APHORISMS AND QUOTES FOR RECOVERY

1) Stay away from that first drink, taking the 1st step daily.

2) Attend meetings regularly and get involved.
3) Accept that progress is achieved ONE DAY AT A TIME.
4) Use the 24-Hour plan.
5) Remember that your disease is incurable, progressive, and ultimately fatal.
6) Do first things first.
7) Don’t become too tired.
8) Eat at regular hours.
9) Use the telephone (not just after the fact, but during, too).
10) Be active—don’t just sit around. Idle time will kill you.
11) Use the Serenity Prayer.
12) Change old routines and patterns.
13) Don’t become too hungry.
14) Avoid loneliness.
15) Practice control of your anger.
16) Air your resentments.
17) Be willing to help whenever needed.
18) Be good to yourself, you deserve it.
19) Easy does it.
20) Get out of the “IF ONLY” trap.
21) Remember HOW IT WAS—your last drunk, the feelings, etc.
22) Be aware of your emotions.
23) Help another in his/her recovery; extend your hand; listen.
24) Try to turn your life and your will over to your “Higher Power.”
25) Avoid all mood-altering drugs; read labels on all medicines.
26) Turn loose of old ideas.
27) Avoid drinking situations/occasions.
28) Replace old drinking buddies with new sober buddies.
29) Read the Big Book.
30) Try not to be dependent on another (sick relationships).
31) Be grateful and, when not, make a GRATITUDE list.
32) Get off the “Pity Pot”…the only thing you’ll get is a ring around your bottom if you don’t.
33) Seek knowledgeable help when troubled and/or otherwise.
34) Face it! You are powerless over alcohol, people, places and things.
35) Try the 12 and 12,
36) Let go and let God.
37) Use the God bag and the answers: yes, no or wait—I have something better in store for you. Don’t forget to say thanks.
38) Find courage to change through the example of others who have.
39) Don’t try to test your will power—give an alcoholic one shovel and one pail and in one hour he/she will need 100 wheel barrels.
40) Live TODAY, not YESTERDAY, not TOMORROW—projection is planning the results before anything even happens.
41) Avoid emotional involvements the first year—you end up putting the other person first and lose sight of “your” program.
42) Remember alcohol is: cunning, baffling and powerful.
43) Rejoice in the manageability of your new life.
44) Be humble. Humility is not in thinking of yourself more, but in thinking more of yourself less often. Watch your ego.
45) Share your experience, strength and hope.
46) Cherish your recovery.
47) Dump your garbage regularly—GIGO = Garbage In Garbage Out.
48) Get plenty of “restful” sleep.
49) Stay sober for you—not someone else, otherwise it won’t work.
50) Practice rigorous honesty with yourself and others.
51) Progress is made ONE DAY AT A TIME, not 10 years in one day!
55) Make no major decisions the first year.
56) Get a sponsor and use him/her (not just selectively share).
57) Know that no matter what your problems, someone’s had them before. Don’t be afraid to share, as a problem shared is one 1/2 solved.
58) Strive for progress not perfection.
59) When in doubt, ask questions. The only stupid question is the one not asked. You weren’t afraid to speak before, so why start now.
60) Use prayer and meditation…not just pillow talk, get on those knees. Put your shoes under the bed just in case someone’s looking.
61) Maintain a balance: spiritual, physical, emotional and mental.
62) Don’t use other substances as a maintenance program.
63) Learn to take spot-check inventories.
64) Watch out for the RED FLAGS …things that give excuses for poor behavior and inevitable relapse.
65) Know that it’s okay to be human …just don’t drink over it.
66) Be kind to yourself; it’s about time, don’t you think?
67) Don’t take yourself so seriously—take the disease seriously!
68) Know that whatever it is that’s causing pain, it shall pass.
69) Stay as away from the DRY DRUNK SYNDROME as humanly possible.
70) Don’t give away more than you can afford to; your sobriety comes first and must be the number one priority. Protect it at all costs.
71) Take down those bricks from the wall around you; you’ll be able to see the daylight better. Let people know who you are.
72) Get a home group and attend it regularly.
73) Know that the light at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train, but actually a ray of hope. Drop the negativity.
74) Know that you are not alone, that’s why the “We” is in the steps.
75) Be willing to go to any lengths to stay and be sober.
76) Know that no matter how bleak and dark your past may be, your future is clean, bright and clear if you don’t drink today.
77) Stay out of your own way.
78) Don’t be in a hurry—remember “TIME = Things I Must Earn”.
79) Watch the EGO. “EGO = Ease God Out”.
80) Protect your sobriety at all costs. Keep the light on you.
81) Learn to listen, not just hear. Be open-minded and nonjudgmental.
82) Know that if your insides match your outsides, everyone looks good.
83) If the rest of the world looks bad, check yourself out first.
84) Gratitude is in the attitude.
85) When all else fails…punt! Up the number of meetings!!!
86) Remember FEAR = FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL!
87) Remember FINE = Fouled up, Insecure/insane, Neurotic and Emotionally imbalanced…watch the FINE.
88) Handle what you can and leave the rest; don’t overtax yourself. You can only accomplish so much in a given 24 hours.
89) Honesty and consistency are key factors in recovery.
90) Let the little kid in you out—learn how to laugh from the gut.

