As Bill Sees It - 2nd February 2026

Foundation For Life, p. 33

We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms.

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In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for that day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.

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There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life.

12 & 12
1. p. 104
2. p. 102
3. p. 98 

AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery

 Page 33 ~

Foundation for Life

We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms.

<< << << >> >> >>

In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for the day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.

<< << << >> >> >>

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakeable foundation for life.

~ TWELVE AND TWELVE ~
1. P. 104
2. P. 102
3. P. 98

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc 

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~ Page 67 ~

Thousands of “Founders”

“While I thank God that I was privileged to be an early member of A.A., I honestly wish that the word `founder’ could be eliminated from the A.A. vocabulary.

“When you get right down to it, everyone who has done any amount of successful Twelfth Step work is bound to be the founder of a new life for other alcoholics.”

<< << << >> >> >>

“A.A. was not invented! Its basics were brought to us through the experience and wisdom of many great friends. We simply borrowed and adapted their ideas.”

<< << << >> >> >>

“Thankfully, we have accepted the devoted services of many nonalcoholics. We owe our very lives to the men and women of medicine and religion. And, speaking for Dr. Bob and myself, I gratefully declare that had it not been for our wives, Anne and Lois, neither of us could have lived to see A.A.’s beginning.”

~ 1. LETTER, 1945 ~
~ 2. LETTER, 1966 ~
~ 3. LETTER, 1966 ~

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc

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 Page 33

Foundation for Life

We discover that we receive guidance for our lives to just about the extent that we stop making demands upon God to give it to us on order and on our terms.

<< << << >> >> >>

In praying, we ask simply that throughout the day God place in us the best understanding of His will that we can have for the day, and that we be given the grace by which we may carry it out.

<< << << >> >> >>

There is a direct linkage among self-examination, meditation, and prayer. Taken separately, these practices can bring much relief and benefit. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakable foundation for life.

~ TWELVE AND TWELVE ~
1. P. 104
2. P. 102
3. P. 98

© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc

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Just For Today #essentialaofrecovery

Maintaining The Foundation

“Our newly found faith serves as a firm foundation for courage in the future.”

Basic Text p. 93

The foundation of our lives is what the rest of our lives is built upon. When we were using, that foundation affected everything we did. When we decided that recovery was important, that’s where we began to put our energy. As a result, our whole lives changed. In order to maintain those new lives, we must maintain the foundation of those lives: our recovery program.

As we stay clean and our lifestyles change, our priorities will also change. Work and school may become important because they improve the quality of our lives. And new relationships may bring excitement and mutual support. But we need to remember that our recovery program is the foundation upon which our new lives are built. Each day, we must renew our commitment to recovery, maintaining that as our top priority.

Just for today: I want to continue enjoying the life I’ve found in recovery. Today, I will take steps to maintain my foundation.

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FIRST, THE FOUNDATION


Is sobriety all that we can expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning.As Bill Sees It, p. 8
Practicing the A.A. program is like building a house. First I had to pour a big, thick concrete slab on which to erect the house; that, to me, was the equivalent of stopping drinking. But it’s pretty uncomfortable living on a concrete slab, unprotected and exposed to the heat, cold, wind and rain. So I built a room on the slab by starting to practice the program. The first room was rickety because I wasn’t used to the work. But as time passed, as I practiced the program, learned to build better rooms. The more I practiced, and the more I built, the more comfortable, and happy, was the home I now have to live in.

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Built by the One and the Many, p. 155

We give thanks to our Heavenly Father, who, through so many friends and through so many means and channels, has allowed us to construct this wonderful edifice of the spirit in which we are now dwelling–this cathedral whose foundations already rest upon the corners of the earth.

On its great floor we have inscribed our Twelve Steps of recovery. On the side walls, the buttresses of the A.A. Traditions have been set in place to contain us in unity for as long as God may will it so. Eager hearts and hands have lifted the spire of our cathedral into its place. That spire bears the name of service. May it ever point straight upward toward God.

<< << << >> >> >>

“It is not only to the few that we owe the remarkable developments in our unity and in our ability to carry A.A.’s message everywhere. It is to the many, indeed, it is to the labors of all of us that we owe these prime blessings.”

