Recovered Alcoholic

  “Selfishness-self- centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.  Driven by a hundred forms of fear,  self-delusion,  -a form of self-deception where an individual ignores or rationalizes away evidence to maintain a specific, often more comfortable, perception of reality ( softer and easier way ) self-seeking,  an excessive, often exclusive, focus on one's own interests, profit, or desires, typically at the expense of others. It is characterized by selfish, narcissistic, or egocentric behavior, where personal gain is prioritized over the well-being of others. and self-pity,   an excessive, self-absorbed focus on one’s own misfortunes, often fostering a feeling of being a helpless victim and a "why me?" mentality. It hinders personal growth and strains relationships by creating emotional distance, reducing empathy for others, and fostering negativity. "we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate.'  meaning they may actually...

I also thought about how this lesson allowed me to stop placing so much “weight” on other humans or earthly entities. For example - a sponsor who ends up relapsing. Without believing that God is the solution and spiritual help is my only hope, something like this happening would have blown my mind in the beginning and I’m sure it did back then! I put humans on pedestals internally and if they faltered, it was a big shock to me.  But once I truly grasped “the God idea” and started to place all my eggs in the God basket - that all changed for me. I see everything in terms of spiritual fitness and spiritual condition that happens through the maintenance of practicing the AA principles. It’s no longer seen as willpower or some humanly strength that I saw it as in the beginning. Thank you for your insightful share about something that I have struggled with communicating about what I personally derived from the human aid concept. Because of my background in extremes, ...

Grateful that I never have to approach anything casually again. Because people in AA commitmented to me and taught me what that looked like, I truly value commitment and now am able consider myself and others on a deeper level.  Casual is defined as:  relaxed and informal, or without commitment or permanence; occasionally or irregularly. That is just not how I approach life anymore, not to be labeled as this, that or another...just not how I perceive things-including sex; but coming in here that was certainly NOT the case!!!  As a part of my dis-ease which includes but not limited to, is the addiction to excitement and drama, so I got high from juggling men- "cas" was how I rolled! I couldn't follow through, commit, consider or value others, even if I wanted to- let alone myself, so I was pretty unreliable and irresponsible even though I didn't think so. If someone needed me to be responsible I would approach it as: How is...

  January 20, 2026 “Regardless of worldly success or failure, regardless of pain or joy, regardless of sickness or health or even of death itself, a new life of endless possibilities can be lived if we are willing to continue our awakening, through the practice of AA’s Twelve Steps.” AA Co-Founder, Bill W., December 1957, “The Greatest Gift of All”, The Language of the Heart I remember sitting in my home group listening to one of the men speak at my home group. I was astonished when he revealed that his son had been shot and killed by a local gang member by cross fire. In other words, his son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This man had expressed how grateful he was that he was sober, and that he was able to meet with the young man who killed his son in prison. At that time, he was regularly visiting him.  In that same group, one of the members, my sponsor's husband's sponsee, actually killed someone in a drunk driving incident but went ...

    "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation."      --HERBERT SPENCER This quote first appeared in one of the Stories in the Back of the Book, first edition, titled An Artist’s Concept. The story was dropped from subsequent editions and the quote was moved to appear at the end of Appendix II called "Spiritual Experience". This would be on page 570 in the Third Edition and Fourth Edition. I like reading the material that is the closest to the beginning of the formation of the AA construct to get a better comprehension of our program at our roots.  Here is a snippet from that story... "The next day I met over twenty men who had achieved a mental rebirth from alcoholism. Here again it was not so much what these men told me in regard to their experiences that was impres...

  So many examples I could give on this topic in just this past couple of months, but I will limit it to today. Feeling better, I was outside painting wooden hearts for a upcoming Valentine craft fair and enjoying a wonderful dry, sunny, no wind, day when I decided it would be totally fine to let my new kitten out in the yard with us (me, the dog, chickens and other cat) and I was thinking how comical it would be if the kitten climbed up the tree and got stuck. Then I started thinking about how I judged someone briefly a few months ago for allowing their cat to get stuck somewhere.... (it was a judgmental thought that came in and I allowed it to surface because I refuse to stuff it or pretend it's not surfacing...stuffing it gets me sick, not having the thought)  Anyway, like clockwork in Hilarie's realm, the kitten of course ran up the tree and got stuck. Insert clown sh*t show music!! This is not uncommon for me which is going  against  my instinct when i...