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Communication Skills

“Perception” often does not get enough attention in 12 Step settings.  Perception is how an individual sees or perceives something to be.  For an example let’s use a banana.  One side of it has brown spots on it and the other side is solid yellow. Picture someone sitting on either side of the banana.  One

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KISS

K.I.S.S. This is normally considered as another AA acronym for “Keep it simple stupid.”  For our purposes in this blog, I am going to refrain from using the term stupid.  We will just stick with “Keep it simple.”  There is a notion also in philosophy known as Occam’s razor.  This basically says that the simplest

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Contempt

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a person in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”  (Pg 568, 4th edition, Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, by Herbert Spencer) This quotation baffled me for years after I became

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12 Steps Away

12 Steps Away From a Drunk The logic here is that if I’ve taken all 12 steps and incorporated them into my life, then I m 12 steps away from a drunk.  I know that this statement will ruffle some feathers in the one drink away from a drunk crowd.  But really guys, just open

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The Point Is…

What’s the Point? “The point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines.  The principles we have set down are guides to progress.  We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection (Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous pg. 60).” Notice that this passage from the book talks about progress.  Progress is generally recognized as

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Outside Help

Some of us may need to see a mental health professional.  Our brains have been trained to think in all sorts of negative ways.  We may feel a tug of war going on in our minds.  This can prove to be a formidable battle and we may need additional help outside the AA venue.  Some

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Pride

The seven deadly sins are pride, greed, anger, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.  Pride heads the list as it is considered to be the worst of all seven sins.  In doing inventories in the 12-step sense these items are usually used as categories to put our defects of character into.  These sins are considered deadly

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Self-Seeking Will Slip Away

The next promise we are going to look at Is “self-seeking will slip away.”  This could mean that it is not all about me any longer.  While drinking one may say that everything, we did was focused on what we could get out of it.  The thought of how our actions and attitudes could affect

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Situations

Another promise states “we will intuitively know how to handle situations that use to baffle us.”  This promise was especially as I felt that I couldn’t handle anything.  For the last ten years of my drinking and using was totally irresponsible when it came to handling situations.  I ignored and detached myself from things that

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Outside Help

Some of us may need to see a mental health professional.  Our brains have been trained to think in all sorts of negative ways.  We may feel a tug of war going on in our minds.  This can prove to be a formidable battle and we may need additional help outside the AA venue.  Some

Read More