Category: Uncategorized

and knowing this was coming did not ease the pain. I knew in my rational mind that the stages of grief were coming my way when my beloved Carol made her transition but I hadn’t a clue that the feelings and emotions were going to be so powerful and try to overpower my mind. After… Continue reading The Stages of Grief Are Real as a Heart Attack

Is listing all we had harmed and becoming willing to do something about it. Step 8 says “Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.” “Oh, my gosh! My list is going to be huge! How am I going to ever make all of this… Continue reading Spirituality and the Beginning of Making Amends

and not just during the Halloween season! One thing that Monkeypox, Goblins, Ghosts, and Witches have in common is that they cause terror in many. Fear is mentioned in the Big Book after each and every character’s defects and shortcomings. That makes fear the biggest enemy to first get and then keep sobriety. I no… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Handle Monkeypox, Goblins, Ghosts, and Witches

You can’t have one without the other! “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not… Continue reading Spirituality and Forgiveness

or are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? How far down the Jellnik chart do you really want to go? Or are you already at your bottom where your only options are death, insanity, incarceration, or recovery? Or, sadly, a combination of several of the above. The AA program has answers for… Continue reading Are You Still Too Tough To Give Up

using affirmative prayer. What is affirmative prayer? It is a form of prayer that is focused on a positive outcome rather than looking at what you perceive is the problem. This is contrary to how we think of praying. Praying affirmatively, you would pray for peace and comfort for the person affected seeing them as having… Continue reading How To Pray For Another

for the very first time ever! With no religious or spiritual background upon coming into the program of AA, I didn’t think much of or about praying. My prayers were limited to “God get me out of this and I will never do it again.” And then He would get me out of it and… Continue reading Spirituality and How I Started Believing That It Worked for Me

and I wanted to gain so much! It took me a long time to realize that what I had to give up was really not worth keeping. In fact, what I had to give up was actually acting as a large anchor around my neck. “Ya, but, if I get rid of X, I won’t be… Continue reading “One Reason People Resist Change is That They Focus on What They Have To Give Up, Instead of What They Have To Gain.” Author unknown

and in fact, many do! How many times did you say that you wanted nothing to do with AA because it makes you go deep into your past and you are through with that? It’s over and you want to keep it that way! And, at the same time, plotting your suicide? As a Detroit… Continue reading Most Alcoholics Would Rather Die Than Learn Anything About Themselves

and you become too blessed to be stressed! Change your thinking, change your life! This is so simple but mostly not easy at all. Check it out, though. If you have something to be thankful for, by definition, you should be happy!  Let’s add just a little onto this, now. If you have several things… Continue reading An Attitude of Gratitude Brings a Happy, Joyous, and Free Life

and we all have one! Just what is your monster within? Uncertainty? Anger? Inability to love? Inability to talk with others? Cursing? Can’t make a decision? Fear of getting too close with anyone? Just general fear that can not be defined? My monster is alcoholism! Alcoholism includes all of the above and much, much more.… Continue reading How to Combat the Monster Within

one of those things that don’t make sense at first! The AA 12th Step says: “Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”  This entire step is about the joy we get from working… Continue reading Sobriety Is Like Love. You Can’t Keep It Unless You Give It Away

Willpower’s pretty strong, you know! When I first came into AA and heard about God’s will and my will, I didn’t have a clue as to what it really meant. I had been taught and believed that I knew all about willpower being the way to get anything done.  I probably had heard about God’s… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Know if It’s God’s Will or Not

Willpower’s pretty strong, you know! When I first came into AA and heard about God’s will and my will, I didn’t have a clue as to what it really meant. I had been taught and believed that I knew all about willpower being the way to get anything done.  I probably had heard about God’s… Continue reading Spirituality and How To Know if It’s God’s Will or Not

because it is impossible to do! That’s a pretty bold statement to say that something is impossible! Why would you say that? Because the Law of Attraction is as real as a heart attack and it says so! So, just what is the Law of Attraction, anyway? Verywellmind.com states: “The law of attraction is a… Continue reading A Negative Mind Will Never Give You a Positive Life

