Tradition I
Place common welfare first to stay sober.
Alienation and separation are the core ingredients of alcoholism.
Identification and unity are the core ingredients of the solution.
Love others by being of service in the world.
The Twelve Steps throw me in the pool.
The Twelve Traditions teach me how to swim.
Treat work as service, not as a means to my own ends.
Money, power, and prestige are byproducts.
Look after others' needs.
The first purpose of money is to enable my service.
The second purpose of money is to directly benefit others.
Give away what I have been given: time, energy, knowledge, experience, skill.
Tradition II
Trust God not the ego self.
The group conscience provides better answers than the ego.
God is loving: therefore God's answers to my questions are for the good of all.
A loving God is present in the world and in people I meet.
Trusting God means trusting others for guidance.
When I have a problem, ask others, and follow their suggestions.
I am here to be a servant not to govern.
Serving God brings me close to God.
Lead by humble example: do not be a bleeding deacon.
God has given me special abilities: God therefore needs me.
God's need for me is the solution to low self-esteem.
Seek perfection but accept progress towards it.
Surrender rather than insisting on my own way.
Seek harmony as well as effectiveness and efficiency.
Practise: Thy will be done.
God is beyond comprehension so don't try to understand God.
Don't try to understand God's plan behind the path He shows me.
Ask only for the path.
Tradition III
Make a list of demands then tear it up.
AA's only requirement of me is that I have a desire to stay sober.
My only requirement of God is that He keep me sober.
He will keep me sober if I have a desire to stay sober.
But I must then turn my will and life over to God's care.
To do that, I take the Twelve Steps.
Wanting is fine, but I surrender those wants to God, so I am free.
God will constantly give things to me.
But anything I receive is a by-product of service.
Demands are the root of fear.
Gratitude is the antidote.
Count up from zero: be grateful for everything that is good.
If I have demands in an area, I will attempt to control that area.
That means I am not turning that area over to God.
That, in turn, is the exact nature of my wrongs.
Sobriety is an end in itself.
I want to stay sober for its own sake, not for what it will deliver.
If I stay sober for rewards, I might drink when I get them.
Because sobriety is no longer necessary.
If I stay sober for rewards, I might drink when they are denied.
Because sobriety has lost its purpose.
If I have a bad relationship with others, I need to fix my relationship with God.
That means stopping playing God and surrendering my demands.
If I have no demands of others, I have no basis for judgement of others.
Perfection is a guide to my conduct.
Perfectionism is a sense of entitlement to perfection.
When I don't know what to do, I can ask: What would God do?
This will resolve every conflict.
Tradition IV
Dependence on God enables autonomy from others.
Seek God's approval, not the approval of others.
Listen to the inner voice & be one with God.
Inventory is the means of communicating with God:
Identifying what is wrong and asking for corrective measures.
Take spiritual responsibility.
Do not rely on others to make decisions.
Consult others to reaffirm the principles for making decisions.
Don't rely on others' personalities; rely on principles.
Act right without concern for others' reactions.
Consult with others when I might affect them.
Ask others for help when I need it.
Avoid dominating others or dictating to them.
God speaks to me through others.
To fix relationships with others, fix the relationship with God.
Tradition V
Primary purpose: carry the message about alcoholism and sobriety to the alcoholic who still suffers.
Be willing to surrender old primary purposes.
Subordinate all other priorities to this one.
To keep sobriety we must give it away.
The purpose of life is not to be comfortable.
Being comfortable is an intermittent byproduct of doing the right thing.
Our alcoholism is our greatest asset.
Through it, the greatest achievement takes place: others' recovery.
Tradition VI
To carry out my primary purpose (Tradition V), my energy needs to be focused.
The primary drains on my energy: money, property, prestige.
Worry is distraction from the primary purpose.
I cannot handle these areas on my own.
Let go and trust God in these areas.
That means: stop worrying ...
... and go and carry the message instead.
The more I let go, the better these areas go.
In the past: perfectionism = an all-or-nothing attitude.
Now: strive towards the perfect ideal ...
... but be satisfied with progress towards it.
