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...
Big
Book pg. 58
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.
Big
Book pg. 66
Great
Spirit help us. Show us the good path.