Author: Phillip

Covet

The Big, Big Book states that “we shall not covet our neighbor’s wife or goods.”  Alcoholic addicts are notorious for coveting what is not rightly ours.  We shy away from work as a means to acquire goods and services.  We view ourselves as better looking than our neighbor, so we deserve his wife, or so

Read More

Four Horsemen

The terrible Four Horsemen are found on page 151 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.  We will discuss each one separately in this BLOG. Terror Do you ever wake up wondering how you acted as you don’t remember because you were in a blackout?  You can’t remember what you said or did.  Maybe you

Read More

Relapse

When we speak about relapse, we tend to speak in terms of ourselves.  This seems to be the natural thought process that occurs.  But what about when we think of others relapsing?  Or actually get news that a friend or loved one has gone out and relapsed?  I don’t think we realize the full impact

Read More

What If?

I have often wondered if something so terrible could happen where I would relapse with drugs and alcohol.  Something such as my daughter being seriously injured or my mom passing away.  Those are my big two what ifs.  Well recently the phone rang on a Sunday and it was the hospital calling me to tell

Read More

Loss of a Friend

Recently the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous lost one of our most hard-working and loving members.  His name is Deandre Moore.  Deandre was a larger-than-life type of person.  He grew up in the Watts area of Southern California.  I met him in 1994 when I moved to Lancaster, California.  I started going to AA meetings at

Read More

Jaywalker

My favorite character in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is the “Jaywalker.”  His story can be found on pages 37-38 in the Big Book.  The Jaywalker’s penchant for jaywalking is an analogy to the escalation of our drinking.  Just as the Jaywalker progresses in his disease of jaywalking, we progress in our drinking career.  

Read More

There Is a Solution

After we have admitted our powerlessness over drugs and alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable, and saw how we needed to believe in a Higher Power who could alleviate the insanity we suffered, we came to page 25 in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The first full paragraph starts out in italics. 

Read More

Faith

  Faith can be defined as hope in something not seen.  It can also be defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something.  Faith is a necessary component of the 12 Step program.  After being beaten under the lash of addiction and finding ourselves at a crossroads in our life we must make

Read More

Sloth

Sloth is usually equated with laziness.  This is very true.  However, it could be said that it pertains more to procrastination than just plain old-fashioned laziness.  Addicts and alcoholics are notorious for being procrastinators.  In active addiction, the only thing on their agenda is the next drink, pill, or fix.  Nothing gets in the way

Read More

Greed

Greed is another thing which besieges mental health sufferers.  We want more than our fair share of something without having to put out any effort to get it.  We feel a sense of entitlement to things of this world.  Greed is usually associated with money but there are all types of greed.  We can want

Read More