Step 02 (quotations)

AA quotations (from the book Alcoholics Anonymous)

Step 2: Lack of power is the problem

If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. (Page 44)

Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God’s help. (Page 62)

Step 2: Others have accessed power

It began to look as though religious people were right after all. Here was something at work in a human heart which had done the impossible. My ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then. Never mind the musty past; here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table. He shouted great tidings. I saw that my friend was much more than inwardly reorganized. He was on a different footing. His roots grasped a new soil. (Page 11)

Each day my friend’s simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men. (Page 16)

When we saw others solve their problems by a simple reliance upon the Spirit of the Universe, we had to stop doubting the power of God. Our ideas did not work. But the God idea did. (Page 52)

Step 2: If it works for others, it will work for me

If you have a drinking problem, we hope that you may pause in reading one of the forty-two personal stories and think: “Yes, that happened to me”; or, more important, “Yes, I’ve felt like that”; or, most important, “Yes, I believe this program can work for me too.” (Preface)

If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. (Page 28)

But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. (Page 25)

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas: (a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives. (b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism. (c) That God could and would if He were sought. (Page 60)

Step 2: We are all capable of worship, love, and faith

Without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith? For did we not believe in our own reasoning? Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? What was that but a sort of faith? Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to the God of Reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time! (Page 53)

We found, too, that we had been worshippers. What a state of mental goose-flesh that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves? And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? How much did these feelings, these loves, these worships, have to do with pure reason? Little or nothing, we saw at last. Were not these things the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence? It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one form or another we had been living by faith and little else. (Page 54)

Step 2: All in!

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be? (Page 52)

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program … (Page 58)

With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. (Page 58)

Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. (Page 59)

Al-Anon quotations: Paths to Recovery

Step 2: Lack of power is the problem

Step 2 reaffirms that we may be powerless, but we are not helpless, and we are not alone. Page 18

When I came into recovery several years ago, I didn't know I was insane. I had grown up in an alcoholic family and the insanity of the disease was all I had ever known. That was just the way it was. It surprises me now that I never thought to question whether there were other ways for life to work. Page  24

Have I allowed the alcoholic situation to become my higher power? How? Page 27

Step 2: Others have accessed power

We listen to the experience of others and want what they have. Page 18

In beginning to understand Step Two, we learn that we have choices.... In the group we meet people like us who are coping with many of the same problems and finding creative solutions we had not considered or attitudes that make the similar situations and their lives more tolerable. Page 19

Step 2: If it works for others, it will work for me

As we consider step Two, it is often helpful to remember that "Came to believe" is written in the past tense. Like all the steps, Step Two tells the experience of those who have gone before us and shows that over time we can find the answers to our own dilemmas. Page 18

The wisdom of members who have worked these steps before us is essential to understanding  fully the spiritual answers and guidance we are about to experience. Page 19

Step 2: We are all capable of worship, love, and faith:

We can begin by acting as if….We start to act as if we believe not only in a higher power, but also that we are loved and supported. Page 20

Faith surrounds us in our daily living. Page 21

Step 2: All in!

… we begin to desire increased sanity for ourselves. Motivated, we seek a power greater than ourselves to aid us in our journey. Page 20

We are willing to "Let Go and Let God" and we truly believe in a power greater than ourselves. Page 22

I can't say I've become instantly sane since coming to Al-Anon. There are still many times when I am in the grips of this disease. I recognize it faster because it doesn't feel good anymore. At these times I turn to my higher power and repeat Step Two. Page 26

Al-Anon quotations: From Survival to Recovery

Step 2: If it works for others, it will work for me:

… many Al-Anon members who have gone before us have found paths that worked for them and can work for us. Page 76

Step 2: All in!

… suggested I act as if I believed, just to see what would happen. I did, and it was the beginning of my trust and a power greater than myself. That trust was truly a small as a mustard seed. It has grown large enough to fill the great spiritual void I had felt most of my life. Page 82

Whenever I feel a little crazy, I know that my Higher Power can help me back to sanity. Page 165

Other S-Anon / Al-Anon quotations

Some of us wondered whether the word insane really applied to us, but hadn’t we at times acted irrationally within our relationships?

Working the S-Anon Programme

No matter how distorted our outlook or how out of control our lives seem, and regardless of the impact of the alcoholic’s behaviour, help is available to us.

How Al-Anon Works

Step 2 helped me reclaim my relationship with the G-d of my childhood and start letting Him help me again.

With Step 2 I learned that while I am powerless, my situation is not hopeless. Hope lies with the G-d of my understanding.

Discovering Choices

Al-Anon encouraged me to believe in a Power greater than myself. I hated this Second Step because it referred to G-d and I didn’t want G-d. But I had been brought face to face with how helpless and sick I had really become. I had no other choices but to go forward or backward. I knew I would go crazy if I didn’t go forward, so I tried.

… In All Our Affairs

I found that I couldn’t overcome the effects of this disease by force of will or reason. As they say, my best thinking got me here. But Al-Anon’s Second Step suggested that a Higher Power could restore me to sanity.

As I grow, I continue to learn and to unlearn, replacing old ideas with new ones and reclaiming others that had been cast aside.

