My friend Owen was going through the writing of the beloved circuit speaker Clancy I and came up his list of ‘hidden promises’ associated with each of AA’s steps that I’ve shown below. They are full of hope and inspiration even though we don’t often identify any of them as promises.
I also love this famous Clancy quote that my friend Jim A. passed along recently:
“The purpose of AA is to do very slowly what alcohol did fast. To change my perception of reality.”
Click here to listen to some of Clancy’s very humorous and powerful talks. My old home group, The Breakfast Club, has created its own set of powerful promises from the Big Book and Twelve & Twelve that you can access here. Their practice is to ask someone to choose and read one of these promises as their way to end each meeting. You can also access these and other promises by clicking the #Promises category on the gugogs.org home page. – Bruce M.
Clancy’s Hidden Promises
Step 1 Promises
“The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.”
BB Page 17, There is a Solution
Step 2 Promises
“The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous.”
BB Page 25, There is a solution
Step 3 Promises
“When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life. As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.”
BB Page 63, How it Works
Step 4 Promises
“At once, we commence to outgrow fear.”
BB Page 68, How it Works
Step 5 Promises
“Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.”
BB Page 75, Into Action
Step 6 Promises
“But when I became willing to clean house and then asked a Higher Power, God as I understood Him, to give me release, my obsession to drink vanished. It was lifted right out of me.”
12 & 12 pg. 63
Step 7 Promises
“But when we have taken a square look at some of these defects, have discussed them with another, and have become willing to have them removed, our thinking about humility commences to have a wider meaning. By this time in all probability we have gained some measure of release from our more devastating handicaps. We enjoy moments in which there is something like real peace of mind. To those of us who have hitherto known only excitement, depression, or anxiety—in other words, to all of us—this newfound peace is a priceless gift.”
12 & 12 pg. 74
Step 8/9 Promises
“In nine cases out of ten the unexpected happens. Sometimes the man we are calling upon admits his own fault, so feuds of years’ standing melt away in an hour. Rarely do we fail to make satisfactory progress. Our former enemies sometimes praise what we are doing and wish us well. Occasionally, they will offer assistance.”
BB Page 78, Into Action
Step 10 Long Promises
“And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone– even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation We feel as though we have been placed in a position of neutrality – safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”
BB Page 83-84, Into Action
Step 11 Promises
“Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no longer lost and frightened and purposeless.”
12 & 12 pg. 105
Step 12 Promises
“Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends — this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.”
BB Page 89, Into Action
Great reminder of the hidden promises.