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Be Who You Are
(Preview)
In recovery; we're learning a new behavior. It's called Be Who You Are. For some of us, this can be frightening. What would happen if we felt what we felt, said what we wanted, became firm about our beliefs, and valued what we needed? What would happen if we let go of our camouflage of adaptation? What wou...
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Quetzal
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Living life
(Preview)
You know life is good today and everything in it. I always say that there is no such thing as life life on lifes terms, life today (for me) does not dictate the terms by which I live, because of the program of AA I can choose the terms by which I am going to live my life. Now sometimes those choices are not the...
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texas mike
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Codependency---What Is It?
(Preview)
Codependency is when a person has a strong desire to control people around them, including their spouse, children or co-workers. Codependents believe they are somehow more capable than others, who need their direction or suggestions to fulfill tasks they are responsible to complete. They feel...
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Phil
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Foggy......fogg.....fog......fo......f
(Preview)
One night of (really hard) drinking, 4 days ago and I still feel hung over. It's as if I'd never gotten any sober time at all - physically and emotionally....I have many regrets. One of them being (borderline) going to see John. Although, I know it was exactly what I needed, (My HP has a way of doing that f...
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Doll
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Have a great day!!
(Preview)
Just a quick hello to all!! Have a great day and may we all be blessed with joy and happiness! And sobriety!!!! As I read everyone's posts I just want to say Thank you all and I love ya!! Today the things I read put a smile on my face...Thats a good thing because it was more of a frown knowing I have to get moving...
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lani
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Daily Reflections 10/4
(Preview)
A NECESSARY PRUNING . . . . we know that the pains of drinking had to come before sobriety, and emotional turmoil before serenity. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 94 I love spending time in my garden feeding and pruning my beautiful flowers. One day, as I was busily snipping away, a neighbor stop...
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Doll
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Love and Forgiveness towards oneself and others...
(Preview)
Before being able to really love others, we need at least to accept ourselves as we are. - I have some bad habits and faults, but am I really all that bad? - Many things I do don't lead to perfect results, but at least I try to do my best. - Now simply put a smile on your face, a real smile, not just visualised! - N...
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Phil
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The Importance of Money
(Preview)
We cannot afford to allow our focus in life to be money. That will not lead us into the abundance we're seeking. Usually, it will not even lead to financial stability. Money is important. We deserve to be paid what we're worth. We will be paid what we're worth when we believe we deserve to be. But often you...
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Quetzal
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Prayer
(Preview)
Here are some of my favorite prayers: Help. Please. Don't. Show me. Guide me. Change me. Are you there? Why'd you do that? Oh. Thank you. Today, I will tell God what I want to tell God, and listen for God's answer. I will remember that I can trust God. From The Language of Letting Go
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Quetzal
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Coping with Families
(Preview)
There are many paths to self-care with families. Some people choose to sever connections with family members for a period of time. Some people choose to stay connected with family members and learn different behaviors. Some disconnect for a time, and then return slowly on a different basis. There i...
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Quetzal
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Getting Through the Discomfort
(Preview)
Surrender to the pain. Then learn to surrender to the good. It's there and more is on the way. -- Beyond Codependency Our goal in recovery is to make us feel comfortable, peaceful, and content. Happy. We want to be at peace with our environment and ourselves. Sometimes, to do that, we need to be willing t...
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Quetzal
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Re-building My Relationship
(Preview)
Since I came back to AA, my relationship with my wife has improved so much. I can't believe what I was losing and how much I damaged my wife and family. In the beginning my wife kicked me out. I had been drinking and drove the kids home after picking them up from one of their activities. She was absolute...
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Snopup
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Daily Reflections 10/3
(Preview)
SERENITY AFTER THE STORM Someone who knew what he was talking about once remarked that pain was the touchstone of all spiritual progress. How heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him. . . . TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p p. 93-94 When on the roller coaster of emotional turmoil, I remember that grow...
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Doll
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Checking in and thoughts
(Preview)
Hi all! And a big WELCOME to all the newcomers. Tim, alcoholic. There have been some great posts on this site lately and it's good to see that interaction with important topics. I just felt like throwing out some thoughts. I am coming up on 14 months in a few days and this is the longest stretch of so...
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timverton
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Fear Of Intimacy
(Preview)
How to Overcome Anxiety & Fear in Relationships © Laurie Pawlik-KienlenIs your relationship hampered by emotional walls & barriers, secrets & long silences? Fear of intimacy is common in adults, especially if you've been scarred in the past. Fear of intimacy is the exact opposite of...
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Phil
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Daily Reflections 10/2
(Preview)
THE ACID TEST As we work the first nine Steps, we prepare ourselves for the adventure of a new life. But when we approach Step Ten we commence to put our A.A. way of living to practical use, day by day, in fair weather or foul. Then comes the acid test: can we stay sober, keep in emotional balance, and live to...
