Vision is, I think, the ability to make good estimates, both for the immediate and for the more distant future. Some might feel this sort of striving to be heresy against “One day at a time.” But that valuable principle really refers to our mental and emotional lives and means chiefly that we are notContinue reading “Vision Beyond Today – As Bill Sees It #317”
Category Archives: Distortion
Loving Advisors – As Bill Sees It #303
Had I not been blessed with wise and loving advisers, I might have cracked up long ago. A doctor once saved me from death by alcoholism because he obliged me to face up to the deadlines of that malady. Another doctor, a psychiatrist, later on helped me save my sanity because he led me toContinue reading “Loving Advisors – As Bill Sees It #303”
Learning From What Repeats Itself – Walk In Dry Places October 19th
The same situation… over and over Our drinking experience should have taught us that we’ll continue to repeat old destructive behaviors until we change our attitudes. In sobriety, we can take this idea a step further and apply it to other areas. If we have trouble with other people, for example, we should ask whatContinue reading “Learning From What Repeats Itself – Walk In Dry Places October 19th”
The Broken Pulley – Grapevine Article June 1992 By Mel B.
Some years ago, I realized that much of the great staying power of the AA program is wrapped up in Step Ten: “Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.” In my opinion, this Step suggests the daily practice of Steps Four through Nine and is designed to keep usContinue reading “The Broken Pulley – Grapevine Article June 1992 By Mel B.”
Going It Alone – As Bill Sees It #274
Going it alone in spiritual matters is dangerous. How many times have we heard well-intentioned people claim the guidance of God when it was plain that they were mistaken? Lacking both practice and humility, they deluded themselves and were so able to justify the most arrant nonsense on the ground that this was what GodContinue reading “Going It Alone – As Bill Sees It #274”
A Bountiful Higher Power – Grapevine Article by Loren S.
Restored to reality—rather than sanity—he finds his true path When I arrived at the rooms, I was broken in innumerable ways in every aspect of my life. I just wanted to learn how to control my drinking and be normal. But as I went to more meetings I soon began to see that everything wouldContinue reading “A Bountiful Higher Power – Grapevine Article by Loren S.”
Troubles Of Our Own Making – As Bill Sees It #272
Selfishness–self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions basedContinue reading “Troubles Of Our Own Making – As Bill Sees It #272”
Miracles: Yours and Mine – Grapevine Article February 2004 By Dave L.
He thought they were only for the very good people, the saints Being a drunk and, hence, a “bad person,” I was not at all happy with a Higher Power or God who refused to answer my pleas for help. Over and over again I had asked God for surcease of my drunken, “bad” behavior,Continue reading “Miracles: Yours and Mine – Grapevine Article February 2004 By Dave L.”
Savoring Our Sobriety – Grapevine Article August 1982 By C.C.
IT WAS NATURAL for us to begin our journey of happy sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous with an anticipation of trouble in trying to live in the now, one day at a time. After all, we had spent years deeply regretting painful pasts and weeping about dismal futures. We are fortunate that so much attention isContinue reading “Savoring Our Sobriety – Grapevine Article August 1982 By C.C.”
When And How To Give – As Bill Sees It #239
Men who cry for money and shelter as a condition of their sobriety are on the wrong track. Yet we sometimes do provide a new prospect with these very things–when it becomes clear that he is willing to place his recovery first. It is not whether we shall give that is the question, but whenContinue reading “When And How To Give – As Bill Sees It #239”