A drug is a drug.
A drunk is a sick human being trying to get well, not a bad one trying to be good.

Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation—some fact of my life—unacceptable to me and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake.

Alcohol is a Perfect Solvent

• It dissolves marriages, families and careers
• Alcoholism is the only disease that tries to convince you that you don’t have it
• Call your sponsor before you pick up
• Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to overcome it
• Cunning, Baffling, Powerful and Patient
• Death, Insanity or Recovery
• Denial is not a river in Egypt
• Do what you did and get what you got
• Don’t use even if your ass falls off
• Don’t drink, don’t think and go to meetings
• Don’t give up before the miracle happens
• Don’t work my program, or your program, work “the program”
• Embrace the journey
• Everything happens for a reason
• Faith chases away fear
• Faith without works is dead
• Get to the meeting early and go to the meeting after the meeting
• God speaks through other people
• God will not close one door without opening another
• Gratitude, that’s the attitude
• Half measures availed us nothing
• He who laughs, laughs lasts
• Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less, like to get a good jump on worrying about something
• I may have another drunk in me, but do I have another recovery?
• I need just enough to tide me over and then I need MORE
• If I woke up today feeling like I did every day when I drank, I’d take myself to the emergency room
• If you don’t want to slip, stay away from slippery places
• If you wonder if you’re an addict, you probably are
• If you don’t have a higher power, borrow mine
• If we knew which drink would cause “wet brain,” we’d stop just before it
• I’m really a very persuasive person; I can convince myself of anything
• Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results
• It gets better
• It’s not easy to find happiness in ourselves and it’s impossible to find it elsewhere
• It’s okay to look back at the past—just don’t stare at it
• Just for today
• Keep coming back, it works if you work it
• Keep it simple
• Let go and let God
• Live for today. Yesterday’s history. Tomorrow’s a mystery
• Live life on life’s terms. My worst day sober is better than my best day drunk
• None of us came here on a winning streak
• Ninety meetings in ninety days
• Not everything that is faced can be changed but nothing can be changed until it’s faced
• Once an addict, always an addict
• One is too many, a thousand is never enough
• One day at a time
• Pray daily, God is easier to talk to than most people
• Poor me, poor me, pour me another drink
• Progress, not perfection
• Put one foot in front of the other
• Recovery is a journey, not a destination
• Resentment is like letting someone live rent-free in your head
• Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm
• Short version of the Serenity Prayer—“Screw it”
• Sobriety is not for people who need it; it’s for people who want it
• Steps l, 2 and 3
• I can’t, God can
• I think I’ll let Him
• Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem
• The easier, softer way is one through twelve
• The elevator’s broken; take the steps
• The fear of feeling the pain is worse than the pain itself
• The mind is like a parachute, it works better when it’s open
• The pain is the arrow coming out, not the arrow going in
• This too shall pass
• The alcoholic’s mind is like a bad neighborhood: Don’t go there alone
• The definition of an alcoholic: an egomaniac with an inferiority complex
• Time takes time
• Trust God
• Try to be grateful and resentful at the same time, you can’t serve two masters
• Today, “we” have a choice
• Turn it over
• Two things you have to do to become an old-timer: don’t use and don’t die
• United We Stand… Divided We Stagger
• Unity, Service and Recovery
• Unless I accept my virtues, I will be overwhelmed with my faults
• We have to give it away to keep it
• We are without a defense against the first drink; our defense must come from a power greater than ourselves
• We’ll love you until you learn to love yourself
• We’re only as sick as our secrets
• We’re not human beings sharing a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings sharing a human experience.
• What if there is no God? Believe anyway
• When you are in it up to your ears, keep your mouth shut
• When we were using, we didn’t have relationships; we took prisoners and held hostages
• When the pain of staying sober becomes less than the pain of getting drunk, you’ll stay sober
• Where do I find recovery? Twelve steps past any lengths
• Worry doesn’t prevent disaster; it prevents joy
• Write a gratitude list and count your blessings
• You are right where you are supposed to be
• You can’t think your way into a new way of living… You have to live your way into a new way of thinking
• You reap what you sow
• You’re ready for sobriety when the alcohol doesn’t work anymore
• Serenity is not Freedom from the Storm, but Peace amid the Storm
• One Day at a Time

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry,
Two days that should be kept free of fear and apprehension.
One of these days is YESTERDAY,
With its mistakes and cares,
Its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.
YESTERDAY has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back YESTERDAY.
We cannot undo a single act we performed.
We cannot erase a single word we said.
YESTERDAY is gone.

The other day we should not worry about is TOMORROW
With its possible adversities, its burdens, its larger promise.
TOMORROW is also beyond our immediate control.
TOMORROW, the sun will rise,
Either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, But it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in TOMORROW
For it is as yet unborn.

This leaves only one day – TODAY.

*** Note this list is not necessarily in order.
They are but suggestions and items to put in your little TOOL BAG