When Worlds Collide, Part 2
Recently, at the ACA Regional Event in Boca Raton, Florida, members from the Strengthening My Recovery Meditation Meeting (WEB0120) had a chance to gather together. For years, these friends had only seen each other on a screen - as live videos, as avatars or...
Spiritual Inclusion in ACA Literature
The 2021 ACA Annual Business Conference adopted a motion for the Literature Committee to plan “a revised edition of the Big Red Book to be more inclusive of all experiences of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion/spirituality, and a broader range of...
Restored to Feeling
Step Two is an action statement. When feelings do not exist: “We do not miss what we do not know is possible”, a member commented. Do “blanked out” states—lack of interest or desire—suggest that conditions diagnosed as depression or mood disorders may point to...
Character Traits
I will give you a brief summary of what led me to ACA. I was exposed to a lot of trauma and abuse most of my life. I have had 9 qualifiers. I was married to a problem drinker for 36 years. He would binge drink to blackout. He was a...
Childhood Prayers
I might have prayed for…Parents that caredParents that guided me, taught meParents that loved each other and modeled a loving relationship, intimacyParents that had boundaries, set boundaries, provided safety or at least triedParents that reasoned things out, talked...
I am powerless
Here’s an exercise that unifies all the Steps from Step One through Step Seven. It takes just a few minutes to sum up the gradual progress we have made, spiritually, in recovery. Check how it feels, in the centered place where our ribs come together to form a...
Reparenting Pattern (Childhood)
Exploding daddy-Monster.Frozen terror within.Repeat the cycle again.Living with a volcano.Frozen terror within.When will it erupt again?Living with a volcano.I hate the volcano.When will it erupt again?Impossible to predict.I hate the volcano.Mom gets drunk...
Reparenting Pattern (Recovery & Growth)
Ask for help. Attend a meeting. Serenity prayer. Admit and embrace my powerlessness. Repeat again. Climb out of my comfort zone. Attend a meeting. Show up and participate. Admit and embrace my powerlessness. Release my illusion of control. Climb out of my comfort...
Houdini
My tiny grade school library housed a number of books on “Houdini.” “The master of escape.” Who ordered these? Why these books? Geared to a 3rd, 4th, maybe 5th grade reader. I read them all.Did anyone notice I was reading THESE? Why THESE, someone might...
Misty Sunday
32 years ago, I wrote this poem… Giving this crib to friends for their coming baby had been the very first step to acknowledge the fact that my husband and I would never have a baby together. I had begun to be depressed, and to drink to endure the loss of my illusions...