spiritual strength will ever be too great to hold us in full readiness for the day of their homecoming.

Bill W. 1959 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit walk with us today and show us we are all just a part of the same great whole.

August 29

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. It is not necessary for eagles to be crows.

Sitting Bull

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.


If I was ever going to gain quality sobriety, I had to rediscover my own native roots at the same time. I practiced letting go of all the hurt, the resentments, the feelings of inadequacy. Through the practice of the 12 steps of AA, I addressed my own spiritually.

Al Cherokee "AA for the Native North American" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let us walk as ourselves.

August 30

"Grandma said when you come on something good, first thing to do is share it with whoever you can find. That way, the good spreads out, no telling where it

will go, which is right." Forest Carter Cherokee

Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. Big Book pg. 89


Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.


Give freely of what you find and join us. Big Book pg. 164


Grandfather, Grandmother, remind us to share the gifts that have been given us.

August 31

Father, Creator of us all. Hear my prayer through this sacred pipe. Help my people to walk the good road of life. May they forget their differences and

remember their likenesses. May they dwell in peace and harmony with all living creatures "you" made. May goodness and happiness follow them until the coming

of those sacred red and blue days in a holy manner. May it be so. Aho. Clifton Charles Mojave

God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love and Thy Way of Life. May I do Thy will always!


Trouble no man about his religion - respect him in his view of the Great Spirit, and demand of him that he respect yours. Treat with respect such things as he

holds sacred. Do not force your religion on anyone. Red Jacket Seneca

September 1

For everything he sees he is thankful. He thinks of the Creator and thanks Him for the things he sees. Now he hears the birds singing and he thanks the Great

Ruler for their music. So then he thinks a thankful heart will help him. Canio-dai-io Seneca

A feeble prayer forged a lasting connection with a higher power for this Mic-Mac Indian. I looked up and said these words, "Well, Buddy: I guess there's just you and me" believe it or not, it worked.

4th Edition Big Book pg. 495 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

We have two authorities which are far more effective, one is benign, the other malignant. There is God, our Father, who very simply says, "I am waiting for you to do my will." The other authority is named John Barleycorn and he says, "You had better do God's will or I will kill you."

AA Way of Life--Bill W. Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather, thank you. Thank you for giving us life and freedom.

September 2

Let beauty shine in your eyes. Let beauty flow from your mouth. Let beauty manifest through your hands. Let your spirit always be inspired by the beauty of

the stars. Live in beauty, work in beauty, depart in beauty. Hiawatha

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.


Let everyone use his mind earnestly when we lift up our prayers of appeal to that one, our Father, the Great Spirit, our Creator.

Delaware

Great Spirit help us to see beauty so we may walk in beauty.

September 3

It is true that we have one Father above and we are always in His presence. We have one way of honoring and pleasing Him and you have yours, both being

acceptable. Susquehannah

We found that as soon as we were able lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.


The fellowship is entirely indifferent concerning the individual manner of spiritual approach so long as the person is willing to turn his life and his problems over to the care and direction of his Creator.

Dr. Silkworth "AA Comes of Age" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

We call God "Mystery" in many of our native languages. God is greater than anything we could ever understand or define. God speaks through all of creation

and cannot be limited. Ojibway & Cherokee

Great Mystery we hear your voice in all things to guide us.

September 4

He has to remain humble and helpful to the people in order to be able to feel the flow of power through the objects and through him, to the people.

Lakota

Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life.




Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us.


You forget you have just tapped a source of power much greater than yourself. Big Book pg. 163


Creator help us to be humble and willing to serve.

September 5

I walk with the Great Spirit, with God. I talk to him. The Great Spirit guides me in my life.

Noble Red Man

All true wise men begin with the acknowledgment of their finiteness, their darkness and their needs. When we get through to God, by whatever name we call Him, or rather when we let Him get through to us, then we begin finding light and the answer.

Sam Shoemaker "AA Comes of Age" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

My Creator has provided me with everything I need to stay alive. I am no longer what they used to call me... "a drunken Indian." Today, I am living my life according to how my Creator meant it to be lived.

"AA for the Native North American" Tony Oneida


To me, this means a belief in a Creator who is all power, justice and love: A God who intends a purpose, a meaning and a destiny to grow, however little and haltingly, toward His likeness and image.

"As Bill Sees It" Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather, Great Spirit guide me as I walk with you.

September 6

We are born fully equipped for spiritual survival. We are here to enjoy ourselves and thereby participate in life...Walking this path with perseverance, we will establish a firm sense of ourselves and be able to share our unique gifts.

R. Carlos Nakai Navajo-Ute

For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.


Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path... If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it---then you are ready to take certain steps.


The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it your relationship with Him is right, and great things will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.


Creator help us to walk with confidence in who we are, knowing we are on a spiritual journey.

September 7

"If we keep everything in balance, we are in harmony with ourselves and are at peace.”

Fools Crow Lakota

...When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically…


Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go. Hold on to my hand even if I have gone away from you.

Pueblo Blessing

September 8

It is well to be good to women in the strength of our manhood because we must

sit under their hands at both ends of our lives. He Dog Oglala Lakota

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. She would soon have to give me over to the undertaker or the asylum.


My wife became deeply interested and it was her interest that sustained mine, though I at no time sensed it might be an answer to my liquor problem. How my wife kept her faith and courage during all those years, I'll never know, but she did. If she had not, I know I would have been dead a long time ago. For some reason, we alcoholics seem to have the gift of picking out the world's finest women. Why they should be subjected to the tortures we inflict upon them, I cannot explain.


Grandfather thank you for the woman nations, help me to respect

them.

September 9

The old people must start talking and the young people must start listening.

Thomas Banyacya Hopi

Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

Big Book pg. xxii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Of far more importance was the fact that he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience. In other words, he talked my language.


Great Spirit remind us to pass on the lessons we have learned.

September 10

“I believe much trouble and blood would be saved if we opened our hearts more.”

Chief Joseph Nez Perce

For if an alcoholic failed to enlarge and perfect his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trails and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die.


Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.


Creator open my heart and let me speak straight.

September 11

If we utter words as if they are nothing more than sound, our thoughts will be regarded as shallow and worthless and so will we. And if we are careless of the

truth we must, in the end, lose the trust of our brothers and sisters. Ojibway

Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves, if they are to re-create their lives.

Big Book pg. xxvi Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

But he did no ranting. In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment. They had told of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was self-evident. It worked! He had come to pass his experience along to me—if I cared to have it. I was shocked, but interested. Certainty I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless.


Grandfather, Grandmother may I choose my words to have depth and weight.

September 12

I fasted and called upon the Great Spirit to direct my steps to the right path. Black Hawk Sauk

I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he will remain to pray.

Dr. William D.. Silkworth Big Book pg. xxx Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems.


Great Spirit help us to keep on the right path and guide us today in our thinking. I ask in a good way, Grandfather.

September 13

Those who know how to play can easily leap over the adversaries of life. One who knows how to sing and laugh never brew mischief.

Iglulik Eskimo Proverb

We have been speaking to you of serious, sometimes tragic things. We have been dealing with alcohol in its worst aspect. But we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life. We try not to indulge in cynicism over the state of the nations, nor do we carry the world's troubles on our shoulders. When we see a man sinking into the mire that is alcoholism, we give him first aid and place what we have at his disposal. For his sake, we do recount and almost relive the horrors of our past. But for those of us who have tried to shoulder the entire burden and trouble of others find we are soon overcome by them. So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst out in merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and been given the power to help others.


Grandfather, Great Spirit, help us to remember to enjoy today. Help us! Help us to remember to play, help us to remember to laugh! Thank you,

Great Spirit.

