This old post got tons of hits yesterday for some reason… and since I also managed to receive an $850 home cheepo bill in the mail, here you go. By the way, sorry about the slight delay in the release of “The Privileged Addict Quotes“. I do all of the interior and cover design myself, so I’ve been waiting for a hard copy to come in and then I can approve it. Should be out this week, for sure. As well, I’ve had considerably more time lately to work on “Anybody Can Take Steps“, so that one should be done by early to mid-fall and it looks good. It will not only universalize and break down the Step process for non-addicts, but it will also help addicts and alcoholics better understand this process in simple, straightforward language.
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“A business which takes no regular inventory usually goes broke… We did the exact same thing with our lives. We took stock honestly. First, we searched out the flaws in our make-up which caused our failure. Being convinced of self, manifested in various ways, was what had defeated us, we considered its common manifestations.” –Alcoholics Anonymous, p.64.
Gee, I’m glad I didn’t listen to the guy who ran the Beverly Farms meeting years ago when he stood up from his seat in a fit of rage after I mentioned inventory and the above passage and constructed the following bit of eloquence, give or take. “Listen, I run a friggin’ business and lemme tell you, no friggin’ God and no friggin’ spiritual Big Book step bullshit keeps me sobah! It’s this friggin’ meetin’ and you friggin’ guys that keeps me sobah!”
Um, I know AA is self-governing but I have a hunch that’s not the best advice.
“Resentment is the ‘number one’ offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have not only been mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.” – Ibid., also p.64.
And the above is why I don’t go to meetings. Why add to the already steady accumulation of resentments? Plus, it was Alcoholics Anonymous that saved my life, a program which bears little to no resemblance to what takes place in some of these meetings.
Home Depot Inventory
1st Column (Who): Moron at Home Depot
2nd Column (Cause): a) Never cut my carpet after I ordered it, then forgot and sold the last of it to someone else.
3rd Column (Affects my…): Pride/Ambition, Self-Esteem, Wallet
4th Column (False Thinking, Truth):
Self-Seeking: I am the man. No one messes with me.
Selfish: I want my carpet when I want my carpet.
Dishonest: I make, and want to be forgiven for, my own human errors yet judge everybody else for theirs. (i.e. I know it wasn’t intentional.)
Fear: I fear looking bad to our new tenants. Afraid to let go, forgive.
God, forgive me for my sins, for being unloving and verbally abusive, for being intolerant and judgmental, for not forgiving and giving others the benefit of the doubt. Help me to see my character flaws, that I may rid myself of them and replace them instead with Your principles…