Created to carry the message of recovery to all addicts. Whether the addiction is alcohol, drugs, food or any other addiction the program of recovery is the same. I am a recovering alcoholic of over twenty-seven years, a day at a time of course and I believe my primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve recovery. Remember seven days without a meeting makes one weak. Sign up to get emails.This Blog is NOT IN ANY WAY affiliated to either A.A. or N.A. Help to stop drinking.
Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 August 2026
Wednesday, 15 April 2026
ELDER'S MEDITATION - April 15 2026
“When people live far from the scenes of the Great Spirit’s making, it’s easy for them to forget his laws.”
~ Walking Buffalo, STONEY ~
Society today is way off track. Unfortunately, many Indian people are caught up in these modern times. The Elders are telling us we must wake up! We must come back to the culture because this is where His laws are. If we don’t follow these laws, we will be unhappy. We cannot do things just because everybody is doing them. This does not make it right. We must follow what the Great Spirit says we must do. We need to pray hard for the courage to come back and live according to the culture. It will be difficult at first but worth it in the end. We must teach our children the culture.
Great Spirit, today, let me listen to the warnings of the Elders.
Friday, 28 February 2025
DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery #RecoveryPosse
WHAT? NO PRESIDENT?
When told that our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, . . . our friends gasp and exclaim, “This simply can’t be. . . .”
~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 132
When I finally made my way to A.A., I could not believe that there was no treasurer to “compel the payment of dues.” I could not imagine an organization that didn’t require monetary contributions in return for a service. It was my first and, thus far, only experience with getting “something for nothing.” Because I did not feel used or conned by those in A.A., I was able to approach the program free from bias and with an open mind. They wanted nothing from me. What could I lose? I thank God for the wisdom of the early founders who knew so well the alcoholic’s disdain for being manipulated.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Friday, 31 May 2024
Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #Service #Daily #Reflections
READINESS TO SERVE OTHERS
. . . our Society has concluded that it has but one high mission–to carry the A.A. message to those who don’t know there’s a way out.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151
The “Light” to freedom shines bright on my fellow alcoholics as each one of us challenges the other to grow. The “Steps” to self- improvement have small beginnings, but each Step builds the “ladder” out of the pit of despair to new hope. Honesty becomes my “tool” to unfurl the “chains” which bound me. A sponsor, who is a caring listener, can help me to truly hear the message guiding me to freedom.
I ask God for the courage to live in such a way that the Fellowship may be a testimony to His favor. This mission frees me to share my gifts of wellness through a spirit of readiness to serve others.
The “Light” to freedom shines bright on my fellow alcoholics as each one of us challenges the other to grow. The “Steps” to self- improvement have small beginnings, but each Step builds the “ladder” out of the pit of despair to new hope. Honesty becomes my “tool” to unfurl the “chains” which bound me. A sponsor, who is a caring listener, can help me to truly hear the message guiding me to freedom.
I ask God for the courage to live in such a way that the Fellowship may be a testimony to His favor. This mission frees me to share my gifts of wellness through a spirit of readiness to serve others.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrec #Recovery #AA #Society
WHAT? NO PRESIDENT?
When told that our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, . . . our friends gasp and exclaim, “This simply can’t be. . . .”
~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 132
When I finally made my way to A.A., I could not believe that there was no treasurer to “compel the payment of dues.” I could not imagine an organization that didn't require monetary contributions in return for a service. It was my first and, thus far, only experience with getting “something for nothing.” Because I did not feel used or conned by those in A.A., I was able to approach the program free from bias and with an open mind. They wanted nothing from me. What could I lose? I thank God for the wisdom of the early founders who knew so well the alcoholic’s disdain for being manipulated.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Saturday, 16 September 2017
Daily Reflections #essentialsofrecovery
WE STAND–OR FALL–TOGETHER
. . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.
. . . no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.