Either you are or you aren’t. Simple as that! What did you think when you first discovered you or someone close just found out that she was pregnant? “Oh, I wonder how pregnant she is!” “Maybe we could put it off for another year while we fixed the house up.” Nope! She either is pregnant and… Continue reading You Can’t Be Just a Little Alcoholic Any More Than Just a Little Pregnant 

is a beautiful quote from Mary Oliver I saw this Mary Oliver quote in a wonderful article by Kunal Mehra in Medium. It yanked at my heart right away. What a wonderful way to live and show your love of life. I have been blessed to have met a lot of truly amazing people wherever I have… Continue reading Pay attention, Be Astonished, and Tell About It

It’s not rocket science! If you have been in the program for a short time, you probably have noticed that your life, although not looking great right now, is grudgingly seeming to be getting better.  If you have been in the program for some time, days, months, years, decades, your life has been getting better quite… Continue reading How To Simply Make Your Good Life Even Better

but, if you didn’t drink or drug today, you now can choose. Perfect time to look at your Law of Attraction. Just what is this law? Simply put, you get out of life just what you choose to put into it. Like a mirror. Smile in, smile out. Frown in, frown out.  The menu of your… Continue reading Have a Great Day Unless, of Course, You Have Made Other Plans 

and it was really quite simple! Having had 46 years of continuous, wonderful sobriety and wishing that you could have the same peace and serenity that I have, I can’t work your program for you but I can tell you what I have done and invite you to taste it too. If you are sick… Continue reading How “Thank You, God” Was Chosen for My Theme

after all, I‘m sober now and really mean it this time! “Liar, liar. Pants on fire!” Ever hear that when you were a kid? When I was in the middle of my active alcoholism, my pants must have been blazing most of the time. It seems like when I was in the madness, I always… Continue reading How can I make my family love me again

so don’t even try. With gratitude, you will be wealthy, no matter what your bank account says! I discovered a long time ago that, when I am counting my blessings, I don’t have time to complain. When I was new to the program, I didn’t know if I had anything to be grateful for or… Continue reading You Can’t Miss With an Attitude of Gratitude

Life, that is! How could anything be this good? Money can’t buy it? A thief couldn’t steal? You’d have to go a long way to convince me that this could be anything that I could have. After all, my money took a poof pill and disappeared when I was drinking. i was just beginning to… Continue reading So Good That Money Can’t Buy and Thieves Can’t Steal

or you don’t get no spendin’ cash! Yakety Yak! Don’t come back! We found the trash that cluttered our minds when taking AA Step 4, our inventory. OK, now all of this pain and agony that was brought out has to be disposed of. I tried drowning it before by drinking it away but discovered… Continue reading Take Out The Papers and the Trash

Check out the Law of Attraction! The Law of Attraction states that positive thoughts bring positive results into a person’s life, while negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. This can also be thought of as the Mirror of Life. When you look into the bathroom mirror, what do you see? You see exactly what your face… Continue reading A Negative Mind Will Never Give You a Positive Life

and you can be too! What does the saying “Living Happy, Joyous, and Free” mean to you? Is the first thing you think of when hearing it is “Yeah, sure,” and “If you had my problems, you would drink, too?” If this is the case then I would strongly suggest looking deeply into how your… Continue reading I Am The Winner

when you have a story that you believe someone may be able to use to help with their own journey to sobriety If you are an alcoholic, consider why you wish to write about sobriety. If you are an alcoholic, consider who you wish would read your message. If you are an alcoholic, consider if… Continue reading How To Write About Sobriety

It really is quite simple! When I was new to the AA Program, I often wondered why I seemed to have more emotions than I had before. Whenever someone close, even only fairly close, was ill or made their transition, I became very emotional. Before, I didn’t get emotionally involved in hardly anything or anyone.… Continue reading Spirituality and How to Make it Through a Long, Tough Day

that we had when back in the madness! Step 2 states: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. “Yeah, but I don’t wish death to people who disagree with me anymore. Serious injury maybe but not death.” So what’s the problem? The problem is that thoughts are THE… Continue reading How to Deal With the Return of the Stinking Thinking

because an attitude of gratitude is one that keeps stress away I don’t believe that we could ever think too much about gratitude. When I am counting my blessings, I do not have time to moan and groan. At one time, I thought that I had no blessings. It seemed like everything was a waste.… Continue reading We Can Never Talk Too Much About Gratitude