“As a result of the Twelve Steps, I’m not able to hold on to old ways of deceiving myself.” ❖ We all rationalize. Sometimes we know we are rationalizing, admit we are rationalizing, yet continue to behave according to our rationalizations! Recovery can become very painful when we decide that, for one reason or another,Continue reading “Rationalizing Away Our Recovery – Just For Today March 6th p.68”
Category Archives: Avoidance
Anxiety/Tension—All Bad? – Grapevine Article March 1969 By J.C.
An AA suggests that stress reminds us to plunge deeper into the program NO, SERENITY doesn’t mean a lack of any stress or tension. It means, instead, the inner security that enables us to bear these stresses and to use them as occasions for growth. I need not fear or shun anxiety, because there isContinue reading “Anxiety/Tension—All Bad? – Grapevine Article March 1969 By J.C.”
Peeling Back The Layers Of The Onion
Jacque has chosen a mashup of articles that explore how we often replace our dependency on alcohol with another unhealthy dependency. These articles show us how we can work Step 1 and the rest of the steps on these additional unhealthy dependencies which may be revealed. In the Twelve and Twelve, Bill W outlines healthyContinue reading “Peeling Back The Layers Of The Onion”
Finding Security Within Us By Phil Stutz
At the heart of recovery is the principle of paying it forward. This article is a great illustration of how this principle, when combined with another key AA principle of anonymity, can build a resilient inner security in the face of incredible, and often unconscious, uncertainty in our lives. The reflection below is poignant forContinue reading “Finding Security Within Us By Phil Stutz”
Restore Us To Sanity – As Bill Sees It #141
Few indeed are the practicing alcoholics who have any idea how irrational they are, or, seeing their irrationality, can bear to face it. For example, some will be willing to term themselves “problem drinkers,” but cannot endure the suggestion that they are in fact mentally ill. They are abetted in this blindness by a worldContinue reading “Restore Us To Sanity – As Bill Sees It #141”
Feeling Special and Unique – 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery By Dr. Allen Berger
PART ONE | Humility Humility is the spiritual foundation of recovery. In order to feel worthy, we do not need to be unique. People who do best in recovery are those who surrender and follow suggestions. A common first response to the requirements of recovery is to negotiate, to pick and choose what we thinkContinue reading “Feeling Special and Unique – 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery By Dr. Allen Berger”
The Grateful Flow & Part X – Lessons For Living By Phil Stutz
I love Phil Stutz. His insights about getting us out of our comfort zone, facing our PUH … our pain, uncertainty and hard work … about the necessity of crossing PUH to find endless new possibilities and potential … the process he describes as a ‘reversal of desire’ moving from comfort and moving toward theContinue reading “The Grateful Flow & Part X – Lessons For Living By Phil Stutz”
Boundaries & Healthy Tolerance – Language Of Letting Go By Melody Beattie December 3rd
Many of us are skilled at denying and discounting what hurts us. We may endure a particular situation, telling ourselves repeatedly it’s not that bad; we shouldn’t be so demanding; it’ll change any day; we should be able to live with it; it doesn’t annoy us; the other person didn’t really mean it; it doesn’tContinue reading “Boundaries & Healthy Tolerance – Language Of Letting Go By Melody Beattie December 3rd”
No Ordinary Lunch – Grapevine Article December 2024 By Anonymous
One day in a quiet suburban neighborhood, a meeting of two friends becomes a life-saving opportunity to reach out A dear AA friend and former sponsor and I decided to have lunch together. She had been a support to me for many years and had sponsored me through very difficult times, including the death ofContinue reading “No Ordinary Lunch – Grapevine Article December 2024 By Anonymous”
Anxiety, Worry, Avoidance, Excitement, Dread, Fear, Vulnerability – Places We Go When Things Are Uncertain – Chapter 1 Extract From ‘The Atlas Of The Heart’ By Brené Brown
I love the quote below that begins the section on anxiety. It reminds me of how much of my alcoholism relates to my delusion of control. This short article from the book ‘Not God’ by Ernst Kurtz does a good job of exploring this along with the corresponding denial of the spiritual. Kurtz writes “RealityContinue reading “Anxiety, Worry, Avoidance, Excitement, Dread, Fear, Vulnerability – Places We Go When Things Are Uncertain – Chapter 1 Extract From ‘The Atlas Of The Heart’ By Brené Brown”