Alcoholics Anonymous, p.563
Just as the Twelve Steps of A.A. are written in a specific sequence for a reason, so it is with the Twelve Traditions. The First Step and the First Tradition attempt to instill in me enough humility to allow me a chance at survival. Together they are the basic foundation upon which the Steps and Traditions that follow are built. It is a process of ego deflation which allows me to grow as an individual through the Steps, and as a contributing member of a group through the Traditions. Full acceptance of the First Tradition allows me to set aside personal ambitions, fears and anger when they are in conflict with the common good, thus permitting me to work with others for our mutual survival. Without Tradition One I stand little chance of maintaining the unity required to work with others effectively, and I also stand to lose the remaining Traditions, the Fellowship, and my life.Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Saturday, 3 December 2016
AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery
Page 50 ~
A.A.: Benign Anarchy and Democracy
When we come into A.A. we find a greater personal freedom than any other society knows. We cannot be compelled to do anything. In that sense our Society is a benign anarchy. The word “anarchy” has a bad meaning to most of us. But I think that the idealist who first advocated the concept felt that if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest. A.A. is an association of the benign sort he envisioned.
But when we had to go into action — to function as groups — we discovered that we also had to become a democracy. As our oldtimers retired, we therefore began to elect our trusted servants by majority vote. Each group in this sense became a town meeting. All plans for group action had to be approved by the majority. This meant that no single individual could appoint himself to act for his group or for A.A. as a whole. Neither dictatorship nor paternalism was for us.
~ A.A. COMES OF AGE, PP. 224-225 ~
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
A.A.: Benign Anarchy and Democracy
When we come into A.A. we find a greater personal freedom than any other society knows. We cannot be compelled to do anything. In that sense our Society is a benign anarchy. The word “anarchy” has a bad meaning to most of us. But I think that the idealist who first advocated the concept felt that if only men were granted absolute liberty, and were compelled to obey no one, they would then voluntarily associate themselves in the common interest. A.A. is an association of the benign sort he envisioned.
But when we had to go into action — to function as groups — we discovered that we also had to become a democracy. As our oldtimers retired, we therefore began to elect our trusted servants by majority vote. Each group in this sense became a town meeting. All plans for group action had to be approved by the majority. This meant that no single individual could appoint himself to act for his group or for A.A. as a whole. Neither dictatorship nor paternalism was for us.
~ A.A. COMES OF AGE, PP. 224-225 ~
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
JUST FOR TODAY #essentialsofrecovery
Foundation First
“As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first.”
~ Basic Text pg. 83
No sooner do we get clean than some of us begin putting other priorities ahead of our recovery. Careers, families, relationships – all these are part of the life we find once we’ve laid the foundation of our recovery. But we can’t build a stable life for ourselves before we do the hard, basic work of laying our recovery foundation. Like a house built on sand, such a life will be shaky, at best.
Before we begin putting all our attention to rebuilding the detailed framework of our lives, we need to lay our foundation. We acknowledge, first, that we don’t yet have a foundation, that our addiction has made our lives utterly unmanageable. Then, with the help of our sponsor and our home group, we find faith in a Power strong enough to help us prepare the ground of our new lives. We clear the wreckage from the site upon which we will build our future. Finally, we develop a deep, working familiarity with the principles we will practice in our continuing affairs: honest self-examination, reliance upon our Higher Power’s guidance and strength, and service to others.
Once our foundation is prepared, then we can go full steam ahead to put our new lives together. But first we must ask ourselves if our foundation is secure, for without our foundation, nothing we build can stand for long.
Just for today: I will take care to lay a secure foundation for my recovery. Upon such a foundation, I can build for a lifetime in recovery.
© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc
“As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first.”
~ Basic Text pg. 83
No sooner do we get clean than some of us begin putting other priorities ahead of our recovery. Careers, families, relationships – all these are part of the life we find once we’ve laid the foundation of our recovery. But we can’t build a stable life for ourselves before we do the hard, basic work of laying our recovery foundation. Like a house built on sand, such a life will be shaky, at best.
