Topic Trust My name is Joanie and I am an alcoholic. This is the topic for the week of July 13 thru July 19. I must trust my program daily to maintain the connection between feeling comfortable and just surviving.DailyI must ask God for help to maintain the connection and to expand the connection to my fellow AA members, I in turn must give them the energy to maintain trust and so it goes. When a newcommer comes into the program I have to show them trust by my commitment, I must be there for them, I must not let anything come in the way to break that trust. So it is we come to believe and to follow a positive path that God has for us . We do this thru the 12 steps meetings fellowship and by bieng good and helpful people giving and recharging energy to one another. Trust is the path God has chosen for us to follow, I must hold it precious to me and my fellow AA members. If I have broken this trust and I reinforce negative energy.Negativity will creep into my life and my energy will die. I must keep the glow of God's energy constantly to keep my self happy joyous and free.
Hi, My name is Thomas and I'm an Alcoholic.
Jonnie I miss your words of wisdom and faith. It feels so good to here your words and I'm able to close my eyes and see you all the wat from Warsaw, Poland.
I'm one recovering person that to say I haven't drank today is enough. I must be able to have a feeling of acceptance which equals peace and serenity for it to be OK. To have that I must trust in the God and the felowship that only good will come from the committment to service to them. And only then am I able to be a reflection of what God wants me to be.
When that feeling of peace enters me then I know I'm truely doing God's will.
Excuse me but I wanted to say that not drinking is not enough.
That is the last time I submit my comments with out using my word processer and clip and paste.
Thanks for a great topic, Joannie -- and Hi, Thomas. I didn't realize in the beginning how important trust is! In fact, if I'm worrying, being anxious, acting depressed (life's a b**** and then you die attitude) then I'm clearly out-of-trust. Same with anger and self-pity. A new pigeon of mine was wailing "I don't trust anyone" and I mentioned that SHE needed to become trustworthy. Blew her mind! I start to get responsible and sure enough, HP's doing the same! I simply can't trust when I'm awash in negative, self-centered emotions, and Trust is a powerful moodchanger! I've come to realize that Trust, Surrender, Faith, Serenity and God's Will are all the same thing -- an absence of Ego. Have you ever consciously imagined yourself in God's Hands? Literally in the cup of His/Her palm, studying the lines on on its surface, so to speak? Knowing you're absuolutely, unconditionally safe? Now, THAT's trust! When I'm there (not always -- my Ego being so healthy still -- then my life is serene and soars at the same time. A lot of trite sayings cover this subject:
Either way is okay It either will or it won't God's Will is what IS! You can't NOT be in the right place! You're exactly where you're supposed to be! Let go and let God Keep it simple, Stupid.
sorry about the italics
my bad
It has taken me a long time to feel the trust that I have today that everything is OK, no matter how it may seem at the moment. I think for me it's been a matter of acquiring the *habit* of trust, of learning, through sober experience and through prayer and service to others, that the life I live has meaning, and that therefore, there is nothing to fear. A day at a time, it's been a long journey, and one I wouldn't trade for anything.
My friend George says that even though an ant can't hear the beauty of the music of Mozart (we think!), the beauty is still there. I now take that to mean that the world may have an order that I can't possibly understand (a long way from the days when I knew it all!), and that, as Joanie says, my responsibility is positive action, and the rest is up to God.
Thomas, thank you for your words this week - what you wrote is an example of the trust and love that people in AA feel for their friends and sponsors. I was very touched by it.
Wishing you peace this week from across the ocean (and to all on this side, too!) --
I'm Tim and I'm an alcoholic.
I like Judy's point about becoming trustworthy to find trust.
I know that when I came to AA I had nothing and nothing to lose. It was like throwing myself overboard. I didn't know what to expect, except more of the same old sh--. What I found was reliablilty, sincerity, predictability and a program that worked exactly to the extent that I worked it.
It was easy to learn to trust under those circumstances and inevitable to become trustworthy with the practice of AA's principles on a daily basis.
The end result is the happy fruitful trust filled life I enjoy today.
Ladies and gentlemen... this program works!
Hi I'm Cherise and I'm an alcoholic. I thank you Joanie for this topic. It's a real good one. I really like what everyone shared so far. The part about being trustworthy is probably the most important to me, because how can I expect to trust, if I can't be trusted. This program has taught me, like Tim was saying, how to be trusted and how to learn to trust by working the steps into my daily living. Trusting in my HP all the rest seems to come automatically when I'm living God's Will and not my own. Helping others and service, keeps me focused even more. Thanks for listening, and have a great sober week. and yes Tim, IT WORKS IF YOU WORK IT!
Hi I'm Bob and I am an alcoholic.
Thank you everyone for sharing it helps keep me sober.
Like most I could not trust myself, so how could I ever trust anyone? Well thriugh this fellowship and all that it offers I can trust today.For me when I started to trust my HP & myself I became a changed man.I had to make changes in my life and trust was one of the first changes.As my trust in HPgrew so did my faith.I learned that if I faith in my HP as big as a mustard seed, that seed being the smallest seed, ther is nothing that my HP & me cannot do.The trust in the fellowship came as i started living the 12 steps of recoveryin my life. I still have my times when the doubt tries to get back into my life & program.When I start getting like thatit is usually because I'm not doing the suggestions of my sponsor or my consciece contact is slipping. I would like to have absolute trust, but I'm human, and that will never be. I have trusted my life to this fellowship and I know it will always so, thanks for the trust!!!
Hi my name is J.D. and I am an alcholic, I love what Judy said about being in the hands of God. That feeling is there for me now whenever I want it, all I have to do is want it. I feel as if I am now growing from trust to knowledge. I don't know, can it really be called trust if there is no longer any doubt ?
jd@server.kaiserslautern.army.mil
I'm Barry and I'm an alcoholic,
Trust has always been a tough issue for me,I never really trusted anyone with anything emotional,or real about myself,it took a long time for me to trust another human being even a little,and I do'nt know that I really trust in my higher power,I believe,but when something comes up I do'nt have that blind trust yet (i think some people call it faith)I will keep working the steps and praying to my higher power,and hope that the trust will develop. Thanks
I've heard a lot of good stuff and learned a lot as well. I can identify with trusting others with my true feelings deep inside. Not the crap on the surface or material things, I don't have a problem trusting people with those. It's that stuff way down in the pit of my gut that I need to bring out that I'm too scared to let go of.
Hello,
Just walked in the door from our vacation in Maine. Great topic, I had to re evaluate my ability to trust!
I know for me that:
For prayer to materialize in my life, I must 1st trust that prayer works!
My willingness to trust in the act of prayer, has a direct effect on the outcome.
I must trust the process will work... I must be willing to trust the process... The only way to stay willing is by attendance at meetings and reaching out.
Left to my own devices, I will believe that "Perry Power" is a much better way of predicting the outcome.. ( Look out and run away when you see this happeneing to me )
1. Relax 2. expect the best 3. Came to believe 4. Pray 5. Trust in the outcome 6. Surrender 7. Enjoy the journey 8. Pray thanks minute to minute!
Glad to be back with you Soberites..Cyberites..
Is Joe H still in Vermont? Please check in...
Love :) Perry H