Like most alcoholics, I was angry all the time before I came to AA. I blamed everyone for everything that was wrong in my life. AA taught me that I needed to work through these emotions or I could never give up the drink and have true serenity. I had no idea how to go about doing this. As I read the Big Book, I found my answers. I worked on my fourth and fifth steps and I felt a bit better. I worked on six and seven, asking for humility, and I felt even happier. I worked on eight and nine, and while asking for forgiveness, I could also forgive.
I think my biggest change came when I reread a section on Pages 66 and 67 of the Big Book. “We realized that the people who wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick…We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, ‘This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.’ ” Wow! This really blew my mind. Here it was, step by step and a little prayer to go with it, all laid out for us in the Big Book of AA.
Today, when I start to get a resentment, I turn to this page and read it again. I remind myself that we are all just human beings having a human experience and trying to get through life the only way we know how. I can receive the promise of peace and serenity now. This frees me up to appreciate all the little blessings in life.
