PRINCIPLES: Foundational TRUTHS: core VALUES which regulate moral behavior; guidelines and guardrails:
Category Archives: Choice
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”
We Cannot Live Alone – As Bill Sees It #83
All of A.A.’ s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires; they all deflate our egos. When it comes to ego deflation, few Steps are harder to take than the Fifth. Scarcely any Step is more necessary to long-time sobriety and peace of mind. A.A. experience has taught us we cannotContinue reading “We Cannot Live Alone – As Bill Sees It #83”
Living With Hope – Reflection By Henri Nouwen With An Anonymous Meditation
I think this reflection and the meditation that follows captures how powerful the principle of hope can be when we’re facing life’s PUH’s …the pain,uncertainty and hard work that Phil Stutz describes in this article. I love the distinctions Henri makes between optimism and hope … which, to me, is very consistent with the realityContinue reading “Living With Hope – Reflection By Henri Nouwen With An Anonymous Meditation”
Step 3 From Right Dependence We Gain True Freedom – Practice These Principles By Ray A
On page 552 of the Big Book, we find this provocative assertion “The only real freedom a human being can ever know is doing what you ought to do because you want to do it.” For me , my often unconscious, unquestioned belief is in freedom through my self will and the delusion that “IContinue reading “Step 3 From Right Dependence We Gain True Freedom – Practice These Principles By Ray A”
AA Principles & Purpose Are Portable – A Spiritual Principle A Day December 12th
“Being able to focus on a primary purpose and work creatively toward it is so much part of our way of life that we may not realize how valued that is in the world at large.” Living Clean, Chapter 5, “Bridging Two Worlds” The idea that what we learn in recovery applies outside AA isContinue reading “AA Principles & Purpose Are Portable – A Spiritual Principle A Day December 12th”
Our Thinking Problem – Big Book Substitution p.30
One of our group members, Jack, has used this substitution of ‘thinking’ rather than ‘drinking’ as a great asset in his ongoing recovery . I also find this very, very helpful as I move to accept the obsessive thinking that leads to restless, irritable and discontent and then embrace steps 2 and 3 throughout theContinue reading “Our Thinking Problem – Big Book Substitution p.30”
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”
Win Or Lose – Grapevine Article August 2001 By Jim M.
As a hard-charging marketer, I used to focus only on winning. I worshiped people like football coach Vince Lombardi, revering him as the patron saint of conquest. So any time one of my victories was less than complete–or, God forbid, I actually lost–my sense of failure was absolute. And this always made me a sittingContinue reading “Win Or Lose – Grapevine Article August 2001 By Jim M.”
Resentment – Atlas Of The Heart By Brené Brown
Understanding resentment—how it works in my life, where it comes from, and how I stay out of it—has been one of my lifelong struggles. This is not something that’s easy for me to share with you, because, on top of struggling with resentment, I’m judgmental toward my own resentment. Let me explain. We know fromContinue reading “Resentment – Atlas Of The Heart By Brené Brown”