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. Big Book pg. 62 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. Big Book pg. 55 Grandfather help me to understand both my sides, help me to
nurture the good wolf.
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