Before we begin putting all our attention to rebuilding the detailed framework of our lives, we need to lay our foundation. We acknowledge, first, that we don’t yet have a foundation, that our addiction has made our lives utterly unmanageable. Then, with the help of our sponsor and our home group, we find faith in a Power strong enough to help us prepare the ground of our new lives. We clear the wreckage from the site upon which we will build our future. Finally, we develop a deep, working familiarity with the principles we will practice in our continuing affairs: honest self-examination, reliance upon our Higher Power’s guidance and strength, and service to others.
Once our foundation is prepared, then we can go full steam ahead to put our new lives together. But first we must ask ourselves if our foundation is secure, for without our foundation, nothing we build can stand for long.
Just for today: I will take care to lay a secure foundation for my recovery. Upon such a foundation, I can build for a lifetime in recovery.
© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Tuesday, 15 November 2016
AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery
~ Page 319 ~
Two Authorities
Many people wonder how A.A. can function under a seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign.
There is God, our Father, who very simply says, “I am waiting for you to do my will.” The other authority is named John Barlicorn, and he says, “You had better do God’s will or I will kill you.”
<< << << >> >> >>
The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that these life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love.
~ 1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 105 ~
~ 2. A.A. TODAY, P. 11 ~
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
DAILY REFLECTIONS #essentialsofrecovery
A.A’S “MAIN TAPROOT”
The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered.
~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 21-22 ~
Defeated, and knowing it, I arrived at the doors of A.A., alone and afraid of the unknown. A power outside of myself had picked me up off my bed, guided me to the phone book, then to the bus stop, and through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had net felt since early childhood. May I never lose the sense of won- der I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc.
The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered.
~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 21-22 ~
Defeated, and knowing it, I arrived at the doors of A.A., alone and afraid of the unknown. A power outside of myself had picked me up off my bed, guided me to the phone book, then to the bus stop, and through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had net felt since early childhood. May I never lose the sense of won- der I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life.
Copyright © 1990 by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Monday, 3 October 2016
AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrecovery
Page 276
A Higher Power for Atheists
“I have had many experiences with atheists, mostly good. Everybody in A.A. has the right to his own opinion. It is much better to maintain an open and tolerant society than it is to suppress any small disturbances their opinions might occasion. Actually, I don’t know anybody who went off and died of alcoholism because some atheist’s opinions on the cosmos.
“But I do always entreat these folks to look to a `Higher Power’—namely, their own group. When they come in, most of their A.A. group is sober, and they are drunk. Therefore, the group is a ‘Higher Power’. That’s a good enough start, and most of them do progress from there. I know how they feel, because I was once that way myself.”
~ LETTER, 1962 ~
Copyright © 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrecovery
Friday, 12 August 2016
As Bill Sees It #essentialsofrec
Leadership In A.A., p. 224
No society can function well without able leadership at all its
levels, and A.A. can be no exception. But we A.A.’s sometimes
cherish the thought that we can do without much personal
leadership at all. We are apt to warp the traditional idea of
“principles before personalities” around to such a point that there
would be no “personality” in a leadership whatever. This would
imply rather faceless robots trying to please everybody.
A leader in A.A. service is a man (woman) who can personally put
principles, plans, and policies into such dedicated and effective
action that the rest of us naturally want to back him up and help him
with his job. When a leader power-drives us badly, we rebel; but
when he too meekly becomes an order-taker and he exercises no
judgment of his own–well, he really isn’t a leader at all.
Twelve Concepts, pp. 38-39
No society can function well without able leadership at all its
levels, and A.A. can be no exception. But we A.A.’s sometimes
cherish the thought that we can do without much personal
leadership at all. We are apt to warp the traditional idea of
“principles before personalities” around to such a point that there
would be no “personality” in a leadership whatever. This would
imply rather faceless robots trying to please everybody.
