Today, the vast majority of us welcome any new light that can be thrown on the alcoholic’s mysterious and baffling malady. We welcome new and valuable knowledge whether it issues from a test tube, from a psychiatrist’s couch, or from revealing social studies. We are glad of any kind of education that accurately informs theContinue reading “Our Companions – As Bill Sees It #45”
Category Archives: Isolation
Let’s Be Friendly With Our Friends – Grapevine Article March 1958 By Bill W
Friends on the Alcoholism Front WE ARE TOLD there are 4,500,000 alcoholics in America. Up to now AA has sobered up perhaps 250,000 of them. That’s about one in twenty, or five per cent of the total. This is a brave beginning, full of significance and hope for those who still suffer. Yet these figuresContinue reading “Let’s Be Friendly With Our Friends – Grapevine Article March 1958 By Bill W”
Valentine’s Day – Language Of Letting Go February 14th
For children, Valentine’s Day means candy hearts, silly cards, and excitement in the air.How different Valentine’s Day can be for us as adults. The Love Day can be a symbol that we have not yet gotten love to work for us as we would like. Or it can be a symbol of something different, somethingContinue reading “Valentine’s Day – Language Of Letting Go February 14th”
How Much Anonymity – As Bill Sees It #43
As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know immediately what he was trying to do. He also wanted to tell others who had tried to help him—his doctor, his minister, and close friends. As he gained confidence, he felt it right to explain his new way of life to his employer andContinue reading “How Much Anonymity – As Bill Sees It #43”
What And Who We Really Are – Grapevine Article October 1991 By John W.
I have now experienced nearly eight good years of continuously sober and active membership in the Fellowship of AA. Never during this time have I hesitated to express my heartfelt gratitude for the program and the many positive (and necessary) changes it has helped make possible in my life–a life including many years of active,Continue reading “What And Who We Really Are – Grapevine Article October 1991 By John W.”
Most Spiritual Experiences Are Gradual – Grapevine Article March 1954 By Dr. Harry Tiebout
In this article Dr. Tiebout continues his observations on “the fundamental phenomena which go on when an alcoholic responds favorably to Alcoholics Anonymous.” The article describes how the influences which most AAs recognize as spiritual “should release the positive potential which resides in the unconscious.” Dr. Harry M. Tiebout was a psychiatrist and an earlyContinue reading “Most Spiritual Experiences Are Gradual – Grapevine Article March 1954 By Dr. Harry Tiebout”
Maturity, Frustration & Growth – Grapevine Article By Marvin Block, MD
A topic we often don’t discuss is the importance of how we deal with frustration and the relationship between our response to frustration to our growth and maturity in accepting life as it is. I found this short extract from a much larger Grapevine Article entitled ‘Alcoholism and Alcoholic Anonymous’ written in February 1974 quiteContinue reading “Maturity, Frustration & Growth – Grapevine Article By Marvin Block, MD”
The Shame Knot – Grapevine Article September 2013 By June B.
I love the amends Step. I especially like the words “such people” in the Ninth Step. As a non-custodial mother to three of my four sons and an often absentee mother to the other one, I caused irreparable damage during my drinking years. After sobering up in AA, I did what I could to makeContinue reading “The Shame Knot – Grapevine Article September 2013 By June B.”
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”
With Courage – Grapevine Article April 1991 By Ed H.
Step Four I remember feeling afraid as a kid and thinking that I was a coward–that the mere presence of fear in my life made me a coward. I did not know that one of the definitions of courage was the ability to do the right thing in spite of fear. One particular word inContinue reading “With Courage – Grapevine Article April 1991 By Ed H.”