Category Archives: Depression

Happiness Is Not The Point – Daily Reflection April 26th

I don’t think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge?AS BILL SEES IT, p. 306 In my search “to be happy,” I changed jobs, married and divorced,Continue reading “Happiness Is Not The Point – Daily Reflection April 26th”

Changing The Way We See In Our 4th Step – Practice These Principles Ray A.

“We swing from blaming others and getting angry, to blaming ourselves and getting depressed. In either case, we weren’t seeing straight” For us alcoholics, changing the way we see is changing the way we are in every significant aspect of our being: morally, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Our goal is to be better, not justContinue reading “Changing The Way We See In Our 4th Step – Practice These Principles Ray A.”

Walking Toward Serenity – As Bill Sees It #92

When I was tired and couldn’t concentrate, I used to fall back on an affirmation toward life that took the form of simple walking and deep breathing. I sometimes told myself that I couldn’t do even this—that I was to weak. But I learned that this was the point at which I could not giveContinue reading “Walking Toward Serenity – As Bill Sees It #92”

Eliminating Self-Pity – Living Sober Chapter 22

This emotion is so ugly that no one in his or her right mind wants to admit feeling it. Even when sober, many of us remain clever at hiding from ourselves the fact that we are astew in a mess of self-pity. We do not like at all being told that it shows, and weContinue reading “Eliminating Self-Pity – Living Sober Chapter 22”

Only Try – As Bill Sees It #214

In my teens, I had to be an athlete because I was not an athlete. I had to be a musician because I could not carry a tune. I had to be the president of my class in boarding school. I had to first in everything because in my perverse heart I felt myself theContinue reading “Only Try – As Bill Sees It #214”

Breaking The Trance Of Unworthiness – Tara Brach

In our discussion of our divided self and it’s relationship to our alcoholism and addiction, let’s remember the provocative question of Dr. Gabor Matte that suggests what ‘cause and condition’ may need further exploration: “Addiction originates in a human being’s desperate attempt to solve a problem: the problem of emotional pain, of overwhelming stress, ofContinue reading “Breaking The Trance Of Unworthiness – Tara Brach”

Being Restored – Grapevine Article by Theresa C.

Even when faced with life’s most difficult challenges, she was able to stay sober Thank God I was born into an alcoholic family. I say this because one man’s disease helped my grandmother, mother, brother, sister, and I to hop into the Alanon/Alateen wagon together. Years later, several of us also took that painful plungeContinue reading “Being Restored – Grapevine Article by Theresa C.”

Jekyll and Hyde Tenth Step Lessons Grapevine Article by Dr. Charles Aring October 1962

Would AA’s Fourth Step have changed the ending of the famous old horror story? A famous doctor thinks it might THREE-QUARTERS of a century ago, Fanny Stevenson, frightened in the night by her husband’s cries and moans, prodded him into wakefulness. In a dawning state of consciousness he was annoyed, and not for the usuallyContinue reading “Jekyll and Hyde Tenth Step Lessons Grapevine Article by Dr. Charles Aring October 1962”

Speaking Of Trauma – Grapevine Article March 2023 by Anonymous

A longtime member shares his journey of buried wounds and the importance of getting outside help There’s an amend I owe that I hope someday I get to make face-to-face. It’s to another AA member who sat in front of me in a clubhouse meeting and told me how he’d been abused by one ofContinue reading “Speaking Of Trauma – Grapevine Article March 2023 by Anonymous”

Boredom/Depression & Relapse – Problem & Solution Mashup Of Two Grapevine Articles

Boredom, depression, restlessness, feeling stuck are all realities that we will face if we are to live sober. These two short Grapevine articles below help us define more clearly the problem and then to begin to explore effective ways to respond to these uncomfortable feelings. These articles are good reminders of what the Big BookContinue reading “Boredom/Depression & Relapse – Problem & Solution Mashup Of Two Grapevine Articles”