When We Stop Negotiating With Reality – Take The 12 Blog May 2026 By Rick W.

Step One, Acceptance, and the Freedom Found in Surrender One of the most exhausting things an alcoholic ever does is negotiate with reality. We negotiate with consequences. We negotiate with truth. We negotiate with our own patterns, our own pain, our own powerlessness. We say things like: And perhaps the most dangerous negotiation of all: “IContinue reading “When We Stop Negotiating With Reality – Take The 12 Blog May 2026 By Rick W.”

Rewiring the Way We Speak, Listen, and Think – Take The 12 Blog June 2026 By Rick W.

Sobriety Didn’t Just Change What I Said, It Changed How I Communicate.  How Recovery Rewired the Way I Speak, Listen, and Think One of the most overlooked miracles of recovery has very little to do with alcohol. Most of us came to Alcoholics Anonymous because drinking had become unmanageable. We stayed because we discovered somethingContinue reading “Rewiring the Way We Speak, Listen, and Think – Take The 12 Blog June 2026 By Rick W.”

Letting Go Of Old Beliefs – The Language Of Letting Go June 23rd By Melody Beattie

Try harder. Do better. Be perfect. These messages are tricks that people have played on us. No matter how hard we try, we think we have to do better. Perfection always eludes us. Messages of perfectionism are tricks because we can never achieve that goal. We cannot feel good about ourselves or what we haveContinue reading “Letting Go Of Old Beliefs – The Language Of Letting Go June 23rd By Melody Beattie”

Practice & Habit – By Ray A Author of Book ‘Practice These Principles’

If you find this article helpful, you may want to dive a little deeper with this article also from Ray A entitled ‘What Are The Principles We’re Supposed To Practice’ – Bruce M The phrase which concludes the 12 Steps and lays out the path to our continuing recovery raises three key questions: what areContinue reading “Practice & Habit – By Ray A Author of Book ‘Practice These Principles’”

Facing Our Darker Side – The Language of Letting Go By Melody Beattie April 2nd

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” – Step Four By the time we get to the Fourth of the Twelve Steps, we are ready to face our darker side, the side that prevents us from loving others, from letting others love us, and from enjoying life and ourselves. The purpose of StepContinue reading “Facing Our Darker Side – The Language of Letting Go By Melody Beattie April 2nd”

The Essential To Recovery Of Self Acceptance By James Hollis

There is something in us, all of us, that knows what is right for us, which path is ours and not someone else’s, something that pushes us beyond our comfort zone into areas of growth, development, and presence in this world greater than we have lived up to this point. ….While all the twelve-step programsContinue reading “The Essential To Recovery Of Self Acceptance By James Hollis”

Step 10 – Make A U-Turn As We Seek To Understand Our Part(s) In A Disturbance – Altogether You By Jenna Riemersma

This article gives us some new ways of approaching the spiritual axiom described on page 90 of the Twelve & Twelve in the chapter on Step 10: “It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us” Dr. Allen Berger likes to clarifyContinue reading “Step 10 – Make A U-Turn As We Seek To Understand Our Part(s) In A Disturbance – Altogether You By Jenna Riemersma”

This May Not Pass – Grapevine Article By Steve B.

He learned to accept his physical condition and used AA to help him manage it each day After going to meetings and staying sober for over 20 years, with an average of two-to-three meetings a week, one would think that I’d have taken in every topic meeting imaginable. Not quite so. An AA saying thatContinue reading “This May Not Pass – Grapevine Article By Steve B.”

Bless My Enemies – Recovery Poem/Prayers By Saint Nikolai Velimirovich

As we attempt to practice the willingness of Step 8 , we are confronted with this dilemma and challenge: “If we are now about to ask forgiveness for ourselves, why shouldn’t we start out by forgiving them, one and all?” – Twelve & Twelve p.78 I find this poem/prayer to be extremely helpful in openingContinue reading “Bless My Enemies – Recovery Poem/Prayers By Saint Nikolai Velimirovich”

Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today – Coach John Wooden With A Poem By Vivian Laramore

A short reflection of how the hall of fame basketball coach John Wooden used a poem in his ‘Make Every Day Your Masterpiece’ philosophy. – Bruce M. DON’T LET YESTERDAY TAKE UP TOO MUCH OF TODAY This maxim represents the foundation of Coach Wooden’s approach as a teacher. He often reminded his players of this withContinue reading “Don’t Let Yesterday Take Up Too Much Of Today – Coach John Wooden With A Poem By Vivian Laramore”