Some Advice on Giving Advice

" My serenity is inversely proportional to my expectations.  I ask myself: 'How important is it, really?'  I never just sit and do nothing while waiting for God to tell me what to do.  Rather, I do whatever is in front of me.  When I stopped living in the problem and began living in the answer, the problem went away."      

"Today, I find that being an alcoholic is the best thing that ever happened to me.  This proves I don't know what's good for me.  And if I don't know what's good for me, then I don't know what's good or bad for you or for anyone.  So I'm better off if I don't give advice . . .  Before A.A., I judged myself by my intentions, while the world was judging me by my actions."     

This idea of not giving advice is found again and again in our literature.  It must be one of those things we keep doing over and over so it has to be repeated again and again.  So the advice is to stop giving advice.

Personally, I'm doing the best I can today with the tools I've been given and with the upbringing I lived through.  I can only hope that when I disappoint or offend someone that they can try to see beyond the actions to the history and experience that underlie them.  That doesn't give me the right to be offensive but to the person with empathy it may lead to a gentle understanding.