September 14

Yes, a power we call Sila, which is not to be explained in simple words. A Great

Spirit, supporting the world and the weather and all life on earth. A spirit so mighty that what He says to mankind is not through common words. No one has seen Sila, His place of being is a mystery, in that He is at once among us and

unspeakable far away. Najagneq Eskimo



Let us make haste to reassure you. We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.


For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.

Big book pg. 55 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

"Wa-kon-da dhe dhu wapa-dhin a-ton-he" Father, a needy one stands before thee. I that sing am he.

Prayer Omaha

September 15

If any man do anything, sincerely believing that thereby he is worshipping the Great Spirit, he is worshipping the Great Spirit, and his worship must be treated

with respect, so long as he is not trespassing on the rights of others. Wabasha Lakota

Still dubious, he demanded, "Do you really mean the only reason you are here is to try and help me and to help yourself?" "Yes," I said. That's absolutely all there is to it. There's no angle." Then, hesitantly, I ventured to talk about the spiritual side of our program. What a freeze that drunk gave me! I'd no sooner got the word 'spiritual' out of my mouth than he pounced. 'Oh!' he said. 'Now I get it! You're here proselytizing for some damn religious sect or other. Where do you get that "no angle" stuff? I belong to a great church that means everything to me. You've got a nerve to come in here talking religion!' Thank heaven I came up with the right answer for that one. It was based foursquare on the single purpose of A.A. 'You have faith,' I said. 'Perhaps far deeper faith than mine. No doubt you're better taught in religious matters than I. So I can't tell you anything about religion. I don't even want to try. I'll bet, too, that you could give me a letter-perfect definition of humility. But from what you've told me about yourself and your problems and how you propose to lick them, I think I know what's wrong.' "Okay," he said. "Give me the business." "Well," said I, "I think you're just a conceited Irishman who thinks he can run the whole show." This really rocked him. But as soon as he calmed down, he began to listen while I tried to show him humility was the main key to sobriety. Finally, he saw that I wasn't attempting to change his religious views, that I wanted him to find the grace in his own religion that would aid his recovery. From there on we got along fine.


Great Spirit help us to respect others’ beliefs.

September 16

We begin by letting the Powers know that we are willing to be their servants to others.

Fools Crow Lakota

When ready, we say something like this: "My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen!!


Father, we thank the Great Spirit for giving us so fine a day to meet upon great affairs. It is the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet here today and before him I now take you by the hand. I call him to witness that I speak from my heart: For I see the Great Spirit will have

us friends. Pontiac Ottawa

September 17

I also know that being sober isn't enough. Not drinking is probably the easiest

part. I don't think my life would have changed much if I had only stopped drinking. What made the difference was getting involved with my spiritually,

picking up the pipe and our traditional ways. Walking Elk Santee

We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions. People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves. Instead, we looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. 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. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.




Great Mystery remind us that what we really have is a daily reprieve

contingent upon our spiritual condition.

September 18

You shall look and listen to the welfare of the whole people. Dekanawidah Iroquois

"I thought I was different because I'm an Indian." I heard that statement from many Natives at my early A.A. meetings. I would only shrug and say to myself: You think you're different, what about me? I'm a red-haired Indian.

"Fourth Edition" Big Book pg. 494 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

What is an American Indian? The answer of course is that an Indian is an idea which a given man has of himself. And it is a moral idea, for it accounts for the way in which he reacts to other men and to the world in general and that idea, in order to be realized completely, has to be expressed.

N. Scott Monaday Kiowa & Cherokee

"Well, Buddy, I guess there's just you and me." Believe it or not, it worked: those simple words worked. Something happened: A little peace came over me, anxiety left, and then I lay down and fell asleep. I slept well that night, the first good sleep in a long time. That feeble request to God worked. I was honest and really wanted God's help. From that day on, I knew that I had found a Higher Power and that He would help me.

"Fourth Edition" Big Book pg. 499 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

I thank the Great Spirit, the sun and the moon, for putting me on this earth. It is a good earth and I hope there will be no more fighting on it. That the grass will grow and the water will fall and plenty of buffalo.

Cut Nose Arapaho

September 19

The greatest strength is in gentleness. Leon Shenandoah Onondaga

If we were to live, we had to be free from anger. The grouch and the brainstorm were not for us. They may be the dubious luxury of normal men, but for us these things are poison… This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to our selves, “This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.” We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn’t treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. 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 alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted.


Grandfather give us the strength to be gentle.

September 20

"That is not our way, to set yourself apart and talk about who you are and what you've done. You let your life speak for you. With the Mohawk people, wisdom is how you live and how you interpret what your mother and father, what your grandmothers and grandfathers have told you about this world - and then how

you interpret that into the fact of living every day." Tom Porter Mohawk

These experiences taught that anonymity is real humility at work. It is an all-pervading spiritual quality which today keynotes A.A. life everywhere. Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public. As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe that each of us takes part in weaving a protective mantle which covers our whole Society and under which we may grow and work in unity.


In all those he knew, memory was at floodtide. But who could really say what was thought and felt by the 5,000 sick ones to whom he personally ministered and freely gave a physician’s care; who could possibly record the reflections of his townsmen who had seen him sink almost within the grasp of oblivion, then rise to anonymous world renown; who could express the gratitude of those tens of thousands of AA families who had so well heard of him but had never seen him face to face? What, too, were the emotions of those nearest him as they thankfully pondered the mystery of his regeneration fifteen years ago and all its vast consequences since?

Dr. Bob: A Tribute “Language of the Heart” pg. 354

Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Great Spirit help us to walk quietly and listen.

September 21

People believe that each tribe had its own special relationship to the superior force which governed the universe and that the job of each set of tribal beliefs

was to fulfill its own tasks without worrying about what others were doing. Vine Deloria Jr. Lakota

"Shoemaker, stick to thy last!". . . better to do one thing supremely well than many badly... The unique ability of each A.A. to identify himself with, and bring recovery to, the newcomer in no way depends upon his learning, eloquence, or on special individual skills. The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety. These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates A.A.'s all around the globe.

Twelve & Twelve pgs. 150 & 151 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Just as the aim of each A.A. is personal sobriety, the aim of our services is to bring sobriety within reach of all who want it. If nobody does the group's chores, if the area's telephone rings unanswered, if we do not reply to our mail, then A.A. as we know it would stop. Our communication lines with those who need our help would be broken.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 175 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S

We conceive the survival and spread of Alcoholics Anonymous to be something of far greater importance than the weight we could collectively throw back of any other cause.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 177 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S

Grandfather, Grandmother teach us to be ourselves and to use our gifts

wisely.

September 22

The thing that matters is not what you bear, but how you bear it. Seneca

On his desk, Dr. Bob had a plaque defining humility: "Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.”

“Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers” pg. 222 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

The attainment of greater humility is the foundation principal of each of A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all.


Creator give us strength to be humble.

September 23

Alcoholics Anonymous is a Medicine Wheel. It is a simple but powerful Medicine Wheel with twelve stones in the outer circle, the realm of humans and the center stone for the deity...The twelve stones in the outer wheel are the teachings of

the steps. Roy W.

My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems.


We will suddenly realize God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Big Book pg. 84


Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Big Book pg. 164


Great Spirit guide us as we travel this road.

September 24

With prayer and good intentions, we make our lives sacred and so come to balance.

Don Jose Huichol Sierra Madre

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves. It works—It really does! We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined. But this is not all. There is action and more action. "Faith without works is dead.”


Great Spirit hear my prayers, may my intentions be good.

September 25

My Father, the Great Spirit holds all the world in His hands. Kanakup Kickapoo

But my friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised up from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known! Had this power originated in him? Obviously, it had not. There had been no more power in him than there was in me at that moment; and this was none at all. That floored me. It began to look as though religious people were right after all. Here was something at work in a human heart which had done the impossible. My ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. Never mind the musty past; here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table. He shouted great tidings.


