Know it well… today’s Daily Reflection;
“He cannot picture life without alcohol. Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it. Then he will know loneliness such as few do. He will be at the jumping-off place. He will wish for the end.”
Towards the end of my drinking I knew about a different version of “One Day At A Time” and it wasn’t pretty.
I’d come to in the morning (no, I didn’t “wake up” any longer) and my thoughts were “Oh sh**, I’m going to have to live through another one of these? Please God, …read more

Are you a scoffer? Does your attitude towards a power greater than you match this?
“Derisive or mocking expression of scorn, contempt, or reproach.”
Mine did. For a very long time. God had abandoned me as a child to a drunk abuser. The rest is now history. Contempt.
There came a day when I had a choice. Work an Eleventh Step and do it. Or don’t and eventually go away. I’m thankful I decided to “finally experiment.”
From page 97 in our 12&12;
“When we refuse air, light, or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation and prayer, we likewise deprive …read more

How To Listen to God
God will tell you all that you need to know.
He will not always tell you all that you want to know.
These are a few simple suggestions for people who are willing to make an experiment.
You can discover for yourself the most important and practical thing any human being can ever learn – how to be in touch with God.
All that is needed is the willingness to try it honestly. Every person who has done this consistently and sincerely has found that it really works.
Before you begin, look over these fundamental points. They are true and …read more

Well, as simple as it can be between an alcoholic and his possibly drug addicted son.
Yes, Namenlosen, though it hasn’t occurred in the way you and I seemed to plan it (lol), there has been communication between my oldest son and I for the first time in many years. Over ten.
This, is not easy… and at the same time it isn’t really that hard. Fears. The boogeymen. The worst fear? How I perceive what is said, translate it, then respond to it. At its root? That damage that insists on telling me that I’m wrong again!
There is also this strange …read more

Dick, I’m going to give you this one but make a post about it. There’s a reason. Your comments are more like commentaries and since I wouldn’t do it for someone else, I can’t do it for you – allow your extensive comments to be approved. Additionally, I’m sorry but you come much too close to a promotion of your writings in your comments and for me to allow that simply would not be fair to all the other readers here. Not that your writings aren’t good, they are wonderful, but here, as in AA, it is the principle of …read more

And will He actually do anything? I don’t know…
I’ve heard a few folks here make the statement that “if I’m going to drink, God isn’t going to knock the drink out of my hands.” I’d imagine that is true most of the time – but it wasn’t this time.
From the book “Came To Believe” the story is titled “Mathematical Miracle” and has a nameless author from Chicago, Illinois.
The man from Wisconsin had been sober in AA for three years when everything “hit the fan” in his life. Perhaps the pain of living had become greater than the pain of drinking …read more

While you’re attending meetings (of whatever fellowship is helping you) I hope that you are paying attention. Perhaps not to everything, who can do that? More to certain things, for example, those certain somethings that people often say like:
“I’ve been around AA (Na, Oa, Ca) for years! This time I have ’so many’ days/months sober again.”
A fine, long term sober, upstanding citizen in the Savannah area who passed on this past year, Don M., talked about this exact type of “something.” Don made it humorous while it was deadly serious. I can’t tell it the way he did so I’ll …read more

When you were drinking/drugging/overeating/active were you as honest as you could be? Well, I knew the answer to that before I asked
Were you anything like me? When you lied, because you didn’t want to own up to your lie, did you fight folks to bring them over to your side? Did you take three weeks to convince them THEY were wrong? And once having convinced them they were wrong did you then file that incident back in the dark corners of your guilt/shame baggage? And then pour yourself another drink?

It seems the attribution for the quote I’m about to offer you is to snow@sobercelebrations.com.
The words are from “Young Timer Rant” at RecoveryTimes.com from a lady with 31 years sober who had never been to a treatment center until recently. My personal opinion, for what it may be worth, is the same as Snow’s. Please, read the entire writing at RecoveryTimes.com.
Actually, since I’m going to quote what might seem a bit vague, you’ll probably need to read it anyway – here goes;

In this case credit is due Dallas at the 12 Step Forum who recently passed this on;
SOBRIETY VERSION of the 23rd PSALM
THE LORD IS MY SPONSOR, I shall not want.