When I was new, I was told there were three things I had to have to get sober. A sobriety date. A homegroup. A sponsor. While the sobriety date is a bit of a “duh” to those who have been around, newcomers often don’t grasp the importance of having one or even what it means. It’s…
When I first came to AA, I looked around the room and thought my life was over. More importantly, I had vital questions, which needed to be answered right away, like these. How will I enjoy another Super Bowl without beer? How will I make it to a rock concert without weed? And, how can…
So many of my troubles are routed in my seeing things wrongly and not through the lens of my higher power. Instead, I see things through the lens of “self” where I am at the center of whatever I am perceiving. Fear and ego are front and center in these perceptions and worse, these perceptions…
So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so. I think of the clichéd admonition, “Never fool yourself … and remember you are the easiest to fool!” This is why having…
In business, the term Return on Investment (ROI) is often invoked when trying to learn the value of a particular product or service. The goal of any investment is to have a tangible return. The larger and more substantial the return, the more justified is the investment. I have learned about another type of ROI that might…
“In sobriety, I have never had a bad idea…until I ran it by someone else!” – Dick B. AA’s love thinking. Whenever faced with a serious problem best leave AA’s alone so they can “figure it out.” This is OK for normal people, but for those of us with alcoholism, unchecked thinking often leads to…
The cliché you hear in AA is “we’re not bad people trying to get good, we’re sick people trying to get well!” This may be the case, at least initially. But as time passes this often changes. Anyone who is serious and sincere with working the steps will soon find himself or herself trying to…
Carl Jung is an important figure to AA. His belief that life’s problems, and alcoholism in particular, were best treated with spiritual solutions was (and still is) a significant development for psychology and addiction treatment. In many ways it was AA’s association with Jung – important enough to be mentioned in the very first edition…
An oldtimer the other day said, “when you boil AA down, it’s all about growing up and becoming a responsible adult!” How right he is! The 12 Steps and 12 traditions say that when they conducted a study of AA personalities they learned, we were “childish, emotionally immature, and grandiose!” Hate to say it, but…
When you think about it, AA could have only emerged as a spiritual movement in the United States. No other country is more ecumenical and offers such broad religious plurality. Only in that rich and accepting American soil could concepts like “power greater than yourself” replace the more overtly religious iconography of Jesus (or another figure). This…