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Doll
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Pain is necessary, Misery is optional
(Preview)
Okay, so I am new here. I thank God for finding this. I have really been hurting lately. I am not sure what is wrong. I spoke about complacency at a meeting I went to on Friday night; I spoke frankly. I have become complacent slowly over time. It has happened so quickly that I didn't realize it was hap...
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jennie08062005
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Evolving From Within
(Preview)
The world calls out for improvement and, more often than not, we are ready and willing to offer advice or admonishments. But each of us possesses the power to effect a positive shift in energy in ourselves and in those around us. Just as purification of the soul leads to purification of the world, chang...
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Wren
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Daily Reflections 10/1
(Preview)
LEST WE BECOME COMPLACENT It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 85 When I am in pain it is easy to stay close to the friends I have found in the programs. Relief from that pain is p...
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Doll
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Thank you, carol
(Preview)
....had to share.....Your thread on the importance of money...amazing what a little inspiration can do... THIS was truely an inspirtation to me today. It had crossed my mind a few days ago that I should get back on Ebay. I used to sell quite a bit of things on there, and really enjoyed it. I also made a dol...
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Doll
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Daily Reflections 9/30
(Preview)
THE CIRCLE AND THE TRIANGLE The circle stands for the whole world of A.A., and the triangle stands for A.A.'s Three Legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service. Within our wonderful new world, we have found freedom from our fatal obsession. A.A. COMES OF AGE, p. 139 Early in my A.A. life, I became employe...
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Doll
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Not a Victim
(Preview)
You are not a victim. How deeply ingrained our self-image as a victim can be! How habitual our feelings of misery and helplessness! Victimization can be like a gray cloak that surrounds us, both attracting that which will victimize us and causing us to generate the feelings of victimization. Victim...
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Quetzal
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Daily Reflections 9/29
(Preview)
EXACTLY ALIKE Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 A man came to the meeting drunk, interrupted the speakers, stood up and took his shirt off, staggered loudly back and forth for coffee, demanded to talk, and eventually call...
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Doll
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Love Yourself
(Preview)
"It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others."-- Sydney J. Harris&...
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Wren
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Being Honest
(Preview)
The other night, while leaving a meeting hall which is located behind a mini mart, one of my wife's friends saw me and ask what I was doing at "that meeting". I replied that I have some personal issues that this group helps me with. She said that it was an AA meeting. I responded that yes, I kn...
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Snopup
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Me...a complete newbie
(Preview)
Hi, I have seen several posts of people introducing themselves so I felt I should follow in kind. I'm Debra and I'm an alcoholic. (one of the hardest things I ever had to say in my life) I'm 38 and I live in Southern CA. I started drinking when I was 16 But I started having a problem with drinking (or not drink...
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Pdinkle
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Get your printer ready :-)
(Preview)
13th centuary monks prayer; Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs. Make me thou...
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alligot
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One year later....
(Preview)
One year ago, i had a spiritual awakening and turned my will over to my HP. tonight, i celebrate one year of sobriety. it's a calm day - i wound up with the day off and spent most of it with the two people who love me the most in this world, my folks. i'm kind of glad there was no fanfare - for me, it's not like t...
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CAM
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Daily Reflections 9/28
(Preview)
LOVE WITHOUT STRINGS Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 89 Sponsorship held two surprises for me. First, that my sponsees cared about me. What I had thought was gratitude was more li...
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Doll
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What is the "Higher Power" as referred to in AA?
(Preview)
In 1934, Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got a call from a former drinking buddy, Ebby T. "Rumor had it that he'd been committed for alcoholic insanity," Bill recalled. "I wondered how he had escaped." In reality, Ebby was two months sober. This disappointed Bill...
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Sick of being sick
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Fall, Change and Moving Forward
(Preview)
With the seasonal transition into Fall, change is motivated by the movement of the earth around the sun; there is no getting around this. So as the world changes and the seasons pass, so must our lives in tandum with it. Change is inevitable. Our lives are made up of the building blocks of change. This ca...
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Wren
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Trying to understand.........
(Preview)
Unmanageability The reasons my life is unmanageable ; My thinking (past and present) eg my beliefs, perceptions that faulty filter My drinking and using My obsession to drink and use Finding ways and means to drink and use The consequences of the above solution......acceptance that all of the abov...
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alligot
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Good day...
(Preview)
Just on my way out to work and wanted to swing by to wish everyone a great day. Heres something my sponsor used to ask me every time he saw me.... What are you doing to stay sober today? :)
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miller2
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Temporary Setbacks
(Preview)
Sometimes, after we begin recovery, things in our life seem to get worse for a time. Our finances, our relationships, or our health may seem to deteriorate. This is temporary; this is a normal part of recovery and healing. It may be the way things will be for a time, but not for long. Keep working at recov...