1. A.A. Comes Of Age, p. 234


2. Talk, 1959 

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FIRST, THE FOUNDATION

Is sobriety all that we can expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning.
As Bill Sees It, p. 8

Practicing the A.A. program is like building a house. First I had to pour a big, thick concrete slab on which to erect the house; that, to me, was the equivalent of stopping drinking.
 But it’s pretty uncomfortable living on a concrete slab, unprotected and exposed to the heat, cold, wind and rain. So I built a room on the slab by starting to practice the program. 
The first room was rickety because I wasn’t used to the work. But as time passed, as I practiced the program,  learned to build better rooms. 
The more I practiced, and the more I built, the more comfortable, and happy, was the home I now have to live in. 

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #Awakening #Foundation #Recovery

  2 
January 

FIRST, THE FOUNDATION


Is sobriety all that we can expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning.
As Bill Sees It, p. 8

Practicing the A.A. program is like building a house. First I had to pour a big, thick concrete slab on which to erect the house; that, to me, was the equivalent of stopping drinking. But it’s pretty uncomfortable living on a concrete slab, unprotected and exposed to the heat, cold, wind and rain. So I built a room on the slab by starting to practice the program. The first room was rickety because I wasn’t used to the work. But as time passed, as I practiced the program, learned to build better rooms. The more I practiced, and the more I built, the more comfortable, and happy, was the home I now have to live in.

Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc

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JUST FOR TODAY

 22
November

Foundation First

“As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first.”

~ Basic Text pg. 83

No sooner do we get clean than some of us begin putting other priorities ahead of our recovery. Careers, families, relationships – all these are part of the life we find once we’ve laid the foundation of our recovery. But we can’t build a stable life for ourselves before we do the hard, basic work of laying our recovery foundation. Like a house built on sand, such a life will be shaky, at best.

Before we begin putting all our attention to rebuilding the detailed framework of our lives, we need to lay our foundation. We acknowledge, first, that we don’t yet have a foundation, that our addiction has made our lives utterly unmanageable. Then, with the help of our sponsor and our home group, we find faith in a Power strong enough to help us prepare the ground of our new lives. We clear the wreckage from the site upon which we will build our future. Finally, we develop a deep, working familiarity with the principles we will practice in our continuing affairs: honest self-examination, reliance upon our Higher Power’s guidance and strength, and service to others.

Once our foundation is prepared, then we can go full steam ahead to put our new lives together. But first we must ask ourselves if our foundation is secure, for without our foundation, nothing we build can stand for long.

Just for today: I will take care to lay a secure foundation for my recovery. Upon such a foundation, I can build for a lifetime in recovery.

© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc

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30
July
Founders with clay feet
Sound thinking

With any organization or society, the time comes when people find fault with the founders. The faults of these pioneering leaders are examined and perhaps even used to discredit them.

Founders are only human beings, and they are likely to exhibit the human shortcomings all of us have. If these founders turn out to have clay feet, perhaps the fault is ours for idolizing them in the first place.

The real role of a founder is to lay the foundation for further building. Unless the society grows, improving over what the founder had in mind, it is not likely to survive. Its real work should be to surpass the fonder so as to be of greater service to others.

I’ll be careful not to put anyone on a pedestal and then complain about his or her clay feet.

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30
June

Maintaining The Foundation

“Our newly found faith serves as a firm foundation for courage in the future.”

Basic Text p. 93

The foundation of our lives is what the rest of our lives is built upon. When we were using, that foundation affected everything we did. When we decided that recovery was important, that’s where we began to put our energy. As a result, our whole lives changed. In order to maintain those new lives, we must maintain the foundation of those lives: our recovery program.

As we stay clean and our lifestyles change, our priorities will also change. Work and school may become important because they improve the quality of our lives. And new relationships may bring excitement and mutual support. But we need to remember that our recovery program is the foundation upon which our new lives are built. Each day, we must renew our commitment to recovery, maintaining that as our top priority.

Just for today: I want to continue enjoying the life I’ve found in recovery. Today, I will take steps to maintain my foundation.

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Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #Recovery #AA #Founders

28
June

THE DETERMINATION OF OUR FOUNDERS

A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven more. 

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 159

If it had not been for the fierce determination of our founders, A.A. would have quickly faded like so many other so-called good causes. I look at the hundreds of meetings weekly in the city where I live and I know A.A. is available twenty-four hours a day. If I had had to hang on with nothing but hope and a desire not to drink, experiencing rejection wherever I went, I would have sought the easier, softer way and returned to my previous way of life.

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Anonymity Our Spiritual Foundation #essentialsofrec #Speakers #Anonymity

8
May

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