I believe a fundamental of my recovery is coming to see and relate differently to my pain. I love the phrase from ‘pain killer to pain healer” as a way of describing this new relationship I can experience using the steps to see and respond differently to my pain. Much of my alcoholism has itsContinue reading “Reframing Pain – From Consolations By David Whyte”
Category Archives: Paradox
How Do We Respond To Our Dilemma Of Lack Of Power – Practice These Principles By Ray A.
Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? Big Book P.46 Defeat and humiliation drive us to the rooms and there we learn the true natureContinue reading “How Do We Respond To Our Dilemma Of Lack Of Power – Practice These Principles By Ray A.”
Freed Prisoners – As Bill Sees It #234
Letter to a prison group: Every A.A. has been, in a sense, a prisoner. Each of us has walled himself out of society; each has known social stigma. The lot of you folks has been even more difficult: In your case, society has also built a wall around you. But there isn’t any really essentialContinue reading “Freed Prisoners – As Bill Sees It #234”
The Ego & The AA – Grapevine Article February 2009 By Greg M.
Self-centeredness can be the most baffling of character defects The pain and misery and horrible loneliness I experienced prior to my first meeting, sixteen years ago, finally convinced me of the need to honestly look at my drinking. But that battle and every one since has been hard-fought. At times it seems to take aContinue reading “The Ego & The AA – Grapevine Article February 2009 By Greg M.”
Unpacking The 4th Step Example P.65 In The Big Book – Practice These Principles By Ray A.
Making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves in Step 4 is fundamentally a spiritual enterprise. Yet it is at the same time intensely practical and uncompromisingly moral. Indeed, as we have seen, in AA the spiritual is understood to encompass the practical and the moral. The interaction of these three, the spiritual, theContinue reading “Unpacking The 4th Step Example P.65 In The Big Book – Practice These Principles By Ray A.”
Reframing Awareness – Days Of Healing April 6th By Earnie Larson
“I’m a lot less hard on myself these days. I’ve realized that my demons are really angels that have gone astray.—Manny J. “Oh no! Not something else to work on!” How often we feel discouraged when we become aware of yet another self-defeating pattern in our lives. “Who needs this much awareness?” we may wonder.Continue reading “Reframing Awareness – Days Of Healing April 6th By Earnie Larson”
Letter To The Mother Of An Alcoholic – Language Of The Heart By Bill W 1944
Dear Mother of “J.”: I cannot tell how poignantly I am stirred by the letter you wrote the Grapevine about your alcoholic son. Just ten years ago my own mother, after years of frantic bewilderment, lost hope. Long a chronic problem drinker, I had come to the jumping-off place. A very good doctor had pronouncedContinue reading “Letter To The Mother Of An Alcoholic – Language Of The Heart By Bill W 1944”
Love Everybody? As Bill Sees It #230
Not many people can truthfully assert that they love everybody. Most of us must admit that we have loved but a few; that we have been quite indifferent to the many. As for the remainder — well, we have really disliked or hated them. We A.A.’s find we need something much better than this inContinue reading “Love Everybody? As Bill Sees It #230”
Growth – Grapevine Article June 1976 By Tricia J.
A NEW THOUGHT has been forming in my mind (now that the AA program has put it in working order). I believe that an element most important in building our sober lives is what is left out. Several months ago, my husband and I enrolled in a beginners’ art course. We didn’t become great painters,Continue reading “Growth – Grapevine Article June 1976 By Tricia J.”
Mysterious Paradoxes – A.A. Daily Reflection February 23rd
Such is the paradox of A.A. regeneration: strength arising out of complete defeat and weakness, the loss of one’s old life as a condition for finding a new one.A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 46 What glorious mysteries paradoxes are! They do not compute, yet when recognized and accepted, they reaffirm something in the universe beyondContinue reading “Mysterious Paradoxes – A.A. Daily Reflection February 23rd”