Grandfather help us walk in respect. Everything comes from you.

September 26

So we have both suffered, we must help one another and the Great Spirit will help us both.

Pied Riche Potawatomi

Countless times, in as many cities and hamlets, we reenacted the story of Eddie Rickenbacker and his courageous company when their plane crashed in the Pacific. Like us, they had suddenly found themselves saved from death, but still floating on a perilous sea. How well they saw that their common welfare came first. None might become selfish of water and bread. Each needed to consider the others, and in abiding faith they knew they must find their real strength. And this they did find, in measure to transcend all the defects of their frail craft, every test of uncertainty, pain, fear, and despair, and even the death of one. Thus has it been with A.A. By faith and by works we have been able to build upon the lessons of an incredible experience. They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which--God willing--shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us.


Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.


Great Mystery give us strength to know how to help our brothers and

sisters, wisdom to listen to our ancestors.

September 27

Our chieftains do not undertake the mastery of their people, but rather are they the people's servants, elected to serve the will of the majority.

Pushmatata Choctaw

Leadership in A.A.: Ever a Vital Need Somewhere in our literature there is a statement to this effect: "Our leaders do not drive by mandate: they lead by example." In effect we are saying to them, "Act for us, but don't boss us." Therefore, a leader in A.A. service is a man (or woman) who can personally put principals, plans, and policies into such dedicated and effective action that the rest of us want to back him up and help him with his job. When a leader power-drives us badly, we rebel; but when he too meekly becomes an order-taker and he exercises no judgment of his own--well, he really isn't a leader at all... Good leadership originates plans, policies, and ideas for the improvement of our Fellowship and its service. But in new and important matters, it will nevertheless consult widely before taking decisions and actions. Good leadership will also remember that a fine plan or idea can come from anybody, anywhere. Consequently, good leadership will often discard its own cherished plans for others that are better, and it will give credit to the source... Good leadership never passes the buck. Once assured that it has, or can obtain, sufficient general backing, it freely takes decisions and puts them into action forthwith, provided, of course, that such action be within the framework of its defined authority and responsibility...

Reprinted with permission- AA Grapevine

Great Spirit guide us as we serve the people.

September 28

Great Mystery, we come to you for guidance, as you have been kind to us, let us not be any less kind to our brothers and sisters, in spirit and in deed.

Ojibway

This was our course: We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done." We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. 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.


September 29

When a child my mother taught me the legends of our people; taught me of the sun and sky, the moon and stars, the clouds and storms. She also taught me to

kneel and pray to Usen for strength, health, wisdom, and protection. Geronimo Chiracahua Apache

I forgot the strong warnings and the prejudices of my people concerning drink. Big Book pg. 1


Childhood memories rose before me. I could almost hear the sound of the preacher's voice; there was that proffered temperance pledge I never signed; my grandfather's good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen; his fearlessness as he spoke of these things just before he died; these recollections welled up from the past. They made me swallow hard.


There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost.


Grandfather, Grandmother teach us the lessons we need to live in a

spiritual way.

September 30

Our chief has always taught us: You must be humble. Whoever you are and whatever you do you must be humble. Then you will be considerate of others

and you will be happy. Ralph Hotwea Hopi

Every newcomer is told, and soon realizes for himself, that his humble admission of powerlessness over alcohol is his first step toward liberation from its paralyzing grip. So it is that we see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the avenue to true freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as something to be desired for itself, takes most of us a long, long time. A whole lifetime geared to self-centeredness cannot be set in reverse all at once.


Absolute humility would consist of a state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of character now lay so heavily upon me. Perfect humility would be a full willingness, in all times and places, to find and do the will of God. When I meditate upon such a vision, I need not be dismayed because I shall never attain it, nor need I swell with presumption that one of these days its virtues shall all be mine.

Bill W. AA Grapevine June 1961 Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Great Spirit let me walk in humility.

October 1

"Everyone got to find the right path. You can't see it so it's hard to find. No one can show you. Each person got to find the path by himself."

Charlie Knight Ute

We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.


What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we will find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely on it.


Great Spirit help us to find the footprints of the path.

October 2

I would that I could make the red people as great as the conception of my own mind, when I think of the Great Spirit that rules over us all…the true worship of

the Creator is doing his will. Tecumseh Shawnee

Still more wonderful is the feeling that we do not have to be specially distinguished among our fellows in order to be useful and profoundly happy. Not many of us can be leaders of prominence, nor do we wish to be. Service gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we need no longer be square pegs in round holes but can fit and belong in God's scheme of things--these are the permanent and legitimate satisfactions of right living for which no amount of pomp or circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes. True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.


Grandfather teach us to walk the good road in humility.

October 3

“You want to know who's a real medicine man? He's the one who doesn't say 'I'm a medicine man.' He doesn't ask you to come to him. You've got to go and

ask him. And you'll find he’s always there among his own people.” Louis Farmer Onondaga

When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help I want the hand of AA always to be there.

And for that I am responsible. AA’s Responsibility Pledge


Great Mystery help us to be responsible to our people.

October 4

When a man does a piece of work which is admired by all we say that it is wonderful; but when we see the changes of day and night, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, and the changing seasons upon the earth, with their

ripening fruits, anyone must realize that it is the work of someone more powerful than man.

Chased-By-Bears Santee-Yanktonia Sioux The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn't so. We read wordy books and indulge in windy arguments, thinking we believe this universe needs no God to explain it. Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere. Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end of it all. Rather vain of us, wasn’t it?


Grandfather let me see the wonders of your creation.

October 5

Telling our lives is important for those who come after us, for those who will see

our experience as part of their own historical struggle. Linda Hogan Chickasaw

Yet it is our great hope that all those who have yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom.

Big Book Foreword to the Second Edition pg. xxi


...When we see a man sinking into the mire that is alcoholism, we give him first aid and place what we have at his disposal. For his sake, we do recount and almost relive the horrors of our past…


Our hope is that when this chip of a book is launched on the world tide of alcoholism, defeated drinkers will seize upon it, to follow its suggestions. Many, we are sure, will rise to their feet and march on. They will approach still other sick ones and fellowships of Alcoholics Anonymous may spring up in each city and hamlet, havens for those who must find a way out.


Great Spirit may I share my experience, strength and hope that others may benefit.

October 6

...everything on the earth has a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and

every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence. Mourning Dove [Christine Quintasket] (1888-1936) Salish

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism...

Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine ...These men had found something brand new in life. Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary. It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves for others. They shared their homes, their slender resources, and gladly devoted their spare hours to fellow-sufferers. They were willing, by day or night, to place a new man in the hospital and visit him afterward. They grew in numbers...


Creator show us how to follow our purpose.

October 7

“You must speak straight so that your words go as sunlight into our hearts.” Cochise “Like Ironweed” Chiricahua Apache

Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling that we are sorry won't fill the bill at all. We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.


Great Spirit help me, help me to speak straight.

October 8

"So we are connected to the moon. That gives us power, a connection to the earth and the moon, men don't know about."

Cecilia Mitchell Mohawk

Cessation of drinking is but the first step away from a highly strained, abnormal condition. A doctor said to us, "Years of living with an alcoholic is almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic. The entire family is, to some extent, ill." Let families realize, as they start their journey all will not be fair weather. Each in his turn may be footsore and may straggle. There will be alluring shortcuts and by-paths down which they may wonder and lose their way.


Note: In many places in AA literature gives credit to the stalwart women who have stood with their alcoholic men. Caring for them, providing for them, and covering for their absurdities. Mothers kept their faith in us when the rest of the world would have given up on us. Great Spirit, help us to realize woman's connection with Grandmother

and the power that gives them.

