In our February 2026 Emotional Sobriety Series, we’ve discussed how the power of pause can help us discover how ‘the best in me can lead the rest in me’. We discussed how this ‘best in me’ discloses itself when I find a ‘position of neutrality’ which has no agenda to produce some desired outcome. WeContinue reading “Convey Not Convince – Emotional Sobriety Podcast – Dr. Allen Berger”
Category Archives: Maturity
God Speaks to Us in Silence – Grapevine Article April 2025 By M.B.
With AA’s help and prayer, a mother puts down the bottle, lets go of the past and reconnects with her family in a new way Most of my life I was a weekend drinker. I had a successful career teaching college and high school. When I retired in 2017, lacking the daily routine and purpose that had filledContinue reading “God Speaks to Us in Silence – Grapevine Article April 2025 By M.B.”
Faith Without Works Is Dead – 12-Step Philosophy By Steve K.
One of the strengths of Alcoholics Anonymous (Both the Fellowship and Big Book) is that it is honest about its human origins. The Big Book was not intended to be a timeless, infallible spiritual text. The historical evidence clearly suggests that Bill Wilson intended the Big Book to be a living document, continuously shaped byContinue reading “Faith Without Works Is Dead – 12-Step Philosophy By Steve K.”
Pain, Resistance & Suffering – Suffer Like A Marine By Arthur Brooks
His Holiness the Dalai Lama often talks to me about pain and suffering, but he doesn’t use the terms interchangeably. On the contrary, he teaches that they exist together in the following way: Suffering = pain x resistance Pain can be physical or mental, and happens to you because of an outside stimulus—you slam your hand inContinue reading “Pain, Resistance & Suffering – Suffer Like A Marine By Arthur Brooks”
An Unlikely Hero – Grapevine Article January 2001 By Hannah H.
My father passed away this year, just two months before he would have celebrated thirty years in AA. As we cleared away his desk littered with stacks of Grapevines, notes for AA meetings, and dozens of Serenity Prayers, I am painfully saddened that he didn’t live to celebrate this milestone. Up until the day heContinue reading “An Unlikely Hero – Grapevine Article January 2001 By Hannah H.”
A Fellowship Of Giving And Getting – Each Day A New Beginning February 1st
You were there when I needed you. You stood above all of the others with your strength and you guided me. To each of you I offer my being, my love and all that I am.–Deidra Sarault Each of us is guided while we act as guides to one another, throughout the day, throughout ourContinue reading “A Fellowship Of Giving And Getting – Each Day A New Beginning February 1st”
How Can You Roll With A Punch? – As Bill Sees It #71
On the day that the calamity of Pearl Harbor fell upon our country, a great friend of A.A. was walking along a St. Louis street. Father Edward Dowling was not an alcoholic, but he had been one of the founders of the struggling A.A. group in his city. Because many of his usually sober friendsContinue reading “How Can You Roll With A Punch? – As Bill Sees It #71”
The Faith To Believe In What Is – Grapevine Article July 1972 By J.W.
Faith must be structured in the bright light of truth as we see it THERE IS a joke which tells of God’s decision to grant a personal interview to one member of the world press. The duly elected representative departs, and all the luminaries of church, state, and the communications media gather to await hisContinue reading “The Faith To Believe In What Is – Grapevine Article July 1972 By J.W.”
The Light Of Rigorous Honesty Overcomes The Darkness Of Victimhood
I found the article below very helpful in understanding why ‘How It Works’ (BB p.58) describes rigorous honesty as a recovery demand in this way: “Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honestContinue reading “The Light Of Rigorous Honesty Overcomes The Darkness Of Victimhood”
Truth, the Liberator – As Bill Sees It #70
How truth makes us free is something that we A.A.’s can well understand. It cut the shackles that once bound us to alcohol. It continues to release us from conflicts and miseries beyond reckoning; it banishes fear and isolation. The unity of our Fellowship, the love we cherish for each other, the esteem in whichContinue reading “Truth, the Liberator – As Bill Sees It #70”