A further form of drain: worthy pursuits (e.g. religion).
These are fine as long as they are subsidiary to carrying the message.
Another form of drain: looking for external fixes (e.g. psychotherapy).
Psychotherapy is not a substitute for spiritual growth ...
... but it can support it as a secondary resource ...
... and it can lead a person to the spiritual path.
Tradition VII
My sobriety and well-being must come from my relationship with God.
I should not rely on others for either.
I need to be responsible for my own ongoing spiritual growth.
I do this by practising the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts.
Other resources (e.g. religion, psychologists, or others' relationships with God) are good.
They are there to support my relationship with God, not to substitute for it.
I should seek God's will in all my affairs.
This means listening to God's will in all matters.
To do so, I must communicate with God in prayer and listen through meditation.
I can also listen to God by consulting with others.
God also speaks through the group conscience / those I consult.
I should not position another person as a false God in my life.
In relationships, I should be what God wants me to be ...
... not what others want me to be.
Emotional ups and downs are signs of outward dependence ...
... in contrast to God-dependence.
People, places, and things cannot be make me happy or unhappy.
I should not position money as a false God in my life.
Money is neutral: neither good nor bad.
If I make a lot of money, that enables me to do good with it.
It's God's money not my money.
I am responsible for working for a living.
Large gifts or external support should be avoided ...
... firstly because there is usually a price tag ...
... and secondly because I should be responsible for myself.
The world does not owe me a living.
I owe the world my service in gratitude for my sobriety.
What the world pays me reflects its gratitude for my service.
Difficult periods financially are good as they stimulate me to rely on God.
God has an unlimited supply of cash.
I do not lend money.
I give, but I give only what is necessary immediately.
If I rescue financially, I am getting between the other individual and God.
Set aside money to help others in AA or to facilitate service.
Tradition VIII
How do we get help in AA?
We have a rock bottom.
This is when I'm willing to get well someone else's way.
I trust people in AA because they have no ulterior motive.
They just want to help.
They're doing it 'for fun and for free expecting nothing in return'.
Because I trust them I trust what they offer.
I do not have to understand what they offer.
I just have to do it.
What drives me to work the programme?
Level 1: Obedience
Practising the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts no matter how I feel ...
... Living by principles not by emotions.
This is the approach of the 'servant of the business'.
Level 2: Enthusiasm
Practising the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts because of the results.
This is the approach of the 'employee of the business'.
Level 3: Zeal
Practising the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts out of joy.
This is the approach of the 'owner of the business'.
This results in effortless living.
We accept God's sovereignty completely.
Whatever happens is God's will.
'Bad' experiences are not bad: they're learning experiences.
The higher I rise from obedience towards zeal ...
... the greater the gifts ...
... and the greater the responsibilities ....
... and the greater the joy ...
It's OK to for AA to employ professionals for non-twelfth-step work.
It's OK for AA members to work in the field of alcoholism / recovery ...
... as long as they don't take a salary or charge for twelfth-step work.
Keep work life separate from carrying the message in AA.
Tradition IX
Give up control.
Give up the illusion of control.
Give up organising ourselves, others, or God.
Instead: rely on Divine Order.
Being unorganised does not being being disorganised ...
... I must still plan (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and long-term).
Plans are executed one day at a time.
Do not take on more than you can handle.
Do not avoid responsibilities.
Make suggestions rather than giving orders.
You are allowed to make mistakes.
You have your own Higher Power.
Be spontaneous.
Suffering first motivates growth.
Discipline ensures growth when suffering fades.
Stay surrendered through love.
If I love others, I want to help.
To help, I need growth and God.
Love thus ensures ongoing surrender.
When you get well God's way (the first nine Steps) ...
... you go into withdrawal from your old 'reality' ...
... and only God can sustain you through that withdrawal.
Success is sincerely trying to do God's will today ...
... not achieving my own goals.
Failure is therefore impossible.
Fear is ego: the belief that my plan will not be achieved.
In the world we are the channel, not the source, not the product, not the result.
Move prayerfully from activity to activity.
Be one with the Divine Order.