October 9

The mind’s eye changes the way we judge things. Fools Crow Lakota

After all, our problems were of our own making. Bottles were only a symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anything or anybody. We have to!


"There is a principal which is a bar against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principal is contempt prior to investigation.”

Herbert Spencer Big Book pg. 568 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator teach us to look at things through our mind's eye.

October 10

"Each day, whatever I am doing, I am always praying and thinking of God." Thomas Yellowtail Crow



We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spirituality the way of weakness.


Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which come to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances!


Grandfather hear me, I am but a simple and weak two-legged, help me.

October 11

"Behold, my bothers, the spring has come; the earth has received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of that love!"

Sitting Bull Sioux While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been freely given me. Perhaps I could help some of them. They in turn might work with others.


We found too, that we had been worshippers. What a state of mental goose-flesh that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves? And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? How much did these feelings, these loves, these worships, have to do with pure reason? Little or nothing, we saw at last. Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence? It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one form or another we had been living by faith and little else.


"The Great Spirit is in all things, is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother.

She nourishes us; that which we put into the ground, She returns to us..." Big Thunder (Bedagi) late 19th century Algonguin

October 12

"The faces of our future generations are looking up to us from the earth and we step with great care not to disturb our grandchildren."

Traditional Circle of Elders The alcoholic is like a tornado roaring his way through the lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil. We feel that a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is enough.


Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the Steps require. But we saw that the program really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.


Great Mystery, I walk lightly today.

October 13

We have an old saying, Everything living must die. Only the rocks and mountains are forever.


Some of us tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.


We were reborn. Big Book pg. 63


Grandfather help us remember all things die, yet the circle ends where it started.

October 14

"I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured, it was the power from the Outer World, the visions and the ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no

power could come through. Then everything I do would be foolish. Black Elk Oglala Sioux

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.


Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.


Great Spirit help me be a hole that power comes through from the

outer world.

October 15

"God is making use of you - you should be grateful He's found a use for you." Mathew King Lakota

Thus we grow. And so can you, though you be but one man with this book in your hand. We believe and hope it contains all you will need to begin. We know what you are thinking. You are saying to yourself: “I’m jittery and alone. I couldn’t do that.” But you can. You forget that you have just now tapped a source of power much greater than yourself. To duplicate, with such backing, what we have accomplished is only a matter of willingness, patience and labor.


Creator, I am willing, use me. Thank you Creator.

October 16

"Your power comes from the songs." Ethel Wilson Cowichan

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with the facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.


Grandfather teach us the songs for sobriety.

October 17

"I am particularly fond of the little groves of oak trees. I love to look at them, because they endure the wintry storm and the summer's heat, and, not unlike

ourselves, seem to flourish by them." Sitting Bull Sioux

"We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it." Big Book pg. 83


A.A. is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted under grace, into spiritual progress.

“As Bill Sees It” pg. 35 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit remind us that our struggles nourish us.

October 18

"Respect should be given those indigenous nations who still carry on their

ceremonies; still following the ancient laws of nature with songs and ceremonies."

Oren R. Lyons, Spokesman Traditional Circle of Elders

The actual experience of meditation and prayer across the centuries is, of course, immense. The world's libraries and places of worship are a treasure trove for all seekers. It is hoped that every A.A. who has a religious connection which emphasizes meditation will return to the practice of that devotion as never before.


Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know God lovingly watches over us.


Great Mystery help us honor the ceremonies.

October 19

"But in the Indian Spirit the land is still vested; it will be until other men are able to divine and meet its rhythm. Men must be born and reborn to belong. Their

bodies must be formed of the dust of their forefathers' bones." Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux

Thus was I convinced that God is concerned with us humans when we want Him enough. At long last I saw, I felt, I believed. Scales of pride and prejudice fell from my eyes. A new world came into view. The real significance of my experience in the Cathedral burst upon me. For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted God. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me--and He came. But soon the sense of His presence had been blotted out by worldly clamors, mostly those within myself. And so it had been ever since. How blind I had been. At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time. Treatment seemed wise, for I showed signs of delirium tremens. There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my new-found Friend take them away, root and branch. I have not had a drink since.


Grandfather help me be willing to walk in a spiritual way.

October 20

"The god that people reject is not the true god, it is a god they have conjured up apart from proper education, and understanding. In such cases, the least Fools Crow will do is to call their assumptions into question, and force them to re-

evaluate their position." Thomas Mails Lakota

If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, color, or creed are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.


We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves.


There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The

sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say. Geronimo

Great Spirit lead us on your path.

October 21

“The one who wishes to be a true medicine person must be a person of faith, and they can only work successfully with those who also have faith."

Fools Crow Lakota

You can't make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is too crazy to know what he wants. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it is and why, and leave him alone.


We did not always come closer to wisdom by reason of our virtues; our better understanding is often rooted in the pains of our former follies. Because this has been the essence of our individual experience, it is also the essence of our experience as a fellowship.


We are not allied with any particular faith, sect or denomination, nor do we oppose anyone. We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted.

Foreword to the "First Edition" Big Book Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let me feel the power of faith.

October 22

“He [Wakan Tanka] walks with us along the pathways of Life, and He can do for us what we could never do on our own."

Fools Crow Lakota

We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.


Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action.


Grandfather may I see your footprints beside me.

October 23

"Believing people can soar beyond ordinary life." Fools Crow Lakota

Hence the two men set to work frantically upon alcoholics arriving in the ward of the Akron City Hospital. Their very first case, a desperate one, recovered immediately and became A.A. number three. He never had another drink.

Foreword to Second Edition Big Book Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


Great Mystery teach us to soar.

October 24

A Purpose

Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Love your life, beautify all things in your life. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies within yourself.

Tecumseh

But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals. Cleaning up old scrapes, helping to settle family differences, explaining the disinherited son to his irate parents, lending money and securing jobs for each other, when justified—these are everyday occurrences. No one is too discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially—if he means business. Social distinctions, petty rivalries and jealousies—these are laughed out of countenance. Being wrecked in the same vessel, being restored and united under one God, with hearts and minds attuned to the welfare of others, the things which matter so much to some people no longer signify much to them. How could they?

Big Book pg. 161 Reprinted with permission AAWS

Creator help us to walk free of petty rivalries

October 25

"...when faithful human beings or other creatures called upon them for help, they [the Powers of the Four Directions] must send their powers..."

Fools Crow Lakota

Had this power originated in him? Obviously it had not. There had been no more power in him than there was in me at that minute; and this was none at all.


Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.


They had visioned the Great Reality--their loving and All Powerful Creator.


Great Spirit hear me, I ask the Four Winds for help.

October 26

Each man is good in the sight of the Great Spirit. Sitting Bull Lakota

When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, he provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow, or the hereafter. We were reborn.


Great Mystery help us to feel our connection to all your creation.

October 27

What could be greater than to be Wakan-Tanka's mind, eyes, ears, nose, mouth,

arms, hands, legs, and feet here on earth?" Fools Crow Lakota

This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill.


We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travelers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.


The Goddess's Hands

One Solstice two women, one an elder one young, went camping. They rode horses as far as they could, then hiked up a steep mountain. By the time they had pitched their tent, made supper and cleaned up they were pretty well bushed. The elder lady asked the younger to make sure the horses were secure. The next morning the horses were gone.

The elder lady said to the younger, "What happened to the horses, I thought you had tethered them?" The younger lady said "I don't know, ask the Goddess, because I was so tired last night I just prayed to the Goddess to take care of the horses, I don't know what happened I prayed three times." The elder replied "It is good that you have faith but to ask the Goddess to tether the horses you would have to offer her your hands because she has no others."

