OKaysez

 Made A Decision

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                                       AA Slogans

I took great exception to what I considered a "bumper sticker mentality" when I first got to AA and saw all those slogan signs around the meeting rooms.

One Day at a Time

Easy Does It.

Let Go and Let God.

Live and Let Live.

Fake It Till You Make It.

First things first.

Change or Die.

"Po-leeze," I thought. "How simplistic is this?"

So, as ever in my early days in recovery, I brought attitude and judgment to an AA tool that has, over time, brought me much solace. 

And had I been able to put any of them into constant practice over the years I'd be damned near perfect by now. (As it is, I remain merely OKay.)

Many more slogans have been added since those early ones. Some have been around now for quite a while and many more are being added all the time. Here are just a very few of them:

• Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes. ...
  
• Progress Not Perfection ...
• This, too, shall pass.
• Time takes time.
  
• Principles before personalities.
  
• H.A.L.T. - don't get too hungry, angry, lonely or tired.
• Meeting Makers Make It.
• GOD - Good Orderly Direction.
• Keep the plug in the jug.
• Stay alert. The Devil misses his drinking buddy.

There are many, many others, but my personal favorites are:

"Up your Attitude with Gratitude,"

 and 

"Nobody Ever Found Recovery as a Result of an Intellectual Awakening."

One, more, or all of the slogans were on the walls of every meeting I went to in my early days in AA. One of them would often be selected as a topic for a meeting. Every single one of them is tailor made for the alcoholic mind.

Let's get back to the oldest standbys, the ones listed earlier. Despite their apparent simplicity none of them are easy. All require a lot of practice.

One Day At A Time - That's all we've got, folks. We can't undo one thought, word or deed from yesterday's personal history, and yet we've all met people who are still living in their yesterdays. They're not happy people, being stuck in their past, but they exist.

And we've all met people who are living for their tomorrows, for the day "when I get enough money/time/energy/love (pick one) I'm going to be able to  ...". 

In constantly dreaming about their tomorrows they miss opportunities today that would get them to their goal.

People who live in today, in the moment, benefit from yesterday's lessons while smoothing their path into tomorrow - One Day at a Time. 

Easy Does It - My idea of a morning meditation when I first got sober was reading the 24-hour a day book while combing my hair and putting on makeup - all while driving 70 mph to work.

 

Many alcoholics live that same way - at full throttle. The path to becoming a human being, not merely a human doing, takes a lot of practice.

Using "Easy Does It" like a mantra helped me slow down. It has done the same for millions of others wired like me. It can work for you, too.

(Easy Does It - but do it! This is a newer twist on the original, but one of great help to another alcoholic type, those who procrastinate rather than act.) 

Let Go and Let God - Got a problem?

 (Who doesn't?) 

This slogan doesn't mean ignore the problem and expect God to fix it for you. It means do what you can to correct the worrisome situation and then stop thinking about it. Think about God instead.

 As in: God is good; God cares about me; my Higher Power has my back; God loves me, and so on. Then let go of the problem and let God handle it.

Live and Let Live. 

We must learn to live our own life and stop worrying about what others think, do or say. 

We can only control our own behavior and that's a good thing, because (certainly in my case) it truly is a full time job.

When we focus on learning how to live a full and sober life we won't have time to obsess about how others are living theirs.

Fake It Till You Make It - Here's some science for you: 

(1) It is impossible for our brains to hold onto a positive thought and a negative thought at the same time. Making a gratitude list therefore can - and will - make us feel better.

(2) Putting on a happy face when we aren't happy lifts our spirits.

(3) Standing up straight is a physical tool that builds our confidence. 

       And here's a spiritual law for you:

Being grateful for what we have, instead of complaining about what we don't have, brings more of what we do want into our life.

We don't always "feel" like we're "getting" the program. We don't "feel" like we are actually in contact with a Higher Power. We don't "feel" joyous, happy or free every day. 

Of course we don't. We live on Planet Earth, not in La-La Land.

But we can trust those who got to AA before us when they tell us we are "getting the program" when we are staying sober; 

and that just like in any relationship, it takes time to get to know our Higher Power and to feel that presence active in our lives; 

and that if we keep on doing-the-doing we will eventually have a life that's joyous, happy and free most of the time.

As I once heard in a meeting, "I still have bad days, but that's OK. I used to have bad years."

First Things First - This one is about our priorities. You can easily remember them by just looking at your hard. Hold it up now and number your digits, with the thumb being #1 and your pinkie #5.

 

#1 - Do your spiritual homework daily. Getting to know your Higher Power (and if your AA group is your Higher Power at the moment, that's fine) is the first of the first things. 

#2 - Maintain sobriety by using all the tools in the AA toolbox - get a sponsor, work the steps, sponsor others, share at meetings, do service work, etc. 

#3 - Meeting makers make it. Have a home group. Be there when it meets. Go to other meetings. Meetings are our medicine. We need them, especially when we don't want to go.  

#4 - Family and friends. Practice being as nice to family members as you are to the people around you in a meeting. Enjoy your kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews. Make time for them. Make time for your friends. 

#5 - Work ... your career, your job, your way to earn your living. Too many of us swap out one of the earlier numbers for #1. If we love our job, that's great, but at the end of the day our work just pays for us to have a life we can enjoy. Enjoy your life.

Keep your priorities in the order given and your recovery will stay intact and grow stronger. Switch them around and the ground can get very slippery. Without number one, two and three firmly in place, numbers four and five won't matter. They'll be gone.

Change or Die - It doesn't get more basic or real than this slogan. 

Most of us want to do the bare minimum to stay sober in early recovery, because change is hard.

But we are dealing with a terminal, fatal, physical, mental and spiritual illness. It won't go away without us making the necessary changes in all those areas. Step by step, AA teaches us how to do that.

                    

                                    Here's the best news: 

                     "Change is the invitation to a richer life."