Traditions

"The Twelve Traditions point straight at many of our individual defects. By implication they ask each of us to lay aside pride and resentments. They ask for personal as well as group sacrifice. They ask us never to use the A.A. name in any quest for personal power or distinction or money. The Traditions guarantee the equality of all members and the independence of all groups. They show how we may best relate ourselves to each other and to the world outside."
Bill W.,
1967 AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 96

Thought to Consider . . .

If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.

AACRONYMS

P U S H
Pray Until Something Happens

FREEDOM FROM GUILT

When I become willing to accept my own powerlessness, I begin to realize that blaming myself for all the trouble in my life can be an ego trip back into hopelessness. Asking for help and listening deeply to the messages inherent in the Steps and Traditions of the program make it possible to change those attitudes which delay my recovery.

Traditions Checklist

These questions were originally published in the AA Grapevine in conjunction with a series on the Twelve Traditions that began in November 1969 and ran through September 1971. While they were originally intended primarily for individual use, many AA groups have since used them as a basis for wider discussion.

Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.

Practice These Principles . . .

Tradition One: Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity.

• Am I in my group a healing, mending, integrating person, or am I divisive? What about gossip and taking other member's inventories?
• Am I a peacemaker? Or do I, with pious preludes such as “just for the sake of discussion,” plunge into argument?
• Am I gentle with those who rub me the wrong way, or am I abrasive?
• Do I make competitive AA remarks, such as comparing one group with another or contrasting AA in one place with AA in another?
• Do I put down some AA activities as if I were superior for not participating in this or that aspect of AA?
• Am I informed about AA as a whole? Do I support, in every way I can, AA as a whole, or just the parts I understand and approve of?
• Am I as considerate of AA members as I want them to be of me?
• Do I spout platitudes about love while indulging in and secretly justifying behavior that bristles with hostility?
• Do I go to enough AA meetings or read enough AA literature to really keep in touch?
• Do I share with AA all of me, the bad and the good, accepting as well as giving the help of the fellowship?

Traditions

"The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
are a distillate of our experience of living and working together.
They apply the spirit of the Twelve recovery Steps
to our group life and security.
They deal with the world outside and with each other;
they state our attitudes toward power and prestige,
toward property and money.
They would save us from tempting alliances
and major controversies;
they would elevate principles far above personal ambitions.
And as a token of this last, they request that we
maintain personal anonymity before the open public
as a protection to AA and as proof of the fact that
our society intends to practice true humility."

Bill W., The Language of the Heart, p. 96