A leader in A.A. service is a man (woman) who can personally put
principles, plans, and policies into such dedicated and effective
action that the rest of us naturally want to back him up and help him
with his job. When a leader power-drives us badly, we rebel; but
when he too meekly becomes an order-taker and he exercises no
judgment of his own–well, he really isn’t a leader at all.
Twelve Concepts, pp. 38-39
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrec
Founders with clay feet
Sound thinking
With any organization or society, the time comes when people find fault with the founders. The faults of these pioneering leaders are examined and perhaps even used to discredit them.
Founders are only human beings, and they are likely to exhibit the human shortcomings all of us have. If these founders turn out to have clay feet, perhaps the fault is ours for idolizing them in the first place.
The real role of a founder is to lay the foundation for further building. Unless the society grows, improving over what the founder had in mind, it is not likely to survive. Its real work should be to surpass the fonder so as to be of greater service to others.
I’ll be careful not to put anyone on a pedestal and then complain about his or her clay feet.
Sound thinking
With any organization or society, the time comes when people find fault with the founders. The faults of these pioneering leaders are examined and perhaps even used to discredit them.
Founders are only human beings, and they are likely to exhibit the human shortcomings all of us have. If these founders turn out to have clay feet, perhaps the fault is ours for idolizing them in the first place.
The real role of a founder is to lay the foundation for further building. Unless the society grows, improving over what the founder had in mind, it is not likely to survive. Its real work should be to surpass the fonder so as to be of greater service to others.
I’ll be careful not to put anyone on a pedestal and then complain about his or her clay feet.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Thursday, 16 June 2016
Walk In Dry Places #essentialsofrec #Problems #Recovery
Solving our common problem
Recovery
Twelve Step programs bring together people who admit certain behaviors that society often views with pity or contempt. Some of these behaviors, such as alcoholism and gambling, are heavily stigmatized.
Though we often talk about “our common problem”, the thing we have most in common with each other is that we’re human beings who share the human condition. No one is really immune from the similar problems that beset us.
That’s why somebody once remarked, only in half-jest, that “alcoholics are like normal people, only more so.” We have to remember that the people around us are no different from us in that they are subject to such feelings as pride, resentment, self-pity, and discouragement.
Our common problem is really that we’re human beings who need a spiritual life in order to become our true selves. This can turn a problem into a new life if we accept the program.
Today I’ll look upon all people with understanding and acceptance. Everyone shares the same feelings that drive me, and everyone deserves my warmth and understanding.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Sunday, 22 November 2015
JUST FOR TODAY
22
November
Foundation First
“As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first.”
~ Basic Text pg. 83
No sooner do we get clean than some of us begin putting other priorities ahead of our recovery. Careers, families, relationships – all these are part of the life we find once we’ve laid the foundation of our recovery. But we can’t build a stable life for ourselves before we do the hard, basic work of laying our recovery foundation. Like a house built on sand, such a life will be shaky, at best.
Before we begin putting all our attention to rebuilding the detailed framework of our lives, we need to lay our foundation. We acknowledge, first, that we don’t yet have a foundation, that our addiction has made our lives utterly unmanageable. Then, with the help of our sponsor and our home group, we find faith in a Power strong enough to help us prepare the ground of our new lives. We clear the wreckage from the site upon which we will build our future. Finally, we develop a deep, working familiarity with the principles we will practice in our continuing affairs: honest self-examination, reliance upon our Higher Power’s guidance and strength, and service to others.
Once our foundation is prepared, then we can go full steam ahead to put our new lives together. But first we must ask ourselves if our foundation is secure, for without our foundation, nothing we build can stand for long.
Just for today: I will take care to lay a secure foundation for my recovery. Upon such a foundation, I can build for a lifetime in recovery.
© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc
November
Foundation First
“As we begin to function in society, our creative freedom helps us sort our priorities and do the basic things first.”