You are the Goddess's hands. ( A Navajo Story)

October 28

"Whenever you take anything from the earth, remember to leave an offering." Joe Coyhis Stockbridge-Munsee

I had always believed in a Power greater than myself. I had often pondered these things. I was not an atheist. Few people really are, for that means blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere. My intellectual heroes, the chemists, the astronomers, even the evolutionists, suggested vast laws and forces at work. Despite contrary indications, I had little doubt that a mighty purpose and rhythm underlay all. How could there be so much of precise and immutable law, and no intelligence? I simply had to believe in a Spirit of the Universe, who knew neither time nor limitation. But that was as far as I had gone.


Great Mystery help us to be thankful for your gifts.

October 29

“We forget so we consider ourselves superior. But we are, after all, a mere part of the creation and we must consider to understand where we are and we stand somewhere between the mountain and the Ant. Somewhere and only there is a

part and parcel of the creation." Chief Oren Lyons Onondaga

Those who look closely soon have the key to this strange paradox. The A.A. member has to conform to the principals of recovery. His life actually depends upon obedience to spiritual principals. If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift; he sickens and dies. At first he goes along because he must, but later he discovers a way of life he really wants to live. Moreover, he finds he cannot keep this priceless gift unless he gives it away. Neither he nor anybody else can survive unless he carries the A.A. message. The moment this Twelfth Step work forms a group, another discovery is made--that most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group. Realization dawns that he is but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for the preservation of the Fellowship. He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group. It becomes plain that the group must survive or the individual will not.


Great Spirit let me remember I am but a part in your creation.

October 30

"Words hypnotize and deceive everyone at one time or another, but these hypnotic words cannot last long in the hearts of true warriors."

Barney Bush Shawnee

AA Preamble

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization, or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses or opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

Reprinted with permission AA Grapevine

Creator, as we walk the path help us speak words of truth.

October 31

Recovery is like a fire someone has to start it.

"The Honor of All" Alkali Lake

In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this Fellowship, at its core it remains simple and personal. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope.

"Foreword to The Third Edition" Big Book pg. xxii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Many years ago one of the leading contributors to this book came under our care in this hospital and while here he acquired some ideas which he put into practical application at once. Later, he requested the privilege of being allowed to tell his story to other patients here and with some misgiving, we consented. The cases we have followed through have been most interesting; in fact, many of them are amazing. The unselfishness of these men as we have come to know them, the entire absence of profit motive, and their community spirit, is indeed inspiring to one who has labored long and wearily in this alcoholic field. They believe in themselves, and still more in the Power which pulls chronic alcoholics back from the gates of death.

"The Doctor's Opinion" Big Book pg. xxvii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me. Perhaps I could help some of them.They in turn might work with others.


Creator help us to build the fire of recovery.

November 1

“I’m an Indian, I am one of God’s Children” Matthew King Lakota

Still more wonderful is the feeling that we do not have to be specially distinguished among our fellows in order to be useful and profoundly happy. Not many of us can be leaders of prominence, nor do we wish to be. Service, gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we need no longer be square pegs in round holes but can fit and belong in God's scheme of things--these are the permanent and legitimate satisfactions of right living for which no amount of pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes. True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and to walk humbly under the grace of God.


There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.

Geronimo

Grandfather may I walk humbly in understanding of your creation.

November 2

"If I destroy you, I destroy myself. If I honor you, I honor myself." Hunbatz Men Mayan

Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.


We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, "This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done."


Great Mystery help me honor all my relations.

November 3

“When you are in the woods, you cannot ever be lost. You are surrounded by friends and surrounded by God." Joe Coyhis Stockbridge-Munsee

Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness and sense of direction flowed into them. This happened soon after they wholeheartedly met a few simple requirements. Once confused and baffled by the seeming futility of existence, they show the underlying reasons why they were making heavy going of life. Leaving aside the drink question, they tell why living was so unsatisfactory. They show how the change came over them. When many hundreds of people are able to say that the consciousness of the Presence of God is today the most important fact of their lives, they present a powerful reason why one should have faith. Big Book pgs. 50 & 51


Creator help us understand who we are in your world.

November 4

“As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist. The struggle is ours to win or lose.”

Sitting Bull The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, "What a great thing A.A. might have been!"


These experiences taught that anonymity is real humility at work. It is an all-pervading spiritual quality which today keynotes A.A. life everywhere. Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public. As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe that each of us takes part in weaving a protective mantle which covers our whole Society and under which we may grow and work in unity.


Grandfather give us wisdom to stand together and be quiet.

November 5

"It does not require many words to speak the truth." Chief Joseph Nez Perce

Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. The message which can interest and hold these alcoholic people must have depth and weight. In nearly all cases, their ideals must be grounded in a power greater than themselves, if they are to recreate their lives.

Big Book "The Doctor's Opinion" pg. xxvi Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Finally he shook his head saying, "Something has happened to you I don't understand. But you better hang on to it. Anything is better than the way you were." The good doctor now sees many men who have such experiences. He knows that they are real.


Creator help me to speak and live with a simple message.

November 6

"Silence is the cornerstone of character." Charles Alexander Eastman Ohiyesa Santee Sioux



Grandfather give us strength to be silent.

November 7

In Indian legend, the eagle is the favorite bird of the Great Spirit. It is said among my people that when you are confused, if you breathe your prayer on the eagle's pure down and send it heavenward you may know that the Great Spirit

will listen. Iron Eyes Cody Cherokee

Burn into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.


Great Spirit hear my prayers!

November 8

When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light. Give thanks for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food and give thanks for the joy of living and if perchance you see no reason for giving thanks rest assured the fault

is yourself. Wabasha Lakota Santee



Great Mystery help me! May I be thankful for the new day and all that

comes to me.

November 9

Laughter is a necessity in life that does not cost much, and the Old Ones say that one of the greatest healing powers in our life is the ability to laugh.

Larry P. Aitken Chippewa

But we aren't a glum lot. If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. We absolutely insist on enjoying life...So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment over seemingly tragic experiences out of the past. But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.


Grandfather remind me to laugh today.

November 10

"Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new, sweet earth, and the great silence alone.”

Charles Alexander Eastman Ohiyesa Santee Sioux

We were now at Step Three. Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: "God, I offer myself to Thee--to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!" We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him. We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser. But it is better to meet God alone than with one who might misunderstand. The wording was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it without reservation. This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.


Meditation is something which can always be further developed. It has no boundaries, either of width or height. Aided by such instruction and example as we can find, it is essentially an individual adventure, something which each of us works out in his own way. But its object is always the same; to improve our conscious contact with God, with His grace, wisdom, and love.


Great Spirit show us how to embrace the great silence.

November 11

"Do not grieve. Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will come, always out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey. What is past and what cannot be prevented

should not be grieved for..." Big Elk Omaha Chief

Now comes the biggest question yet. What about the practice of these principals in all our affairs? Can we love the whole pattern of living as eagerly as we do the small segment of it we discover when we try to help other alcoholics achieve sobriety? Can we bring the same spirit of love and tolerance into our sometimes deranged family lives that we bring to our A.A. group? Can we have the same kind of confidence and faith in these people who have been infected and sometimes crippled by our own illness that we have in our sponsors? Can we actually carry the A.A. spirit into our daily work? Can we meet our newly recognized responsibilities to the world at large? And can we bring new purpose and devotion to the religion of our choice? Can we find a new joy of living in trying to do something about all these things? Furthermore, how shall we come to terms with seeming failure or success? Can we now accept and adjust to either without despair or pride? Can we accept poverty, sickness, loneliness, and bereavement with courage and serenity? Can we steadfastly content ourselves with the humbler, yet sometimes more durable, satisfactions when the brighter, more glittering achievements are denied us?

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pgs 111 & 112 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator, I stand before you, give me strength to accept your ways.

