Category: Uncategorized

It is not as difficult as it sounds. If you’ve never felt frustrated, better check for your pulse! I believe that probably everyone has feelings of frustration at one time or another. It is a feeling that is just there like love, hate, appreciation, and disappointment. So, what do you do to limit your exposure… Continue reading Spirituality and How to Deal With Frustration

and changing my life? When I was in the madness, my world was usually dark. If I were in a tunnel and saw a light, it probably would have been a train heading right for me. Sobriety has brightened up my life considerably. I have even been known to be the light for a few.… Continue reading How Come I Feel Worse Than Before Sobering Up

and become happy, joyous, and free! One of Webster’s definitions for faith is a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, for instance, “clinging to the faith that her missing son would one day return.” In my mind of minds, I know that there has to be a Power “out there somewhere” that is… Continue reading Spirituality and How to Recognize Faith and Use It Wisely

and tomorrow can’t wait for today to arrive! Have I got great news for you! You really do get to choose what kind of day you will have today and tomorrow. How, you may ask? It is so simple that it is often overlooked. The ONLY time we ever have is NOW! So, how does… Continue reading Make Today So Awesome That Yesterday Gets Jealous

old, young, rich, poor, smart, dumb, healthy, ill. I had all the excuses for not being an alcoholic. After all, weren’t we all shown what an alcoholic is when we watched movies? I lived in a house not under a bridge. I went to college so I was too smart. And the list went on… Continue reading I Can’t Be An Alcoholic! I’m Too (_____)

and I can’t describe the feelings that I have because it is what it is. Just got a call from Reverend Stephanie Sorensen asking about a song that had been played at the Life Enrichment Center (LEC) in Flint, MI a few years ago. She knew that I would recall it because it affected me pretty hard… Continue reading I Just Had My Socks Blown Off, Again

so stomp this sucker out right now! Before it does! Remember the “Good old days” when drinking was fun? Going to the beach with a cooler of beer and then home feeling happy? Skiing and then to the bar to warm up with a couple and then away feeling alive? Then the disease of alcoholism… Continue reading This Disease Wants To Kill You

unless you really want to gamble with your life. When I was in the madness of active alcoholism, there was nothing that I couldn’t do. You name it and I told you I had done it, whether or not I really had. What I did not tell you, in many cases, were the results of… Continue reading Nothing Is So Bad, a Drink Won’t Make It Worse

have I got fabulous news for you! Look no further! We have a great Zoom AA Meeting called Spirituality and Recovery. In March 2020, at the start of the Pandemic, we started what was then a new concept. Since people were placed in quarantine and told to stay in, in-person meetings closed one at a… Continue reading If You Are Looking For A Great AA Zoom Meeting

because there are 364 more days in the year that need your gratitude, too! Now, there’s a happy turkey. Giving thanks for eating his Thanksgiving pie after not being eaten himself during the main course. Not everyone is this happy on any given day of the year, let alone Thanksgiving. “Yeah, sure. Let’s get through… Continue reading Let’s Not Make Thanksgiving the Only Day That We’re Grateful

and not taking any of it back! The AA 3rd Step states: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.“ When new to the program, this is the 1st Step we take where we are actually consciously working on our recovery from our… Continue reading Spirituality and Turning It All Over to Your Higher Power

by becoming a constant griper. Have you ever met someone who is constantly complaining? The weather’s too hot. The weather’s too cold. My back hurts and I have a toothache. The wrong party won the election. This rose stinks. Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones wrote in his essay Encouraging Words “The Law of Attraction guarantees that complainers… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Guarantee Powerlessness

and it’s not that hard at all! Step 4 says “Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.” Searching and fearless are words that a fragile newcomer to AA shies away from at first. It is not all that difficult. Remember that we have talked about this being a simple program but not always easy.… Continue reading Spirituality and Getting Started on the Inventory

is the simplest way to live a life of happiness, joy, and freedom. Step 3 states: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. When I was new to the Program of AA and would feel again the ups and downs that life continues… Continue reading Spirituality and Turning It All Over to Our Higher Power

