Releasing Expectations & Soaring – Touchstones May 13th

As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might. –Marion Anderson Because of our resentments we sometimes get tense. We say we aren’t going to have contact with our parents until they doContinue reading “Releasing Expectations & Soaring – Touchstones May 13th”

How Is My Now? – Grapevine Article August 2001 By Barb G.

Well, I’m a half-century old now, and I have decided to face the music and become a grown-up. That word was uttered during my youth with such reverence: “When I get big enough, I can sit at the dining room table with the grown-ups,” we children would say wistfully at family gatherings. And I supposeContinue reading “How Is My Now? – Grapevine Article August 2001 By Barb G.”

Eliminating Shame Through The Principles and Practices of Alcoholics Anonymous by Steve K.

The word shame is derived from the Indo-European ‘skein’, which means to hide. Shame makes us want to hide from ourselves, and our peers – making shame an existentially isolating state of mind. Feeling shame makes a person dejection-based, passive, or helpless, causing the ashamed person to focus more on devaluing or condemning his entireContinue reading “Eliminating Shame Through The Principles and Practices of Alcoholics Anonymous by Steve K.”

Welcome Criticism – As Bill Sees It #326

Thanks much for your letter of criticism. I’m certain that had it not been for its strong critics, A.A. would have made slower progress. For myself, I have come to set a high value on the people who have criticized me, whether they have seemed reasonable critics or unreasonable ones. Both have often restrained meContinue reading “Welcome Criticism – As Bill Sees It #326”

Lois Looks Back On Early Days With Bill W – Grapevine Article December 1944 By Lois W. (Bill’s Wife)

AS the wife of an early AA, some of our experiences and my reactions to my husband’s changed life may be interesting to other wives. Bill was an alcoholic, I believe, from the first drink he ever took, just a few months before our marriage. From then on, for seventeen years, I did everything IContinue reading “Lois Looks Back On Early Days With Bill W – Grapevine Article December 1944 By Lois W. (Bill’s Wife)”

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.”

Distilled Spirits – Grapevine Article February 1998 By Charlie M.

As a newcomer to AA, I often sat in meetings and wondered about the Steps, the Traditions, sponsorship, the Big Book. Would I ever understand? But I was able to relate to the simple truths I heard in meetings each day. When I was a year sober, I “took a cake,” as we say inContinue reading “Distilled Spirits – Grapevine Article February 1998 By Charlie M.”

The Good Within Our Enemy – Grapevine Article August 1973 by A.G. Decatur, GA

Where there is hatred let me sow love. . .” – Forgiveness comes when we love and bless the Power that flows through each of us I ALWAYS thought “Forgive and forget” was a beautiful maxim. But I expected others to live up to it, while I gave it only lip service. So, for nearly six yearsContinue reading “The Good Within Our Enemy – Grapevine Article August 1973 by A.G. Decatur, GA”

I Blamed God – Grapevine Article September 2002 by Mark G.

It was a lot easier than blaming myself Okay, resentments. It’s not because I’m in prison. It’s not my family, who can have a few drinks and quit just like that. It’s not even about my wife and children not writing me as much as I’d like them to. I want to make my amends and changeContinue reading “I Blamed God – Grapevine Article September 2002 by Mark G.”

Giving Without Demand – As Bill Sees It #69

Watch any A.A. of six months working with a Twelfth Step prospect. If the newcomer says, “To the devil with you,” the twelfth-stepper only smiles and finds another alcoholic to help. He doesn’t feel frustrated or rejected. If this next drunk responds, and in turn starts to give love and attention to other sufferers, yetContinue reading “Giving Without Demand – As Bill Sees It #69”