November 12

"When that spirit comes, we don't ever ask questions. If I don't understand, I just hold onto it. Then later down the road, maybe in a couple of years, I

will understand what that spirit meant." Wallace Black Elk Lakota

With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their conception of a Power greater than themselves. Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spiritually of the program. Willingness, honesty and openmindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.

Big Book "Third Edition" pgs. 569 & 570 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

I earnestly advice every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.

Big Book "Third Edition" The Doctor's Opinion pg. xxx Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Great Spirit help me hold onto it when that spirit comes.

November 13

“ Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. You lived first, and You are older than all need, older than all

prayer...You are the life of all things." Black Elk Oglala Sioux

Almost any A.A. will tell how his affairs have taken remarkable and unexpected turns for the better as he tried to improve his conscious contact with God. He will also report that out of every season of grief or suffering, when the hand of God seemed heavy or even unjust, new lessons for living were learned, new resources of courage were uncovered, and that finally, inescapably, the conviction came that God does "move in a mysterious way his wonders to perform." All this should be very encouraging news for those who recoil from prayer because they don't believe in it, or because they feel themselves cut off from God's help and direction. All of us, without exception, pass through times when we can pray only with the greatest exertion of will. Occasionally we go even further than this. We are seized with a rebellion so sickening that we simply won't pray. When these things happen we should not think too ill of ourselves. We simply resume prayer as soon as we can, doing what we know to be good for us. Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless. The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to Him, all will be well with us, here and hereafter.


November 14

"It was good for the skin to touch the earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with bare feet on the sacred earth... The soil was

soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing." Chief Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux

He talked for hours. Childhood memories rose before me. I could almost hear the sound of the preacher's voice as I sat, on still Sundays, way over there on the hillside; there was that proffered temperance pledge I never signed; my grandfather's good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen; his fearlessness as he spoke of these things just before he died; these recollections welled up from the past. They made me swallow hard.


I saw my friend was much more than inwardly reorganized. He was on a different footing. His roots grasped a new soil.


Creator help us to feel the strength of the earth.

November 15

"We are nothing compared to His power, and we feel and know it." Black Hawk Sauk



For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator.


I feel Great Spirit at all meetings and when talk to A.A. friends. I know peace.


Creator, I walk in awe of your power.

November 16

"Grandfather says...you must not hurt anybody or do harm to anyone. You must not fight. Do right always. It will give you satisfaction in life."

Wovoka Paiute

Resentment is the number one offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.


As in war, the victor only seemed to win. Our moments of triumph were short-lived.


We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. 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.


Grandfather show me how to not hurt.

November 17

"My friends, how desperately do we need to be loved and to love." Chief Dan George Skokomish

We commenced to make fast friends and a fellowship has grown up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part. The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty. I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities. Business and professional men have regained their standing. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. We meet frequently so that newcomers may find the fellowship they seek.


A Native American Story

A grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt. He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one." The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?" The grandfather answered: "The one I feed."

November 18

“Our fathers gave us many laws which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good." Chief Joseph Nez Perce

On the other hand--strange as it may seem to those who do not understand--once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.

Big Book pg. xxix "The Doctor's Opinion"


We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we let God discipline us in the simple way we have just outlined.


Great Spirit help us choose to live by the good laws.

November 19

“We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that He never forgets, that hereafter He will give every man a spirit-home

according to his deserts: If he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home."


These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric. There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never known. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.


When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.


We were reborn. Big Book pg. 63


Great Spirit help us to see the home we deserve.

November 20

I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to simply depend upon himself.

Lone Man (Isna-la-wica) But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.


We have concluded to publish an anonymous volume setting forth the problem as we see it. We shall bring to the task our combined experience and knowledge. This should suggest a useful program for anyone concerned with a drinking problem.


Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say: "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing.”


Great Mystery show me how to ask for help.

November 21

Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principals of

truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.

Luther Standing Bear Oglala Sioux

During this process of learning more about humility, the most profound result of all was the change in our attitude toward God.


Maybe there are as many definitions of spiritual awakening as there are people who have had them. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others. And these things which they have in common are not too hard to understand. When a man or woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which, in one way or another, he had hitherto denied himself. He finds himself in possession of a degree of honesty, tolerance, unselfishness, peace of mind, and love of which he had thought himself quite incapable. What he has received is a free gift, and yet usually, at least in some small part, he has made himself ready to receive it.


Grandfather teach us the principals to live.

November 22

.…I am poor and naked, but I am chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace

and love. Red Cloud (Makhpiya-luta) April 1870

Like a gaunt prospector, belt drawn in over the last ounce of food, our pick struck gold. Joy at release from a lifetime of frustration knew no bounds. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product. If the family cooperates, dad will soon see that he is suffering from a distortion of values. He will perceive that his spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family obligations may not be so perfect after all. If the family will appreciate that dad’s current behavior is but a phrase of his development, all will be well. In the midst of an understanding and sympathetic family, these vagaries of dad’s spiritual infancy will quickly disappear.


Creator allow us to see what riches really are!

November 23

“A wee child toddling in a wonder, I prefer to their dogma my excursions into the

natural gardens, where the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the sweet breathing of flowers. If this is

Paganism, then at present, I am Pagan.” Zitkala-Sa

...Childhood memories rose before me. I could almost hear the sound of the preacher's voice as I sat, on still Sundays, way over there on the hillside; there was that proffered temperance pledge I never signed; my grandfather's good natured contempt of some church folk and their doings; his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen; his fearlessness as he spoke of these things just before he died; these recollections welled up from the past. They made me swallow hard.


...And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower?


Grandfather show us your spirit is in all things.

November 24

All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly.... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot

may lead us to a good. So are all things two, all two. Eagle Chief (Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee

"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen."


Great Mystery help us to accept both halves of ourselves that without negative there would be no positive.

November 25

"Someone must speak for them. I do not see a delegation for the four footed. I see no seat for eagles. We forget and we consider ourselves superior, but we are

after all a mere part of the Creation." Oren Lyons Onondaga

So at the outset, how best, to live and work together as groups became the prime question. In the world about us we saw personalities destroying whole peoples. The struggle for wealth, power, and prestige was tearing humanity apart as never before. If strong people were stalemated in the search for peace and harmony, what was to become of our erratic band of alcoholics? As we had once struggled and prayed for individual recovery, just so earnestly did we commence to quest for the principals through which A.A. itself might survive.


Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first… Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism…


Great Mystery help us to be kind to our fellow travelers.

November 26

“These are our times and our responsibilities. Every human being has a sacred duty to protect the welfare of our Mother Earth, from whom all life comes. In order to do this, we must recognize the enemy - the one within us. We must

begin with ourselves..." Leon Shenandoah Onondaga

Selfishness--self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. 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. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help.


Grandfather, today let me realize my greatest enemy is within me.

November 27

"Let us put our minds together as one." Irving Powless Sr. Onondaga

My schoolmate visited me, and I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies. We made a list of people I had hurt or toward whom I felt resentment. I expressed my entire willingness to approach these individuals, admitting my wrong. Never was I to be critical of them. I was to right all such matters to the utmost of my ability. I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within. Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I expect to receive. But that would be in great measure. My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new order of things, were the essential requirements.


Creator teach me the power of unity.

November 28

Great Spirit, Great Spirit, my Grandfather, all over the earth the faces of living things are all alike...Look upon these faces of children without number and with children in their arms, that they may face the winds and walk the good road to

the day of quiet. Black Elk (1863-1950) Oglala Sioux Holy Man



Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. May God bless you and keep you--until then.


November 29

“When you begin a great work you can't expect to finish it all at once; therefore, do you and your brothers press on and let nothing discourage you until you have

entirely finished what you have begun.” Teedyuschung Delaware

“This is the Step that separates the men from the boys.” So declares a well-loved clergyman who happens to be one of A.A.’s greatest friends. He goes on to explain that any person capable of enough willingness and honesty to try repeatedly Step Six on all his faults-without any reservations whatever—has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be called a man who is sincerely trying to grow in the image and likeness of his own Creator.


