FEELINGS

Shame, guilt, pain, we alcoholics all have feelings that we must be aware of. We must be able to be able to accept that these feelings are neither good or bad they just are. How we deal with these feelings will determine whether we drink again or not.

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FEELINGS= (A) EXCITEMENT (B) THE AFFECTIVE ASPECT OF CONSCIOUSNESS: FEELINGS (C) A PSYCHIC AND PHYSICAL REACTION EXPERIENCED AS STRONG EMOTIONS AND INVOLVING CHANGES THAT PREPARE THE BODY FOR IMMEDIATE VIGOROUS ACTION. SYNONYM EMOTIONS

LOVE: strongest of all emotions as addicts we love no one including ourself

HATE: of ourselves, others, what we are doing

FEAR: fear of dying, fear of living, fear of rejection, fear of the law, fear of people.

GUILT: how I felt about my dwi's, how I treated my family, friends and coworkers, things that I did while intoxicated, things I did not do while intoxicated.

SHAME: of being arrested, name in paper, my actions, my appearance and actions

ANGER: angry at myself for being, angary at others for my actions

SELF-PITY: I have ruined my life, I don't have (clothes, house, cars, money, love) everybody hates me.

LONELINESS: when I am in a crowd ( not fitting in), with wife/husband

RESENTMENTS: We hold in hate and anger, as alcoholics we are masters of stuffing our feelings to the point that we are numb. This causes the most damaging of emotions resentments, unless we are willing to be honest and open and willing to let these resentments go, we will surely drink again.

Taken from page 64 of the Big Book:
Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically. In dealing with resentments, we set them on paper. We listed people, institutions or principles with whom we were angry. We asked ourselves why we were angry. In most cases it was found that our self-esteem, our pocketbooks, our ambitions, our personal relationships (including sex) were hurt or threatened. So we were sore. We were "burned up."

Feelings positive and negative make up our personality and the way we perceive ourselves. Negative feelings head our low self-esteem and affect our performance, personal relationships and our spirituality. We must be aware of our feelings and commit to changing from negative to positive. Sharing our feelings openly gives us freedom and prevents relapse.