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: #Self Centered Fear
4th Step/10th Step Emotional Sobriety Worksheet By Dr. Allen Berger
Introduction – Bruce M. This post introduces a worksheet that Dr. Allen Berger uses in his book 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety. As you may know, Dr. Berger has over 50 years of sobriety and is a Gestalt therapist specializing in addiction and recovery. You can find other articles from Dr. Berger in theContinue reading “4th Step/10th Step Emotional Sobriety Worksheet By Dr. Allen Berger”
False Pride & Self Centered Fear – Experience The Big Book By Dr. Michael H.
Clancy I., in one of his talks, stated that false pride is a killer for alcoholics. He defined false pride as a compensation for feeling “less than”. That statement defined my life. From early childhood, I was constantly seeking approval through actions or achievements. Just being “Michael” wasn’t good enough. I never felt OK.Continue reading “False Pride & Self Centered Fear – Experience The Big Book By Dr. Michael H.”
What Anxiety And Rigorous Honesty Have To Teach Us? 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety By Dr. Allen Berger
There are many powerful forces at work in our lives in relation to our personal development, but some of the most significant ones are the desires to be loved, to be accepted, and to feel that we belong. Take a moment to think about the importance of those desires in your current life. Can youContinue reading “What Anxiety And Rigorous Honesty Have To Teach Us? 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety By Dr. Allen Berger”
Breaking The Trance Of Unworthiness – Tara Brach
In our discussion of our divided self and it’s relationship to our alcoholism and addiction, let’s remember the provocative question of Dr. Gabor Matte that suggests what ‘cause and condition’ may need further exploration: “Addiction originates in a human being’s desperate attempt to solve a problem: the problem of emotional pain, of overwhelming stress, ofContinue reading “Breaking The Trance Of Unworthiness – Tara Brach”
Self Acceptance – 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety by Dr. Allen Berger
Dr. Berger is a leader in Emotional Sobriety. His book 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety is featured prominently in the Emotional Sobriety section of the gugogs.org website. He is a Gestalt therapist with over 50 years of sobriety. Before we do a deep dive into self acceptance with Dr. Berger’s article, it might be useful to identify signsContinue reading “Self Acceptance – 12 Essential Insights For Emotional Sobriety by Dr. Allen Berger”
Dangers of Self Reliance – Practice These Principles By Ray A.
Ray A uses an unusual word we may not be familiar with multiple times in this article: self – construal. Here’s the definition which may be quite foundational to a key point of the article: “Self-construal refers to how individuals define themselves: as independent from others or as interdependent with others” Self-centered Fear: Self-sufficiency andContinue reading “Dangers of Self Reliance – Practice These Principles By Ray A.”
4th Step Fear Inventory – Practice These Principles by Ray A.
Healthy and Unhealthy Fear Overcoming our fear is not always a good thing. We ought to have feared drinking, suggests the Big Book, for we knew how much suffering and humiliation it had wrought. But we did not. We lacked “the kind of defense that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove”Continue reading “4th Step Fear Inventory – Practice These Principles by Ray A.”
Self-centered fear, character defects and using our 4th step inventory to ”commence to outgrow fear” by Bruce M.
Let’s use a combination of AA literature to better understand this important topic as we examine some key questions What is the root of our problems ? (Big Book pg 62) Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity? Selfishness – self-centeredness! That, we think, is theContinue reading “Self-centered fear, character defects and using our 4th step inventory to ”commence to outgrow fear” by Bruce M.”
Understanding & Overcoming Self Centered Fear – Practice These Principles By Ray A
Fear, anger, and resentment cause the alcoholic (and probably everyone else) the most trouble. It is for this reason that the Big Book suggests we start our 4th Step inventory by examining these emotions. Fear and anger are said to be primal, protective emotions. They are considered the twin sides of a fight-or-flight response builtContinue reading “Understanding & Overcoming Self Centered Fear – Practice These Principles By Ray A”