Humility Is the Brake

09.15.25

Tonight at the meeting the random topic was ego. I’ve been making a habit of pulling up the Big Book on my phone during meetings and searching the topic, so I can share something connected to a solution from the book instead of just my own rambling. I like doing it — it grounds me and reminds me that the answers are already written down.

So I typed in “ego” and nothing came up. I thought my phone was broken. Tried again, same thing. Showed my friend next to me and even she thought my phone wasn’t working. She tried hers too — nothing. Then it hit me, maybe it’s not the phone, maybe it’s the word. I tried “pride” instead. Boom. Over twenty times in the Big Book.

That made me stop. The word ego might not be there, but it is there under other names — pride, selfishness, self-centeredness, self-will. All those different ways my ego sneaks out. Pride especially feels like the most visible symptom of ego for me. Wanting to be right, bristling when I’m wrong, needing credit, resisting humility.

That’s the part I like about searching during meetings — I don’t just hear the word “ego” and nod, I get to see what the book actually says about it. The solutions are right there: humility, reliance on a Higher Power, service. Pride gets smashed by humility, ego gets shrunk by turning outward. It makes me realize I don’t have to come up with the wisdom myself. I can build the habit of looking it up, finding the words, and practicing them. The Big Book does the heavy lifting if I let it.

I need to remember ego is the engine, pride is the fuel, and humility is the brake.