The Big Book Chapter 3 ‘More About Alcoholism’ begins with a warning about what happens when we attach ourselves to the old idea that we can control our drinking: “The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion isContinue reading “Feeling Stuck; Try Surrender & Withdrawal – Consolations By David Whyte”
Category Archives: Insanity
Restore Us To Sanity – As Bill Sees It #141
Few indeed are the practicing alcoholics who have any idea how irrational they are, or, seeing their irrationality, can bear to face it. For example, some will be willing to term themselves “problem drinkers,” but cannot endure the suggestion that they are in fact mentally ill. They are abetted in this blindness by a worldContinue reading “Restore Us To Sanity – As Bill Sees It #141”
Mashup – Recognizing And Surrendering Our Grandiosity
The belief in how special and unique we are can develop into a grandiosity that we may need to recognize within ourselves. The Twelve & Twelve reminds us of what the results of a study of alcoholics concluded were our most common personality traits The doctors weren’t trying to find how different we were fromContinue reading “Mashup – Recognizing And Surrendering Our Grandiosity”
Mashup – Should I Move From A Manager To A Wise Navigator Of My Life
This mashup of two articles should allow us to explore what lies after the dash in the 1st Step …‘that our lives had become unmanageable’. Is our goal in sobriety to manage/control OR is it to learn to wisely navigate through a reality of what we can control and what we cannot? How do weContinue reading “Mashup – Should I Move From A Manager To A Wise Navigator Of My Life”
Live Your Wounds & Befriend Your Pain – Henri Nouwen Daily Meditation October 9th, 10th
I love these two short daily meditations from Henri Nouwen. I see so much of what drives my addiction as an unhealthy response and relationship to pain. I have been a pain killer and am now learning, with the help of a Higher Power and my A.A. community, to be a pain healer. That transformingContinue reading “Live Your Wounds & Befriend Your Pain – Henri Nouwen Daily Meditation October 9th, 10th”
Toxic Shame, Character Defects & Out Of Proportion Reactions
A few weeks ago, we read the short reflection entitled ‘The Trance Of Unworthiness’. That reading is a poignant reminder of how many of us lose proportion and consciousness when we’re triggered and believe we’re under attack by this toxic shame and painful experience of our unworthiness. We seem to shut down and enter intoContinue reading “Toxic Shame, Character Defects & Out Of Proportion Reactions”
Self Acceptance – Let Us Love You Until You Can Love Yourself May 2014 By Tony A.
Self-acceptance. This has been one of the most challenging, albeit powerful, achievements in my life to date: learning to accept and love myself as I am, period! All of my life I had been plagued with feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, fear, inferiority and worthlessness. From the age of seven or so, I felt aContinue reading “Self Acceptance – Let Us Love You Until You Can Love Yourself May 2014 By Tony A.”
What Is Toxic Shame – Healing The Shame That Binds You By John Bradshaw
John Bradshaw was one of the most influential writers on emotional health in the twentieth century as selected by his fellow mental health professionals. He was also an alcoholic in recovery. His areas of expertise include addiction, co-dependency , trauma, emotional instability , and abuse. This extract is the preface to the original edition ofContinue reading “What Is Toxic Shame – Healing The Shame That Binds You By John Bradshaw”
An Alcoholic and a Child of God – Grapevine Article July 1995 By Rick D.
STEP 7: Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.” This would have been a perfect epitaph for my headstone if my drinking had killed me before I got to AA. It was something I was constantly told; it was a feeling about myself that, although I didn’t likeContinue reading “An Alcoholic and a Child of God – Grapevine Article July 1995 By Rick D.”
The Twelve Steps And Shame – Steps 1 -3 Booklet By Mic Hunter
What Is Shame? Shame is that burning in our faces when we think those around us have finally figured out how worthless we are. We think we’re inadequate or worthless. It’s when we hate to look anyone in the eye; when time seems to crawl and we wish we could disappear. It makes us feelContinue reading “The Twelve Steps And Shame – Steps 1 -3 Booklet By Mic Hunter”