A Life-Changing Anniversary
After thirty days of working with Bill Wilson, Dr. Robert Smith — who until they met had been unable to remain sober — drank his last drink on June 10, 1935. Alcoholics Anonymous marks its anniversary on this date. Here we offer reflections and practices that pay tribute to this practical form of spirituality.
Working Out Your Recovery
Karen Casey's workbook, Getting Unstuck, helps you learn to set boundaries and take care of your needs foremost. In an excerpt on life lessons, she reminds us how delicately our paths are woven together. Mary Faulkner's Easy Does It Recovery Pack brings you cards, meditations, and a journal containing gems of insight from a therapist and author specializing in recovery.
12-Step Sayings
"I used to feel impending doom; now I feel impending good." Phrases like this have sustained people in 12-step recovery programs for decades. In "Wisdom to Go" -- the wisdom we would like to share with today's graduates -- we offer some favorite 12-step slogans from the writings of Brian L., along with proverbs, pith instructions, aphorisms, and other catchy observations.
The Delusion of Control
Rabbi Rami Shapiro, in Recovery - The Sacred Art, observes that life is inherently unmanageable. He encourages us to turn our lives over to a greater reality and gives practical suggestions for change, such as the practice of bowing, observed by traditional Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.
Connections and Parallels
Father Richard Rohr, in Breathing Under Water, explores links between the Gospels and 12-step programs. In an excerpt on the spiritual practice of compassion, he shows how "only the survivors know the full terror of the passage, the arms that held them through it all, and the power of the obstacles that were overcome."
Resetting Your Course
In her writings, internationally acclaimed lecturer and bestselling author Marianne Williamson draws deeply from the source materials of 12-step programs. This selection of her quotes encourage us to liberate ourselves from fear, remember our inestimable value, and fix our eyes on what does not change.
Seeking a Better Way
To write Sharing the Journey, Robert Wuthnow interviewed 1,000 support-group members to find out why they look to these gatherings to find cohesion in their lives. In I'd Like to Call for Help, But I Don't Know the Number, Abraham J. Twerski paves the way to becoming fully human through service to others. This excerpt on grace gives credence to Divine intervention.
Getting Sober
In this video, ruthlessly honest writer Anne Lamott, one of S&P's Living Spiritual Teachers, shares the story of how she got sober: a story of meditation, black coffee, and Safeway cakes.
