I walked into a sandwich shop for lunch today and ran into a young man who had been coming to meetings at my home group for a short while a couple of months ago. He’d been “out” before after a few weeks but had stayed dry this time for a couple of months. I hadn’t seen him recently.
Ordered my sandwich and soda and had a seat with him. It’s funny but I know he didn’t like me when we initially met but we’d grown on each other. We made small talk briefly then I asked him where he’d been going …read more

With all due respect and consideration to our friend JJ, this feels timely and I’m not sure why…
Originally found at Silkworth.net where it is published without a clear attribution I can find;
Reason, Season, And A Lifetime
People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you will know exactly what to do.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go..
Some people become friends and stay awhile…
leaving beautiful footprints on our hearts…
and we are never quite the same because we have made a good friend!!!

Which is, imho, one of the deepest challenges for us alkies…
Just a few sentences from today’s Daily Reflection – “Love With No Price Tag”
“Carrying the message is a gift of myself, no matter how many years of sobriety I may have accumulated.”
“My dreams can become reality.”
“My wish to help another drunk is the key to my spiritual health.”
“I never forget that Got acts through me. I am only His instrument.”
“To act, to never grow weary in my Twelfth Step work, is the key.”
“If I am capable of laughing today, let me not forget those days when I cried.”

If you Google it you’ll find it yet I still couldn’t determine who to attribute this to – one more thanks to my friend Alex.
12 Symptoms of a Spiritual Awakening
1. An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.
2. Frequent attacks of smiling.
3. Feelings of being connected with others and nature.
4. Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.
5. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience
6. An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.
7. A loss of ability to worry.
8. A loss of interest in conflict.
9. A loss of interest in interpreting the …read more

So, you are having trouble getting the “spiritual part” of the recovery program outlined in the Twelve Steps eh? First Things First, you might want to consider that, as I was taught and learned, there is no “spiritual part” of the program, it is spiritual. Spirituality isn’t difficult to explain either. Bill Lash offers one explanation;
“Spirituality is a simple disciplined way of living. It seems there are four basic movements that recovering people need to make to put their lives on a positive spiritual basis. The first of these is a movement from fear to trust; the second, from self-pity …read more

“I Stand At The Door” is the title of a piece written by Sam Shoemaker from the Oxford Group. It begins;
I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out.
The door is the most important door in the world -
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There is no use my going way inside and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where the door ought to be.
They creep along …read more

Have you ever felt like “If this is all there is to sobriety, then why bother?”
Other than the disease talking to me, I discovered something about that state of mind a few years ago. It’s in the Big Book on pgs. 50-57.
I’ll refer to what still makes the most sense to me;
“When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn’t. What was our choice to be?”
At those times in my life …read more

Notice that it doesn’t say “In Good Religious Health.”
“When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and spiritually.”
First things first – “Intelligence is not incompatible with humility, provided I place humility first… To be fashionable and to seem better than I really am is a spiritual illness.”
In my drinking life I could not put these two together. Why? Simply because the concept of humility was totally lost on me. To be humble was not within my understanding. I was either less than, far worse, or far better because, if not, I was worthless. Absolutely convoluted…
“To recognize and to …read more

Reading today’s “Daily Reflections“ I believe I am reading Dr. Bob’s words…
First Things First – Dr. Bob speaks of practice and I imagine that this was passed down to the point when it eventually came to me because my sponsor pointed out to me the only way I’d become good at anything was to practice it. It most certainly applies to recovery as Dr. Bob says;
“And I don’t believe we do AA too well unless we practice it.”
He goes further to speak of practicing then acquiring the spirit of service which, in turn, leads to;
“We should attempt to acquire some …read more

Offered to all by Hindsfoot…
“By following the Ten Commandments and Twelve Steps to the letter we automatically lead a spiritual life, whether or not we recognize it.
Here, however, is a set of suggestions, couched in the simplest of language:

Elimination of sin from our lives.
Develop humility.
Constantly pray to God for guidance.
Practice charity.
Meditate frequently on our newly found blessings, giving honest thanks for them.
Take God into our confidence in all our acts.
Seek the companionship of others who are seeking a spiritual life.

These are practical suggestions, mileposts on the road to a spiritual life. There is nothing mysterious about them,. Every one of …read more