“Hostile, resentful, self-centered and self-seeking, we cut ourselves off from the outside world. Anything not completely familiar became alien and dangerous. Our world shrank and isolation became our life. We used in order to survive.” (The Basic Text, p. 4)
SERVING OUR HP, OTHERS AND OURSELVES –
“I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding.” (The Big Book, p. 76)
WERE YOU READY IN YOUR YOUTH? “We have a right to expect more from life than mere survival. [W]e are here because we are ready to heal. [W]e are ready to look at ourselves and our lives with new eyes. We are ready to become aware.” (How Al Anon Works, p. 26)
"WE ARE BEING CHANGED" - "It doesn't matter that we will not attain a state of perfection or complete humility in our life- time. The ability to contem- plate this grand vision and meditate upon it are rare and priceless gifts in their own right. We are being changed." (It Works, How & Why, p. 53) YOU CAN CALL IT "A PSYCHIC CHANGE" - " ... once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he de- spaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself eas- ily able to control his…
“He who has faith has … an inward reservoir of courage, hope, confidence, calmness, and assuring trust that all will come out well – even though to the world it may appear to come out most badly.” – B. C. Forbes (1880 – 1954) Scottish journalist
“Other people in our lives help us to develop trust and loving attitudes, we demand less and give more. We are slower to anger and quicker to forgive”. “We begin to feel lovable which is a feeling totally alien to our old egocentric selves.” (The Basic Text, p. 97)
“If men as individuals surrender to the call of their elementary instincts … the result for them all taken together must be a state of insecurity, of fear, and of promiscuous misery.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German-American physicist / philosopher
“We couldn’t handle
the ordeal of life by our
selves. It wasn’t until we
made a mess of our lives
that we realized we couldn’t
do it alone. By admitting
this, we achieved a glim
pse of humility. This is
the main ingredient of
Step Seven.” (The
Basic Text, p. 36)
“A great turning point in our lives came when we sought for humility as something we really wanted; rather than as something we must have.” (12 & 12, p. 75)
From Margot E. – “To be weary is to be tired in body and tired in spirit. What a relief this Step is. At last, and in this life, I get to lay by burdens down.”