The following poem and the “prompt” for other writers invites us to write about the…
My Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings end with members stating an Affirmation. We began by using the list on page 329 of the Big Red Book. Those affirmations all begin with “It is okay.” Some examples are “It is okay to know another way to live.” “It is okay to say no without feeling
Adult Children of Alcoholics’ first promise states that “We will discover our real identities [our True Self] by loving and accepting ourselves.” Many of the other promises contain qualities that our True Self will attain, such as being playful and fun or learning how to be both vulnerable and intimate. These and other program promises
No point in telling yourself that Chardonnay tastes like Windex. It doesn’t. It tastes like walking under waterfalls, like sinking backwards into bed with the guy you flirted with at the bar. It smells like a necklace made of daisy chains or the waft of Queen Anne’s lace on a summer Sunday. It always has.
What’s Wrong with ME? The purpose of the 6th and 7th steps in 12-step recovery is to uncover “character defects” and to pray to remove these defects. I have two issues with this. First, the word “defect” sounds as if there is something wrong with me, something I think or do that is
I believe that alcoholism is a family disease. My father was an alcoholic, one of those unfortunates who never found recovery and died destitute and homeless at the age of 50. I swore I’d never become an alcoholic, but at the age of 50 myself, my two glasses of wine had become 4 or 5
“No! Are you fucking crazy? Put that down, right now! You’ll blow us both to kingdom come!” I couldn’t believe what I saw: my husband reaching up to the chandelier above our dining table, oil can in hand, getting ready to pour oil on lighted candles. I imagined the coming firestorm. How could he be