~ Basic Text pg. 83
No sooner do we get clean than some of us begin putting other priorities ahead of our recovery. Careers, families, relationships – all these are part of the life we find once we’ve laid the foundation of our recovery. But we can’t build a stable life for ourselves before we do the hard, basic work of laying our recovery foundation. Like a house built on sand, such a life will be shaky, at best.
Before we begin putting all our attention to rebuilding the detailed framework of our lives, we need to lay our foundation. We acknowledge, first, that we don’t yet have a foundation, that our addiction has made our lives utterly unmanageable. Then, with the help of our sponsor and our home group, we find faith in a Power strong enough to help us prepare the ground of our new lives. We clear the wreckage from the site upon which we will build our future. Finally, we develop a deep, working familiarity with the principles we will practice in our continuing affairs: honest self-examination, reliance upon our Higher Power’s guidance and strength, and service to others.
Once our foundation is prepared, then we can go full steam ahead to put our new lives together. But first we must ask ourselves if our foundation is secure, for without our foundation, nothing we build can stand for long.
Just for today: I will take care to lay a secure foundation for my recovery. Upon such a foundation, I can build for a lifetime in recovery.
© 1991 by Narcotics Anonymous World Services Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Sunday, 15 November 2015
AS BILL SEES IT #essentialsofrec #BillW #Socieity
15
November
Two Authorities
Many people wonder how A.A. can function under a seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign.
There is God, our Father, who very simply says, “I am waiting for you to do my will.” The other authority is named John Barlicorn, and he says, “You had better do God’s will or I will kill you.”
<< << << >> >> >>
The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that these life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love.
~ 1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 105 ~
~ 2. A.A. TODAY, P. 11 ~
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
Two Authorities
Many people wonder how A.A. can function under a seeming anarchy. Other societies have to have law and force and sanction and punishment, administered by authorized people. Happily for us, we found that we need no human authorities which are far more effective. One is benign, the other malign.
There is God, our Father, who very simply says, “I am waiting for you to do my will.” The other authority is named John Barlicorn, and he says, “You had better do God’s will or I will kill you.”
<< << << >> >> >>
The A.A. Traditions are neither rules, regulations, nor laws. We obey them willingly because we want to. Perhaps the secret of their power lies in the fact that these life-giving communications spring out of living experience and are rooted in love.
~ 1. A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 105 ~
~ 2. A.A. TODAY, P. 11 ~
© 1967 by Alcoholics Anonymous ® World Services, Inc
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Thursday, 5 November 2015
Today’s Gift from Hazelden #essentialsofrec #Society #Friendship
5
November
A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.
— D. Elton Trueblood
Our lives are enriched by the contributions of those who lived before us. Many men and women gave more than they ever took from society, and now we enjoy the rewards. Some people were fired with a spirit to beautify the world and planted trees that will live for 200 years. Others wrote music that speaks to us from another generation, and others established a government that guides our principles of justice. They gave so much because they knew they were a part of their community and the world.
Most of us cannot make the great contributions that will make us famous, but we enrich our lives when we contribute freely to improving our community and the world. We do that when we simply say hello to our neighbor, when we serve on a volunteer cleanup committee for a local park, and when we do Twelfth Step work in the program. We too have beautified and contributed to the world, and that gives us a feeling of peace and self respect.
Today, I will appreciate all that comes freely to me from others, and I will give what I can to make the world a better place.
November
A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.
— D. Elton Trueblood
Our lives are enriched by the contributions of those who lived before us. Many men and women gave more than they ever took from society, and now we enjoy the rewards. Some people were fired with a spirit to beautify the world and planted trees that will live for 200 years. Others wrote music that speaks to us from another generation, and others established a government that guides our principles of justice. They gave so much because they knew they were a part of their community and the world.
Most of us cannot make the great contributions that will make us famous, but we enrich our lives when we contribute freely to improving our community and the world. We do that when we simply say hello to our neighbor, when we serve on a volunteer cleanup committee for a local park, and when we do Twelfth Step work in the program. We too have beautified and contributed to the world, and that gives us a feeling of peace and self respect.