We are asked to open our minds to the possibility that help is available. Perhaps there is a source of assistance that can do for us what we have been unable to do for ourselves. We don’t have to believe it will happen, only that it could.

Spirituality doesn’t have to imply a particular philosophy or moral code; it simply means that there is a Power greater than ourselves that we can come to rely on.

Before taking any action, I need only remind myself that I am in the care of a Higher Power. Whether the words I use say, “Help!” or “Let Go and Let G-d,” or “Came to believe,” I know that my Higher Power and I can deal with whatever we are facing.

“First I came, then I ‘came to,’ then I came to believe.” I came, bringing my body, if not my faith, to Al-Anon. Then, once I was here, slowly I “came to,” and eventually I came to believe that I wasn’t alone in the universe. There was a force, a drive, an energy that can give me the means to make my life joyous and productive. I need only ask for assistance and keep an open mind.

Courage to Change

Although we cannot help others, there is help at hand. I am required to admit, also, that my own behaviour was not sane. This is an invitation to humility, without which there can be no progress … If I will do my part, I can rely on my Higher Power to open my eyes to solutions and restore me to peace and order.

What can this Power do for me? … show me the way to renew my life which now may be too troubled to allow me to think straight.

The Second Step suggests I surrender my will to the wisdom of a loving G-d in my effort to find a sane and reasonable way of life.

An honest appraisal of my reactions shows me I have too often resorted to futile and childish tricks to achieve what I wanted. With my thoughts distorted by fear, despair and resentment, and my nerves overwrought, I could not think clearly nor make wise decisions.

One Day At A Time In Al-Anon

Like all Twelve Step programmes, S-Anon is spiritual, not religious. It is spiritual in the sense that we come to depend upon a Higher Power rather than ourselves—a Power that we are free to define as we wish—to help us to solve our problems and achieve peace of mind.

Newcomers’ booklet

We realise we cannot find serenity for ourselves if we continue to focus on someone else’s recovery, so we commit ourselves to our own recovery. With the loving help of other S-Anon members and the G-d of our understanding we take positive action to make our lives more serene and fulfilling.

Keys to S-Anon recovery

Only a Higher Power can remove our obsessiveness.

What if we don’t believe or what if our religion when we were growing up didn’t work? S-Anon is not a religious programme. It is a spiritual programme of suggested steps that lead us to new insights and growth.

We need only admit that we are not the greater power in the universe and that we have been unable to solve our problems alone.

Admitting we can’t do it alone is difficult for a person who believes he or she is intellectually self-sufficient. In fact, we often made our own intellect our G-d, believing that by reason and sheer will we could solve our own problems. We were humbled by sexaholism. And those of us who had no faith when we entered the programme are beginning to find it here.

At first some of us turned to our group as a Higher Power. Listening for the truth spoken though the people and principles of the Twelve Steps.

Those of us who already believed might have thought that we knew all about G-d and that we might tell the group a thing or two about Him. We soon learn true humility, which shows us that G-d’s presence and wisdom is found in the S-Anon fellowship.

We find our faith deepens as we surrender the parts of ourselves we have always held back from G-d.

We trust G-d to do what we cannot do for ourselves. Page 16

Trust is an ingredient in believing and to believe is to actively pursue the thing we hope for.

We see that we do have a way out; we have options and choices we can make for our own lives. With every hardship we face, our Higher Power also provides an outlet.

In seeing our need for a Higher Power, we realise that it is safe for us to be dependent upon G-d.

I’m even more grateful that in this programme I have come to know a G-d who really cares for me, who has a better plan for my life than the one I had in mind. Page 22

We were relieved to discover that Step Two suggested only that we admit that we were not the greatest power in the universe. That recognition laid a foundation for ‘coming to believe’ – a process of becoming aware of the presence of a Higher Power in our lives. Page 23

The wisdom of the ages seems to agree that it is not only all right, but necessary to develop and maintain a concept of G-d that meets our changing understanding of ourselves and our world, as long as it is a Power greater than ourselves. Pages 23–24

Those of us who resisted the idea that we needed to be restored to sanity were encouraged to return to our First Step and remind ourselves of the many ways in which our lives had become unmanageable. Page 24

Through our growing trust in this Higher Power, sanity is restored in our lives, and we move towards peace, serenity and useful lives. Page 24

We need the help of a Higher Power to bring us back to sanity. Page 28

S-Anon Blue Book

Quiet attention in life’s moments brings me closer to G-d. Page 49

In S-Anon I discovered that I don’t have to berate someone else to feel better about myself. S-Anon helped me accept the reality of what was going on around me and within me. I have learned that I am not helpless and that I have the tools to take positive actions for myself. As I employ the tools of S-Anon , I find G-d is restoring me to sanity. Page 73

Though S-Anon, I am breaking the chain of the family disease. I am slowly being restored to sanity. Page 98

Though sharing with others and listening, I found strength and faith in a Higher Power. Page 115

Working the S-Anon programme has taught me a new lesson; I will never be abandoned by G-d—the one who loves me the most and considers me definitely good enough. Page 170

Reflections of Hope