On a cold winter night when all seemed lost, she walked into her first AA meeting and came out a changed person Earlier in the day, Chris cleared the snow off the minivan. He still takes care of me, even though he is so angry that he won’t even look at me. As I reverseContinue reading “Hope Arrived – Grapevine Article January 2025 By Liz J.”
Category Archives: Suffering
Are These Bad Times Or Good Times? – Zen Farmer Story About Equanimity & Easy Does It
Zen Farmer Story When we stop trying to coerce life to go exactly the way we want, we naturally experience a greater sense of fluidity and ease no matter what happens. Just like the Zen farmer. There once was an old Zen farmer. Every day, the farmer used his horse to help work his fieldsContinue reading “Are These Bad Times Or Good Times? – Zen Farmer Story About Equanimity & Easy Does It”
Editorial By Bill – Grapevine Article November 1958 By Bill W
THIS is Thanksgiving time; our gratitude should certainly be boundless. Twenty-four years ago this month, I landed in a hospital for the last time. Then and there I received the gift of sobriety. Like all who have since joined AA’s ranks, I was given a chance to choose what I would do with my newContinue reading “Editorial By Bill – Grapevine Article November 1958 By Bill W”
Imaginary Perfection – As Bill Sees It #181
When we early A.A.’s got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we coined this expression: “Don’t try to be a saint by Thursday!” That oldtime admonition may look like another of those handy alibis that can excuse us from trying for our best. Yet a closer view reveals just the contrary.Continue reading “Imaginary Perfection – As Bill Sees It #181”
You Are Not Your Mind – The Power Of Now By Eckhart Tolle
Chapter 1 Extract – THE GREATEST OBSTACLE TO ENLIGHTENMENT Enlightenment — what is that? A beggar had been sitting by the side of a road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar, mechanically holding out his old baseball cap. “I have nothing to give you,” saidContinue reading “You Are Not Your Mind – The Power Of Now By Eckhart Tolle”
Invictus – Recovery Poem By William Ernest Henley
Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who was jailed for his activism and in 1994 became South Africa’s first black President, regularly recited one poem during his more than twenty-five years of imprisonment—the 1875 poem “Invictus” by English poet William Ernest Henley. The poem, which helped Mandela persist through extraordinarily challenging circumstances, includes the iconic lines,Continue reading “Invictus – Recovery Poem By William Ernest Henley”
Give Thanks – As Bill Sees It #266
Though I still find it difficult to accept today’s pain and anxiety with any great degree of serenity—as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do—I can give thanks for present pain nevertheless. I find the willingness to do this by contemplating the lessons learned from past suffering—lessons which have led toContinue reading “Give Thanks – As Bill Sees It #266”
The Spiritual Alibi – As Bill Sees It #193
Our first attempts at inventories are apt to prove very unrealistic. I used to be a champ at unrealistic self-appraisal. On certain occasions, I wanted to look only at the part of my life which seemed good. Then I would greatly exaggerate whatever virtues I supposed I had attained. Next I would congratulate myself onContinue reading “The Spiritual Alibi – As Bill Sees It #193”
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”