I've also had some not-so-positive experiences with AA, brook, so I understand your feeling. They're really big on those trite expressions--although when I first started this thread, I wasn't thinking specifically of AA as a source of them.

I recently bought a book, "Believe You Can." It was advertised as instruction on positive thinking. I was disappointed to find it full of pep talk, rather than practical information on *how* to believe you can, or how to think positively. Every chapter is crammed full of one platitude after another, or quoting someone else who was spouting platitudes. They're not even placed in a logical order, but seemingly strung together at random.

Sample:

Christopher Morley said, "Big shots are only little shots that keep shooting." Persistence is simply enjoying the distance between the birth and the fulfillment of your dreams. An "overnight success" takes years.

We should be people of strong wills, not strong wont's. Many of the world's great failures did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Stopping at third base adds no more to the score than striking out.

Yeah, the entire book goes on and on like that.

I wanna barf.

"Believe You Can" John Mason (c) 2004