We did not put ourselves at the top of the list, even though we hear all the time at A.A. meetings that you should be at the top of your amends list. The amend we make to ourselves is that we are in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous enjoying the rewards of a brand new way of living.

Most of us have been raised in an environment where negativity trumps gratitude. Like all things we want to be better at, adopting a perspective of gratitude is something we must practice. Through cultivating a practice of gratitude, we are able to be more deliberate in holding a positive mindset - even when it does not come naturally.

Defects don’t just disappear because we are ready. We have to be willing to have them removed, and only praying to our Higher Power is going to make that happen. We cannot wish them away. True, some will be easy but the ones most engrained in our person, the ones that protected us from the real world, the ones that encouraged our addictions, are the difficult ones. These are the demons which could lead us right back to the insane existence from which we finally emerged.