I am responsible to those I serve.
I am not in charge of them (ordering and organising them).
Tradition X
AA has no opinion on outside issues.
I have no opinion on outside issues, either.
An 'outside issue' is anything outside of my relationship with God.
I am God's voice, hands, and feet in the world.
That means I might need to take action in relation to an 'outside issue'.
This includes the affairs of my life, community, society, and humanity as a whole.
But I'm acting on behalf of God ...
... not on my own account.
My 'part' is simply the performance of God's will in the area in question.
'Do not be afraid or dismayed at their large army, for the battle is not yours but God's!'
I am to be a peacemaker, not a victim, perpetrator, rescuer, or martyr.
However, achieving ultimate peace can require immediate confrontation or resistance.
If that be the case: confront or resist graciously.
I can disagree without being disagreeable.
Two people can disagree and both be right in different ways.
Having an opinion on outside issues leads to judgement, criticism, badmouthing, gossip, and resentment.
Your relationship with God (or lack of it, or lack of improvement therein) is none of my business.
My relationship with God is an inside issue.
I, myself, am an outside issue to me.
God is my judge.
I am no no position to judge myself as inferior / superior.
So I do not judge, criticise, badmouth, gossip about, or resent myself.
Tradition XI
I do not need to 'promote' me, my outcomes, or my well-being.
Promotion is manipulation.
I do not need to get ahead.
I do not need to win.
I need to surrender.
If I act right, I will 'attract' well-being.
Acting right is helping others.
If I want to help myself, I must help others.
Sick picks sick and healthy picks healthy.
If I want to attract healthy people and situations, I need to be healthy myself.
When God is my employer, I have enough material resources.
All I need to do is show up and do what is in front of me.
AA has a public information function: it is not invisible.
AA merely provides factual information, emphasizing principles and work.
AA does not promote its members.
Similarly, I have a public information function.
My job is to make known what I have to offer.
But I do not need to promote: attraction is sufficient.
If my purpose is merely to be of service ...
... God will fix me up with opportunities to be of service.
Personal ambition has no place in AA.
I take credit for nothing.
The only choice I have in life is to pray or not to pray.
God does 99%; I do 1%: the 1% is prayer.
That 1% is my 100%.
Tradition XII
Anonymity represents the sacrifice of personality.
Personality is the identity I have created in the world ...
... in contrast to the spirit, the being that I am ...
... which is an extension of God.
To access the spirit that I am ...
I must move from seeing my personality as who I am ...
... to seeing it as a vehicle for God to do God's will through me.
What else is sacrificed?
Everything else connected with my personality:
Identity, image, reputation, ambitions, concerns.
These still exist: but I am no longer identified with them.
Why does this sacrifice take place?
For the attainment of the common good (Tradition I)
For the personal welfare of all (Tradition I)
For God to speak through the Group Conscience (Tradition II)
For all who wish to get well to be welcomed (Tradition III)
For God to speak through my own individual conscience (Tradition IV)
For the primary purpose to be achieved (Tradition V)
For other purposes to be foregone (Tradition VI)
For dependence on God to be established (Tradition VII)
For one-way giving to be established (Tradition VIII)
For Divine Order to run my life (Tradition IX)
For neutrality to be established (Tradition X)
For the Good to attract through me (Tradition XI)
For atonement to take the place of separation (Tradition XII)
The practice of sacrifice:
Always say 'yes' to a reasonable AA request ...
... whatever the personal cost ...
... unless God's higher request takes precedence.
This means interruption of business, leisure, and other activities.
Quit promoting own causes.
Quit manipulating others.
Quit playacting God.
Quit ordinary reward-seeking.
The real reward is atonement—at-one-ment—with God.
Spend time with God instead of self.
Ask God for God's will alone, not for something in return for doing it.
Give of my time, energy, and attention: anonymously if possible.
Listen to the message not the messenger's personality.
Look past the attraction of charisma.
Look past the distraction of lack of charisma.
What principles is the speaker communicating?
When speaking: speak about principles through self.
'Forever live in thankful contemplation of Him who presides over us all.'