Without understanding our motives, we can easily lapse into behavior aimed at manipulating others. Sulking is a means of letting others know we are displeased and forcing them to attempt to win our approval. Flattery is a false expression of approval that we don’t really feel…. giving others good strokes for our own purpose. WithholdingContinue reading “When Am I Being Manipulative – Walk In Dry Places April 23rd”
Category Archives: Immaturity
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.”
Seeking Guidance – As Bill Sees It #55
“Man is supposed to think, and act. He wasn’t made in God’s image to be an automaton.” My own formula along this lines runs as follows: First, think through every situation pro and con, praying meanwhile that I be not influenced by ego considerations. Affirm that I would like to do God’s will. Then, havingContinue reading “Seeking Guidance – As Bill Sees It #55”
Breach The Wall Of Ego – As Bill Sees It #74
People who are driven by pride of self unconsciously blind themselves to their liabilities. Newcomers of this sort scarcely need comforting. The problem is to help them discover a chink in the walls their ego has built, through which the light of reason can shine. ‹‹ ‹‹ ‹‹ ›› ›› ›› The attainment of greaterContinue reading “Breach The Wall Of Ego – As Bill Sees It #74”
Getting To Know Our Differentiated Self – 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety By Dr. Allen Berger
I think there is a strong connection between this article and what I like to call the ‘mini-steps’ suggested as responses to a spot inventory of what disturbs us. These mini-steps are suggested in the Twelve £ Twelve in Step 10. Specifically, I see this article as very prescriptive when I find myself taking thingsContinue reading “Getting To Know Our Differentiated Self – 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety By Dr. Allen Berger”
Daily Inventory – As Bill Sees It #296
Often, as we review each day, only the closest scrutiny will reveal what our true motives were. There are cases where our ancient enemy rationalization has stepped in and has justified conduct which was really wrong. The temptation here is to imagine that we had good motives and reasons when we really hadn’t. We “constructivelyContinue reading “Daily Inventory – As Bill Sees It #296”
When Conflict Mounts – As Bill Sees It #289
Sometimes I would be forced to look at situations where I was doing badly. Right away, the search for excuses would become frantic. “These,” I would exclaim, “are really a good man’s faults.” When that pet gadget broke apart, I would think, “Well, if those people would only treat me right, I wouldn’t have toContinue reading “When Conflict Mounts – As Bill Sees It #289”
Shame And The Meaning Of Being Human – Shame & Guilt By Ernest Kurtz
AA teaches that there is a wholeness in limitation. This understanding echoes an ancient tradition of wisdom, which saw being human as being caught in the middle, containing a contradiction. To be human, according to this tradition, means to sustain the tension of always being pulled in two opposite directions: to be more than humanContinue reading “Shame And The Meaning Of Being Human – Shame & Guilt By Ernest Kurtz”
Inside Out – Grapevine Article June 1995 By Fred H
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character If Alcoholics Anonymous were a self-help program, Step Six might read something like this: “Became determined in our minds to overcome all our character defects.” Mercifully, this is not what we are asked to do in AA. In fact, no action at allContinue reading “Inside Out – Grapevine Article June 1995 By Fred H”
Desire For Control & Denial Of Spiritual – Not God (P.208-210) By Ernst Kurtz
Experience taught Alcoholics Anonymous that the root of the addiction to alcohol lay essentially in his misunderstanding and denial of the spiritual. The active alcoholic was attempting to attain the spiritual, the unlimited, by means of the material. He was trying to achieve a quality of living by the mere adding up of quantities ofContinue reading “Desire For Control & Denial Of Spiritual – Not God (P.208-210) By Ernst Kurtz”