WAIT or WAIL?7/7/2010
In recovery, acronyms seem to pop up like mushrooms. Covering all kinds of circumstances and conditions, little reminders like HALT (don’t get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired), KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), and NUTS (Not Using the Steps) made my life in early recovery just a little bit easier.
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Thawing Out6/30/2010
Early in my recovery, a counselor told me that I had become frozen, metaphorically and physically, and that I needed to do some exercises to help my body and my mind thaw out. Basically, she told me to stand in front of the mirror and make faces.
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Story Hour6/23/2010
AA has always been based on a tradition of storytelling, dating back to the sharing between Bill W. and Dr. Bob, when they swapped stories of drinking and were able to achieve an understanding, a sense of identification and authenticity that drew them together in the common suffering they had endured.
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The Sobriety Circuit6/16/2010
I don’t know a lot about computers, but I do know it’s bad when the motherboard crashes. Like electricity, a motherboard is one of those things you can’t see, but it seems to be in control of just about everything.
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The Swallows6/9/2010
Like the swallows returning to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, I return to my first home group every year around this time. It’s a migratory pattern that helps me remember what it was like at the end of my drinking and the beginning of my sobriety.
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File It6/2/2010
My wife just filed our daughter’s final report card from high school. She graduated last week and we received the report in the mail. My wife got a little teary-eyed as she opened the file drawer and stuffed it into the file marked “O” for Olivia.
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Stop, Drop, and Roll5/26/2010
by Ames S.
As a kid raised in the 1950s, I grew up under the specter of imminent threat: the fear of bombs dropping out of the sky, missiles being launched, or submarines surfacing in our bathtubs at night.
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The Shroud5/19/2010
By Ames S.
I saw a woman on the street the other day who was obviously drunk. I saw her from behind and could see that she was staggering. Having staggered quite a bit myself, I gave her a wide berth on the sidewalk, familiar as I am with the vagaries of momentum when it comes to someone who’s been drinking.
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