"life" in the Big Book

I was part of life at last, and in the midst of the excitement I discovered liquor.

Drink was taking an important and exhilarating part in my life.

I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.

Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known!

spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead.

He could not, or would not, see our way of life.

But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life.

But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it.

The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe.

We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help.

A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living’’ that really works.

All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge his spiritual life.

We have not lost everything in life through drinking and we

He was positive that this humiliating experience, plus the knowledge he had acquired, would keep him sober the rest of his life.

been brought into a way of living infinitely more satisfying and, I hope, more useful than the life I lived before.

My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now.

But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life —or else.

If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us

When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn’t so.

Were our contentions true, it would follow that life originated out of nothing, means nothing, and proceeds nowhere.

People of faith have a logical idea of what life is all about.

We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.

fused and baffled by the seeming futility of existence, they show the underlying reasons why they were making heavy going of life.

Imagine life without faith!

Were nothing left but pure reason, it wouldn’t be life.

But we believed in life—of course we did.

We could not prove life in the sense that you can prove a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, yet, there it was.

Being convinced, we were at Step Three, which is that we decided to turn our will and our life over to God as we understood Him.

The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success.

Life would be wonderful.

He begins to think life doesn’t treat him right.

Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director.

More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life.

As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter.

Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life.

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness.

In this way we tried to shape a sane and sound ideal for our future sex life.

But they had not learned enough of humility, fearlessness and honesty, in the sense we find it necessary, until they told someone else all their life story.

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life.

He had commenced our way of life, had secured a position, and was getting his head above water.

The spiritual life is not a theory.

Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.

Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?

We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.

Life will take on new meaning.

The family should be offered your way of life.

And even though he continues to drink, the family will find life more bearable.

The wife should fully understand his new way of life.

While you were drinking, you were withdrawing from life little by little.

Now you are getting back into the social life of this world.

Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.

Is it right to let him ruin your life and the lives of your children?

It is possible to have a full and useful life, though your husband continues to drink.

But sometimes you must start life anew.

If such women adopt a spiritual way of life their road will be smoother.

We have elsewhere remarked how much better life is when lived on a spiritual plane.

A better way of life will emerge when they are overcome.

You, as well as your husband, ought to think of what you can put into life instead of how much you can take out.

You will lose the old life to find one much better.

We never, never try to arrange a man’s life so as to shield him from temptation.

Is he not unconsciously trying to see what he can take from the family life rather than give?

Today’s life is measured against that of other years and, when it falls short, the family may be unhappy.

Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is the thing of supreme value in life.

Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now.

Cling to the thought that, in God’s hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you have—the key to life and happiness for others.

This is a condition which, in ordinary life, would produce untold grief; there might be scandalous gossip, laughter at the expense of other people, and a tendency to take advantage of intimate information.

he may be so enthralled by his new life that he talks or thinks of little else.

He may tell mother, who has been religious all her life, that she doesn’t know what it’s all about, and that she had better get his brand of spirituality while there is yet time.

He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.

He will perceive that his spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family obligations may not be so perfect after all.

We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.

Father, coming suddenly to life again, often begins to assert himself.

At the very beginning, the couple ought to frankly face the fact that each will have to yield here and there if the family is going to play an effective part in the new life.

We absolutely insist on enjoying life.

We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us.

A mong many employers nowadays, we think of one member who has spent much of his life in the world of big business.

Being somewhat weakened, and faced with physical and mental readjustment to a life which knows no alcohol, he may overdo.

Being on a radically different basis of life, he will never take advantage of the situation.

that you are not suspicious nor are you trying to run his life so he will be shielded from temptation to drink.

We, who have collectively seen a great deal of business life, at least from the alcoholic angle, had to smile at this gentleman’s sincere opinion.

It is joyous intimacy with friends and a feeling that life is good.

There was an insistent yearning to enjoy life as we once did and a heartbreaking obsession that some new miracle of control would enable us to do it.

The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself.

He cannot picture life without alcohol.

Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it.

But am I to be consigned to a life where I shall be stupid, boring and glum, like some righteous people I see?

Life will mean something at last.

Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life.

Suppose now that through you several families have adopted this way of life.

But life was not easy for the two friends.

On the third day the lawyer gave his life to the care and direction of his Creator, and said he was perfectly willing to do anything necessary.

These men had found something brand new in life.

tended by anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life.

Being a large place, we think that some day its Fellowship will number many hundreds.* But life among Alcoholics Anonymous is more than attending gatherings and visiting hospitals.

selves, and have discovered the joy of helping others to face life again, there will be no stopping until everyone in that town has had his opportunity to recover— if he can and will.