True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.


Great Mystery help us stay on the path.

November 30

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why

not all agreed, as you can all read the Book? Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" – Seneca

My Friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, "Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" That statement hit me hard. It melted the icy intellectual mountain in whose shadow I had lived and shivered many years. I stood in the sunlight at last.


We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies. There is no friction among us over such matters.


Grandfather help us to understand that many paths lead to the top of

the mountain.

December 1

"I am building myself. There are many roots. I plant, I pick, I prune. I consume.” Wendy Rose Hopi-Miwok

If you have already made a decision, and an inventory of your grosser handicaps, you have made a good beginning. That being so you have swallowed and digested some big chunks of truth about yourself.


Having made our personal inventory, what shall we do about it? We have been trying to get a new attitude, a new relationship with our Creator, and to discover the obstacles in our path. We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is; we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory. Now these are about to be cast out. This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.




Grandfather help us consume the truth about ourselves.

December 2

My father really was two people. One was the man who took pride in everything we did. The other had black fire steaming through his veins, his life dreams

scattered like frightened crows. Alcohol had erased these dreams: It had also enslaved him.

Dr. Lori Gruiso Navajo

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees.


Creator do not let my dreams become scattered like frightened crows.

December 3

The simple fact is a man does not challenge the wisdom of the Holy Mystery. Turtleheart Teton Sioux

This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.




Great Mystery, I am but a simple man, help me to understand.

December 4

Help me O Great Spirit to walk the red path with firm steps. May we who are your people stand in a wakan manner, pleasing to you. Give to us strength which comes from an understanding of your power. Because You made us You know better than us, we will walk the path of life in holiness, bearing the love and knowledge of You in our hearts. For this and for everything we give thanks.

High Hollow Horn Lakota

But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life--or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you. But cheer up, something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows you need not be disconcerted. If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.




But for each man to stay in his own experience, whatever it to be, and for others to tolerate him there, is surely best.

William James

December 5

"The smarter a man is the more he needs God to protect him from thinking he knows everything." George Webb Pima

He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk!


But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.


Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher power.


Great Mystery, I am weak I need your help.

December 6

We should understand well that all things are the work of the Great Spirit. He is above all things and people.

Black Elk Lakota

But my friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His human will had failed. Doctors had pronounced him incurable. Society was about to lock him up. Like myself, he had admitted complete defeat. Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known! Had this power originated in him? Obviously it had not. There had been no more power in him than there was in me at that minute: and this was none at all.


There I humbly offered myself to God, as I understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost.


Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.


Great Spirit I am lost without you, for you made all things.

December 7

You shall look and listen to the welfare of the whole people. Dekanawidah Iroquois

So at the outset, how best to live and work together as groups became the prime question. In the world about us we saw personalities destroying whole peoples. The struggle for wealth, power, and prestige was tearing humanity apart as never before. If strong people were stalemated in the search for peace and harmony, what was to become of our erratic band of alcoholics? As we had once struggled and prayed for individual recovery, just so earnestly did we commence to quest for the principals through which A.A. itself might survive.


This Tradition is a constant and practical reminder that personal ambition has no place in A.A. In it, each member becomes an active guardian of our Fellowship.


Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public. As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe that each of us takes part in the weaving of a protective mantle which covers our whole Society and under which we may grow and work in unity.


Grandfather remind us we are but a part of the tribe.

December 8

Hear me! My chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.


"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol--that our lives had become unmanageable." Who cares to admit complete defeat? Practically no one of course. Every natural instinct cries out against the idea of personal powerlessness. It is truly awful to admit that, glass in hand, we have warped our minds into such an obsession for destructive drinking only an act of Providence can remove it from us. No other kind of bankruptcy is like this one. Alcohol, now become the rapacious creditor, bleeds us of all self-sufficiency and all will to resist its demands. Once this stark fact is accepted, our bankruptcy as going human concerns is complete. But upon entering A.A. we soon take quite another view of this absolute humiliation. We perceive that only through our utter defeat are we able to take our first steps toward liberation and strength. Our admissions of personal powerlessness finally turn out to be firm bedrock upon which happy and purposeful lives may be built.


Grandfather help us, we are tired and weak.

December 9

A Prayer for Strength

O' Great Spirit whose voice I hear in the wind and whose breath gives life to all the world hear me! I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. O' Great Spirit make my hand respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and

rock. O' Great Spirit, we seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy myself. Make us always ready to come to you with

clean hands and straight eyes, so when life fades as the fading sunset my spirit may come to you without shame.

Tom White Cloud Ojibway

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace--that where there is hatred, I may bring love--that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness--that where there is discord, I may bring harmony--that where there is error, I may bring truth--that where there is doubt, I may bring faith--that where there is despair, I may bring hope--that where there are shadows, I may bring light--that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek to comfort than to be comforted--to understand, than to be understood--to love, than be loved. For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life. Amen.


December 10

“Praying is what has brought us old people through life. We've all gone through hard times. We've all done our share of bad things. But through our prayers and

faith in the Creator we get together again and we try hard to live right." Paula Weasel Head Blood

Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them.


Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do without it than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions, and our intuitions of vitally needed support. As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul.


Great Spirit teach us to pray, teach us to live.

December 11

May the Great Spirit, who rules all things watch over and protect you from every harm and danger while you travel the journey of life.

Ga-ne-odi-yo Iroquois

Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all. Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so. We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status. His only chance for sobriety would be some place like the Greenland Ice Cap, and even there an Eskimo might turn up with a bottle of scotch and ruin everything! Ask any woman who has sent her husband to distant places on the theory he would escape the alcohol problem.


Grandfather watch over me, keep me safe.

December 12

So I prayed, but I had to pray from my heart. All of my concentration and thoughts went from my head to my heart. All of my senses – hearing, smell,

taste, and feeling – were connected to my heart. Wallace Black Elk Lakota

Prayer and meditation are our principal means of conscious contact with God. Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions pg. 96


Often, I sense the deep meaning of the phenomenon of Alcoholics Anonymous, but I cannot begin to fathom it. Why, for instance, at this particular point in history has God chosen to communicate his healing grace to so many of us? Who can say what this communication actually is--so mysterious and yet so practical? We can only partly realize what we have received and what it has meant to each of us. It occurs to me that every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is communication. There has been a lifegiving communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God.

"The Language of the Heart" pg. 243 Reprinted with Permission AA Grapevine July 1960

Great Mystery teach us to pray from our hearts.

December 13

We also request you would give us some medicine to cure us of our fondness for that destructive liquor.

Kanigut Tuscarora

Remember that we deal with alcohol--cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power--that One is God. May you find Him now!...Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. ....Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.


God has either removed your husband's liquor problem or He has not. Big Book pg. 120


Great Spirit give us strength to walk sober.

December 14

There is one God looking down on us all. We are children of the one God. God is listening to me. Geronimo Apache

We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. We can laugh at those who think spiritually the way of weakness. Paradoxically, it is the way of strength. The verdict of the ages is that faith means courage. All men of faith have courage. They trust their God. We never apologize for God. Instead we let Him demonstrate, through us, what He can do. We ask Him to remove our fear and direct our attention to what He would have us be. At once, we commence to outgrow fear.


If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.


Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom and the willingness by which we may well fulfill that immense trust the Giver of all perfect gifts has placed in our hands.

Bill W. April 1961 Reprinted with permission A.A. Grapevine

Grandfather is listening, he is the center of all things.

December 15

I believe that even though we are of different backgrounds and cultures, we all have the same problems and the same road to travel. More than anything, we

need to work with one another to share what we have to offer, its time to get on with healing and learn to accept our differences.

