'The only requirement for A.A. membership is the desire to stop drinking.'
- Make a list of the demands and expectations you have (clue: use a resentment or fear inventory to identify what you're upset about, and identify the demand or expectation that has not been met: that's the cause of the upset), then renounce the demands.
- The only requirement I am supposed to have in life is a desire to stay sober. All else will be added to me as long as I keep this as my only goal.
- How complicated and self-seeking I make my life when I get away from keeping it simple by pursuing only sobriety! I need have no fear of loneliness, financial, or other problems if my goal in life is only to pursue sobriety.
- There is nothing wrong in principle with wanting emotional and financial security. However, I make obsessions of these goals rather than seeing them as the by-products of giving service in working a programme whose goal is to pursue sobriety. In fact, wanting them at all leaves me open to 'attack'. The only way to be free is to drop these demands and expectations.
- Whenever I complicate my life by having any goal other than pursuing sobriety, I notice that I become ungrateful and take it for granted.
- Sobriety is an end in itself. We don’t stay sober in order to be rewarded with relationships or financial success. If we stay sober for rewards, we might drink when we get them because we have no more reason to stay sober. Or we might drink if we don’t get them, when we say, 'What’s the use?'
- The relationship of the third tradition to the third step is a profound one. The third step poses the question: What do I need to do in order to turn my will and my life over to the loving care of God as we understand Him? The third tradition answers the problem posed in the third step. The only requirement I need to fulfill in order to turn my will and my life over to God’s loving care is a desire to stop drinking. It is wonderful that all the power of the universe is available to care for me if I only have one desire: to stay sober.
- If I have no demands on God except a desire to be sober, I can turn my will and my life over to His care. If I insist on financial success or a soul mate first, then I can’t turn this area over to God because I am running the show by placing these demands on Him.
- God is a loving God and He will not keep mine from me as long as I place sobriety first. As I grow in sobriety, all else will be added to me.
- The third tradition also takes care of my perfectionism. My desire to be perfect is a reflection of my desire to be God in my own life, which is the exact nature of my wrongs.
- This tradition also guides me in my relationship with you. I am not to judge you or have any demands or expectations of you.
- The one question that immediately gives me proper perspective any about any problem is: 'What would the Master do?' When I am not sure what to do, I ask myself. 'What would God do?' and all of a sudden I know what to do. I have not yet had a conflict that this question has not resolved correctly.
Inventory:
Looking at the above ideas:
Where am I currently falling down?
What can I do differently?