Sitting Out the Fire
I am sitting in the local evacuation center waiting out a fire that is currently two blocks from my home. At times like this I can’t help thinking about what…
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Tiny Tim’s Crutch
This time of year, it’s impossible to avoid the literature classic, “A Christmas Carol.” Charles Dickens shows us Ebenezer Scrooge’s introspective redemption process, courtesy of three strategic ghosts who stage…
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Recognition of Transformation
Step 12: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”…
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Entirely Ready for Change
Step 6: “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” My dad always said, “A job worth doing is worth doing well”. Recovery teaches the same…
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How Does the Program Really Work?
My previous article was “When Did Meetings Become the Program?” This article addresses my understanding and experience of how the program of recovery works. Based on my 31 years of…
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When Did AA Meetings Become the AA Program?
Atlanta was my first International AA Conference; we celebrated AA’s 80th birthday. At the same time, my family and I celebrated my 75th natal birthday and my 31st year of…
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Practicing Step 11
I always assure people that I don’t care how they practice Step Eleven, either by prayer or by meditation. The technique will probably vary over the years, but the key…
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Hope – The Bridge Between Surrender and Faith
Step 2: “Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity.” I had been given many wake-up calls that it was to surrender and to…
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Taking the First Step: The Transformation Begins Here and Now
Step 1: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become unmanageable.” This is where addiction took me… For many years my life was unconsciously unmanageable…
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The Joy of Atonement, Reparations and Forgiveness: Steps 8 & 9, Part Two
Step 8 Requires Preparation, Ownership and Courage Many of us struggled with the fourth and fifth step. Listing and discussing our character defects with our sponsors or spiritual advisors was…
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