Blue Bird Lower Brule Lakota

We are all average Americans. All sections of this country and many of its occupations are represented, as well as many political, economic, social, and religious backgrounds. We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined. The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.


Great Spirit help us understand we are but common men, that we are all related.

December 16

We come to bring the peace of the Great Spirit. Live in centers of peace and let peace manifest through your creative heroic life.

Dekanawidah Iroquois

....When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.


Creator help me see the path you want me to walk.

December 17

"If you have one hundred people who live together, and if each one cares for the rest, there is One Mind." Shining Arrows Crow

We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.

Big Book-Foreword to the First Edition-pg. xiii Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Ours is not the usual success story; rather it is the story of how, under God's grace, an unsuspected strength has arisen out of great weakness; of how, under threats of disunity and collapse, worldwide unity and brotherhood have been forged. In the course of this experience we have evolved a set of traditional principals by which we live and work together and relate ourselves as a fellowship to the world around us. These principals are called the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They represent the distilled experience of our past, and we rely on them to carry us in unity through the challenges and dangers which the future may bring.

AA Comes of Age pg. 79 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Grandfather, Grandmother show us the one mind.

December 18

People believe that each tribe had its own special relationship to the superior forces which govern the universe and that the job of each set of tribal beliefs was to fulfill its own tasks without worrying about what others were doing.

Vine Deloria Jr. Lakota

Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God. We trust infinite God rather than our finite selves. We are in the world to play the role He assigns. Just to the extent that we do as we think He would have us, and humbly rely on Him, does He enable us to match calamity with serenity.


It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.


Creator keep our feet walking the road you gave us.

December 19

Worship is of the heart, deep, joyous, personal. It is a current between each of us and our Creator. J S Hifler Cherokee

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life. Now and then we may be granted a glimpse of that ultimate reality which is God's kingdom. And we will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will of our own Creator.


Great Mystery you are the center.

December 20

Sacred dances like this one are not being held anymore because so many of the people are drinking and misbehaving and in truth act like they are out of their minds. People simply do not realize how far the Indians have fallen because of

liquor, most only see the surface damage. Fools Crow Lakota

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously anti-social. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor.


Grandfather give us sanity that we may live sober.

December 21

I do not believe that the Great Spirit Chief gave one kind of man the right to tell another kind of man what they must do.

Chute-pa-lu Nez Perce

For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority--a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.


Each group is autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.


Creator let us live as your creation, free to walk the sober road.

December 22

We love quiet...When the woods are rustled by the wind, we fear not, for after all, the wind is the voice of the Creator.

Delaware

...his insistence that the spheres really had their music; but his denial of the preacher's right to tell him how he must listen...


I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.


...we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing.


Great Mystery may I remember to listen to your voice in the wind!

December 23

"So don't be afraid. What we left behind, leave it back there. Try to do some good. Let's try to take a step, try to think something good."


We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn't treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful. 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... ...Notice that the word "fear" is bracketed alongside the difficulties with Mr. Brown, Mrs. Jones, the employer, and the wife. This short word somehow touches about every aspect of our lives. It was an evil and corroding thread; the fabric of our lives was shot through with it. It set in motion trains of circumstances we felt we didn't deserve.


Perhaps there is a better way--we think so. For we are now on a different basis; the basis of trusting and relying upon God.


Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction from Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go much further and that means more action.


Creator, I look to the West, I look to the North, I look to the East, I

look to the South, then I will know good things.

December 24

"Flexible strength is better than inflexible. Let the storm flow over you, and then pop back up."

Michael Kabotie Hopi

Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the spiritually of the program. Willingness, honesty and openmindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable. “There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principal is contempt prior to investigation."

HERBERT SPENCER


Creator help us to bend like the willow tree.

December 25

I realized the good example and valuable advice of the great holy men and saw how reckless I had been. I decided to obey our tribal rules, when I broke them I

never had any luck. Two Leggings Crow

People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about. Actually, we used to have no reasonable conception whatever. We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves....We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing. In our personal stories you will find a wide variation in the way each teller approaches and conceives of the Power which is greater than himself. Whether we agree with a particular approach or conception seems to make little difference. Experience has taught us that these are matters about which, for our purpose, we need not be worried. They are questions for each individual to settle for himself On one proposition, however, these men and women are strikingly agreed. Every one of them has gained access to, and believes in, a Power greater than himself. This Power has in each case accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible.


Grandfather help us hear our elders, help us see the good examples.

December 26

They must daily commune in their hearts and souls with the Supreme Spirit...I have other advice for you but all that I would say is within your heart.

Hiawatha Iroquois

As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day "Thy will be done." We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.


In all times of emotional disturbance or indecision, we can pause, ask for quiet, and in the stillness simply say: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Thy will, not mine be done."


We saw we needn't be bludgeoned and beaten into humility. It could come quite as much from our voluntary reaching for it as it could from unremitting suffering. A great turning point in our lives came when we sought humility as something we really wanted, rather than as something we must have. It marked the time when we could commence to see the full implication of Step Seven: "Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings."


Creator help us listen in our hearts.

December 27

Victory is only achieved and victory is sustained by those hearts in which the flame of nobility, honesty and the spirit of heroism burns bright. May the Great

Spirit be the flame in your hearts. Hiawatha Iroquois

Next day found the prospect more receptive. He had been thinking it over. "Maybe you're right," he said, "God ought to be able to do anything." Then he added, "He sure didn't do much for me when I was trying to fight this booze racket alone." On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything necessary. His wife came, scarcely daring to be hopeful, though she thought she saw something different about her husband already. He had begun to have a spiritual experience. That afternoon he put on his clothes and walked from the hospital a free man. He entered a political campaign, making speeches, frequenting men's gathering places of all sorts, often staying up all night. He lost the race by only a narrow margin. But he had found God--and in finding God had found himself.


Great Spirit may we feel the flame burn in our hearts.

December 28

Our wise forefathers established union and amity between the five nations. We are a powerful confederacy and by observing the same methods you will acquire such strength and power, therefore whatever befalls you, never fall out with one

another. Canasatego Mohawk

The moment Twelfth Step work forms a group, a discovery is made--that most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group. Realization dawns on each member that he but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is too great for preservation of the Fellowship. He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group.


The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of A.A. will always depend upon our continued willingness to give up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean unity and survival for the group and for A.A.'s entire Fellowship.

A.A. Comes of Age pgs. 287 & 288 Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S

Great Mystery teach us to sacrifice for the good of the group.

December 29

"Come forward and join hands with us in this great work for the Creator." Traditional Circle of Elders Northern Cheyenne



Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends--this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.


Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter your present circumstances!


Grandfather keep us together on the path.

December 30

Why is it so hard to accept help...When we need help we have not fallen short. If we have done everything we can to help ourselves then we should consider the other person's time to give...We can remember the feeling when it comes our

time to help out. Gratitude is a sign of strength. J Hifler Cherokee

It is important for him to realize that your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your own recovery. Actually, he may be helping you more than you are helping him. Make it plain he is under no obligation to you, that you hope only that he will try to help other alcoholics when he escapes his own difficulties.


You are going to meet these new friends in your own community. Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them you will make lifelong friends. 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. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life…


Grandfather remind us to be willing to ask for help and to give help when asked.

December 31

Peace uses weapons of spirit, beauty, justice, compassion, joy, courage, fearlessness, prosperity, creativity, harmony, cooperation. With these spiritual

weapons you will protect the Great Peace. Hiawatha Iroquois Confederacy

When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.


Great Spirit guide us, give us the spiritual weapons to protect the Great Peace.

Red Road Meditations Full year

Documents

Transcript of Red Road Meditations Full year