I have a fond history with the slogans—you might say that they have saved my life. In early AA recovery, my home group was “old school,” no sharing in meetings until you had 1 year of sobriety. (We could ask questions.) So I was bored, same old shares, so I read the walls: The 12 Steps, The 12 Traditions, and SLOGANS! I came to enjoy meditating on them, applying them to the most important person in the room- ME. My best thinking got me here, so what about “think THINK think”? I was a bundle of nerves- so no way to Easy Does It! I deserved to be in prison,  so I still really like: “But for the Grace of God. “ Even today I’m not as recovered as I would like to be,  but I can Act As If I am sober or Fake It ‘Till I Make It. It Is Spiritual Progress Rather Than Spiritual Perfection, thank God.

It took 25 years of sobriety in AA before I hit bottom in my lusting addiction and was directed to SA. You might say that I keep coming back and I didn’t quit before the miracle happened. Wow, I  think God was doing for me what I  could not do for myself. I love Higher Power Surprises!

I have had some outstanding sponsors who have shown me that I Cannot Keep It Unless I Give It Away. I can Live and Let Live, Let Go and Let God,  but I shall Try to Carry the Message to Other Suffering Sexaholics. For me, slogans are quick reference guides to sanity.

I am a complicated person with a complex disease, lust addiction. And I am clearly a slow learner—it took me to age 62 to drag my feet into SA, confused and denying,  but my habit had me whipped. Thank God and SA there was/is a solution and an Attitude of Gratitude for me. Today I try to Keep It Simple. 

There are a few references in SA literature to slogans. The “Step Into Action“ book has a list in the Appendix A of 14 slogans. The Index to “The Real Connection,“ our book of Meditations, has a list of 26 readings using or referring to a slogan or slogans. I like some slogans from other fellowships like S-Anon that uses the 3 Cs: “didn’t Cause it, can’t Control it, can’t Cure it”; and they use “Awareness,  Acceptance and Action.“ That’s a beauty of slogans—they don’t have to be Conference Approved, just approved, loved in my Experience, Strength and Hope—I “use it or lose it.”

I once searched the AA website for slogans, that was fun—lots of them. I recently did an internet search of Recovery Slogans and found 86! How many times have you heard, said or even modified “Keep Coming Back?”

Gene T, Texas, USA, SD 12 30 08