A Sober Life

ENEMIES… “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.” — G. K. Chesterton The spiritual program that I embrace makes me look to where I am, rather than where I want to be. I must live in the now, rather than [...]

Dear friend of Bill W., Through A.A., we can experience freedom from self. After all, it was self (you, me) that stood in our own way, that ran the show and ran ourselves into bankruptcy, that hurt the ones we loved. All Twelve Steps of A.A. are designed to kill the old self (deflate the [...]

Father Leo’s Daily Meditation PROCRASTINATION “You cannot build a reputationon things you are going to do.” – Mabel Newcomber Procrastination is the addicts’ game. I will give up alcohol tomorrow. Soon I will take an inventory of my eating habits. Later I will talk to him about my anger and pain. Tomorrow and tomorrow — [...]

Keep It Simple I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.—Winston Churchill We addicts are used to learning the hard way. Many of us think we’re different and can do things our own way. But then we get in too much trouble or pain. The first AA members were just [...]

Fellowship is what we crave, To be joined with our friends, Today we mourn one to the grave, & at this time on God do we depend… So long Dick T. ———————————————————– This is a poem from one of my other blogs  In Memory of Dick T A good friend from my home group in [...]

In our addiction, we didn’t care. We didn’t care about other people, even though we wanted to. We just didn’t come through for them in ways that mattered. We didn’t care for ourselves. We let bad things happen to us. We didn’t care about living. We set no goals, had no fun, smelled no flowers. [...]

The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next. – Mignon McLaughlin I do not have to have courage for a lifetime, just for the moment. I am helped by the philosophy that teaches me to live one day at a time, one hour at a time, [...]

Self-acceptance. At the beginning of our AA sobriety, we were reminded that we were not reformers. Yet we sometimes have a tendency to want to “reform” ourselves or others after we’ve established sobriety. This can become a practice of “fixing things that aren’t broken”. We may not realize it, but many things in our lives [...]

Do not waste any time disliking who you are because of something you can no longer do anything about. Lord, help me to forgive myself all shortcomings of the past that I still hold on to and rather make the very best of this moment. We never really know how far reaching our influence will [...]

All animals, except man, know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it. – Samuel Butler Today I choose to enjoy my life. Regardless of the problem and difficulties that this day will bring, I have an inner joy that comes with my recovery from addiction. With a clear head and body free from [...]