is the beginning of recovery using AA Steps 1, 2, and 3. The AA Program is a simple program for complicated folks. The foundation of the Program is spirituality and the “how to’s” are spelled out in the 12 Steps. This is what enters the picture when you become sick and tired of being sick… Continue reading I Can’t, He can, I think I’ll Let Him

for writers of spirituality and recovery, especially combining the two! This is an invitation to writers who write about spirituality or recovery to submit articles to SpiritualityandRecovery. There is a need for information about spirituality and recovery and especially recovery using spirituality. Spirituality is the foundation of many if not most recovery groups. What we can… Continue reading Call to Write For SpiritualityandRecovery, a New Publication on Medium

since I now am using my inborn spirituality? Recently, I celebrated the 46th anniversary of my last drink. In Earth years, this is a long time. In the Eternity of our Spiritual Life, this is a drop in the bucket. In my earthly existence, this is over half without a drink. What got me to… Continue reading Spirituality and Now What Do I Do

and begin feeling better about yourself! Why are you even here today? Some are relatively new to recovery and, for others, this is not our first rodeo. I don’t know about you, but I am here because I discovered that I am powerless over alcohol and that my life had become unmanageable. I admitted it… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Begin Recovery From Active Alcoholism

because at one time or another you will face it! Everyone must sometime deal with the loss of someone or something that played a significant part in their life. This could be a parent, spouse, mate, child, friend, car, job, or even drugs or alcohol. All played a large part in their life. Whenever this… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Deal With Grief

to feel good all over! I don’t believe that we could ever think too much about gratitude. Why? Because, when I am counting my blessings, I don’t have time to moan and groan. Once, I thought that I could count all of my blessings on the fingers of one hand and have most fingers not… Continue reading Just Say Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

to feel good all over! I don’t believe that we could ever think too much about gratitude. Why? Because, when I am counting my blessings, I don’t have time to moan and groan. Once, I thought that I could count all of my blessings on the fingers of one hand and have most fingers not… Continue reading Just Say Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

There’s a huge difference! The definition of Alcoholic that I like the most is: If once you pick up that first drink you can not guarantee your actions you are an alcoholic. That one fits me perfectly. I would be driving home from work and call ahead telling my family that I was coming and… Continue reading Spirituality and Gots To or Gets To

so keep Him close. Before entering the Program Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) I had no religious or spiritual background. I had been told many times that I was going to Hell for what I had done. “Jim, God’s going to get you for that!” Seemingly, no matter what “that” was. My God from this time was… Continue reading Social Distancing Doesn’t Apply To God

as people of prayer, and recovering alcoholics The AA Preamble that we hear before every meeting here ends with “Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.” This does not say that this is A purpose but is OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE. I have seen too many people coming into… Continue reading Spirituality and Our Primary Purpose

so take your time and enjoy the journey! Are you one of the people who think that if you stop drinking you are sober? This is a popular assumption with many. Especially those that have stopped drinking, joined AA, and then gone back out drinking again. Of the 12 Steps of recovery that is a… Continue reading Sobriety is a Journey Not a Destination

because every thought is a prayer! When AA introduced me to spirituality, I had no religious background at all. I didn’t even know how to pray, other than the usual foxhole prayers. Such as “God, get me out of this and I will never do it again.” Of course, I did whatever I wasn’t going… Continue reading Trying To Pray is Praying

Anyone can become happy but the trick is staying that way! When I first was blessed enough to be entered into the program of AA, I hardly knew what hope was, let alone how to feel it. Probably had a “guess I’ll give it a try because I’ve tried everything else” attitude and to no… Continue reading Spirituality and Getting, Then Keeping, Happiness, Joy, and Freedom

and keep this feeling all the time, not just at meetings and when on good behavior! This is Step 12. I see too many people who seem to be just “Getting by” in their lives. One of Webster’s definitions of life is the quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body.… Continue reading How To Become Happy, Joyous, and Free

without going to a mountaintop! When I came into the amazing program of AA, I don’t think that I believed in a God of any kind. At least in a non-judgemental, non-punishing God. This thought came to me over the years of asking It to bail me out of something and finding that I was… Continue reading How To Pray Effectively, Step 11

and so now that I have made a list of all that I have harmed, what do I do with it? Step 9 says “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.” “OK, so this is the step where I tell everyone how sorry I… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Actually Make the Amends, Step 9