AA *Listening Deeply

One of the greatest benefits of working in the AA program is the opportunity to listen to others as they share their experience, strength, and hope. If we listen deeply to what others so willingly share, we may be able to act intuitively in our next rough situation and avoid impetuous action. Here, AA's "Daily Reflections" (pg. 226) tells us that when we trust others to teach us what we need to do to have a better life, we find that we can trust ourselves to do what is necessary at the moment.

Transcript

Daily Reflections.

Listening Deeply.

How persistently we claim the right to decide all by ourselves just what we shall think and just how we shall act.

From 12 Steps and 12 Traditions,

Page 37.

If I accept and act upon the advice of those who have made the program work for themselves,

I have a chance to outgrow the limits of the past.

Some problems will shrink to nothingness,

While others may require patient,

Well-thought-out action.

Listening deeply when others share can develop intuition and handling problems which arise unexpectedly.

It's usually best for me to avoid impetuous action.

Attending a meeting or calling a fellow AA member will usually reduce tension enough to bring relief to a desperate sufferer like me.

Sharing problems at meetings with other alcoholics to whom I relate or privately with my sponsor can change aspects of the positions in which I find myself.

Character defects are identified and I begin to see how they work against me.

When I put my faith in the spiritual power of the program,

When I trust others to teach me what I need to do to have a better life,

I find that I can trust myself to do what's necessary.