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Quetzal
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Daily Reflections 9/27
(Preview)
WITHOUT RESERVATION When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, . . . . AS BILL SEES IT, p.37 While practicing service to others, if my successes give rise to grandiosity, I must reflect on what brought me to this point. What has been given joyfully, with love, m...
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Doll
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Seek Insights
(Preview)
"The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival."-- AristotleINSIGHTS happen only when we shift to a higher, more inclusive perspective. As we grow in wisdom and experience, we become less attached to the form of reality...
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Wren
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Accept or Reject
(Preview)
Some people refuse to accept things as they are. Thats good! Some people accept things just as they are. Thats good, too! What? How can refusing to accept things and accepting things both be good? It depends on your views of what is good or not good for you to accept. In other words, it is important for you...
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Phil
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excuse or truth or what?
(Preview)
My mom is an A as some of you may know along with the fact that I'm 20 years old (almost 21 - which is legal age to drink). She has told me before (confirmed by a sober family friend) that she went to AA for a short while when I was little. The thing I'm questioning is whether or not her reason for why she quit goin...
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lanchas
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Excess baggage
(Preview)
Of all of the emotions in the human repertoire, hate, anger, and resentment are among the most powerful and self-destructive. They are awakened in you by the actions of those you perceive to have hurt you or those you love. You may think that you want and are justified to hate, or harbor rage agai...
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timverton
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Getting Into the Big Book
(Preview)
Hi, My name is Kirsten and I am an alcoholic. On September 20, 2007 I took my last drink. I had relapsed approx. 3 months prior. I continue to say, "yeah, that's me everytime I read the BB. I really saw myself today in reading "More about Alcoholism", "Then he fell victim to a belief...
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Kirsten
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Daily Reflections 9/26
(Preview)
OUR CHILDREN The alcoholic may find it hard to re-establish friendly relations with his children. . . . In time they will see that he is a new man and in their own way they will let him know it. . . . From that point on, progress will be rapid. Marvelous results often follow such a reunion. ALCOHOLICS ANONYM...
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Doll
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Went to the doctor today...
(Preview)
Well, I woke up first thing this morning with an asthma attack... inhaler wasn't quite enough, got it just under control enough to make it to the bathroom and start a hot shower, had to let the steam clear up my lungs... really tempted on asking for a nebulizer after that... cuz both asthma attacks I...
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ChicknLittle
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Feeling Protected
(Preview)
Our task is not a naive one of feeling safe, of living and loving in a utopian world. One woman commented that our task is making ourselves feel safe while learning to live and love in a world that is unsafe. We do not want to dwell on the danger for that gives power to the negative. Neither do we want to ignor...
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Quetzal
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I Can't Do it Alone
(Preview)
Hi Everyone, my name is Kirsten and I am an alcoholic. AA saved my life in 1992 from total destruction. I attended meetings daily and was very involved. I WAS WILLING TO GO TO ANY LENGTHS. When I returned to the West Coast in 1999 I stopped going. I managed to stay sober of my own volition until June of this y...
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Kirsten
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Death wish....phone call......wake up call.
(Preview)
Saturday was like any other day, I went to work at 4am, got off around 10am, came home took a nap.Got woken up by a phone call from a friend I hadn't heard from in quite a long time, old drinking buddy. She didn't know I was in AA.......We were going to the mall. She showed up and she'd been drinking, next thi...
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Doll
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Daily Reflections 9/25
(Preview)
FIRST THINGS FIRST Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job -- wife or no wife -- we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 98 Before coming to A.A., I always had excuses for taking a dr...
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Doll
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Peace with the Past
(Preview)
Even God cannot change the past. -- Agathon Holding on to the past, either through guilt, longing, denial, or resentment, is a waste of valuable energy - energy that can be used to transform today and tomorrow. "I used to live in my past," said one recovering woman. "I was either tryin...
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Quetzal
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Tolerance
(Preview)
Practice tolerance. Tolerate our quirks, our feelings, our reactions, our peculiarities, and our humanness. Tolerate our ups and downs, our resistance to change, and our struggling and sometimes awkward nature. Tolerate our fears, our mistakes, our natural tendency to duck from problems, and...
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Quetzal
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Attitude of Gratitude
(Preview)
Good Morning to each and every one of you!! Down under, on this Monday morning at 10:17am the sun is bringing a lot of warmth, light and beauty to us Australian's. Yesterday, as in Sunday, I met up with some of my non-alcoholic friends for some coffee, cake and a chat....most enjoyable to hang...
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twoworlds
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I'm insane! :(
(Preview)
I just got home from the ER a couple of hours ago.... my asthma's been worse all year, starting last winter when my exhusband and I were splitting up, I was smoking a LOT then, 3 packs a day, about killed myself with it, was waking up between 4 and 6 every morning with bad coughing fits for about a month, had a...
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ChicknLittle
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