ACA Affirmations Project Underway

The Literature in Development Subcommittee has taken on the project of proposing one set of ACA Affirmations for our fellowship to evaluate. As you may know, an earlier committee drafted a set of 23 rights for an ACA conference-approved Bill of Rights. There are 23 rights that were compiled from much longer lists.

Each group is free to use any Bill of Rights and any set of Affirmations that works for them. This is an effort to pull together selected affirmations from the Big Red Book, the Loving Parent Guidebook, and individual meetings that can be posted, translated, and used if desired throughout our fellowship.

One issue we are discussing is how an Affirmation should begin. The affirmations that begin on page 329 of the Big Red Book begin “It is OK.” The way we begin an affirmation affects our attitude toward it. Does “I” language feel more powerful to you?

For example, if we say, “I will,” we are making a statement of intention for the future, not necessarily what is true for us today. “I can” may be more a statement of giving ourselves permission to act a certain way. Whereas “I am” is a clear statement of our recovered selves, a statement of who we are today. We can alter the I will/I can/I am language in ways that resonate with us.

Here is a list of possible Affirmations. Our committee would love your feedback (by number) of which ones particularly resonate for you. Please send by email to [email protected] and mark your email “Affirmations.”

If you would like to join our working group, we welcome you!

1. I can make mistakes and learn.
2. I can know another way to live.
3. I can give myself a break.
4. I can be gentle with myself.
5. I can say no without feeling guilty.
6. I can seek my own higher power.
7. I can become my own loving parent, the gentle, loving and supportive parent I needed as a child.
8. I can detach from people who are unhealthy.
9. I can detach from my inner critical parent.
10. I can reparent myself with gentleness, humor, love and respect.
11. I can learn to feel and accept all of my feelings.
12. I can ask for support without feeling like I am a burden.
13. I can choose healthy people who can love and be loved.
14. I will listen to and love and support my inner children unconditionally.
15. I will integrate my inner child into my life by learning to play, have fun, and feel the simple joy of being.
16. I will treat others with respect and expect others to treat me with respect.
17. I will allow myself to dream and have hope.
18. I will respond to others with the vulnerability of my inner child and with the strength of my adult.
19. I will move out of isolation with the help of my fellow travelers.
20. I do enough. I have enough. I am enough.
21. I am always living in truth when I am aligned with love.
22. I am coming to know and love my true self.
23. I am worthy of sharing and receiving recovery.
24. I am not responsible for anyone’s happiness but my own.

Christine B