Today, I will appreciate all that comes freely to me from others, and I will give what I can to make the world a better place.
From the book:
Touchstones ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Monday, 19 October 2015
Daily Reflections #essentialsofrec #recovery #defeat
19
October
A. A.’S “MAIN TAPROOT”
The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 21-22
Defeated, and knowing it, I arrived at the doors of A.A., alone and afraid of the unknown. A power outside of myself had picked me up off my bed, guided me to the phone book, then to the bus stop, and through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had not felt since early childhood. May I never lose the sense of wonder I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life.
October
A. A.’S “MAIN TAPROOT”
The principle that we shall find no enduring strength until we first admit complete defeat is the main taproot from which our whole Society has sprung and flowered.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, pp. 21-22
Defeated, and knowing it, I arrived at the doors of A.A., alone and afraid of the unknown. A power outside of myself had picked me up off my bed, guided me to the phone book, then to the bus stop, and through the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous. Once inside A.A. I experienced a sense of being loved and accepted, something I had not felt since early childhood. May I never lose the sense of wonder I experienced on that first evening with A.A., the greatest event of my entire life.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Or Follow Us On Twitter #essentialsofrec
Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Walk in Dry Places #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Society #AA
27
May Who is important?
Respect for people.
The Twelve step movement grew out of an earlier society, the Oxford group, whose members believed in “key People.” They embraced the idea that attracting promising individuals with high standing would, in turn, attract others.
We’ve also had such people in AA and other 12 step groups, and we are grateful for their examples and efforts. We’ve learned, however, not to view one person as more important than another’s. We could even harm a recovering person by focusing on his or her personal prestige in the community. Our purpose is to help people get well, not to run a club emphasizing social standing.
We’ll find our program working much better if we treat all people equally, and view them as equal in the sight of God. We have a standing in God’s sight that is eternal and everlasting.
I’ll extend kind and generous thoughts toward every person I meet today. We are all children of equal standing in the sight of God.
May Who is important?
Respect for people.
The Twelve step movement grew out of an earlier society, the Oxford group, whose members believed in “key People.” They embraced the idea that attracting promising individuals with high standing would, in turn, attract others.
We’ve also had such people in AA and other 12 step groups, and we are grateful for their examples and efforts. We’ve learned, however, not to view one person as more important than another’s. We could even harm a recovering person by focusing on his or her personal prestige in the community. Our purpose is to help people get well, not to run a club emphasizing social standing.
We’ll find our program working much better if we treat all people equally, and view them as equal in the sight of God. We have a standing in God’s sight that is eternal and everlasting.
I’ll extend kind and generous thoughts toward every person I meet today. We are all children of equal standing in the sight of God.
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Friday, 17 April 2015
The Eye Opener #essentialsofrec #Recovery #Lonliness
17
April
Loneliness drives more people to the Gin Mill than almost any other single factor – perhaps even the compulsion to drink.
In the old days when our society was objectionable to all our old friends, we would from sheer boredom go to the bar just to talk to someone. Anyone’s conversation was preferable to our thoughts. The drink was frequently an incidental.
Boredom is still one of our worst enemies. If you have an AA club, there is always some guy you can try to help. Regardless of your effect on him, the experience is bound to help you and will relieve you of your blues.
Copyright Hazelden Foundation
April
Loneliness drives more people to the Gin Mill than almost any other single factor – perhaps even the compulsion to drink.
In the old days when our society was objectionable to all our old friends, we would from sheer boredom go to the bar just to talk to someone. Anyone’s conversation was preferable to our thoughts. The drink was frequently an incidental.
Boredom is still one of our worst enemies. If you have an AA club, there is always some guy you can try to help. Regardless of your effect on him, the experience is bound to help you and will relieve you of your blues.
Copyright Hazelden Foundation
Why not sign up to get emails with all daily posts included?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)