According to today’s reflection…
It’s Okay To Be Me
“Time after time newcomers have tried to keep to themselves certain facts about their lives… they have turned to easier methods… But they had not learned enough humility.”
So, I had to find a level of humility that would lead me out of the place where I believed there was so much wrong with me nothing would ever fix it.
“Humility sounds so much like humiliation, but it really is the ability to look at myself – and honestly accept what I find.”
Not only honestly accept what I find but also find that what I …read more

It has been my distinct pleasure and honor to have had new friends from the Savannah area visit A Dozen Steps for the first time. The first thing they tell me is they “read” my Blog and I get a chuckle out of the comment. I am so grateful that you guys even stop by! Yet I wouldn’t want you to do what we all do so glowingly well – sell yourselves short…
As of this writing there will be 798 posts over 34 categories that began in December, 2005 when Anne wrote here for b5. Anne moved on to …read more

(”Listen” for the rationalizations…)
It says: “Happiness Is Not The Point”
And I can somewhat agree.
“I don’t think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we learn from the problems we face?”
Which makes sense unless my negative mind works it into “Everything I face is a problem” therefore I’m “learning 24/7 and I’m sick of it!”
Moving on – “How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge?”
Well, that is the deal…

Thanks to a good friend I’m now having a gratitude attack…
My day didn’t start out that way. In the course of the day, my friend Mike called and offered me many, many reasons to be grateful – for him and for me!
Mike has about a hundred different projects on his “plate.” I have substantially fewer.
One item on my plate is my responsibility to this blog. I believe I follow through on this responsibility fairly well and can’t criticize myself regarding it. If you want to that’s fine. Just remember – “those that judge don’t matter and those that matter don’t …read more

I know beyond any shadow of doubt that most of “you alkies” will identify with this…
First Things First – I had the distinct pleasure this past Thurs. evening to chair a first sober anniversary meeting for Bob B. from our South Side Group. Congratulations again Bob! And thanks to Jan G. for carrying an excellent message – a message that had the “hinge working.”
Don’t forget Bob – this was an anniversary celebration, not a graduation ceremony…
Gotta take a moment to say thanks to my new friend Alicia at Mental Health Notes for a really cool shout out and …read more

If you’re having a difficult time finding the wisdom in the stories in the back of The Big Book this is one you might seriously consider giving your focus;
Freedom From Bondage
If, for nothing else, how to be rid of a resentment.
This story, and the wise counsel of the oldtimers who were in my life at a time I needed them the most, went a very long way to helping me understand it is better to be about love than to be about hate!
A small bit of wisdom first – offering a dictionary definition: “Rationalization is giving a socially acceptable reason …read more

I sat in a meeting tonight and listened to three folks “give themselves permission” to drink…
Please, don’t give yourself permission to drink. These folks all have a few years of sobriety. Two of them have been out and back a few times and have thankfully been able to put sober time together. See if you can identify with them.
“My job is driving me crazy and if I don’t say/do something about it I’m going to lose my sobriety!”
No! You’re not!!!
I understand it is “prescribed” that we “rat” on our disease which isn’t why I’m talking about it. The first person …read more

For any of you who may not know, I believe, from what I’ve read and heard through the years, that Bill Wilson was certainly a pride-filled human being. Which, no doubt, is why we ought to consider ourselves blessed by the work he did on it to find a humility that worked for him and for us.
I’ve been accused of a lot of things in my life. Most recently, my feelings (and my friend Mike’s feelings) were accused of killing suffering human beings. That’s pretty caustic but not unusual, for the person who made the accusation is obviously in a …read more

Val Kilmer’s line (as Doc Holliday) in “Tombstone” was “I’m your huckleberry.” It was meant along the lines of “I’m the perfect man for the job” but I’d like to use it as if it meant “I’m your target.”
Well, I’m NOT your target! I’m certainly NOT your huckleberry!
Why? Many, many reasons, the first of which is I’m sober and have been for quite some time. Secondly, I’ve made my amends to you and have ended the damage I was doing to you.
From page 125;
“A man may criticize or laugh at himself and it will affect others favorably, but criticism or …read more

Under the category “Wish I Had Said That” and as a result of an email from the Top 100 Blogs today with some click-through stats…
From the entry “arrogant bastard” at Staying Straight Edge comes this comment:
“I try to live the same way I did in my first 30 days, because in any meeting, somewhere out there, is someone in their last 30 days. Life & death.”
I’d love to know who to attribute this one to but it really doesn’t say.
Congratulations to the Top 100 Blogs for reaching 84 members currently.