My Journey Into ACA
My name is Lindsay, and I am a recovering member of the ACA program. I struggle a lot, sometimes every second of the day, to reconstruct my thoughts to more positive thinking with a stronger sense of self-worth as I reflect upon all of my experiences while living life...
Pomegranate Trees
The trees had been described as “deer resistant”, language that is ambiguous because it depends on how hungry the deer are. The family of three that felt comfortable in my backyard were really hungry. I had bought the pomegranate trees as memorials for my daughter,...
Mistakes
"We also have great difficulty accepting mistakes as adults." BRB p.38It seemed like every life-pursuit I undertook involved "white-knuckling". I can look back at major accomplishments and remember thinking how I had no idea what I was doing at the time. Looking back...
Childhood Prayer
It was a bold experiment in my mind, perhaps an early inquiry into the workings of reality. Prayer mingled God with Santa Claus: if I prayed hard enough, I would get a beautiful dollhouse in my room. I cleared a space for it between my bed and the door. I was six or...
Strafe My Soul
To daddy-Monster: You can resentfully blame mebecause my existence – my birth –reminds you of your new dutyresulting from my illegitimate conception. Enraged, you can throw medown a flight of stairsbefore I can walk. You can pound your fists into meas I lie...
Community Of Spirit
In the silent sanctuary of a misty morninga lone juniper stands beyond our windowon the shoreline of Four Mile Pond Spring wraps her fog around burgeoning new needlesand the ancient silent stones who accompany herA robin bounds from a branch unto the silky, moist...
Spotlight On The WSO Board: Charlie H.
Charlie H. is from Falls Church, Virginia, USA. He has served as a WSO Trustee since 2016 and Board Chairperson between 2019 and 2022. He has stepped down from the Board of Trustees at the end of his term of service after the 2023 ABC. In this interview, we learn more...
Step Eleven Is For Warriors
How to win? “Lack of power was our dilemma,” AA’s original program affirms. How do I solve that lack, in personal recovery? Isn’t that the point? Do I want to win? Here’s a strategy for non-toxic, productive power that martial artists use that can be applied in Step...
Ode To A Loving Family Dinner
Pork roasted in cheap Budweiser and black-eyed peas.Spinach noodles laden with heavy cream, garlic and salt.Red wine flowing freely.Miles Davis crooning from the record player.Dozens of dishes left half empty to sit; eaters distracted by conversation, eye contact, an...
Feelings
Vessel on the rocky shore and ocean swallowing up the broken wreck.The wreckage of the past is something i did regret,Now i give myself compassion and love like my pet,Recovery is going to help me, it helps me to be free,Society is something i don't worry about and...