was talking about. I got a fella here who asked me to sponsor him. He's a handful I tell you what. He's one of those sharp intellegent types 
- he's sharp as a pin when he aint a pinhead. Hes got that chronic relapse business that aint killed him yet, in and out for 25 years, with the most sober 6 months worth of 24 hours.He asked me to sponsor him Saturday, and I said, Im not telling you "Dont drink, go to meetings, and pray". I never liked that abbrieviated AA anyhow. So I said lets do something different. I want you to think this way "Stay sober, go to meetings, and pray" and when them words left my mouth I couldn't believe it. I mean me and Dallas was talking about that positive vs negative stuff, and his way is a new twist. Then some kind of guru thing comes over me and I'm saying them.
But when those words come out my trap, I smiled and got a real light and fluffy feeling! For real its like I could see them words spiraling to the sky like smoke. This new guy says, Hey I like that. Stay sober instead of don't drink. Then he goes off into his head and thinks, and he's looking up at the light fixture for a good minute. I never heard it put that way. I like that.
With 25 years in and out and hes never heard it put that way, I think its time for me to eat my hat on this one. So I'm going to start taking out that "don't drink" thing and put "stay sober" in its place.
I don't know much, but I suspect somebody somewhere done a study with some bunch of guinee pigs that used something like that. And I bet you people that hear "don't" do something is twice as likely to do it, then people who hear the opposite thing worded in a positive way. I just bet you! If anyone knows about such a study please tell me!
And "Stay sober, go to meetings, pray, and help another alcoholic."
