As many of you know, Allen Berger is a leader in Emotional Sobriety. His book 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety is featured prominently in the Emotional Sobriety section of the gugogs.org website. He is a Gestalt therapist with over 50 years of sobriety. Very recently Dr. Berger gave a very powerful talk about how to apply the St.Continue reading “Applying The St Francis Prayer To Our Inside Job Of Reconciliation & Healing By Allen Berger”
Category Archives: Contradictions
To Rebuild Security – As Bill See It #301
In our behavior respecting financial and emotional security, fear, greed, possessiveness, and pride have too often done their worst. Surveying his business or employment record, almost any alcoholic can ask questions like these: In addition to my drinking problem, what character defects contributed to my financial instability? Did fear and inferiority about my fitness forContinue reading “To Rebuild Security – As Bill See It #301”
Faith – A Blueprint – And Work – As Bill Sees It #284
The idea of ‘twenty-four-hour living’ applies primarily to the emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow. But I have never been able to see that this means the individual, the group, or A.A. as a whole should give no thought whatever to how to function tomorrowContinue reading “Faith – A Blueprint – And Work – As Bill Sees It #284”
Humility Is Living In Reality – A Spiritual Principle A Day September 9th
In early recovery, we often find ourselves going from unrealistic, grandiose self-perception to believing we are the worst person in history. It’s that familiar addict pendulum swing–from one extreme to the other (with an optional sound effect): I’m a spiritual giant deserving of high praise–WHOOSH!–I’m a worthless piece of trash. I’m the hottest person here–WHOOSH!–I’mContinue reading “Humility Is Living In Reality – A Spiritual Principle A Day September 9th”
Don’t Drink, and Change the Rest of Your Life – Grapevine Article December 1995 By Anonymous
STEP 12: Having bad a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. “There are only two things you have to do to stay sober,” the old-timer with the gravel voice told me. “Don’t drink one day atContinue reading “Don’t Drink, and Change the Rest of Your Life – Grapevine Article December 1995 By Anonymous”
Emotional Sobriety In Relationships – Recovery Today March 2015 By Allen Berger
In the Twelve & Twelve, we are presented with this possibility that we are not clear on how to practice partnering with others. On page 53, we read: “But it is from our twisted relations with family, friends, and society at large that many of us have suffered the most. We have been especially stupidContinue reading “Emotional Sobriety In Relationships – Recovery Today March 2015 By Allen Berger”
Emotional Equilibrium Welcoming But Not Clinging – Daily Meditation August 17th 2025 By Father Richard Rohr
Father Richard Rohr describes the necessity of attending to our emotions while not clinging to them. You may also find his reflection on how the Twelve Steps address our Stinking Thinking helpful. Emotions are necessary weathervanes, in great part body-based, that help us read situations quickly and perhaps in depth. But they are also learned andContinue reading “Emotional Equilibrium Welcoming But Not Clinging – Daily Meditation August 17th 2025 By Father Richard Rohr”
You Are Not Your Mind – The Power Of Now By Eckhart Tolle
Chapter 1 Extract – THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO ENLIGHTENMENT Enlightenment — what is that? A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you,” saidContinue reading “You Are Not Your Mind – The Power Of Now By Eckhart Tolle”
Accepting Ourselves As Works In Progress – A Spiritual Principle A Day August 8th
“A spiritual understanding of self-acceptance is knowing that it is all right to find ourselves in pain, to have made mistakes, and to know that we are not perfect.” IP #19, Self-Acceptance, “The Twelve Steps are the solution” “Change is a process, not an event,” we often say–because we find it to be true! TheContinue reading “Accepting Ourselves As Works In Progress – A Spiritual Principle A Day August 8th”
The Essential To Recovery Of Self Acceptance By James Hollis
There is something in us, all of us, that knows what is right for us, which path is ours and not someone else’s, something that pushes us beyond our comfort zone into areas of growth, development, and presence in this world greater than we have lived up to this point. ….While all the twelve-step programsContinue reading “The Essential To Recovery Of Self Acceptance By James Hollis”