Three months before my ninth sobriety birthday in AA, my uncle beat my grandmother to death. My family covered it up. For approximately a year following her death, I experienced a terrible emotional relapse. Filled with rage at my uncle and at AA, I could barely sit through an entire meeting. My uncle and IContinue reading “Operation Acceptance: Moving from Rage to Letting Go – Grapevine Article April 2005 by Anonymous”
Category Archives: Humility
A Better Fit – Grapevine Article March 2020 by Don S.
How 10 aching toes became a powerful lesson about the dangers of being right My first interaction with a Higher Power was terse. I had reached the end of my rope, having attempted sobriety for a period of about 19 months. I had relapsed and suffered through 10 months of incomprehensible demoralization. I was genuinelyContinue reading “A Better Fit – Grapevine Article March 2020 by Don S.”
It Might Have Been the Time – Grapevine Article February 1950 by Lois (Bill W.‘s Wife and Al-Anon Founder )
I too needed spiritual development IT is hard to say just when Alcoholics Anonymous began. It may have been at the time a friend came to see my husband, Bill. Or it may have been at the moment of Bill’s spiritual experience. Most AAs feel it is the time six months later when he metContinue reading “It Might Have Been the Time – Grapevine Article February 1950 by Lois (Bill W.‘s Wife and Al-Anon Founder )”
Courage – Grapevine Article August 1974 by V.W.C.
We have learned courage by trying, and through AA we can channel it into new and beautiful ways ACROSS THE YEARS of sober living in AA, I must have said and heard the words “grant me the courage” several thousand times. Yet only recently did I sit down and figure out exactly what courage meansContinue reading “Courage – Grapevine Article August 1974 by V.W.C.”
An Open Heart and Open Mind – Grapevine Article March 1979 by C.O.
FOR OVER twenty months, I have been graced with the fellowship of AA meetings, gradual growth and maturation, and the ability to stay away from alcohol and other mind-changing drugs one day at a time. My participation in the AA program of recovery has made me aware of how little I know and how limitedContinue reading “An Open Heart and Open Mind – Grapevine Article March 1979 by C.O.”
Our Secrets Keep Us Sick- Each Day A New Beginning August 22nd
We’re only as sick as the secrets we keep. -Sue Atchley Ebaugh Harboring parts of our inner selves, fearing what others would think if they knew, creates the barriers that keep us separate, feeling different, certain of our inadequacies. Secrets are burdens, and they weigh heavily on us, so heavily. Carrying secrets makes impossible theContinue reading “Our Secrets Keep Us Sick- Each Day A New Beginning August 22nd”
What Is Happiness – Grapevine Article January 2017 by Edwin B.
A son’s question on an autumn day reminds a sober dad just how far he’s come This fall, I was raking the lawn and my 22-year-old son, Nico, was bagging leaves for me. At one point, he asked me, “Does raking make you happy?” My initial thought was, Just stuff the leaves in the freakingContinue reading “What Is Happiness – Grapevine Article January 2017 by Edwin B.”
Truth – Grapevine Article August 1973 by J.W.
Do we remain captives of the lie when the truth can set us free ?? THE WORDS “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” have echoed through time for two thousand years. Hands to ears, humanity has fled them ever since they were spoken. If you don’t believe me, holdContinue reading “Truth – Grapevine Article August 1973 by J.W.”
It Takes A Realist To Believe In Miracles – Grapevine Article February 1986 by L.O.
WHEN I FIRST JOINED the AA Fellowship, I was told that alcoholism is a disease. I could easily relate to that concept and be at home with it, for I have lived with a severe, chronic disease since infancy. At the age of sixteen months I was diagnosed at Duke University School of Endocrinology asContinue reading “It Takes A Realist To Believe In Miracles – Grapevine Article February 1986 by L.O.”
Guilt – Grapevine Article March 1973 by C.W.B.
Our misdeeds cannot be changed–our thinking can I WRITE this because there must be others like me who have had difficulty ridding themselves of the ravages of guilt and, like me, have either misunderstood certain of the Steps or have tried to apply them too quickly and eagerly and have thus added to their feelingsContinue reading “Guilt – Grapevine Article March 1973 by C.W.B.”