Definition of Believing:
Accept that (something) is true, especially without proof.
Synonyms for Believing:
Be convinced by, trust, have confidence in, consider honest, consider truthful, etc
These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs.
Readers are encouraged to click the external link for more detail.
We hope you find them helpful.
Love in fellowship.
Believe nothing because a wise man said it.
Believe nothing because it is generally held.
Believe nothing because it is written.
Believe nothing because it is said to be divine
Believe nothing because someone else believes it.
But believe only what you yourself judge to be true. –Buddha | More…
Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you understand. For years I tried to understand my behavior around alcohol and I only came away more confused. –Father Leo | More…
We believe that our Higher Power will take care of us. No human being could relieve our suffering; we know that only God’s care can provide the comfort we seek. As we progress in our recovery and our faith in our Higher Power grows, we are sure to greet the difficult times with a sense of hope, despite the pain we may be in. We need not despair, for we know that our Higher Power’s care will carry us through when we can’t walk on our own.
You have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it… You have to say it from the heart. The combination of the mental picture and asking from the heart to create the emotions will cause us to believe it. Then we just need to wait. We need to believe as though it is already done. –Elders Meditations | More…
As we watched other addicts working the steps and applying those principles in their lives, we began to see that recovery was more than just not using. The lives of our fellowship friends had changed. They had a relationship with the God of their understanding. They were responsible members of the fellowship and of society. They had a reason to live. We began to believe these things were possible for us, too. As we continue our recovery journey, we can get sidetracked by complacency, intolerance, or dishonesty. When we do, we need to recognize the signs quickly and get back on our path—the open road to freedom and growth. –Just For Today | More…
Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another person’s conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him.
As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps.
We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men. –Big Book p.46 | More…
Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you understand. For years I tried to understand my behavior around alcohol and I only came away more confused.
I believe that I can never drink alcohol without having alcohol problems. This cherished belief keeps me sober and gives me a God I can understand; a life that I can love; and a world I can live in. –Father Leo | More…
My miracle is that I now believe in me. I believe that I am an alcoholic, and this belief enables me to be free. My belief about my alcoholism has given me an insight into God and His gift of freedom. –Father Leo | More…
Strength comes from coming to believe in a Higher Power that can help you. You try praying in a quiet time each morning and you begin to feel stronger, as though your prayers were heard. Spiritual development is achieved by daily persistence in living the way you believe God wants you to live. –24 Hours | More…
Strength comes also from working with other alcoholics. Often, you help yourself more than the other person. Faith is the bridge between you and God.
It is the bridge between us and Him, which we can take or not, as we will. There could be no morality without free will. We must make the choice ourselves. We must make the venture of belief. –24Hours | More…
Alcoholics recover their faith in a Power greater than themselves. They put their drink problem in God’s hands and leave it there. –24 Hours | More…
If our recovery program is working properly, an amazing thing can happen. Instead of being the bad actors of society, we become people who can be considered solid citizens in every way.. –Walk In Dry Places/Mel B. | More…
The fundamental basis of A.A. is the belief in a Power greater than ourselves. Let us not water this down. We cannot get the program without this venture of belief. –24Hours | More…
Slowly and painfully, I became aware of myself. I began to see it wasn’t true that I didn’t believe in anything. Rather, I had believed in the wrong things. ‘There is good in all of us. Seek it out, nurture it, tend it, and it will flourish.’ So I began searching for the positives within me. –Came to Believe (p.103-104)
Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the Light, even though for the moment you do not see. I had had my compulsive, selfish ways removed by God in order for me to blossom into a sober, joyful member of A.A. –Daily Reflections 23/11 | More…
Belief is one of the indispensable preliminary conditions of the realization of its object. Believe, and you shall be right, for you shall save yourself doubt, and you shall again be right, for you shall perish. The only difference is that to believe is greatly to your advantage. –The Spirituality of Imperfection/Ernie Kurtz & Katherine Kechum p.78-81 | More…
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the act. –William James
Believing is an important part of recovery.
To believe means to put aside our doubts.
To believe means to have hope.
Believing makes the road a little smoother.
So, believing lets the healing happen a little faster. –Keep it Simple | More…
The process of coming to believe restores us to sanity.
The strength to move into action comes from this belief.
The process of coming to believe involves a willingness to recognize miracles for what they are. Our experience in recovery gives us examples of a Higher Power working for our good.
Looking back at the evidence of a loving Higher Power acting on our behalf, it becomes possible to trust that this Higher Power will continue to help us in the future. And trust offers us the strength to move forward. –Just For Today | More…
You have to believe it first. Not wait until you see it first, then touch it, then believe it… You have to say it from the heart. The combination of the mental picture and asking from the heart to create the emotions will cause us to believe it. Then we just need to wait. We need to believe as though it is already done. –Elders Meditations | More…
As we watched other addicts working the steps and applying those principles in their lives, we began to see that recovery was more than just not using. The lives of our fellowship friends had changed. They had a relationship with the God of their understanding. They were responsible members of the fellowship and of society. They had a reason to live. We began to believe these things were possible for us, too. As we continue our recovery journey, we can get sidetracked by complacency, intolerance, or dishonesty. When we do, we need to recognize the signs quickly and get back on our path—the open road to freedom and growth. –Just For Today | More…
If anything is a mystery to you and it is coming in between you and God, never look for the explanation in your intellect, look for it in your disposition, it is that which is wrong. –My Utmost for His Highest | More…
We believe that our Higher Power will take care of us. No human being could relieve our suffering; we know that only God’s care can provide the comfort we seek. As we progress in our recovery and our faith in our Higher Power grows, we are sure to greet the difficult times with a sense of hope, despite the pain we may be in. We need not despair, for we know that our Higher Power’s care will carry us through when we can’t walk on our own.
There is nothing miraculous about the things we can explain. We command what we are able to explain, consequently it is natural to seek to explain. It is not natural to obey; nor is it necessarily sinful to disobey. There is no moral virtue in obedience unless there is a recognition of a higher authority in the one who dictates. It is a matter of indifference to God’s grace how abominable I am if I come to the light; but woe be to me if I refuse the light (see John 3:19-21). –My Utmost for His Highest | More…
I am not saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause –My Utmost for Highest | More…
If a man sings of God and hears of Him, And lets love of God sproutwithin him, All his sorrows shall vanish, And in his mind, God will bestowabiding peace. –Sikhism
A Muslim is one who surrenders to the will of Allah and is an establisherof peace (while Islam means establishment of peace, Muslim means one who establishespeace through his actions and conduct).–Islam
The Lord lives in the heart of every creature. He turns them roundand round upon the wheel of Maya. Take refuge utterly in Him. By his graceyou will find supreme peace, and the state which is beyond all change. –Hinduism
The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.–Judaism
All things exist for world peace. –Perfect Liberty Kyodan “Blessedare the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.” –Christianity
Peace … comes within the souls of men when they realize their relationship,their openness, with the universe and all its powers and when they realizethat at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this centeris really everywhere, it is within each of us.–From The Sacred Pipe,by Black Elk, Lakota Sioux Medicine Man
Change begins with surrender and surrender releases the power of believing –Joe McQ
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